We just learned the shocking news that Bill Slawski, an SEO expert, educator and pioneer, has passed away.
Slawski is Director of SEO Research at Go Fish Digital, a digital marketing agency. His company just shared the news of his death on Twitter, moments ago.
We are so sad to share that our colleague and best friend, @bill_slawski has passed away. Words cannot express our sorrow. We are forever grateful for the opportunity to work with Bill. We’ll share more info and settings as they become available to us. pic.twitter.com/5mD6jqw7XR
We don’t know many details about his death. He was last active on Twitter on May 16 and died on May 17.
What we do know is that he left a tremendous void in our industry. Slawski is a wealth of knowledge. Countless SEOs have gotten better – both directly and indirectly – as a result of his guidance, insight, and expertise.
About Bill Slawski
Slawski did SEO before Google existed. Heck, he did SEO before SEO was even called SEO.
He started when all this online stuff was simply known as internet marketing and web promotion, in 1996. He provided consulting services to help make websites easier to find online, help make them easier to use, and increase conversions and revenue for clients.
Throughout his career, Slawski worked on all kinds of websites – nonprofits, Fortune 500, educational institutions, e-commerce, professional services, consumer goods, B2B, and more.
Prior to his search marketing career, Slawski earned a Juris Doctor and was a legal and technical administrator at the highest court in Delaware for 14 years. Slawski lives in Carlsbad, California.
SEO by the Sea
To many in our industry, Slawski is perhaps best known for researching, analyzing, interpreting, and writing about Google and its patents and search-related algorithms on SEO by the Sea. He started the SEO by the Sea blog in June 2005.
At SEO by the Sea, Slawski covers everything – from the classics (PageRank, TrustRank, information retrieval) to today (machine learning, Knowledge Graphs, entities).
Contributions to the search community
In addition to writing on his own blog, Slawski contributes articles to the Go Fish Digital blog and other search marketing publications. Slawski was a contributing author here at Search Engine Land from December 2006 to July 2008. You can read Slawski’s article here.
Slawski has also been a popular speaker at several search conferences, including several SMX events. He has also done several webinar presentations and was a guest on demand for several SEO podcasts.
Slawski has been active on SEO forums, including as a co-administrator on the Cre8asite Forum.
On top of all that, he’s very active on Twitter, sharing his own insights and content, as well as those of others. He is very vocal about debunking SEO myths and misinformation.
‘Our teacher, our professor, our mentor’
That’s how Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Land described Slawski in 2020.
After Slawski suffered a stroke, Schwartz created a tribute website: billlawski.com. Schwartz asked SEOs for stories about how Slawski has helped them in their careers. And they sure delivered.
The site is filled with hundreds of stories and memories, published almost daily, from 15 December 2020 to 10 May 2021.
One of the stories from Slawski himself, who updated his community status:
Thanks to everyone who took a moment to write something, or send me something while I was in the hospital. I have a small brain clot, and now I take aspirin as a blood thinner. The clot caused a stroke, which caused me to lose my center of balance, and made it difficult for me to walk and made me worry about falling. I was in the hospital for 2 months undergoing 3 hours of rehabilitation a day. Many learned to use a walker on wheels and then a cane to help me get around. By the time I was discharged, I had started walking unaided. At home, I spend more time walking without a walker or cane. I’m a little more clumsy than before but can walk pretty well. I ride a stationary bike 40 minutes a day, and track my walking steps too. The stroke doesn’t affect my ability to think or speak or do SEO. The speech therapist checked me on it, giving me logical puzzles to work on to make sure that I could. It’s a puzzle that can fit into a spreadsheet, and for someone used to doing site audits it’s not that challenging – they keep saying they need a more sophisticated book.
A shout out to my team at Go Fish Digital, who sent me plants to look at, and to a number of local SEOs who sent me succulents and some Doordash gifts so I could order breakfast direct from them. I managed to keep my connection to Twitter working during that time, and some local folks finally helped me make sure I made it home, and took care of some issues with DMV and paying my bills during my hospital stay. . After 2 months away from the computer, it took me several attempts to write and send email. I’ve written about several patents, and now I chat every week about SEO. I agreed to chat this week about the future of SEO, 9 years after Penguin, on Twitter Spaces. Have to learn how to use it first. I hope to talk to everyone soon. Thanks for setting up this website, Barry. It’s great to see new posts every day as I keep relearning how to walk.
Community reaction
We are all still in shock and processing this devastating loss.
News quickly spread about Slawski’s death on Twitter and by word of mouth. This is just a small sample of the reaction from the search community, after learning of Slawski’s death.
Bill is a shining beacon for all those who wish to understand the often complex search patents. And SEO in general. I know and appreciate his kindness and concern. This is a terrible loss. Thoughts to family, friends and coworkers. You will be missed, Bill. https://t.co/yXRzVQEAvj
So, very sad. He was a smart and generous man. A true legend in SEO. We will all miss him very much.
RIP Bill. He had a huge influence on me, and I’m grateful he came to see me speak as I built most of my presentations as a tribute to the way of thinking I learned from him. Very sorry to hear this.
Very sad. I have known Bill for over 20 years. He sent me a note recently when he learned my new base was in San Diego and I was going there in a few weeks. I really appreciate our long-standing friendship, and such a great contribution to the industry. RIP Bill.
I JUST talked to him a few weeks ago about us getting together here in San Diego. He seemed fine and in good spirits.
I am honored to call Bill a friend. A tremendous loss personally, and professionally. My deepest sympathies.
Condolences to his entire family, and our entire industry. Bill has such a unique take on SEO that it makes everyone stop and rethink what we think we know. He will be missed.
Few people make as big an impact on the SEO industry as @bill_slawski. This place wouldn’t be the same without him.
I was speechless… without words! My friend, mon ami, my confidence in SEO, patents, algo’s, flowers, sunsets, sunrises, friends go to chat I’m lost?! You will miss Bill, R.I.P.❤️
Bill gives so much knowledge and love to the SEO community. Your enthusiasm and generosity will be sorely missed.
This is very sad news, thoughts to his family. And our industry lost a very valuable person, who gave so much knowledge to our huge SEO community around the world. Bill will leave a huge void. Thank you for your generosity!
Rest in peace, Num. We all miss you.
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About The Author
Danny Goodwin is the Senior Editor of Search Engine Land. Apart from writing daily on SEO, PPC and more for Search Engine Land, Goodwin also maintains a roster of Search Engine Land subject matter experts. He also helped program our conference series, SMX – Search Marketing Expo. Prior to joining Search Engine Land, Goodwin was Executive Editor at Search Engine Journal, where he led editorial initiatives for the brand. He has also been an editor at Search Engine Watch. He has spoken at many major search conferences and virtual events, and his expertise is sourced from numerous publications and podcasts.