Best of Search Conferences 2008: Day 3

Welcome to the final day of the Best of Search Conferences 2008! How’s everyone feeling? It is New Year’s Eve, ya know. And you totally deserve tonight’s champagne after all the hard learnin’ we just put you through. If you skipped out on the first two days, well, it’s not too late to catch up.

Like any good conference host, I’m going to start off the day with a bit of housekeeping. At Bruce Clay, Inc. we’re celebrating the last day of 2008 not only with the finale of our Best of Search Con but also with a special episode of SEM Synergy. Tune in today to WebmasterRadio.fm at 3 p.m. Eastern to hear guest Barry Schwartz give listeners an industry insider’s take on 2008. Barry has been reporting on the industry for, like, forever in search years and offers an insightful look at trends and developments in the last year.

Also on SEM Synergy, Bruce gives us a preview of his predictions for the coming year (a taste of which you saw at PubCon), with more details coming in the January issue of the SEO Newsletter. And finally, Bruce Clay, Inc. is proud to announce that in 2009 we will be offering three SEOToolSet Training courses in New York!

Alright, thanks for sticking with me. Now, on with the show!

Keynotes

The Coca-Cola Marketing Metrics Journey, Part 2 – eMetrics Summit San Francisco, May 4-7
Speaker: Tim Goudie

• Even the world’s biggest brands, like Coke, see ups and downs in the online marketplace. The important thing is to keep learning and evolving as you go.
• Data can be political, but giving everyone access to the data creates clarity and transparency in an organization. As good of a tool data is, it means nothing without the right analysis.
• Coca-Cola created a framework to continually measure brand health, brand advocacy, volume, media value, and marketing productivity. Make sure your metrics get at the fundamental objective of the business.

Keynote – Click: What Search Activity Tells Us About Society – SMX East, Oct. 6-8
Speaker: Bill Tancer

• Search queries are a window into human interests and can tell you more about an individual than they might tell you themselves. For instance, the fears most reported by those polled do not match the fears most searched for in a sample of 25 million Internet users.
• Intent is a factor that needs to be considered when making predictions based on searcher behavior. Tancer predicted third-place finalist Stacey Keibler would win Dancing with the Stars based on spiking searchers for the model’s name. The problem was that searchers looking for images of Keibler were likely not voting for the contestant on the show.
• Follow the early adopters — Young Digerati, Money & Brains and the Bohemian Mix — for emerging trends.

All About Analytics

Top Takeaways:

• The process of analytics is to gather a report, analyze the data, optimize the content, and measure the change. You must have clearly defined goals beforehand otherwise measurements are useless.
• Create a document like Lippay’s “grid”. Include keywords, number of searches, conversion metrics ($ per PV, LTV, etc.), PPC data, paid inclusion (PI), algo, and search engine CTR by position. With this you can balance SEO, PPC and PI, find SEO referral gaps, find SEO content opportunities, and make traffic and value projections.
• On-site search can act as a productive data point. Searchers actively engaged in your site offer more data which leads to more opportunities for success.
• Segmentation is an essential part of analyzing your traffic. People aren’t moving through your site with the same motive and you should be able to track that.
• The 3 Cs of Analytics are context, comparison, and contrast. Key main performance indicators (KPIs) are the time spent on the site, pages viewed, conversion rate, and cost and revenue of the visitor.
• Act on analytics data by improving keyword list efficiency and breaking out the best terms for SEO vs. PPC.

Analytics Every SEO Needs to Know – SMX Advanced, June 2-3
Moderator: Rand Fishkin; Panelists: Brian Klais, Laura Lippay, Jonah Stein, and Richard Zwicky

On-Site Search as a Crystal Ball – eMetrics Summit San Francisco, May 4-7
Panelists: Daniel Shields and Phil Gibson

Identify, Analyze, Act – SES San Jose, Aug. 18-21
Moderator: Chris Boggs; Panelists: Craig Danuloff, Brian Cosgrove, Heather Dougherty, Michael Stebbins, and Brett Crosby
Actionable Organic Search Analytics – eMetrics San Francisco, May 4-7
Moderator: Mike; Panelists: Matt Bailey and Diane Hoag

Legal Considerations

Top Takeaways:

• Trademark policies in the U.S. are different for each search engine. Google allows bidding on trademarks but does not allow the trademark to be used in the ad copy. Outside of the U.S. Google does not allow advertisers to bid on trademarks.
• The Communications Decency Act says that online authors and not publishers are liable for whatever they write. The law was meant to encourage publication and keep things from turning too defamatory online.
• Google is nearing a monopoly on search advertising market share. A monopoly is not illegal; the problem arises when a company tries to exploit its power to discourage competition.
• Have a contract with your consultants and clients specifying who owns what. Protect your property with management options if your consultant has access to any of your accounts.
• Behaviorally targeted ads raise the question of data ownership. The data is owned by the pary the consumer knowingly and willingly gave the data. Sharing of data requires opt-in consumer permission.

Legally Speaking: Recent Legal News About Search (February) – SMX West, Feb. 26-28
Moderator: Jeffrey Rohrs; Panelists: Clarke Walton, Sarah Bird, and Eric Goldman

Trademark Issues: What SEMs Should Know – SES San Jose, Aug. 18-21
Moderator: Jeffrey Rohrs; Panelists: Mark Rosenberg, April Wurster, and Eric Goldman

Googleopoly – SMX East, Oct. 6-8
Moderator: Jeffrey Rohrs; Panelists: James Grimmelmann, Shelly Palmer, Kevin Ryan, and Jimmy Wales

Legally Speaking: Recent Legal News About Search (October) – SMX East, Oct. 6-8
Moderator: Jeffrey Rohrs; Panelists: Mark Rosenberg, Jonathan Hochman, Roy Shkedi, and Deborah Wilcox

Advanced SEO

Top Takeaways:

• Link building tools include Link Harvester, Hub Finder, the Langreiter Tool, Search Status Tool, Google Alerts, and the Utility Linking Tool.
• The next generation link building strategies are link bait, article writing and content targeting.
• Mine your existing backlinks for opportunities to improve the anchor text. Start building a relationship with the site manager/owner.
• While it is irresponsible to use black hat SEO techniques on clients, the ethical nature of techniques often comes down to intent (for example, cloaking).
• Paid links aren’t evil — they’re advertising. The Web is made for commerce. The line is drawn when the intent of buying links is to increase ranking factors.

Give It Up – SMX Advanced, June 3-4
Moderator: Danny Sullivan; Panelists: Rand Fishkin, Todd Friesen, Michael Gray, Rob Kerry, Marty Weintraub, and Stephan Spencer

Link Building Fundamentals – SMX East, Oct. 6-8
Moderator: Detlev Johnson; Panelists: Debra Mastaler and Eric Ward

Blow Your Mind: Link Building Techniques – SMX Advanced, June 3-4
Moderator: Greg Boser; Panelists: Jay Young, Stephan Spencer, Roger Montti, and Todd Friesen

Black Hat, White Hat: Playing Dirty with SEO – SES San Jose, Aug. 18-21
Moderator: Matt Bailey; Panelists: Bruce Clay, David Naylor, Jill Whalen, Greg Boser, and Todd Friesen

Advanced PPC

Top Takeaways:

• If you plan to target long tail terms, first bid on the most relevant keywords to build relevancy and then add less-relevant terms later on. This helps to establish a higher Quality Score.
• A granular search campaign will show the most targeted, relevant ads and receive a higher Quality Score. Be sure to send users to the most relevant landing page.
• When optimizing landing pages, remove banner ads, entry pop-ups and cluttered design.
• Use a variety of sources to create your keyword list. Use tools, the Web site, print material and press releases. But when researching potential keywords internally, be cautious of jargon.
• Segment your audience through the ads they click on. Think about who they are, how they reached you, and the location they come from.

Amazing New PPC Tactics – SMX Advanced, June 3-4
Moderator: Matt Van Wagner; Panelists: Addie Conner, Stanislas Di Vittorio, Siddarth Shah, David Szetela, and Natala Menezes

Landing Page Testing and Tuning – SES New York, Mar. 17-20
Moderator: Sage Lewis; Panelist: Tim Ash

Advanced Keyword Research Techniques – SMX East, Oct. 6-8
Moderator: Gordon Hotchkiss; Panelists: Christine Churchill, Ariel Bardin, and Marty Weintraub

Search 4.0: Search Ads and Behavioral Targeting – SMX West, Feb. 26-28
Moderator: Chris Sherman; Panelists: Kelly Gillease, David Kopp, Jonathan Mendez, and Natala Menezes

Happy 2009 everybody!

Virginia Nussey is the director of content marketing at MobileMonkey. Prior to joining this startup in 2018, Virginia was the operations and content manager at Bruce Clay Inc., having joined the company in 2008 as a writer and blogger.

See Virginia's author page for links to connect on social media.