In the midst of the networking and educational event, BlueGlass LA, Bruce, Susan and Virginia take a moment to discuss one of the social giants of the Internet, Facebook. There’s a growing intersection between search and social, and the hosts hone in specifically on ranking factors for Facebook’s internal search engine. A recent study by Internet marketing agency aimClear looked at the ranking factors for Facebook internal search, finding an environment that heavily favors a searcher’s current connections on the network, the overall popularity of pages/events/people, etc., and the inclusion of searched keywords in results.

Then Virginia talks to Loren Baker at the first BlueGlass LA conference. Loren is the SVP of online PR and a managing partner at BlueGlass, the marketing agency and publisher that presented the conference. During the final session of the two-day event, Loren expresses his thoughts on the future of the newly formed company, search as the core of a multi-faceted marketing strategy, and the importance of authenticity, transparency and passion in marketing, branding and life. As the founder and editor-in-chief of the search industry news blog Search Engine Journal, he also explains the goal of a conference with a “blogging feel” and gives tips for influencing a community through a blog. Many thanks to Loren and BlueGlass for an incredible time and learning opportunity in Marina del Rey!

A personalized experience — whether online or at a conference — can make a big difference. Michael, Susan and Virginia round out the show with a look at how on-site behavioral targeting and segmentation can be implemented to give users a personal experience with the brand. Technical solutions range from complex on-site segmentation engines or CRM or analytics solutions to JavaScript code to geo-targeting. A 2009 survey of marketers doing behavioral targeting found that geography was the highest priority attribute for targeting, followed by unique user profiles, referral keywords, and explicit preferences as defined by the user.

Tune into this episode of SEM Synergy on WebmasterRadio.fm at 3 Eastern/12 Pacific, Wednesday, July 21.

With SMX Advanced fast approaching, Bruce, Susan and Virginia take a preview look at next week’s conference in Seattle. SMX Advanced is a significant conference every year, often the staging ground for major announcements by Internet marketing companies and search engines alike. For those who won’t be in attendance, Susan will be providing front-row access to select sessions with liveblog coverage of SMX Advanced, posted on the Bruce Clay, Inc. blog shortly after each session. Those in attendance can pose any variety of questions to Bruce at Wednesday’s session SEO Vets Take All Comers and at Thursday’s one-day SEO training.

Then Virginia, Robert Esparza and Alan Lamb consider the challenges and considerations of selling an SEO project that meets the client’s goals and needs. Expectation management is a key factor of a project that can end in success and client satisfaction. If a client expects rankings, traffic or performance beyond what is possible within realistic constraints of time and budget as determined by a feasibility review, it’s often best that the project doesn’t go forward with those two parties. One difficult challenge of setting realistic expectations is the fact that performance can’t be guaranteed in light of shifting search engine algorithms and guidelines. A shift must be taken away from rankings and traffic, as the focus must be an improvement on the bottom line.

Finally Virginia, Scott Fowles and Daerick Gross discuss a discipline that is primarily linked to improvements on the bottom line: conversion rate optimization. Scott is an SEO and CRO specialist, and previously came on the show to talk about CRO best practices and tools of the trade. This week he expands the conversation by warning about SEO complications that can arise through CRO testing and how to avoid them. Wider Funnel provides a PowerPoint presentation on avoiding the risks of A/B testing for SEO landing pages that may be a useful guide.

Site speed has been added to Google’s search ranking algorithm, explaining that if all other things are equal, the faster site provides the better user experience. Bruce says that site speed may have had an effect on rankings even before Google’s official announcement this month. Along with the importance of site performance for the user’s current experience, poor performance in the past can keep users from coming back in the future. Google has said that less than one percent of search queries will be affected by the new algorithm factor, though as Susan points out, one percent of a lot is still a lot.

Dave Snyder, CEO of Second Step Search and co-founder of Search & Social, then talks to Virginia about the upcoming Search & Social Spring Summit, an Internet marketing conference taking place in Tampa, FL, May 3-4. Dave explains the marketing and business community’s hunger for information on social media, and talks about the advanced-level knowledge transfer that will take place at the intimate conference. As the organizers planned the agenda for the event, they made an effort to listen to feedback and now have plans to cover a number of rarely discussed issues in Internet marketing.

Then Susan, Virginia and Michael revisit site speed and the Google Analytics blog’s reminder that asynchronous tracking is a faster way to include Google Analytics tracking on your site. They also discuss additional data that has been added to Google Webmaster Tools, including click-throughs and impressions reported for a page’s average position in search results. Considering that Google uses data like this for every decision the company makes, it’s good that they’re now providing businesses with this information, as well.

Bruce, Virginia and Christopher host the show live from SES New York. While those at the conference have many sessions to attend and learn from, those not at the conference also have a great educational opportunity with Bruce’s webcast with Dr. Ralph Wilson, editor-in-chief of Web Marketing Today. Bruce gives a sneak peak of the SMN webcast, during which he and Dr. Wilson will share the top 10 SEO trends to pay attention to in 2010.


Then Virginia sits down with Rhea Drysdale, COO of Outspoken Media and an online reputation management strategist. In March, Drysdale announced that her battle to terminate a trademark for the term “SEO” had finally come to an end. Rhea shares with Virginia her legal experience and why this case was another important step in keeping the term from being trademarked in the future. She also shares her recommendations for online reputation management and the concept of all press is good press.

Then Bruce, Christopher and Virginia review the happenings and news of the conference. Google announced a new AdWords tool called Search Funnel, helping SEMs understand a user’s sequence of events through search ads. Through Search Funnel, ad impressions and clicks on ads within the 30 days before the conversion are reported to an AdWords advertiser. Last-click attribution has long been a model that falls short of giving credit where it’s due, and this new tool helps address this problem.

On location at SMX West in Santa Clara, Virginia interviews three prominent personalities in the search world: Ian Lurie, Marshall Simmonds and Scott Garell.

Ian Lurie, president of Portent Interactive and co-author of Web Marketing All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies, kicks off the show. Ian is a presenter during the session Analytics Action Plans for SEO & PPC, and he explains how to predict and pick what terms and pages to optimize for based on analytics data. He also talks about how his agency establishes trust and introduces his services to clients with his 10things small business program.

Then Marshall Simmonds, chief search strategist at the New York Times and co-founder of Define Search Strategies, then talks to Virginia about the topic of his Ignite SMX West presentation, where he muses on how history would have been different if major figures had the Internet at their disposal. He also shares a preview of his presentation on the Industrial Strength SEO panel and the challenges of enterprise search.


Finally, Scott Garell, president of Ask Networks, joins the show. As the number one brand charged with answering questions on the Web, Scott explains that Ask.com is a strong platform for advertisers. He also hints at the Q&A social community that Ask.com will be launching in the second quarter of the year. The community aims to connect experts with searchers, pointing to the abundance of information that hasn’t been published on the Web. Combining innovative technology and connections between people is Ask.com’s strategy.

Search engine optimization has entered the mainstream marketing consciousness. With increased awareness comes an increased desire to learn about and take advantage of SEO potential. Part of an SEO’s knowledge comes from personal experience and part of it comes from the wisdom of thought leaders. On today’s show, Bruce Clay and the hosts consider both of the above means of SEO education. Bruce, Susan and Virginia start the show by reviewing Bruce’s recommendations for SEO research and testing. Experimental research is how Bruce developed SEO best practices beginning in 1996, and he advises SEOs to carefully test their tactics and theories through practical applications.


Chris Sherman then joins the program to share insight into the direction and offerings of the Search Marketing Expo (SMX) Conference Series this year. Chris is the co-chair of SMX and executive editor of Search Engine Land. He discusses what he sees as the overall focus of SMX in the year ahead and how it fits into the evolution of the SEM industry as a whole. Chris talks about the demand for education and networking opportunities and how new sessions and speakers are chosen for the conference line up. He also gives listeners a behind-the-scenes peak at Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s upcoming keynote presentation at SMX West, how the information Ballmer will share is developing day-to-day, and why marketers should be paying attention to Bing.

Finally, Susan, Virginia and Michael consider the criteria for deciding whether or not a training or education event is right for you. Some conferences break down sessions by skill level and subject matter. Some training events focus on specific areas of online marketing, such as local search, advanced SEO or international marketing. Bruce has predicted that the increased demand for SEO education will lead to an increase in training opportunities. And don’t forget about Bruce Clay, Inc.’s SEOToolSet Training, with a standard course and an advanced certification course offered nearly every month on the West Coast, every quarter on the East Coast, and across Australia in the coming months.

Listen to this episode and chat with the hosts of SEM Synergy, on Wednesday, February 10, at 3 Eastern, Noon Pacific on WebmasterRadio.fm.

At SMX East 2009, Bruce Clay and Virginia Nussey report on the highlights of the conference. From individual sessions like Ask the SEOs to the vibe in the exhibit hall to what was for lunch, they describe the multi-faceted event in detail. They also noticed some innovative new features of the show, such as the one-session-free passes given to attendees with an expo-only pass. If the number of paid attendees at the conference was lower than in years past, a ticket to attend one session for free may have given these attendees a taste for the high-quality information that left them wanting more. Full liveblog coverage of the sessions Virginia attended can be found on the Bruce Clay, Inc. blog.

Then Craig Danuloff, president of paid search management firm and platform ClickEquations, talks to Virginia about a query-centric approach to pay per click marketing. Thinking in terms of keywords for SEO makes sense because the query is often focused around keywords, but with PPC, focusing on keywords can be ineffective because it’s the search engine, not the searcher or the advertiser, that decides what ads to display for the query — and the latitude search engines have taken often proves to be quite broad. Instead, the data is more actionable and the view is higher resolution when a PPC marketer looks at the query and not the keywords.

Later in the show, Mike McDonald of e-commerce news site WebProNews talks to Virginia about how to maximize interviews and make connections at conferences like SMX East. Mike has been interviewing speakers at conferences since 2002, so he has some useful tips on how to optimize an interview — including when to interview and whom to interview. This interview was also recorded as a video by WebProNews, so if that video becomes available, we will include a link to it here.

At SES San Jose last week, Bruce, Virginia and Robert stayed busy in the expo hall and conference sessions. Opening the show, they recall the takeaways and stand-out moments of the event. Bruce explains some of what was discussed at the Advanced SEO Roundtable. Virginia considers some of the most popular live blog posts on the Bruce Clay blog, including The Death of Last Click Attribution.


Then Aaron Landerkin, Bruce Clay, Inc.’s IT Manager and lead developer of the SEOToolSet, talks to Virginia about the new SEOToolSet tools that were demonstrated at the show. The company has been in development of a new version of the SEOToolSet, and the first three tools — the Check Server Tool, the Ranking Monitor and the Single Page Analyzer — will soon be available for beta testing. Aaron and Virginia also talk about the intermingling of technology and people in the SEO profession, and how technophiles like Aaron maintain the balance.

Then Bruce, Robert and Virginia discuss Google Caffeine, one of the biggest stories coming out last week. They first look at the differences between the current Google engine and Caffeine. The hosts explain that they’re not surprised at the convenient timing of the announcement. They also consider why Google might be accepting and benefiting from developer feedback.

Virginia reports live from the San Jose Convention Center at this year’s Search Engine Strategies San Jose.


Pixelsilk’s Mark Knowles, CEO, and Wendy Roe, director of marketing, take a seat on the WebmasterRadio.fm couch to discuss the newest features of the Pixelsilk search engine optimization friendly content management system. Search Advice offers real-time SEO suggestions within the CMS content editor, based on SEOToolSet recommendations. This as-you-go capability has the potential to ease implementation of SEO best practices and minimize after-the-fact SEO needs. Partner Portal allows users to manage multiple sites and leverage common features within a single Pixelsilk account.


The next guest to enter the WebmasterRadio booth is Reid Wakefield, product development at Century Interactive. During the conference the CI team was dressed in shirts promoting StupidSEM.com. The quiz on the micro-site aims to uncover common SEM mistakes, many of which can be solved through the use of Web analytics and attribution tracking. Century Interactive’s unique dashboard reporting and Web-to-call analytics system offers an easy-to-operate solution for not-so-savvy users.


CEO of Engine Ready, Jamie Smith, then joins Virginia to share some insights his organization researched around SEO vs. PPC (pdf). The study examined the role traffic source plays in visitor purchase behavior. By observing and measuring important metrics, the research sought to examine the individual and combined effect of two major Internet marketing channels, search engine optimization and paid search advertising. The study also highlights the importance of conversion attribution in the holistic marketing mix.

With Search Engine Strategies San Jose around the corner, the hosts spend the show looking forward to the training, sessions and networking opportunities at the conference. Bruce, Susan and Virginia also take an in-depth look at the session Credit Crunch: The Death of Last Click Attribution and its Impact on Paid Search Advertising. The challenge of giving credit to various marketing channels for a single conversion is one that the Internet marketing industry is striving to simplify through advanced attribution models.

Gina Poole, vice president, IBM Software Group Marketing 2.0, then talks to Virginia about the subject she’ll be exploring in her panel, The View From the CMO’s Office. Gina identifies the difference between traditional CMOs and today’s digital CMOs and how a search marketer can pitch the value of SEO in a way that’s best appreciated by a marketing officer. Gina recommends that an SEO evangelize by demonstrating successes and by taking full advantage of data intelligence.

Finally, Susan, Michael and Virginia examine the multiple social media educational opportunities happening at SES. On Tuesday, ClickZ, Google and YouTube are presenting a full-day forum focused on social media and video strategies. And on Wednesday the session Social Media: White Hat vs. Black Hat will evaluate any potential dos and don’ts of social media.