While this year’s SMX East may have seen fewer attendees, the amount of knowledge shared by the panelists and attendees was vast. It could have been budget constraints or simply the difficulty of getting a cab in the rain to the Javits Center that lowered attendance, but it is clear that this year’s SMX was all about quality. Whether speaking to an industry veteran or a SMX newbie, it is clear that the bar has been raised and SEO and SEM are established in their own right in the marketing world.
The search industry has seen its share of significant change in 2010 – the Yahoo & Bing merger (which they celebrated with co-branded cupcakes), Google Instant, and Google MayDay update. SMX discussions centered around the hype of SEO and social media; a high demand for practical tactics such as link building; and of course some very heated discussions between competitive panelists.
It is amazing how even the most basic SEO discussion can shed new light on a practice when you bring experts to the table. On the flip side, it’s easy to forget the basic challenges of many websites in a room full of individuals dissecting the difference in value between one link or multiple links coming from the same page. The truth is a majority of websites still do not have the top ranking factors in place, like relevant content or search-engine-friendly site structures. It’s good news for the SMX crowd – our work in many ways is just beginning.
Searchmetrics was the new kid on the block at SMX this year, but it was reassuring to see that in a very short time we have achieved name recognition from previous conferences like SES. With our expanding U.S. team, new features in our Searchmetrics Suite 5.8 and our ever-expanding database, we cannot wait for the next U.S. show.
Horst Joepen