The word “ninja” gets uttered a lot here in the Distilled office. As an outsider, I don’t know - perhaps they all have fly-by-night jobs where they go out, chasing baddies and saving the world... or it simply means being kick-ass awesome at doing SEO. Whatever, peaking in the “ninjahood” seems the ultimate goal, I mean, look how much ninjas are getting meantioned. Ninjas are covert and highly-effective. They’ll tell you what they’re going to do, without the how. They're dark, mysterious and highly-dangerous... kinda like SEOs, although SEO ninjas’ weapons of choice are software and spreadsheets and not crazy maces and stuff, and generally slightly more friendly than an assasin.

My names Ed, I’m 16 and I’ve landed the somewhat perfect position of getting a two-week taster of the SEO industry from right inside the Distilled office in London. There has been no better time to join. Besides taking over the Mozzers consultancy in Seattle, they’re also hiring lots at the moment here in the London office, so I actually started along with two new trainees this week who are learning mastering SEO from scratch. What’s interesting is watching them learn fast, learning new SEO ninja skills myself and watching the seasoned pro’s around me working. It's wicked.

Based on my own journey, reading how Rand rose in SEO ninjaness and watching the Distilled trainees learn SEO at breakneck speed, I’ve produced a timeline of how SEOs learn SEO until they reach the ultimate goal of "ninjaness".

Baby SEO

Remember when you first ‘discovered’ SEO? So perhaps you’ve read or heard somewhere about ranking high, the shear of traffic you can get, and I suppose the monetary pay-off -- and you find it really interesting. That’s it -- you’ve been baited, and you’re now destined to follow the path of growing up in the ninjahood.

You’re probably reading lots of different blogs and forums, following all kinds of links to different articles, tools and videos. You’re in discovery mode and you’re absorbing it all. Perhaps you’re dreaming about the kinds of sites and pages you’re gonna create - which, of course, will soar to #1.

Adolescent SEO

As you read more and more, you’ll find you consolidate your reading of a couple of blogs and resources. I regularly follow SEOmoz and Distilled, but there are others out their like Search Engine Land and Search Engine Watch. The SEO community is really engaging; sooner or later you find yourself asking and answering questions on forums, commenting on blogs and getting involved in conversations.

For some of you, this may lead the “rambling” stage. You maybe blog about SEO, referencing other cool articles and ninjas - but probably not really anything new or useful (a kinda “retweet” to yourself”. However...

This rambling stage is a key learning ground - posting your thoughts publicly makes you think twice, even if you don’t really have an audience. What you are writing isn’t so much genuine, authoritative content -- but a documentary of your learning. You’ll look back and laugh in years to come yes, but that stage will be the foundations of everything you do in the future.

Some of Rand's early posts on SEOmoz ~2005 were largely chewing over other peoples stuff: -  

https://moz.rankious.com/_moz/blog/dont-like-a-result-in-the-serps-hijack-it
https://moz.rankious.com/_moz/blog/age-of-websites
https://moz.rankious.com/_moz/blog/duplicate-content-penalties
https://moz.rankious.com/_moz/blog/ordered-my-new-laptop-today 

I’ve produced some regurgitated adsense-strewn SEO drivel too; am I ashamed? I cringe, but I am still learning.

As your SEO ninja skills begin to mature you eventually become a...

Ninja Student SEO

You’re now really getting quite serious about this whole business - ready to invest some money into it, attending conferences, buying more and more SEO books and perhaps subscribing to SEOmoz PRO. By now, you’ll definitely be competent in the field of SEO. If an ‘outsider’ were to ask you “erm, how do I get my website to rank at Google”, not only will you be able to tell them how, but also be able to list resources and tools to help them. Heck, you’re a “casual consultant”.

Networking is important. Conferences and face-to-face meetings are perhaps one of the best ways to get to know people personally, although there are plenty of other ways to network with A-listers.

Traits of an SEO ninja

As an SEO ninja, you’ll probably be working in the SEO industry, perhaps as an in-house specialist, or part of a consultancy agency, or working on your own online business. You’re an excel ninja and may also be Google Qualified in various different areas. Blogging, forum posting or other heavy participating in the SEO industry are a pretty much everyday occurrence. And you’ll almost certainly wear odd clothes (more of this later).

Black Belt Club

You aren't just an SEO ninja, but a leader of ninjas; keynoting conferences, blogging regular "game-changing" content and joining in the community banter, you've probably reached the top of the field - probably.

So where are You?

If you’re a ‘baby SEO’ there’s tonnes of resources on SEOmoz. For starters, the recently relaunched Beginner's Guide to SEO. The SEOmoz and YOUmoz blogs are both free to subscribe to via RSS.

(If you're new to RSS feeds, click on the little orange icon to the top right of the blog pages and then click on the iGoogle button. I set iGoogle as my homepage so the latest posts and information I want to see are there whenever I open a new browser. Very convenient)

Get a book. Trust me, books are probably the most in-depth and complete resources that are affordable and easy to get. This is because a publisher typically will seek out experts, who will write down their best content. This then goes past an editor. Then it is sold for peanuts since books are considered a commodity. That’s great news for us!

Having at least one “complete reference book” (the type that you dog ear and keep on your desk at all times) is pretty important. These kind of books aren’t necessarily the type you’d read cover-to-cover, but instead pick out a specific section as and when you need it - e.g. Keyword research.

I’ve bought a fair number of SEO books, but the most complete, thorough and practical is, IMHO, The Art of SEO. Authored by four SEO industry experts including Eric Enge (President, Stone Temple Consulting) and some guy called Rand, its got over 600 pages of ninja-knowledge. Start with this one.

Adolescent SEO

Focus on one or two blogs and forums, joining in the conversations there. Use the information to come up with your own SEO strategy for your website or blog:

• Brainstorm keywords
• Review your website
• Create a link-getting strategy
• Engage in social media optimization
• Evaluate your analytics

If you're serious, consider investing some money in it. Try and get to a conference (relax! some of them are free). Grow your libary of books on search marketing. Consider signing up to SEOmoz PRO - simple tools like the Juicy Link Finder can save you so much time, even if you're just playing around with a blog for an hour every Saturday, your time is worth far more doing less manual work. If you're a regular Whiteboard Friday viewer, you'll love the PRO videos and PRO guides, and on top of that, you get Q&As to go and badger the best brains in the industry. Pretty awesome huh?

Student SEO Ninja

A student SEO needs to get a job or business. The best careers advice I’ve heard is “do something you love and get someone to pay you for it”. Jobs in SEO consulting or as an in-house SEO. Danny Dover, now presenting Whiteboard Fridays started as an intern at SEOmoz. He's posted a step-by-step example of how he got his foot in the door - he's now a proper SEO ninja, and soon to be published author **ooooh**.

A couple of ancillary extras you might also want to consider:

• Turn your "rambling blog" into an industry authority
• Become an Excel Ninja
• Wear odd clothes

SEO ninja

If you’re already an authority blogger, getting the chance to speak at conferences and meet-ups. It'll grow your credibility, which will inevitably lead to opportunities for clients and banter. And for heavens sake learn to play chess. It’s popular to meet up with other SEOs before work for a game of chess - the Google Calenders here at Distilled document dozens of chess games before work. But if you’re no good, your ninja ambitions will fall flat on your face.

Black Belt SEO Ninja

If you’re doing keynotes at top conferences, regularly blogging across the industry’s heavyweights and playing chess, then you could probably feel happy giving SEO a big tick - perhaps... Even though SEO is a rapidly moving industry, you’ll likely be at the forefront of it still, having reached critical mass. You probably run or are part of an SEO consultancy.

But life surely doesn’t stop there. Looking from a broader perspective, SEO is part of search marketing, which is part of online marketing, which is part of marketing - which in turn is part of running a business. So there’s plenty of other skills to try and master, CRO - stuff which you may have dabbled with but never really (really) got your teeth stuck into.

I’d love to become a copywriting jedi. I find that stuff really interesting - but that's a whole other story...

• What’s your story?
• What’s your next step?
• Any other conspiracy theories about SEO ninjas?

P.S. Working in the Distilled office is pretty awesome. The Distilled crew really are experts - word hard, play hard types who are also a great laugh and really interesting to talk to. I've been doing all sorts of different ninja skills; keyword research, link building, managing a twitter account, creating mockup homepages on Balsamiq for a Distilled client as well as working through some of the SEOmoz PRO materials. It rates highly on the splendid scale.

P.P.S Oh, and Tom Critchlow (Head of Search) and I are preparing a wicked cool Moz post on converstion rate optimization -- keep y'all eyes peeled!

Image credits: http://idealismodebuteco.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/como-reconhecer-filhos-de-geeks/ http://blogs.suburbanchicagonews.com/sportsbeacon/2008/09/