With the search engine marketing conference season well under way on both sides of the pond, I caught up with Danny Sullivan – editor in chief at Search Engine Land – to chat about his team's upcoming event in March in Santa Clara.
What are you most looking forward to at SMX West this year?
That’s easy, doing the keynote conversation with Steve Ballmer! I mean, there’s lots I love about the show overall. I think we have one of the best agendas we’ve ever done, with topics ranging from the exciting developments in real time search to how search marketers can be stronger by tapping into social media.
But I’ve hoped to get Steve out for years, and I’m just thrilled he’s making it to his first ever search marketing conference. I’m really going to enjoy talking with solely about search, front and center.
You’ve done many, many keynote interviews with industry luminaries over the past 10 years. Can you share with us a few of your favorites?
Sergey Brin was certainly great, in that after the interview, you could really see what a rock star he had become. I’d talked with Sergey since Google started back in 1998 and watched the company grow. When he first spoke at one of my early shows, there was some buzz, but Google was still a baby among the giants. After our talk in 2003, he was literally surrounded by attendees. It was a visual, physical affirmation of just how much Google had grown.
Talking with Jerry Yang was a treat in 2005, because I can remember about 10 years before that being an attendee at an Internet World conference and seeing him working a booth. Yahoo didn’t even have its own booth then – it was within the Open Text booth. But Yahoo was popular, and Jerry was swamped. I was going to give up trying to ask a question after a long wait, but as I turned to leave, he called out to catch me. He still had that type of thoughtfulness when I was in a situation I’d never expected, to be interviewing him on stage, and on Yahoo’s 10th birthday. We had a cake for him that he received in good humor. I’ll especially remember that he was honest in saying that while he started Yahoo by listing sites one by one himself, he was happy not to have to be doing that any more!
Eric Schmidt was a lot of fun in 2006. I talked with him the day the New York Times had used AOL’s “anonymized” search logs to track down a 62 year old woman from Georgia solely from her queries in those logs. She was on the front page of the paper that day, and it made questions to Eric about how Google was going to deal with privacy issues only more gripping. But the great thing about Eric was that you could toss any type of question at him about search, and he’s good. He can cover the broad strokes and the nitty gritty about how stuff happens under the hood.
Also in 2006, I interviewed Barry Diller. The remarkable thing for me remains when he looked around the room before the event, taking in a ballroom filled with thousands of people. He asked me something like, “Who are all these people?” My response was, “Your customers.” He owned this search engine, Ask.com, but I don’t think he ever really had visualized all the advertisers who were spending money through it. There they were. It was also great to see Jim Lanzone, who was CEO at the time, get to strut some of the new stuff that Ask.com was doing as part of that talk. Jim helped pioneer some of the things that Bing, Yahoo and Google all use today. I always joke that he deserve a penny for every time someone says they want their search engine to be more than “10 blue links.” If he didn’t coin that term, he sure popularized it.
We’ve counted 14 different topic tracks over the 3 day conference. Search marketing isn’t getting any easier is it?
No, it’s not. But then again, it is! Search for ages was simply about getting your web page to do rank well in a search engine. Today, you’ve also got blog posts, local results, video content, news stories and much more to consider. That’s a lot to keep track of. That’s the hard part, but it’s also why I’m glad we continue to offer a show completely dedicated to search. It deserves that much room and focus, rather than being simply a track tucked inside of a general marketing conference. Don’t get me wrong – people should be doing well rounded marketing campaigns, tapping into the full spectrum of opportunities that online offers. And so general online marketing conferences are great. But search is so important, can be so complex, that I feel it’s important marketers have a show that focuses solely on that topic. But that’s also where the east part comes in. All these new channels within search mean new opportunities to be found. In the past, if you weren’t in the 10 ten results, that was it. Now, your blog post gets its own special shot. Your video content does. Your local listing might. And many are overlooking these opportunities.
What are the must see sessions at SMX West this year?
It really depends a lot on your interests and skills. We have a “ski run” system to flag session that are for anyone, or for intermediate folks or those with advanced skills. We also organize them by SEO, paid search or search marketing in general. If you’re really into paid search, then some of the SEO sessions might not be must attends – and vice versa. But the good news is that there’s always a diverse set of sessions during any time slot.
Personally, I’m looking forward to the sessions on real time, personalized and social search on the first day. I’m also glad we’ve got a session on domaining and search happening that day. The session on mobile search applications also fascinates me. I love social media, so our sessions designed for search marketers to understand how to get the most from Twitter and Facebook on the second day grip me. I also like the PPC Tune-Up Clinic that we’re having – think Car Talk meets paid search ads, and you’ll get a hint of what’s planned.
I actually did a personal preview of the entire show to describe things more fully for people.
In addition, some of our session moderators have done a number of “dream agendas,” including one for those looking to get up to speed on search marketing through our special Boot Camp track and more, one for those interested in advanced SEO and one for paid search people. We’ll have more coming later this month on Search Engine Land.
Tell us about the Biggest Search Geek Contest
This is the second year we’ve done this in conjunction with Marin Software, and it’s a great contest. You have to really know search marketing to win. I was getting stumped by the questions! The winner gets a ticket to the show plus travel and accommodations, so it’s a great prize.
What are you most excited about in 2010? Any predictions for the future?
I’m really looking forward to seeing how the space heads in new directions. The arrival of Bing last year really shook up some of the status quo. I feel like both Google and Bing are jumping to best each other, and that competition is great. Plus, everyone’s still trying to figure out the role of real time and social. In addition, I expect we’ll have new vertical search engines emerge. Add to this the growing use of personalization, and predicting anything is tough. I will say for search marketers, the way to win going forward in the long term will probably remain what it has been for the past 10 years – have outstanding content.
Could you impart some advice for a marketer new to search and online?
As I said above, focus on your content. Try to build a best of class site in your area, one where no one would doubt you’re a leader. Go beyond just selling and be informative, helpful. These things attract links. These things help you be seen as an authority in your field. And when you’re deemed an authority by search engines, generating traffic from them is so much easier.
Thanks Danny
We’ll be talking more about our sessions at the event and Steve’s fire-side chat soon!
Cheers
Mel
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