SMX Advanced 2014 – Cliff Notes
SMX Advanced is the industry’s best of the best conference where you’re bound to walk out with a brain full of money making knowledge. The only problem is you can’t go to every single panel and you’re going to walk away asking, “did I miss something in one of the other panels?” Well know you don’t have to feel so bad because I did all the heavy lifting and consolidated all the notes, tweets, and slides from EVERY panel! That’s right every panel from the SEO track, PPC track, Local, Social & Mobile track, and even the Content & Conversion Track.
So have fun studying and be sure to tell me what you’ve learned in the comments below!
Austin – @AustinSFaux
SEO TRACK
1) The Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors: 2014 Edition
Matthew Brown, SVP of Special Projects, Moz (@MatthewJBrown)
Marianne Sweeny, SR Search Specialist, Portent (@msweeny)
Marcus Tober, CTO, Searchmetrics Inc. (@marcustober)
- Search ranking factors that maybe influencing the SERP
- Causation or Correlation of ranking factors
- Beat the expected CTR from Google and they will reward you with an improved quality score (@RandsMensik)
- What still works after Hummingbird
- SEO/UX have to work together. They have to find your experience before they experience it (@MichaelPetrelli)
Notes:
2) Keyword Research on “Roids!’ Advanced Workarounds for Vanishing Keyword Data
Christine Churchill, President, KeyRelevance (@keyrelevance)
Rae Hoffman, CEO, PushFire (@sugarrae)
Chris Silver Smith, President, Argent Media (@si1very)
- Big data tools to mine search activity
- How to read data for search patterns
- Google is rewriting your title tags in SERPs far more than anyone realizes, to get you better CTR (@GregBoser)
Notes:
3) Super Sessions: Enhancing Search Results with Structured Data & Markup
Jay Myers, Emerging Digital Platforms Product Manager – Product Recomendations, BestBuy.com (@jaymyers)
Jeff Preston, Senior Manager, SEO, Disney Interactive (@jeffreypreston)
Marshall Simmonds, Founder and CEO, Define Media Group, Inc. (@mdsimmonds)
- How Hummingbird and knowledge graph are using structured markup
- Schema.org, RDFa, authorship & publisher tags, open graph and Twitter cards increase CTR
- If you’ve lost rich snippets, that’s usually an indication that something is wrong with the site (@MDSimmonds)
- Before and after case studies
Notes:
4) 25 Link Acquisition & Auditing Issues for the Advanced SEO
Prashant Puri, CEO & Co-Founder, AdLift (@puriprashant)
Kaila Strong, Senior Director of SEO Services, Vertical Measures (@cliquekaila)
Rob Woods, Consultant, Rob Woods Consulting (@robdwoods)
- PR-based strategies to drive citations
- You have to give links to get links. Social works by giving love. SEO needs a little more loving. (@AustinSFaux)
- Build authority to earn high quality links
- If more than 50% of your backlinks have a DA less than 30, it’s a red flag (@blakedenman)
- Proactive link auditing and risk assessment
- Setup a Google alert for your brand name and every time your brand comes up ask for a link. (@AustinSFaux)
Notes:
- 3 Prolonged Approaches to Link Acquisition Via Content Marketing and How to Avoid Link Risk
- Avoiding Penalties from Outdated Link Building Practices
- The Advanced SEO’s Guide to Link Penalties and Clean Ups
5) Technically Speaking: Advanced Technical SEO Issues
Bill Hunt, President, Back Azimuth (@billhunt)
Maile Ohye, Senior Developer Programs Engineer, Google Inc. (@maileohye)
Eric Wu, VP, Growth & Product, SpinMedia (@eywu)
- Managing large sites with complex databases and lots of content
- The best tool to tell whether your code is SEO friendly is Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ (@GregBoser)
- How to ensure Google can efficiently index all pages
- First step in SEO: check your indexing status. (@MarkTraphagen)
- Best practices to support crawl priority, rel next, canonicals, dynamic URL management and more
- Make CSS/JS resources crawlable. Use fetch as Googlebot. Prioritize solid server performance. Keep old JS. (@AustinSFaux)
Notes:
6) Innovative Success Metrics for SEO
Kerry Dean, Chief Traffic Officer, PMG (@kerrydean)
Cory Haldeman, SEO Manager, VerizonWireless.com (@coryhaldeman)
Jeff Sauer, Founder, Jeffalytics (@Jeffalytics)
- Gauging audience interactions by topic
- With SEO, if you can get somewhere first or quickly, it usually pays off (@GregGifford)
- User data leading towards informed search strategy
- Make secure user friendly. Check out Bit.ly/gottls for http conversion resources. (@AustinSFaux)
- Measurement tactics to track ROI and build reporting dashboards
Notes:
- SEO Metrics of the Future
- With Distribution comes Opportunity: Proving SEO Value in a Not-Provided World
PPC TRACK
1) Mad Scientists of Paid Search
Lars Hirsch, Group Program Manager, Microsoft (@larshirsch)
Bryan Minor, Chief Scientist, Acquisio (@BryanMinorPhD)
Jared Schroder, VP Data Intelligence & Marketing Technology, Location3 Media (@j_schroder)
- Choosing match types
- Maintaining Campaign Budgets
- Maximize ad group match length rule
- Beware of Pitfalls
- High CTR/Low CPCs
Notes:
- What you need to know about Bing Ads
- Continuous Optimization of SEM Performance
- Profit through Performance
2) Next-Gen Ad Creative & Testing Techniques
Maria Corcoran, WW Search Marketing Media Manager, Adobe Systems (@mariacorcoran)
Brad Geddes, Founder, Certified Knowledge (@bgtheory)
Andrew Mera, Client Services Manager, 3Q Digital (@AndrewMera)
- Smarter writing leads to better CTR
- How to test more quickly
- Process for maintaining high performance
Notes:
- How to do Ad creative testing in Adobe
- Finding new Ad Inspiration
- Your banner ads can always do better
3) Maximizing the Synergy of Paid Search & Social
Chad Baldwin, Client Partner, Kenshoo
Phoebe Hanley, Ad Manager guru, Social Code
Seth Meisel, Remarketing, R&D and New Opportunities, Walgreens (@SethMeisel)
Marty Weintraub, Founder & Evangelist, aimClear (@aimclear)
- Case studies of paid and social synergy campaigns
- How to track attribution for ongoing optimization
- Moving consumers through the funnel
- Website redesigns without conversion testing destroy revenue relentlessly. Continuous improvement via testing is key. (@ScottClark)
Notes:
- Search and Social Intersection
- How to find and Market to Audiences Across Different Platforms
- How Walgreens uses Search and Social to Maximize Results
4) PLA to Pay: Maximizing Profits with Product Listing Ads
Frank Kochenash, VP Client Services, Mercent
Elizabeth Marsten, Vice President of Search Marketing, Portent, Inc. (@ebkendo)
Jay Stampfl, Client Services Manager, 3Q Digital (@3QDigital)
- Multiple new options for PLA marketers
- 50% of smartphone users browse products online everyday, even if they don’t plan to purchase. (@CourtDemko)
- How to optimize enhanced PLA ads
- PLAs across multiple platforms
Notes:
5) Conversion Rate Rockstars
Feras Alhlou, Co-Founder/Principal Consultant, E-Nor (@ferasa)
Chris Goward, Co-Founder & CEO, WiderFunnel (@chrisgoward)
- Landing Page Testing and Turning
- Search funnel and user navigation path sculpting
- Attribution modeling
- Tell the SEO story to the execs: what do we care about? Engaging the customers (@RyBacorn)
Notes:
How well do you know your customers?
6) Rethinking Retargeting: Top Strategies for Driving Conversions from Key Audiences
Adam Berke, President and CMO, AdRoll (@adamberke)
Benny Blum, VP Performance Marketing & Analytics, sellpoints (@bennyblum)
Bryant Garvin, Dr House of PPC, Bryant Garvin Consulting (@bryantgarvin)
- Multiple options for evolved retargeting
- Strategies for retargeting on Google Display, RLSA, FBX, Twitter and other retargeting networks.
- New ideas for retargeting optimization
- Google uses data to tell us that mobile matters. If the experience is lacking, your customers won’t convert (@BrandonKenig)
Notes:
- Rethinking Retargeting: The Cross Device Opportunity
- DIY: Audience Modeling & Display
- Retargeting Awesomesauce
7) Amazing Paid Search Tactics & Tools
Heather Cooan, Director, Client Services, Clix Marketing (@HeatherCooan)
Steve Hammer, President, RankHammer (@armondhammer)
Larry Kim, Founder & CTO, WordStream (@larrykim)
Jennifer Slegg, Owner, JenSense (@jenstar)
- New updates require new best practices for optimized results
- Best of the Best tools for campaign management
- 1000+ changes to AdWords and Bing Ads
- We need data in order to tell story, but people want story, not data. (@MichaelPetrelli)
Notes:
Local, Social & Mobile TRACK
1) Let’s Talk Local Search: Super Therapy Session for Advanced Local Marketers
Thomas Ballantyne, Director of Marketing, Bulwark Exterminating (@Thos003)
Mike Blumenthal, Owner and Local Marketing Expert, Blumenthals (@mblumenthal)
Mary Bowling, SEO, Optimized! (@MaryBowling)
Dana DiTomaso, CEO, Kick Point Inc. (@danaditomaso)
David Mihm, Director of Local Search Strategy, Moz (@davidmihm)
- Google’s new My business
- Advanced strategies and tactics that work
- Hold a Google event at your location for great social feedback (@AustinSFaux)
2) 25 Social Media Ideas for the Advanced Search Marketer
Michael King, Executive Director of Owned Media, Acronym (@ipullrank)
Matt Siltala, President, Avalaunch Media (@Matt_Siltala)
Mark Traphagen, Senior Director of Online Marketing, Stone Temple Consulting (@marktraphagen)
Lisa Williams, Director, Digital Marketing Strategy, Search Discovery (@seopollyanna)
- Techniques to intersect search and social
- Don’t do automated social that pumps out the same text across multiple user accounts (@AustinSFaux)
- Research tactics to find trending topics
- Social is a good corroborating signal of quality content (but isn’t measured for rankings) (@JGambacurta)
Notes:
- 25 Ideas for Social Media
- Author Authority for the Advanced Search Marketers
- A Mad Men Approach to Social Media for Search Marketers
3) What Advanced SEMs Should Be Doing About Mobile
Jeremy Evans, Regional Vice President, Product Consulting, Marin Software
Anna Hughes, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Microsoft (@hughesanna13)
Jaclyn Jordan, Paid Search Strategist, Wordstream
Reid Spice, VP, Media Strategy, iCrossing (@reidspice)
- Case studies on Mobile bidding.
- Mobile conversion optimization
- Multiscreen campagin tracking
Notes:
- Three Problems with Mobile
- Trends and Strategies for Mobile Search in 2014
- Is Your Mobile Search Campaign Ready for Back to School?
- Mobile Metrics That Matter
4) What Advanced SEOs Should Be Doing About Mobile
Cindy Krum, CEO, MobileMoxie (@suzzicks)
Michael Martin, Senior SEO Manager, Covario (@mobile__martin)
Maile Ohye, Senior Developer Programs Engineer, Google Inc. (@maileohye)
Jim Yu, CEO, Brightedge (@jimyu)
- Preparing your website for mobile audiences
- How to not lose earned rankings
- Location-aware ranking algorithms
- Every 301 adds .5 seconds on a mobile device (@ChipNicodemus)
Notes:
Content & Conversion TRACK
1) Creating Blockbuster Content
Brent Csutoras, Social Media Strategist, Kairay Media (@brentcsutoras)
Arnie Kuenn, CEO, Vertical Measures (@ArnieK)
- Content creation tactics and strategy
- What on your site is worth linking? Your links are only as good as your site’s content. (@AustinSFaux)
- Developing and re-purposing content strategies
- Today we need to focus on link earning, not link building (@JGambacurta)
- Data and metrics to measure success
- Checkout Buzz Sumo to find out what content ideas your audience is already responding to and create content tapping into that topic. (@AustinSFaux)
- With smart outreach you can still earn links today! (@siwen_zhang)
Notes:
2) Executing a Flawless Content Marketing Strategy
Chris Bennett, CEO & Founder, 97th Floor (@chrisbennett)
David Roth, VP Marketing, Realtor.com (@daverothsays)
Purna Virji, Director of Communications, Petplan Pet Insurance (@purnavirji)
- Developing a marketing strategy to leverage content
- Build content and they will come? The web has tons of great content no one sees. Leverage the audience of someone else to get new eyes. (@AustinSFaux)
- If you are creating content for B2B then go and check out LinkedIn groups & Quora for content ideas. (@DanielBianchini)
- Building authority and leveraging social to build trust
- Link building and content marketing is two sides of the same coin. Going out of your way to make great content is the plan. (@AustinSFaux)
- Conversion funnels turning consumers into fans
- Good links on sites that make sense move ranking. (@AustinSFaux)
Notes:
3) Attribution Success In The Age of Mobile
Cody Kunning, Manager SEM, Marchex (@codykunning)
Soren Ryherd, President, Working Planet
- Tracking influencing in Internet Marketing
- Understanding cross-channel influences
- Making strategic decisions using influence tooling
- Markup your forms with auto-complete. (Mobile & On-page) (@MonicaWright)
Noting:
Misc Notes
- AJAX Crawlability for responsive publishing: http://www.slideshare.net/phaithful/seo-ajax-crawlability-in-a-responsive-publisher-world-35317430 (@AustinSFaux)
- My SMX Q&A talked about making forms easier to autofill, esp. on mobile. Here’s how: https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/input/form/ (@MattCutts)
- It’s easier to be real than to fake being real. The era of shortcuts that guarantee a #1 ranking is coming to an end. (@GregGifford)
- Looking at site engagement as a ranking factor. @MattCutts is skeptical that it would be useful cause it’s too easy to spam. (@GregGifford)
- The future of search is conversational search. (@MichelleRobbins)
Austin Faux
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- Shannon Thammasiene on How to Create a Successful Blog
- Sarah on How to Create a Successful Blog
- How to Create a Successful Blog on 5 Free Keyword Research Tools that will Rock your Socks
- Olivier Hamphrey on This Week In Social Media
- Richard Dickerson on Use Email to Sell without Selling