SMX West 2013 Full Conference Agenda March 11

SMX Boot Camp Track

SMX Boot Camp: Keyword Research & Copywriting For Search Success (#smx #11A)
The first step to any successful marketing campaign is to know your message. With search marketing that means understanding the search terms being used by your target audience. And though it sounds obvious, it helps to actually use those words in your web pages! This session covers the importance of textual content to search engines and how with some forethought, you can create HTML title tags and body copy that works to generate search traffic – and also pleases your human visitors.

SEO Track

Essential SEO Analytics: The Performance Metrics That Truly Count (#smx #11B)
Your boss or client may think top rankings are gold, but veteran SEOs know those stats are so 20th-century they’re virtually irrelevant. So how do you measure – and more importantly, prove – the value of your SEO activities, especially in the age of personalized, unique search results? Speakers in this session have promised to "open up their kimonos" and reveal the really useful, measurable techniques they use to demonstrate the value of their work.

Paid Search Track

Forget What You Know About PPC – Best Practices Debate (#smx #11D)
Think you know paid search? Does quality score really matter? Does targeting really get better with Google’s new ‘Enhanced’ Campaigns? Is account history sacrosanct? Is it really better to send people to product specific landing pages than a brand’s homepage? In this session, our panelists challenge commonly accepted best practices and provide evidence that what you “know” about paid search can actually work against you.

Mobile Track

Trends In Mobile Search (#smx #11C)
Mobile search has exploded, with people increasingly turning to their smart phones and tablets to find answers and make purchases. Our panelists in this session provide you with solid stats on how people are using mobile, predict growth trends, and discuss key aspects that are unique to mobile marketing such as optimizing for mobile, voice search, Google’s new introduction of “enhanced campaigns” and responsive design.

SMX Boot Camp Track

Solution Spotlight by Majestic SEO (10:45-10:50)
Solution Spotlights are brief introductions to relevant products and services offered by SMX exhibitors and sponsors.

SMX Boot Camp: Link Building Fundamentals (#smx #12A)
Ever since Google created PageRank, every good search marketer’s motto has been "I link, therefore I am." Though linking seems easy, it’s a far more subtle art than most realize, and there are right and wrong ways to conduct your linking campaign. In this session, we’ll look at how to reach out and get quality links, how to craft anchor text to build authority, and how to avoid commonplace mistakes that will hurt your web credibility (and search engine rankings).

SEO Track

Solution Spotlight by Covario (10:45-10:50)
Solution Spotlights are brief introductions to relevant products and services offered by SMX exhibitors and sponsors.

The Technical SEO Metrics You Should Care About (#smx #12B)
The greatest content in the world will never be ranked by search engines and seen by searchers if technical issues are keeping the site from being full crawled and indexed. But what metrics can help you determine what technical problems a site has and which are important? This session shows you what technical metrics portray the technical health of the site, how to determine what issues are critical and which don’t matter, how to calculate the ROI of making technical investments, and how to monitor technical changes that you make to ensure everything has been implemented correctly and is having positive impact.

Paid Search Track

Ready, Aim, Fire… Then Retarget! (#smx #12D)
If that visitor from your search ad doesn’t convert, retargeting (also called remarketing) allows you to keep your message in front of them as they visit other sites across the web. This session looks at how the pros are making use of retargeting to extend their reach and boost conversions. Learn the right and wrong ways for advertisers to stay on target.

Mobile Track

Solution Spotlight by Neustar Localeze (10:45-10:50)
Solution Spotlights are brief introductions to relevant products and services offered by SMX exhibitors and sponsors.

Being Found Through Mobile Apps (#smx #12C)
Most marketers recognize the increasing significance of mobile apps. Many developers are optimizing web pages to help their apps get found – but how, specifically, do you optimize an app so that it can be found in an app store, when you’re competing for attention with hundreds or possibly thousands of similar apps? This session looks at some of the most popular search-oriented apps and provides solid advice for creating "appilicious" content that’s more likely to be found by those not using traditional desktop search.

Plus Session Track 

What’s this?

Bing Ads: The Next Evolution In Search Advertising

This session is sponsored and produced by Bing. It is open to all SMX West attendees, including Expo+ Pass holders.

SMX Boot Camp Track

Solution Spotlight by DoubleClick Search by Google (1:30-1:35)
Solution Spotlights are brief introductions to relevant products and services offered by SMX exhibitors and sponsors.

SMX Boot Camp: Paid Search Fundamentals (#smx #13A)
Paid search allows you to generate traffic from search engines by purchasing ads, usually on a cost-per-click (CPC) or pay-per-click (PPC) basis. This session covers the basics of how to purchase placement from the major search engines, including best practices for success with your ads.

SEO Track

Solution Spotlight by Bruce Clay, Inc. (1:30-1:35)
Solution Spotlights are brief introductions to relevant products and services offered by SMX exhibitors and sponsors.

How To Groove To The Google Dance (Yes, It’s Back) (#smx #13B)
In the early years, Google updated its index every month or so – something SEOs of the day called the "Google dance." Then updates became more frequent, and the "dance" went the way of disco. But today, Google’s got its grove back and the dance has returned, and is something you can’t ignore. This session explores what stays relatively constant and what’s subject to change as Google implements new features and algorithm changes – and how, as an SEO, you can dance your way to search optimization success.

Paid Search Track

Solution Spotlight by Mongoose Metrics (1:30-1:35)
Solution Spotlights are brief introductions to relevant products and services offered by SMX exhibitors and sponsors.

Fast And Easy PPC Analytics (#smx #13D)
Paid search campaign optimization is vital, but pulling the data to make decisions needn’t be difficult. There are about a dozen shortcut reports that offer invaluable information for advertisers, and our panelists will show you not only how to access them but how to avoid "analysis paralysis" and enhance the performance of your paid search campaigns.

Mobile Track

Solution Spotlight by MediaWhiz (1:30-1:35)
Solution Spotlights are brief introductions to relevant products and services offered by SMX exhibitors and sponsors.

Mobile Ads: From Click-To-Call & Beyond (#smx #13C)
Mobile ads are similar to traditional PPC ads, but mobile users have different needs, which requires a different approach to the user experience. Do you provide click-to-call links in your ads for those user who needs immediate gratification? Or do you create unique landing pages for mobile users that lead them to an immediate, uncomplicated conversion? And how will Google’s recent announcement of “ehnanced campaigns” affect your decisions? Dial-in to this session to learn the best approaches to creating successful mobile advertising campaigns.

Plus Session Track 

What’s this?

Performance Media – Taking Search To The Next Level

This session is sponsored and produced by Covario. It is open to all SMX West attendees, including Expo+ Pass holders.

SMX Boot Camp Track

Solution Spotlight by SLI Systems (3:30-3:35)
Solution Spotlights are brief introductions to relevant products and services offered by SMX exhibitors and sponsors.

SMX Boot Camp: Search Engine Friendly Web Design (#smx #14A)
"I’m not designing my site for search engines," is a common designer objection to SEO suggestions. The reality, however, is that search engines are the starting point for most internet users, and if your site is difficult for Google, Bing or other engines to "read", it’s never going to work for your human visitors either. Attend this session and learn how to create search engine friendly sites that are equally appealing to human visitors.

SEO Track

The Search Police: Matt & Duane’s Excellent Search Engine Adventure (#smx #14B)
You name it, Google’s Matt Cutts and Bing’s Duane Forrester have seen it all, when it comes to trying to bend, break or shatter search engine rules. In this session, both will share examples of what not to do and why, ranging from accidental mistakes to horrifying spam, as well as general tips directly from the search engines on how to succeed with them.

Paid Search Track

Solution Spotlight by Market Motive (3:30-3:35)
Solution Spotlights are brief introductions to relevant products and services offered by SMX exhibitors and sponsors.

Optimizing Success In Search Networks (#smx #14D)
Too often, we think PPC = search results. There many ways of targeting ‘search’ behavior beyond just Google & Bing. Between search syndication, keyword driven display, and smaller PPC engines, advertisers can extend their reach beyond the big two paid search players. This session will examine additional networks and give you tactics to help expand your overall search advertising reach.

Mobile Track

Solution Spotlight by Yext (3:30-3:35)
Solution Spotlights are brief introductions to relevant products and services offered by SMX exhibitors and sponsors.

Converting The Mobile Customer (#smx #14C)
Research shows most mobile users are either on the run (of course), or are using a tablet during non-work hours (most likely from the couch). How you engage with these potential customers through your landing pages and sites can mean the difference between consumer engagement or abandonment. Do you expect mobile users to convert on their smartphones, or later through an alternative, possibly off-line channel? How can smartphone-influenced sales or conversions be tracked? And should tablets be treated like smartphones or PCs or neither? These and related critical mobile questions will be addressed by the panel.

Plus Session Track 

What’s this?

How To Build Links, Get Rankings And Stay Out Of Trouble

This session is sponsored and produced by Page One Power. It is open to all SMX West attendees, including Expo+ Pass holders.

SEO Track

Walk A Mile In Google’s Shoes: Dealing With Tough Calls In Organic Search (#smx #forum)
Everyone, it seems, has an opinion of what Google should do. “Google should remove links to pirated content!,” cries Hollywood. “Censorship!”, cry internet activists. “Google should ban spammy web sites!,” cry searchers. "Google’s unfair to my site," respond those hit by penalties. "Google should remove certain negative results for a politician, a company, a person," some might think, only to have others view any meddling as some type of overt bias. For every action Google might take, there might be an equally negative reaction or repercussion. That’s why the company thinks carefully about any search policy it puts into place. In this session, Google search policy specialist Patrick Thomas looks at some of the decisions Google has to make and the careful balancing act it has to maintain.

(open to pass holders)

Plus Session Track

What’s this?

Enhancing AdWords For A Constantly Connected World

Today, people are constantly connected and searching from all kinds of devices. People want results that are relevant to where they are, what they’re doing, and when they’re doing it. Last month, we introduced enhanced campaigns to help advertisers more simply and smartly manage their campaigns in the multi-device world. In this session, we’ll provide an overview of key features and changes with enhanced campaigns, tips on getting started, and answer your questions.

Speakers:
Surojit Chatterjee, Lead Product Manager, Google

This session is sponsored and produced by Google AdWords. It is open to all SMX West attendees, including Expo+ Pass holders.