Search Marketing Expo West

Level: ANY
Focus: All

General

Keynote – The State Of The Search Union – We’ve just come through the most turbulent period in history for search marketers. Economic disruption, massive algorithm updates, the disappearance of a major player through consolidation with one of its former competitors… these events and others have reshaped the search landscape, creating both challenges and opportunities for search marketers. On this panel we’ve assembled some of the sharpest minds in search to discuss where things stand and where we’re going – you won’t want to miss the insights and recommendations from this group of super-savvy panelists.

Level: Beginner
Focus: SEO

SEO Track

Link Building Fundamentals – Ever since Google created PageRank more than a decade ago, every good search marketer’s motto has been "I link, therefore I am." In fact, links are cited as four of the top five factors in the SEOMoz 2009 Search Engine Ranking Factors survey. And though linking seems easy, it’s a far more subtle art than most realize, and there are right and wrong ways to conduct a linking campaign. In this session, learn how to reach out and get quality links, how to craft anchor text to build authority, and how commonplace mistakes can destroy your web credibility (and search engine rankings).

Level: Advanced
Focus: PPC

Analytics & Conversion Track

Landing Pages & Multivariate Testing To Increase Conversions – You say ta-may-toe, I say toh-mah-toh… It’s easy to assume that the landing page you (or your boss) likes the best is best. But research conclusively demonstrates this is a false and a profit-limiting assumption. In this session, we’ll look at what happens when you test alternative versions of landing pages with multivariate testing tools –sometimes with surprising results that can lead to dramatic (we’re actually talking 100%+ or more, according to Google) increases in conversion.

Level: Intermediate
Focus: SEO

In House & Specialty SEM Track

Bringing SEO In House: How To Be Successful! – Thinking about bringing SEO in-house? You’re not alone. Half of the companies bringing SEO in house believe they can do a better job of search engine optimization than outsourcing this vital activity. Learn what it takes, challenges you’ll face, how to structure the team, the resources to use and how to ease the transition in this session.

Level: Intermediate
Focus: SEM

The Big Picture Track

Microsoft + Yahoo: What’s It All Mean? – After more than two years of courtship, Microsoft is now going to "do the heavy lifting" of providing both search results and search ads for Yahoo, while Yahoo focuses on "user experience" and selling to premium advertisers. So, can you simply optimize for Bing and buy adCenter ads to get optimal exposure on both? Not exactly. This panel explores the changes that are coming and the nuances search marketers need to take into account once the Microsoft Yahoo deal is finally consummated.

Level: Beginner
Focus: SEO

Clinic Track

SEO Site Clinic – This interactive session takes volunteers from the audience and examines their web sites live to provide general feedback about improving them to gain more traffic from search engines.

Level: Intermediate
Focus: SEO

SEO Track

Ask The Search Engines – You’ve heard the lingo: page rank sculpting, duplicate content penalties, canonical tags, sitemap structure, nofollow… and if you’ve participated in Sphinn or other open search marketing forums you’ve also read wildly divergent explanations and interpretations of what it all means. In this session, you’ll get direct answers from engineers at search engines about crawling, indexing, ranking and other organic search issues.

Level: Advanced
Focus: All

Analytics & Conversion Track

Measuring How Search Ads Drive Offline Conversions – ROBO – This Terminator-like acronym actually means "research online, buy offline." Despite the fact that well over 90% of all purchases are made at brick and mortar stores, a study by Yahoo and comScore found that consumers exposed to online retail marketing campaigns were more engaged and spent more dollars in physical stores than otherwise. Good news – but how do you measure the effectiveness of your search marketing campaigns that drive offline sales – and more importantly, justify and increase your search marketing budget going forward? This session looks at tools and attribution models that can help you make sure you (and your finance people!) are giving credit where credit is due.

Level: Intermediate
Focus: PPC

In House & Specialty SEM Track

Bringing PPC In House: How To Be Successful! – For many organizations, there’s a natural tension between internal marketing teams and the agencies they use to manage search marketing campaigns. To resolve this tension, or to better control costs, some organizations bring their paid search function in house. But there are challenges to the do-it-yourself approach, most notably the constant attention required monitor competitive campaign management issues. This session focuses on the best practices (and mistakes to avoid) to ensure your in house paid search campaign meets or exceeds all of your marketing goals.

Level: ANY
Focus: All

The Big Picture Track

Mystery Search Science Theater – We’re reserving this session for the inevitable last-minute topic that everyone will be hungering for information about. What is it? We won’t know until just before the conference, but you can be sure our panelists will offer the most current, actionable information available.

Level: Beginner
Focus: PPC

Clinic Track

PPC Tune-up Clinic with the SMX Mechanics – Just like your favorite old car, PPC campaigns can use a tune-up every now and then to keep them running well. In this hands-on clinic, our certified (and certifiable!) SMX PPC Mechanics will offer you their best expert advice on your PPC ads, bidding tactics, or anything else on your mind. Bring your toughest PPC questions! Based loosely on the hilarious jovial NPR radio show, Car Talk, this session is guaranteed to be as fun as it is informative!

Level: Intermediate
Focus: SEO

SEO Track

Ask The SEOs – In this no-holds-barred, all-questions-welcome session, Powerpoint-free session, you’ll get a 360 degree view of cutting-edge thinking and get SEO advice from some of the most respected search engine optimizers in the business.

Level: Intermediate
Focus: All

Analytics & Conversion Track

Analytics Action Plans For PPC & SEO – More than 90% of all search marketers are using an analytics solution of some kind, according Marketing Sherpa research. But all too often, the insights provided by search analytics languishes in ignored reports, yielding little meaningful support for PPC spending and SEO effort. Too bad, because effective use of analytics significantly boosts click throughs, conversions, return on ad spend and dozens of other metrics that may be important to your organization. But to benefit fully from your analytics solution, you need to create meaningful action plans based on data. Speakers in this session will offer case studies from their own successful analytics-driven search marketing action plans.

Level: Advanced
Focus: All

In House & Specialty SEM Track

The B2B Search Marketing Challenge – The basics of search marketing are similar, whether reaching out to consumers or businesses. But B2B search marketers face some unique challenges, including measuring effectiveness when buying cycles are long and attributing credit to marketing channels. Learn successful techniques for stepping up to the B2B search marketing plate, and closing sales, even over extended periods.

Level: Intermediate
Focus: All

The Big Picture Track

Search Behavior: Using Research To Improve Results – Are you a one-person focus group when crafting search campaigns? There are more effective approaches…approaches that recognize the diversity searchers, their information needs and behaviors. Attribution modeling, eye tracking studies, and persona development are just some of the results-enhancing searcher behavior research methods and their uses discussed that will be discussed in this session.

Level: Beginner
Focus: SEO

Clinic Track

Link Building Clinic – his interactive session takes volunteers from the audience and examines their questions about link building by going live to the web to seek answers and examples.

Level: Intermediate
Focus: SEO

SEO Track

Ask The Link Builders – So what’s the real scoop with link building in 2010? Can reciprocal links actually hurt your rankings? Do link building tools work, or is it still necessary to slog through time-consuming and tedious manual link building efforts? You’ll get a wide diversity of opinions from our panelists, who are all expert link-builders and each bring deeply seasoned approaches to this most fundamental yet vitally important search marketing activity.

Level: Intermediate
Focus: PPC

Analytics & Conversion Track

Conversion Ninja Toolbox – A Review of Tools & Technologies – Testing alternative landing page content can dramatically increase conversion rates. But how do you know what to test? A number of powerful, inexpensive and easy-to-use new tools now make the process much easier. Learn the secrets of the pros by seeing a rapid-fire review of the best conversion improvement tools and technologies.

Level: Advanced
Focus: All

In House & Specialty SEM Track

Social Media, Search & Reputation Management – When Digg, Facebook, Twitter and other "social media" sites first emerged, they weren’t associated with search. Connecting the dots, marketers realized that popular content was being prominently indexed and social media sites were bestowing inbound links. Then the"ah-ha" moment, when search marketers realized they could influence front-page search results by "pushing" social media sites into top position, or manage negative publicity by getting social communities to "vote" for more favorable content and effectively decrease the exposure of naysayers. In this session you’ll learn techniques for managing your online reputation to drive traffic and preserve your reputation in a crisis.

Level: Intermediate
Focus: All

The Big Picture Track

Thorny Legal Issues: What’s Happening and Why Should You Care? – Is using a competitor’s trademark in your ads or landing page copy OK or not? What kind of privacy issues are bubbling up around things like using cookies or tracking pixels to retarget searchers based on their search history? How are other countries legislating search marketing and privacy? This comprehensive update examines the hot-button legal issues and what search marketers need to know to protect themselves and their clients.

Level: Beginner
Focus: SEM

Clinic Track

Twitter Clinic – This interactive session takes volunteers from the audience and examines their questions about reaching their audience and the opportunities available at Twitter by going live to the web to seek answers and examples.