Salman Baig

Head of SEO at Alibaba Group

Compiled from 1 recorded interview. Every statement below is drawn from the passage cited beside it.

Salman Baig is the Head of SEO at Alibaba Group. He was born in Sialkot and grew up in Peshawar. He was earlier head of SEO at ProPakistani and went on to his own agency, and he also ran a Peshawari chappal startup.

Early life and background

Baig was born in Sialkot and moved to Peshawar when he was three years old. He grew up in Peshawar. He says he speaks Pashto, Punjabi, Urdu and English, and that he comes from a middle-class family. [1]

He was in about eighth or ninth class around 2009 or 2010. He worked with his uncle, whose work included computer repairing, and says he installed Windows as part of his work with his uncle. He says he argued with his parents because he wanted to work. He says he was earning more than his parents. [1]

Education

Baig attended a school in Peshawar for his initial schooling. He enrolled at a business institute in Peshawar. He left the business institute midway, when he was already working in the industry. He stopped attending university when his first exam began. He says his parents were flexible about his decision to leave university, and that he funded his own education. [1]

Early online work and SEO

Baig says one early attempt brought in no money and he called it a scam. He learned about Google AdSense and blogging. He says he was part of a community whose members clicked on each other's ads on blogs to make money. His AdSense account was shut down one day. He then learned about SEO as a way to win organic clicks, and describes the early SEO methods he learned as shady. He says he did not take classes and learned by trial and error. [1]

In 2013 he came up with his own ranking factor for Google. He wrote a book. He started a test website to see whether the method in his book still worked. [1]

Peshawari chappal startup

Baig ran a Peshawari chappal startup. He says his business manufactured products, sold them online and exported them to the UAE, and that it had 20 to 25 employees and two or three warehouses. He says he had a partner. He says he took an exit while his partner might still be doing it, and that what he was doing had become a little too saturated for him. He says he always wanted to do digital business. [1]

ProPakistani

Baig joined ProPakistani as head of its SEO. He moved to Islamabad to work with ProPakistani. He was working on a second project at the same time as ProPakistani. He got to work on systems and processes at ProPakistani. He says he was featured on a website because of something he learned at ProPakistani, and says his growth was 200%. He left ProPakistani and went directly into his own agency. [1]

Agency

Baig says he and his team provided content and SEO services to international clients, and that his clients were all from abroad. He says he started a new service called SEO audits. He says the service gave clients a strategy to follow for six months and implement on their own. He left the agency after reaching a saturation point, doing the same work again and again. He says he left the agency because he did not see a future for himself there. [1]

Alibaba Group

Baig moved to Dubai to explore that market. He says he is head of the SEO department. The markets he names are Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar. He names Daraz in four countries and a site in Myanmar. He works on a website with 30 million pages. [1]

Views on SEO

Baig describes SEO as a set of things included when a search engine is built. He says SEO is completely free. He says a website must first genuinely help people before SEO tactics matter. He says people learn SEO in order to make money. He describes what is going on as superficial quackery. [1]

He says Google is never open about its algorithm and says he checks what Google registers. He says Google saves cost through machine learning. He says Google changed one of its modifiers in an update. [1]

He recommends taking SEO as a subject and a field. He recommends that beginners first learn basic SEO and how search engines work, and recommends learning natural language processing after basic SEO. He says SEO decisions must be backed by data. He says the SEO industry has never declined. [1]

Baig says Google has already integrated generative AI into its search results. He predicts Google will become a bot in the future. He predicts AI will change the SEO landscape within five to seven years. He says Google would not risk giving fake information while AI tools compete with it. [1]

He does not like AI content produced in bulk, such as 50,000 articles a day. He says AI can help with content, but the content must add value. He says the baseline is a website or a database. He says that without equity, you are not actually retaining users. He says people will still visit websites for a human experience among AI content. [1]

Timeline

2013
Came up with his own ranking factor for Google.[1]

Appearances

DateTitleWhere
2023-12-15 Most SEO in Pakistan is quackery — and AI will expose it Thought Behind Things

Frequently asked questions

Who is Salman Baig?

Salman Baig is the Head of SEO at Alibaba Group. He was born in Sialkot and grew up in Peshawar. He was earlier head of SEO at ProPakistani and went on to his own agency.[1]

What does Salman Baig do?

Salman Baig is the Head of SEO at Alibaba Group. He says he is head of the SEO department, and he works on a website with 30 million pages. He names Daraz in four countries and a site in Myanmar.[1]

Where is Salman Baig from?

Salman Baig was born in Sialkot. He moved to Peshawar when he was three years old and grew up in Peshawar.[1]

Where did Salman Baig study?

Salman Baig attended a school in Peshawar for his initial schooling and enrolled at a business institute in Peshawar. He left the business institute midway, when he was already working in the industry. He says he funded his own education.[1]

What businesses has Salman Baig run?

Salman Baig ran a Peshawari chappal startup, and he also ran his own agency. He says the chappal business manufactured products, sold them online and exported them to the UAE. He says he and his team provided content and SEO services to international clients.[1]

What did Salman Baig do at ProPakistani?

Salman Baig joined ProPakistani as head of its SEO. He moved to Islamabad to work with ProPakistani. He left ProPakistani and went directly into his own agency.[1]

What does Salman Baig think about AI and SEO?

Salman Baig says Google has already integrated generative AI into its search results. He predicts AI will change the SEO landscape within five to seven years. He says AI can help with content, but the content must add value.[1]

References

  1. Most SEO in Pakistan is quackery — and AI will expose it . Thought Behind Things , 2023-12-15.
Show the source passages (83 statements)
  1. Salman Baig is the Head of SEO at Alibaba Group. Salman Baig is the Head of SEO at Alibaba Group.
  2. He was born in Sialkot. I was born in Sialkot.
  3. He moved to Peshawar when he was three years old. When I was three years old, I moved to Peshawar.
  4. He grew up in Peshawar. And I spent, I was, I'm grown up in Peshawar, I would say.
  5. He says he speaks Pashto, Punjabi, Urdu and English. So I can speak Pashto as well as Punjabi, as well as Urdu, English.
  6. He attended a school in Peshawar for his initial schooling. Peshawar mein there was FG school where I started my initial school.
  7. He enrolled at a business institute in Peshawar. I joined this university, IMS Sciences in Peshawar, which is a business institute in Peshawar.
  8. He left the business institute midway, when he was already working in the industry. I left it in the middle because when I joined the university, toh usse pehle hi I was in the in the industry.
  9. He stopped attending university when his first exam began. So jis din pehla exam tha, us din se maine jaana band kar diya tha.
  10. He says his parents were flexible about his decision to leave university. So they were very flexible.
  11. He says he argued with his parents because he wanted to work. meri ammi aur abbu ke saath badi behas hoti thi is baat pe ke main kaam karna chahta tha
  12. He says he was earning more than his parents. I was making more money than my parents.
  13. He was in about eighth or ninth class around 2009 or 2010. I was in the probably 8th or 9th class. 2009-10?
  14. He worked with his uncle, whose work included computer repairing. I used to work with my mamu. Unki you know, computer repairing and is tarah ka unka kaam tha.
  15. He says he installed Windows as part of his work with his uncle. unko windows mein install karke deta tha
  16. He says one early attempt brought in no money and he called it a scam. Toh usmein paise-shaisse nahi aaye. Maine kaha yeh toh scam hai.
  17. He learned about Google AdSense and blogging. then I got to know ke Google AdSense hota hai, blogging hoti hai
  18. He says he was part of a community whose members clicked on each other's ads on blogs to make money. Toh we had a community jahan par hum na ek dusre ke blogs pe jaake ads pe click karte the to make money.
  19. His AdSense account was shut down one day. one day I woke up and mera AdSense account band ho gaya.
  20. He then learned about SEO as a way to win organic clicks. Toh phir mujhe pata chala there is a thing SEO, jisse organically aap lekar aa sakte hain clicks
  21. He describes the early SEO methods he learned as shady. toh woh itne shady tareeke the.
  22. In 2013 he came up with his own ranking factor for Google. So 2013 mein I came up with my own ranking factor of Google.
  23. He wrote a book. Phir I I wrote a book. Uska naam tha The Time-Roid Technique.
  24. He ran a Peshawari chappal startup. Un dino mein mera ek startup chal raha tha, Peshawari chappal ka.
  25. He says his business manufactured products, sold them online and exported them to the UAE. we used to manufacture, sell it online, sell it, even exported to UAE.
  26. He says his business had 20 to 25 employees and two or three warehouses. hamare paas 20, 25 employees the, do, teen warehouses the, manufacturing thi.
  27. He says he had a partner. I had a partner with me, but hum apna hi tha.
  28. He says he took an exit while his partner might still be doing it. I just took an exit, while my partner might still be doing it.
  29. He says what he was doing had become a little too saturated for him. because that was getting a little too saturated for me
  30. He says he always wanted to do digital business. main chahta tha ki main hamesha digital business karoon
  31. He started a test website to see whether the method in his book still worked. Maine is tarah ki website ek shuru ki thi experiment ke taur pe, ki yaar dekhta hoon ki woh mera jo maine kitaab jis pe likhi hai, Time Rod, aaj bhi valid hai ki nahi.
  32. He joined ProPakistani as head of its SEO. Then I joined ProPakistani as a head of their SEO
  33. He moved to Islamabad to work with ProPakistani. I joined ProPakistani and I moved to Islamabad with them
  34. He was working on a second project at the same time as ProPakistani. while I was doing Pro Pakistani and while I was doing Baaz.pk
  35. He got to work on systems and processes at ProPakistani. ProPakistani mein I got to work on those things
  36. He says he was featured on a website because of something he learned at ProPakistani. Uske baad I also got featured in Backlinko because of the same thing which I learned in ProPakistani.
  37. He says his growth was 200%. Toh main 200% meri growth hui, 200% and it's a very authentic because it is featured in Backlinko.
  38. He left ProPakistani and went directly into his own agency. jab I quit Pro Pakistani, I went directly into it
  39. He says he and his team provided content and SEO services to international clients. So we used to provide content and SEO services to the international clients.
  40. He says he started a new service called SEO audits. I started this one new service, iska naam tha SEO audits.
  41. He says the service gave clients a strategy to follow for six months and implement on their own. this is the strategy you have to follow for six months and you have to implement it on your own
  42. He says his clients were all from abroad. Saare bahar ke clients.
  43. He left the agency after reaching a saturation point, doing the same work again and again. I hit a saturation point ki main ek hi kaam baar baar kar raha hota tha.
  44. He says he left the agency because he did not see a future for himself there. mujhe why I left the agency was ki I did not see the future na
  45. He moved to Dubai to explore that market. I came to Dubai. I just wanted to explore this market.
  46. He says he is head of the SEO department. I am head of their SEO department.
  47. The markets he names are Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar.
  48. He names Daraz in four countries and a site in Myanmar. Inki shop MM is in Myanmar and in the four countries it's Daraz.
  49. He works on a website with 30 million pages. on a website jiske 30 million pages hain, imagine.
  50. He says he comes from a middle-class family. I come from a middle class family myself.
  51. He says he funded his own education. Maine apni education khud fund ki hui hai.
  52. He says he did not take classes and learned by trial and error. humne koi classes classes nahi li, humne maar kha ke seekha.
  53. He says Google is never open about its algorithm. Google is never open about their algorithm.
  54. He says he checks what Google registers. But for the people like me who go and check ki kaun kaun si cheezein register kar rahe hain.
  55. He describes SEO as a set of things included when a search engine is built. SEO is nothing but a set of things that are included when you make a search engine.
  56. He says SEO is completely free. SEO is completely free.
  57. He says a website must first genuinely help people before SEO tactics matter. Pehle toh aapne logon ko help karni hai, sach mein.
  58. He describes what is going on as superficial quackery. Bas woh upri upri quackery hai, chal rahi hai.
  59. He says people learn SEO in order to make money. SEO seekhne ke liye paise banane ke liye seekhte hain
  60. He recommends taking SEO as a subject and a field. you take it as a subject. It's a field.
  61. He recommends that beginners first learn basic SEO and how search engines work. So to start, what I recommend more of a game plan for the people ki aap pehle sabse pehle basic SEO seekh lein
  62. He recommends learning natural language processing after basic SEO. After that you understand natural language processing, NLP.
  63. He says Google saves cost through machine learning. That how Google saves the cost basically based on machine learning.
  64. He says SEO decisions must be backed by data. It has to be backed by data.
  65. He says Google has already integrated generative AI into its search results. They have already integrated generative AI in the search engine
  66. He predicts Google will become a bot in the future. In the future, Google is going to become a bot.
  67. He predicts AI will change the SEO landscape within five to seven years. Maybe in five years, six years, seven years, lekin AI is going to change this whole SEO game for sure
  68. He says Google would not risk giving fake information while AI tools compete with it. Google will never take a risk to give fake information in in in the era jahan par ChatGPT, jahan par AI aa gaya hai, jo ki unke direct competitors hain.
  69. He says Google changed one of its modifiers in an update. Google ki update aayi ki Google ne apne ek modifier change kiya
  70. He does not like AI content produced in bulk, such as 50,000 articles a day. So wo bulk mein din ke 50,000 articles. I don't like that shit.
  71. He says AI can help with content, but the content must add value. ke AI aapki help kar sakta hai content mein, aapne usko use karein but usse value zaroor aani chahiye
  72. He says the baseline is a website or a database. Baseline yeh hai ke koi website hai ya koi koi bhi database hai
  73. He says that without equity, you are not actually retaining users. Because if you have no equity, you are not actually retaining user.
  74. He says people will still visit websites for a human experience among AI content. there will be a human experience in the ocean of AI
  75. He says the SEO industry has never declined. SEO ki industry kabhi bhi down nahi hui. Kabhi bhi decline mein nahi hui.
  76. He says no one is doing SEO in Pakistan. Pakistan mein no one is doing SEO.
  77. He says the first page is enough for an ordinary person. ordinary bande ke liye pehla page kaafi hai
  78. He says he would beat Daraz any given day. I'll beat Daraz any given day.
  79. He says small sites can beat ProPakistani any given day, in his opinion and experience. These small guys can beat ProPakistani any given day, in my opinion and in my experience.
  80. He predicts Pakistan will be where India was ten years ago by 2050. Pakistan is going to become how India was 10 years back in 2050
  81. He predicts value-driven businesses will begin to emerge in Pakistan by 2030. 2030 tak mujhe yeh nazar aa raha hai ke value driven businesses will begin to emerge.
  82. He says he is a long-time fan of ProPakistani. Pro Pakistani ko main personally, I mean I've been a huge fan.
  83. He says leapfrogging more often than not does not happen. Leapfrogging more often than not does not happen.