Jill Whalen, a true SEO pioneer, recently passed away. Although she has been retired for over ten years, her influence continues in the content-first SEO practices she advocated that are gradually gaining ground thirty years after she first championed that approach to ranking websites.
Contributions To SEO
As part of the first wave of SEO, her contribution to search marketing was to prove that a content-focused approach was sustainable as a long-term strategy. While that style of SEO is described as white hat, that term has lost meaning as many of the SEOs with the biggest and whitest hats tended to be algorithm chasers jumping from strategy to strategy, something Whalen was not.
Many of the second-wave SEOs from my generation focused on testing the limits of search engine algorithms and reading research papers to better understand how search engines worked. Whalen remained steadily focused on creating the kind of content search engines were trying to rank and used responsible link building to promote it, which turned out to be a winning strategy.
Screenshot Of Jill Whalen On SEO Pioneers Show
Left to right: Jill Whalen, Shelley WalshHer approach may have felt old-fashioned to some in the industry at the time, but she recently observed in an interview on Shelley Walsh’s SEO Pioneers show that she felt vindicated after Google’s Panda and Penguin algorithms, which rocked the search marketing industry but left her clients’ top-ranked websites untouched. Indeed, the entire SEO industry is coming around to Jill’s approach to SEO.
Whalen retired in 2013 and turned her attention to subjects that mattered to her, but her influence has always been felt through the thousands of SEOs who learned from her and who continue to pass those traditions on.
How Jill Whalen Influenced Top SEOs
Christine Churchill
Christine Churchill (LinkedIn profile), a leading search marketer, explains how she met Jill Whalen and how she influenced her life and career.
“Wow, this loss really stings! I first met Jill at a speakers’ gathering that I almost skipped because I was dreading feeling out of place. I told myself to just go for five minutes, and when I walked in, I spotted Jill right away – the only other woman there. She flashed me a warm smile, and I found my way over to the bar where she was sitting. I was so nervous, but I was completely taken aback when she mentioned she had seen me speak at an earlier conference and actually knew who I was!
We ended up chatting until the bar closed, and from that night on, we bonded instantly. Jill had this incredible gift of helping us believe in ourselves and encouraging us to shine. Because of her, I also met amazing people like Debra Mastaler, Scottie Claibourne, Karon Thackston, Kim Krause Berg and so many more kindred spirits. We all became friendly faces in the crowd, supporting each other in countless ways.
Jill truly changed my life, and I got to travel the world alongside her! Even when she retired and we didn’t see each other as much, I always knew that if I needed a friend, she’d be just a call away.
I still remember that one conference (I think it was in Pennsylvania) where we met this fascinating guy who talked to ghosts. We ended up staying at the bar yet again, discussing spirits and the signs our departed loved ones send us. It feels like Jill is with all of us now, saying goodbye and cheering us on to keep blooming.
Thank you, Jill, for your incredible friendship and support. I’ll cherish my memories of you forever!”
Debra Mastaler
My good friend Debra Mastaler (LinkedIn profile) was one of Whalen’s early collaborators, handling link building. Debra shares how Jill was instrumental in shaping her career in SEO:
“I’ve been involved with the SEO industry since 1999, I started by owning a directory of organic food and clothing. When I started to rank well for a large number of money terms, business owners advertising in my directory asked if I could I help them “optimize” their sites. I had no clue what that meant so I started looking around for information and met Jill.
Jill took the time to explain what I was doing was called link building and how important it was. One thing led to another and she hired me to do all her link work and got me on the speaking circuit. About a year later, I felt confident enough to work on my own and I launched Alliance-Link.
Over the years, we traveled together, went to conferences, ran an SEO forum, published content together, shared family vacations and spoke almost every day. We drifted after she left the SEO industry but her mark on my life has never faded.”
Left to right: Debra Mastaler, Christine Churchill, Jill WhalenMichael Bonfils
Multilingual International SEO Michael Bonfils (LinkedIn profile), also an SEO pioneer himself, nce before SEO described who she was and how she influenced him.
“Twenty five years ago while attending one of the first SES (Search Engine Strategies) conferences in San Francisco, I noticed this incredibly enthusiastic lady who was leading a roundtable discussion about content. There were three things that struck me that I never forget.
- First, she was one of the few women in a sea of nerdy dudes but as nerdy as she was, she fit perfectly in with everyone else.
- Second, she was nervous about speaking, she didn’t say it, but I can see it. I could feel it. It made me happy to know that I wasn’t alone and it was that nervousness that drew me to be one of the first few that sat around her roundtable.
- Third, she explained the power of content in SEO better than anyone else. While everyone was focused on tricking the search engines, she was focused on feeding the search engines exactly what they wanted (I was working for a search engine at the time, so this was important for me to hear.)
From the beginning of her career, I’ve had so much respect for Jill that her and I over the decades would often talk about the good old days when everyone and everything in SEO was so uncertain. When she retired, I told her how bummed I was and then I of course accused her of faking it.
I am really going to miss Jill and just broken hearted to learn of her passing. She was truly a legend.”
Duane Forrester
Duane Forrester (LinkedIn profile, formerly of Bing) described how Jill Whalen helped him understand how to explain complex ideas in ways that were understandable to a wide audience.
“Yeah, safe to say that Jill influenced my sense of direction. I mean, I knew it was about working for/with the algorithms, but there had to be a balance. Not just in terms of the work, but how we explained it. Jill helped set me, personally, on a path of trying to explain the complex in ways that everyday business people could understand and adapt to.
Jill was adept at looking through the complex and finding ways forward that not only worked, but were approachable by a wide variety of people with various skills and skill levels. She had a sharp mind and managed to recall volumes of relevant information seemingly effortlessly.
It was always a highlight of any conference to cross paths with Jill. We lost a treasure and I, and I’m sure many, will miss her.”
Bill Hartzer
Bill Hartzer (LinkedIn profile), one of the sharpest technical SEOs I know, remembered her as a centering voice, one who brought balance back to SEO.
He shared:
“She definitely was an influence, as she was more the “voice of reason” so to speak, when I was always trying to test the limits, test that “fine line” between white hat SEO and gray hat SEO.
She consistently advocated for doing SEO “the right way,” which is with integrity, transparency, and a focus on long-term value. Her work through High Rankings became a trusted symbol of ethical search marketing, long before it became the norm.”
Brett Tabke
Brett Tabke (LinkedIn profile), one of the leading founders of modern SEO, remembered her as a positive influence.
“She was always so nice. Had a smile on her face 90% of the time you were with her. I can’t remember a time when she didn’t appear happy to be with her friends. Even when she was presenting, she always made you feel good about what we were doing.”
Watch The SEO Pioneers Interview With Jill Whalen
Featured Image/Screenshot from SEO Pioneers interview
