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.

SMX Advanced last week introduced a number of discussions in the SEM industry. Matt Cutts’s comments about PageRank sculpting with nofollow could spur a show all its own, and is touched on briefly by Bruce, Susan and Virginia. Google’s JavaScript recommendations, attendance at the conference, and topics raised during the SEO Vets Take All Comers session, of which Bruce was a panelist, are also discussed. Of course, SMX Advanced centers around several inbound marketing techniques, including search engine optimization, pay per click marketing, and social media optimization. Inbound marketing is the focus of today’s show.

In his role as founder and vice president of product development at WordStream, Larry Kim plays a vital role in his company’s inbound marketing efforts. Inbound marketing involves getting potential customers to come to your business. In contrast, traditional or outbound marketing is all about getting a marketing message in front of a potential consumer. Another common way to think of the two marketing methods is push and pull marketing, where push marketing is more traditional and pull marketing is aligned with inbound marketing. Larry, is cautious of falling into the trap of espousing theoretical virtues of inbound marketing. Instead he offers pragmatic suggestions for improving inbound marketing efforts.

Susan, Michael and Virginia finish off with a look at the psychology of inbound marketing. There’s a very different scenario that happens when a customer comes to a business because they want to and when a business reaches out to a customer when that contact is unexpected. The proactive customer who is looking for a solution is in a mindset much better suited to performing a conversion. As outbound marketing becomes easier to block through technology like spam filters and DVRs, inbound marketing may prove a more reliable strategy in the future.

The Internet Marketing Spring Break conference was held in Florida at the beginning of April. Susan and Christopher both attended the show, with Chris giving a presentation about crafting a successful digital business initiative during the third and final day of the conference. Susan and Chris tell listeners what benefits a small niche conference like IM Spring Break offers and illustrate the kind of learning environment a show like that provides.

Danny Sullivan

Then Virginia talks to Danny Sullivan, Partner and Chief Content Officer of Third Door Media, the company behind the Search Marketing Expo conference series. Virginia and Danny talk about trends in search conference attendance and the increasing demand. Search industry conferences have seen a variety of manifestations. Danny demonstrates the utility of partnerships, like that between the broad interactive digital conference, ad:tech, and a more focused search marketing conference, SMX — which come together for the SMX @ ad:tech track being offered in San Francisco this month.

Scott, Susan and Virginia wrap up the show with a general examination of trends in search industry education. Based on a small informal poll on the Bruce Clay blog earlier this month, it appears that conference attendance may be on the chopping block during this period of spending cutbacks. However, Scott notes that in his experience he continues to see conference attendance rise as awareness of industries increase. Virtual conferences and smaller regional conferences are gaining momentum, but the conference giants of online marketing also remain strong.

Photo by Bas van den Beld

Live from the search marketing industry conference Search Engine Strategies New York, Bruce and Virginia are in the WebmasterRadio booth on the expo hall floor. They open the show by giving listeners a feel for the energy and expectations of the conference. Bruce also gives a teaser of what attendees can expect at Friday’s SES affiliated SEO Training.

Then Bas van den Beld of SearchCowboys.com sits down to talk to Virginia about his perceptions of the show from a blogger’s perspective. As a search blogger based in the Netherlands, Bas has blogged search industry conferences in the past but SES New York was the first event he attended in the United States. He explains how the New York conference compares to international conferences such as SES Amsterdam and SMX London.

Wrapping up the live show, Virginia talks to Mark Knowles, CEO of Pixelsilk, an SEO-friendly CMS. Mark talks about the necessity of customizable content management systems and the feedback he’s gotten on Pixelsilk. They also talk about the after-hours events at the conference and the expectations he has for the show.

For years Bruce Clay, Inc. has offered beginner and expert SEOs alike a hands-on training course that helps marketers stay in touch with the latest techniques and guidelines from the engines. We’re excited to be teaching our SEO Training course on the East Coast for the first time this month. As an extension of Search Engine Strategies New York, Bruce Clay and Christopher Hart will present one-day SEOToolSet training — the perfect way to wrap up a week of search marketing education.

Photo by Dana Lookadoo

It doesn’t end there. The full three-day standard SEO training course will be back on the East Coast April 26-28. Chris comes on the show to talk to Virginia about details of the East Coast training course and the importance of training in creating a base level of knowledge across an organization. Training is useful for those doing the work of Internet marketing, but it’s just as necessary for executives. While executives won’t likely be implementing search engine optimization techniques themselves, their understanding is a crucial factor to the company’s coordination and embrace of SEO initiatives.

Rounding out the show, Virginia and Bradley discuss an issue covered in SEOToolSet Training: industry ethics. SEOToolSet certification is a credential that brings along with it Bruce Clay, Inc.’s reputation for high ethical standards and easily demonstrates a commitment to doing right by your clients. With more companies turning to SEO to help strengthen their online visibility in the weak economic climate, differentiate your services through ethics and best practices.

Following SMX East, Scott Polk and Virginia Nussey sit down to talk about what they learned from the conference. Scott was in the booth and found that a smile and a hello went a long way. In the session rooms, Virginia heard a lot of great information regarding personalized search, the dreaded Google monopoly and the insights into human behavior provided by searcher data.

Then Virginia talks to Brent D. Payne, SEO specialist and manager for Tribune Interactive. Brent explains his tactics for evangelism and getting buy-in, pointing out that the time and way you approach management is critical. He also points out the strengths and drawbacks of working on SEO for a large enterprise company and the social media efforts he has seen his traditional media company embrace. Before signing off, Brent talks about the Big Watah grassroots campaign and some of the lessons he took away from SMX East.

Susan Esparza then joins Virginia and Scott to take a further look at how the Big Watah event highlights the power of viral marketing. From a small buzz to a conference phenomenon, the viral tactics that took place in spreading the Big Watah meme hold lessons that companies can learn from. While this example took off almost effortlessly, it may take companies many tries before they find that perfect concept, but such an effort is more than likely worth it.