Joel Swaney’s 10 Year Collectiversary
Joel Swaney, Principle SEO, has reached an impressive milestone: 10 years at Collective Measures. Reflecting on his time at the agency, here are some of his most memorable moments.
In April 2012, Joel joined the agency as a Senior Search Manager. Ten years later, he’s now our SEO Principal. During his tenure, Joel has revolutionized our SEO practice – from developing new deliverables, to tirelessly translating the implications of Google’s many algorithm updates, to driving incredible organic success for all of our clients, his impact on SEO at Collective Measures is impossible to overstate.
To celebrate A Decade of Joel, we sat down with him to take a walk down memory lane.
Q: Tell us about your first day.
A: I remember walking into my first day in total awe. This was my first job at an agency and being downtown was thrilling. I just joined the company when they moved into Fifth Street Towers. I was the 21st employee and I already knew this company was going somewhere.
Q: What have you enjoyed most working at Collective Measures?
A: At Collective Measures, there is a big push to focus on people’s strengths. One of my first positions had me reporting to Donna Robinson, our CEO. I was creating new tools for SEO and looking to present them with others. However, public speaking was not something I was very comfortable with. With this in mind, Donna looked at me and knew exactly what to say: “Let’s focus on your strengths.”
So, I did. I focused on SEO and being really good at that. After my confidence grew in other areas, I wanted to invest in my public speaking. Toastmasters, a public speaking club, became an amazing resource that wholly changed my confidence in public speaking. I loved the program so much that I recommended Collective Measures start its own Toastmasters chapter – I wanted the rest of our staff to be able to have the same transformative experience I did. We did, and to date almost 40% of our employees have gone through our internal Toastmasters program. Helping others grow their strengths is something I am very proud of.
Q: What draws you to the world of search engine optimization (SEO)?
A:I have always loved the art and science of SEO. Having a software engineering background allowed me to understand the logic of search engines and how they work. The art comes from understanding the user, their journey, and most importantly, what content is needed to meet their needs. Coupling these two aspects gives the user and engines the best opportunity to be found in search. And, this is what continuously fascinates me.
Q: What is your greatest achievement during your time at Collective Measures?
A: One of the things I am most proud of creating is our proprietary SEO scorecard, an assessment of a client’s website that looks at technical, foundational, and content SEO elements so we know where to prioritize our SEO strategy. It has pushed this agency forward and driven so much success.
In addition to that, I am really proud of mentoring and training my team and the agency. As all of them are learning and growing, I am very honored that I get to guide some really talented people. It’s extremely rewarding.
Q: What do you envision the next 10 years at Collective Measures looking like?
A: Over the last 10 years, we’ve continuously asked ourselves what is needed to best serve our clients and meet the needs of our employees. And that will certainly not change as we continue to move forward. I see the next 10 years at Collective Measures filled with (1) continued growth and advancement within our practice areas to meet the ever-changing needs of our clients and (2) continued investment in our employees to drive collective success. As for me, I am excited to utilize my strengths to support these endeavors.
Thank you, Joel! We are so grateful to work with and learn from you. Here’s to the next ten years!
