Our dynamic management team brings combined expertise and experience that enables us to provide innovative and effective search marketing solutions to our clients.

Dev Basu – CEO and Chief Search Marketing Strategist

Dev founded Powered by Search after having worked in multiple roles in the search marketing industry for agencies, in-house firms, and as an individual consultant. Dev heads up Powered by Search’s SEO & Social Media operations and focuses on educating enterprise and SMB clients on the value of search marketing as a key business driver. He also speaks at conferences such as Search Engine Strategies and blogs on the topic of Local Search and Small business marketing at his personal blog, Search Marketing Insights. He is also 1 of 3 Canadian participants to the industry cited Local Search Ranking Factors study, a survey pooling the opinions of several industry experts on the topic of ranking factors related to local search.

As an evangelist of Search Marketing, Dev has also contributed to 4^th year marketing courses at the University of Toronto, where he is guest lectures classes of 40-70 students on building a foundation in SEO as a technical and marketing art, followed by an introduction into SEO as a career stream. Dev received his Bachelor in Business Administration (Marketing) from the University of Toronto.

Vlad Rascanu – SEO Specialist

Vlad is joined the team as an SEO Specialist having previously worked on several marketing campaigns in the financial, telecommunications, and consumer products industries. Vlad is looking to use his experience to develop profitable online strategies for Powered by Search’s numerous clients. Vlad graduated from University of Toronto with his Bachelor of Business Administration, specializing in Marketing. Some may describe Vlad as a geek for winning an Ontario chess competition, others may describe him as a critical thinker and problem solver for winning several consulting competitions.

Dustin Heap - SEO & SEM Specialist

After first learning about search marketing in his quest to rule the blogosphere Dustin has since held various positions within the industry. These positions have ranged from an internship at a search marketing agency, free lance work for a start up and as a marketing analyst for an online health company in NYC. As such Dustin has a wide range of skills that enable him to help drive ROI positive results across a number of industries.  Dustin also continues to be an avid learner and reader of all things internet marketing. He hopes to one day use his acquired skills to make a significant impact in the world – whether it be philanthropic, religious, political or all of the above. Dustin graduated from the Honours Bachelors of Business Administration program from Wilfrid Laurier University with a concentration in Brand Communication.

Our Paid Search Partners, Bloom Search Marketing

Xurxo Vidal – Paid Search Strategist

An accomplished search marketer adept at creating and managing highly-competitive, complex and large-scale pay-per-click campaigns. Prior to co-founding Bloom he successfully managed, the multi-million dollar PPC campaigns of a leading luxury villa rental and yacht charter company. Additionally, he expertly managed campaigns for such diverse industries as beauty and home decor, car rentals, industrial manufacturing and enterprise software solutions.

His exceptional track record of successful campaign management and an ability to quickly turn around a campaign’s poor performance is based on his philosophy of continuous improvement, dedication to clients’ success and a drive to excel at his trade. Armed with a keen sense of business, Xurxo offers a rare blend of creative and operational talents. His own diverse work background allows him to better understand clients’ unique needs and how to best integrate search marketing to meet their goals.

Xurxo is a certified Google Advertising Professional as well as a Yahoo Ambassador. He received his BComm in Management from the John Molson School of Business (Concordia University) located in multi-cultural Montreal, Canada.

Martin Perron – Paid Search Strategist

An experienced marketer with a keen understanding of how various offline and online marketing strategies interconnect and support each other. His comprehensive experience in integrating search marketing as part of an online marketing strategy has a significant impact in maximizing clients’ ability to yield positive returns from the use of search marketing.

Prior to co-founding Bloom, Martin was Director of Marketing of a leading luxury villa rental and yacht charter company where he was in charge of the interactive marketing including overseeing a multi-million search marketing budget. During his tenure as the Marketing Manager at a low cost airline start-up he was responsible for effectively managing innovative marketing strategies across a multi-channel media mix including interactive, search, TV, print, radio, experiential and billboards. Having worked both on the agency and client side, Martin is skillful at understanding client’s needs and expectations.

Well-versed and up-to-date with advanced PPC campaign management tactics, he is proficient at quickly identifying problems and finding solutions for them. In addition to Martin’s marketing expertise, he brings a wide array of highly diverse skill sets and experiences such as understanding web analytics, conversion tracking, web design and how these fit within a successful search campaign.

Martin is a certified Google Advertising Professional and a member of SEMPO. He received his BComm in Marketing with a minor in Finance from the John Molson School of Business (Concordia University) located in Montreal, Canada.