Search Marketing Expo this past February was a great experience, for all levels of SEO marketers: beginner, intermediate and advanced.
I met SEO marketers from all over the world and interestingly, I met quite a few people who work at Google. As I said to one 20 something new hire at Google: “So, what’s it like to work for the richest, most popular kid on the block?” I leave it up to you to guess his reply. It’s not too surprising Google sends its employees to the SMX. From Google’s standpoint, it wants to know what SEO marketers know and what they’re working on.
What impressed me about this conference is the blend of topics each day. By day three, I still wasn’t bored. But it doesn’t take much to excite me, considering my point of comparison: legal CLE’s at my local bar association where by mid afternoon, I usually need a third or fourth cup of coffee. Not so at SMX.
Here’s a list of my favorite sessions:
- Keyword Research & Copywriting for Search Success
- Link Building Fundamentals
- Paid Search Fundamentals
- Search Engine Friendly Web Design*
- Solving Problems and Seeing Success in Google Places
- SEO for Google Plus and Google Search
- Search Marketing and Competitive Analysis
- What Search Data Reveals About Customer Needs & Desires
*The session, Search Engine Friendly Web Design, was presented by Shari Thurow. Without saying much about her age, she’s been designing websites since before Al Gore invented the “internet.” The single most important book in her library, Search Patterns, is a must-read for any SEO marketer.
So what did I learn at SMX that pertains to lawyer marketing? Here are the top three things:
1. Google Plus is here to stay and Google will award faithful Plus followers with a thumbnail picture/headshot next to your meta description in search results. This of course, increases click through rate.
2. The best way to rank high in organic search results is an effective content writer.
3. Technical tip: the better you can match your anchor text to your title tag, the easier it is for Google to see the relevance.
I’m looking forward to SMX New York in October, 2012. Stay tuned for another review.