The world of web development progresses at the speed of sound - which means the search engine optimisation industry moves at the speed of light.

We've been working with Jay Stockwell for years (he was even in-house for a while back in the day!) as he's somewhat of a guru in the world of search and internet marketing, even creating his own pay-per click management product, Speed PPC.

Last week, he dropped by to give us an update on latest tips, advice and to answer some of our questions about SEO.

Google often changes its algorithm, the competition in the industry means 'best practice' can sometimes be hazy at best and everyone is looking for the fastest (and cheapest) way to skyrocket up the rankings.

We were pleased to hear Jay confirm that despite the constant advances and changes in the industry, optimising a site for search isn't as complex as it appears, provided you get the basics right. But onsite work is not the most important factor in driving traffic to a site by a long shot - it will only account for about 30% of a search ranking.

Regardless of what myriad of techniques are used to account for the the other 70% in offsite work to get users to arrive at a site, nasty onsite SEO can easily and quickly kill your ranking.

Jay's top tips include:

1. Avoid duplicate content at all costs (this one should be in caps and underlined)
2. Use theming as much as possible throughout your site structure and content
3. Name your images and all site assets in a google-readable manner
4. Site speed and usability are extremely important
5. Title tags are still integral, but meta keywords can be dropped.

Thanks Jay, we look forward to catching up with you again!

We recently (well, today) came across California is a Place, which is a collective of stories from the USA's Golden State.

Beautifully shot, with amazing stories which revolve around human connections, which are really the heart of a tale to remember.

'Uppercut' (shown above) is also extremely insightful take on the industry many of us work in, and the very different way some Silicon Valley 'geeks' deal with the stresses of their existence. The 'Aquadettes' clip in particular is a brilliant example of storytelling done to perfection.

View the California is a Place vimeo channel.