Agenda
For the first time part of the BrightonSEO conference will be multi-track giving you even more choice about which great talks you'll get to see, but everything else will be the same, excellent talks from one of the most diverse speakers in the search industry all finished off with our famous lightning talks, where speakers have just seven minutes to get across some really practical search knowledge.
Ask the Ex-Googlers Anything
Fili Wiese, Head of SEO and Development at Netlead & Founder at blackpixels, Jonas Weber, Consultant at webhelps! & Alfredo Pulvirenti, SEO Team Leader at StepStone Group
One of the most popular sessions we've ever run at BrightonSEO was a panel discussion where our attendees got to ask questions of the representatives of the search engines, as great as that was, they kept their cards close to their chest. We wondered who could we invite to BrightonSEO who might be able to reveal more? How about three Game-Keepers turned Poachers. Alfredo, Fili and Jonas have worked for Google in their Search Quality team but now work as SEO's, and they'll be fielding questions from the audience.
Go big or go home
Hannah Smith, SEO Consultant at Distilled
When it comes to link building, mediocre content is unlikely to cut it; but nevertheless there are risks associated with big budget content. Hannah shares her experiences of creating big budget content, from getting client buy-in, ideation and dealing with the inevitable bumps in the road.
Using Big Data to Predict the Future
Dixon Jones, Marketing Director at Majestic SEO
You too can predict the future and become a mind reading pundit! SEOs have always used proxy data to reverse engineer search engine algorithms, which means they have all the skills needed to interpret Big Data and have an exciting future ahead of them as Clairvoyants (or even data scientists) if Google ever thwarts the SEO industry. This presentation shows just a few examples and a whole new industry of manipulating the web to find new meaning and create new value.
Future Forward
Dave Coplin, Chief Envisioning Officer at Microsoft
The web is quietly, but quickly, undergoing a social revolution, blending the analogue and digital worlds to become even more powerful in the way we all live, work and play. Search is at the very heart of this change as the internet evolves to be more about “doing” and less about “finding”. Understanding this change is crucial, not just for the satisfaction and welfare of consumers and customers, but equally for the success and relevance of businesses and brands. This session will uncover the challenges (and opportunities!) faced by us all as we move to this new way of living and working, and how shifting to a more human approach enables us to unlock the full potential of all that technology has to offer a modern society.
How to spot a Shitty link?
Paul Madden, Partner, Manual Link Building?
The game has changed in the last 12 months and now many of the links your site has can look problematic. Paul will guide you through how to go about solving you link problems and what to do if Google takes action.
Turning Google Analytics in to a Webmasters Tool Box
Anna Lewis, Digital Marketing Executive, Koozai
Anna Lewis, web analytics specialist at Koozai, will work her magic to help turn your Google Analytics accounts into your very own Webmaster Tool box when you get back to the office. After Anna's talk you will be able to run Conversion Rate Optimisation experiments to improve conversion rates, know where to look for valuable information to help you make the right marketing decisions and understand how to test your website’s performance.
*Disclaimer: there will be no magic, just awesome analytics.
Crunching Cookies without Dropping Crumbs
Nikki Rae, Managing Director at Future Insight Analytics
What is a Cookie? How can you tell if they are working properly? What happens if they aren't working? How can we use them to collect more interesting data about our site visitors? What is their role in cross domain tracking?
Link Building Death Match: a Scientific test of what tactics work.
Danielle Fudge, Head of SEO, Forward3D
Forward3D are conducting a head-to-head research battle between link building methods, in a controlled environment to get the definitive answer on what drives rank.
Presenting real data, this cutting edge research will provide evidence to determine the most effective link building methods, encompassing black, grey and white hat techniques.
Negative SEO: Myths and Reality
Julia Logan a.k.a. IrishWonder, SEO Consultant, CMO at ContentMango
Negative SEO appears more real than ever after Penguin. However, not everything you call "Negative SEO" really is negative SEO. Is it possible to identify negative SEO campaigns and what can you do to minimise the damage?
Creating Engaging and Relevant Content To Drive your SEO objectives
Sharon Flaherty, Head of Content and PR at Confused.com
Content marketing has hit it big, or at least is being talked about A LOT. At Confused.com I have been implementing a content strategy for over three years which has delivered notable SEO success. I'll explain the stages I went through, why there is a fine art to creating engaging and interesting content and the damage that a drop in keyword positions can cause to content planning. Finally, I'll show that content is not just about link-building, it's about a lot more, which I will demonstrate through examples of the Confused.com content strategy.
Getting on tv news-the ugly truth
Geoff White, Technology Journalist at Channel 4 News
If you want a journalist to care about your company you need to understand how they think. This talk will take you through what broadcast journalists are looking for in a story and how you, or your clients, can work to make journo's lives easier and get the coverage you're looking for.
Case Study: How I combined CRO, viral mechanics and unconventional business practice to boost online sales by 450%
Marcus Taylor, Founder of Venture Harbour
In 2012, Marcus spent 4 months creating an online 'Groupon for musicians' campaign that would run for just 100 hours. In this talk, Marcus shares how a few last minute tweaks and unconventional business practices increased the success of the campaign by over 450%.
Technical SEO as part of a multi-signal search strategy
Richard Falconer, Head of Technical Search at LBi
Success in modern SEO requires a fast, flexible and multi-signal approach. Brands need engaging content, the ability to earn clicks from increasingly competitive search results, and effective outreach – both across platforms and to people. An approach to SEO should sit alongside social media and PPC as part of a multi-signal, blended strategy. Search engine optimisation is an essential part of site build, content and on-going strategy – across desktop, mobile and connected TV channels.
From (not provided) keywords to unnatural link warnings, from de-indexing link networks to clamping down on rank checking, Google is making many areas of SEO more challenging. However, Google actively encourages technical SEO. Sending the correct technical signals can be the perfect antidote to stagnating rankings.
Punctuated with real life examples from companies such as Skype, Boots and Kuoni, Richard will provide insight into the technical SEO tactics which work and some that don't. He will demonstrate why you a focus on technical SEO is needed for websites as part of a long term multi-signal strategy.
Bandwagonesque: Do we deserve to be on the content train?
Stefan Hull, Insights Director & Mark Henshall, Content Director at Propellernet
Everyone’s content to talk about content but, as an industry, are we in danger of thinking about the opportunity that it represents far too narrowly?
There’s a chance for search agencies to turn the data they know and love into genuine insight that drives connected ideas for meaningful and engaging content that people want, influencers love and the search engines need.
But where to start? Well, it’s about more than keywords for tags and descriptions; it’s about putting content first.
Otherwise, we’re f***ed.
Scouting for Influencers
Sean Walsh, Head of Social Media at Blueclaw
'Scouting for Influencers' will provide some quick tactics to help marketers find, support and develop bloggers/individuals before they are established as 'influencers'.
How To Manage a Thousand SEO Clients
Nick Rinylo, Head of Search at Creare Communications
Having the ability to scale good practice SEO techniques, evolve with the latest algorithmic challenges and make them relevant to 10's, 100's or even 1000's of paying clients.
How to avoid content fatigue and not get eaten by a tiger!
Fran Swaine, Digital Marketing Consultant
We’ve all been there – the tedium and monotony that sets in when you have to generate content day in, day out. I look at some of the best ways to avoid content fatigue with a little help from a 450 pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.
Internal Search - an untapped resource for optimising your website
Alan Ferguson, Web Manager at Central Bedfordshire Council
There is a wealth of knowledge which can be gained from internal search patterns which is perhaps, untapped.
Analysis of customer search patterns on your internal search engine is free and it's at your fingertips.
Alan will be taking you through the work he has done on www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk to improve the customer experience through the insight gained from internal search traffic.
Bread and butter content
Lauren Pope, Content, social and PR manager, Energy Forecaster
Viral content is like jelly beans - they're both tasty, give you a rush that doesn't last long and you probably shouldn't try to live on them.
Bread and butter content is the opposite of the viral jelly bean - it's a staple that's affordable, keeps you going and doesn't have to be boring.
GOV.UK - getting people the information they need
Peter Jordan, Product Analytics Lead at Government Digital Service
Peter will talk about the work done to optimise the new UK government website, GOV.UK. This included search analytics to identify and refine specific user .needs, then using good content strategy and seo techniques to get government information findable using the language users use rather than "governmentese"
Getting that community feeling
Jennifer Begg, Digital Media Consultant at live free range
Sometimes online success is a numbers game. What if you don't have the numbers? How do you build community engagement when your community doesn't have the juggernaut like force of the Dr Who fandom?
This is a talk specifically about G+'s new communities but the principles hold true across other networks. Learn the tools you can use and steps you can take to build a robust, vibrant online G+ Community.
Content Outreach Looking Beyond The Link
Pak Hou Cheung, Content Outreach Specialist at BlueGlass UK
What can you leverage and do after a content campaign has been and gone? I plan to show you different tips, techniques and tools in integrating aspects of:
- PR
- Social
- Content Strategy
Showing you alternative ways to squeeze extra value and looking beyond just the link.
Next Generation Measurement with Google Analytics
Dara Fitzgerald, Head of Insight at Fresh Egg
At the 2012 summit, GA announced some of the biggest feature releases in its history.
These features will help to shift the analysis view from session-centric to user-centric, allowing the ever growing number of companies using GA to optimise for people, rather than sessions.
During this presentation, Dara will outline and provide use cases for new features such as custom dimensions and metrics, customer lifetime value and universal analytics.
7 Secret weapons of successful content and outreach
Lexi Mills, Head of Digital at Dynamo
Lexi Mills will be doing a slide per minute presentation. Discussing the 7 most useful and actionable things she has discovered for content creation and promotion. Covering tools, outreach tips and how to create content that will attract strong citations and references from big media sites.
How to prioritise, drive and survive SEO at a large organisation
Dan Patmore, Search Manager at Argos
Getting SEO on the agenda of any business can be a tough ask, but how do you deliver a quality SEO strategy in a large organisation, with little (or no) site control, access to infrastructure and limited internal understanding?
Dan shares his experiences of managing SEO for one of the largest retailers in the UK
How to Turn Your Ideas into Innovation
Matthew Hendry, Digital Insights Manager at SiteVisibility
Matt will be speaking about innovation within digital marketing. After taking a little look at how innovation can be defined and why it’s important to every digital marketing company, he’ll consider the “models” of innovation that currently exist. He will then explain what all this means in the real world and round up with a few key takeaways to help improve your innovation capabilities.
Scaling Local Citations and Brand Management for Local Search
David Whatley, Managing Director MiShop Local
The importance of local citation building and local listing optimisation as part of a Local SEO strategy.
A business and brand perspective on why care needs to be taken when doing local SEO.
Lessons learnt, do's and don'ts; whether you are optimising a single location for an SME or hundreds of locations for a national chain.
Information is a micro brand -- From text to traffic and conversion
Ralf Schwoebel, CEO at Tradebit, Inc. & Jochen Mebus, VP Sales Europe & Brazil at TextBroker
This session gives you the quick and easy guide how to use information to gain awareness
and reach for your content in 2013. Defining your goals, expressing them digitally and shouting out
to the world in one streamlined, effective approach covers among other parts:
. text and information generation
. SEO, social marketing and content marketing
. conversion optimization
Learn about the best practices, see real life examples, tools and increase your online reach with these practical examples and tips.
Building a plan to integrate Search, Social, Content and PR in 2013
Samuel Crocker, SEO Director at OMD & Matt Roberts, Co-founder & CTO at Linkdex
Last year we saw Penguin, Panda and G+ authorship push the needle towards quality rather than quantity.
In an environment where content marketing and social signals are beginning to move the scales more than mass link building, we should reassess our SEO strategies and understand how this integrates with other disciplines.
A more efficient optimisation model is beginning to emerge where SEOs, writers, PRs and social marketers collaborate within the same framework. Together they create and optimise content, then validate this content with social signals, media mentions and of course links.
Matt and Sam will discuss:
• Why SEO, Social Media, Content Marketing and Public Relations are becoming integrated and what it means for us.
• How to create optimised content that will resonate with the right people.
• Whether you should cultivate an integrated team of specialists or hire freelancers.
• How to form a collaborative marketing strategy which utilises each discipline.
