SEO Conferences - Which to start with!???
-
My SEO / Internet marketing business (I also have contractors that handle web design and development) is going well and growing and I am interested in attending one of the many conferences. (SEO is my passion but I am more of a marketing guy than super technical) I was hoping for a little bit of advice from somebody who has been to some of them where would be good to start.
Where should I start? I am in Wichita, KS. which is in the middle of the US (bring on the yellow brick road and Dorothy jokes) and don't plan to leave the country for one.
PUBCON, SES, SMX, SEARCHFEST, MOXCON, PUBCON......
Thank you very MUCH for any advice. Super appreciate it!
Matthew
-
So I'm completely bias as I'm a Mozzer and one of the Mozzers who runs MozCon.
With that said, MozCon is definitely my favorite conference. Last year was both the first year I helped run MozCon and the first year I attended it. I knew all the pieces, and I was blown away by the caliber of the content and the speakers. The topic runs a little intermediate advanced, especially if the topic is primarily SEO-focused, and the speakers themselves are incredibly smart and true experts in their topics. Most conferences to me are really hit or miss, but MozCon was one where I felt that I learned at every session. (I've been in the industry for 6 years.) The single session, one room format with keynote-style talks really suites my learning style and my need for community (live-tweeter right here). (And Seattle is awesome!!)
My second favorite one is SearchFest PDX. Their speaker quality is superb. Though you have to pick between sessions. I found the community pretty great here too. And the year I went, it was right by the food trucks which I can't stay away from in PDX. I felt the sessions were really tailored by topic so you could chose to go on the track you knew and learn something or skip around to learn something new.
If you want to talk to Matt Cutts or get all fannish around him, SMX is the conference to go to. As except for the "celebs" of search or a specific keynote, it's panels, speakers get less time to talk, which I go back and forth how much I like that. I find panels, due to the sheer numbers of speakers a conference organizer must find to talk on a similar topic, can sometimes be a large hit or miss between speakers. And they can also crash quickly if the moderators aren't on top of it.
SES has been a bit more a beginner's conference in my mind. I've found a lot more SMB and SEOs starting their careers going to these than other conferences. It's all panels with a few exceptions like SMX. Both SES and SMX accept pitches, and sometimes, you can get some rougher talks due to beginning speakers. (We ALL have to start somewhere!)
I haven't been to PubCon or any of Distilled's conferences (SearchLove, LinkLove), though I've heard PubCon to be more like an SMX and SearchLove to be closer to MozCon in styles.
Anyway, hope you found that useful. Feel free to ask about specifics you're considering, and really, I can answer about anything about MozCon.
-
Right... I carefully read the titles and descriptions of the talks that will be given. Lots of stuff does not apply to you, some you might already know, some might be over your head.
Look for a meeting that has lots of talks that make you salivate. That's the one to attend.
I often get more out of the exhibit hall than out of the talks. You can ask lots of questions there, leave, think about them and then go back.
-
When I asked this question a while ago the overall consensus was to go to Mozcon, I also hear good things about SES and SMX and was told to go to them as well, but highest priority was Mozcon. Hope that helps.
-
I would map them out, see what the itineraries are for each and go from there. I know SEOMOZ sells videos for download of their past sessions. perhaps reviewing one of those would give you a better idea! :>)
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
SEO Risks for redirecting sites
Hey Everyone, I've tried searching for this question, but am not exactly sure what keywords to search for so I'm probably missing the resources if they already exist... My client has had duplicated sites for years, and after multiple penalizations of those sites I was finally able to convince him to consolidate them into a "mega-site". Currently, he has a main domain, a geo-subdomain for each office location under the main domain, and a geo-domain for each office location. We plan on redirecting each geo-domain to the corresponding geo-subdomain. So, the final result will be one main domain, and a sub-domain for each office location. I'm looking for any information regarding tracking SEO data after the redirects are in place, how to guard against potential drops in SERPs, what's the smartest strategy to implement, etc... My client is very sensitive to his sites' SEO data, so if anyone has any SEO-related advice regarding redirecting sites it would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Industry News | | Level2Designs0 -
Redirecting International ccTLD affect SEO?
I've watched Rand's Whiteboard Friday video on How to Host and Where to Host for International Websites and read Gianluca's article on International SEO; however, I am still unable to find an answer or solution to this. ABC Company is a US based company with the website www.abcexample.com and plans to target people in Hong Kong. Therefore, they purchase .hk ccTLD. However, with the time restraint and budget limit, ABC Company is unable to create a completely new website under .hk ccTLD. Scenario 1: ABC Company plans to create different pages for each service offered in HK and 302 redirect .hk ccTLD blank service page to www.abcexample.com's same service page. Quesiton 1: Will this have the same benefit of creating a .hk website? Although ABC Company is redirecting, does the .hk ccTLD still tell Serach Engines that we are targeting people in Hong Kong? Will this solution harm or help with SEO with other search engines in Hong Kong? Scenario 2: ABC creates a /hk subdirectory under www.abcexample.com and have exactly same content in the same language as www.abcexample.com but use rel="alternate" hreflang="x" and use Webmaster to Geotarget Hong Kong. Question 2: By using rel="alternate" hreflang="x" and geotarget, will this avoid duplicate content if ABC Company has exact content in the /hk folder? Please let me know if my questions and scenarios are unclear. I understand that these are not best practices. Please advise the best way to work around this. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
Industry News | | TommyTan0 -
How should I outsource my small business SEO needs?
Fellow MOZers, I run a small ecommerce business called mrpearl11.com, and I need assistance in outsourcing my SEO. A little about us: We sell a variety of import merchandise, but specialize in closeouts (buying merchandise at very low prices) which can translate into some real exceptional value to our customers. The buying part of the business is strong, but our online presence is weak. We have a decent high-level understanding of SEO, but I do not have the in-house skill sets necessary to truly leverage the SEO tactics and strategies that I believe we need to integrate into our processes. Thus we have a very weak SEO presence. Basically starting from scratch. Right now, we are focusing on content. Item-level content. Subcategory and category level content. General website content (about us, contact us, the checkout process, etc...) with the goal to provide a great user experience. We believe we have the right prices on the right merchandise, and that if we can set a strong foundation of content so that the user experience is positive, our future marketing efforts will have a better ROI. However, keyword analysis and targeting, data-mining, A/B testing, link acquisition, etc etc etc, really don't exist as a part of our processes on a professional level. I could try to train my in-house crew, but I think that from time a time and cost perspective, we'd be better served by outsourcing. My question to the MOZ community is how should I address my small business SEO needs? There are probably a lot of ways to go from here, but I want to start with a person or an agency, build a relationship, and move forward taking one step at a time. I don't want to jump into some kind of commitment where we're spending big bucks out of the gate, but on the other hand if we can build a track record of proven results that have a good ROI, I'm not afraid to scale up. Please share your thoughts, and feel welcome to ask questions 🙂 Thanks! Adam
Industry News | | Adam-Perlman0 -
SEO-contests like “hochgeschwindigkeitsSEO” worldwide?
In Germany people out of the SEO industry seem to love SEO contests - the latest one being to bring up the keyword “hochgeschwindigkeitsSEO” on Pos. 1 on Google until a set time (contest entry example here). There obviously is a price (newest iPhone) and a sponsor (Randolf Jorberg), but for the most part it's a contest which holds the Olympic thought: Being there just means most of it 🙂 So I was wondering: are there any other countries where such contests are being held? I have not heard of any examples and I am quite curious if any other SEO communites out there have something similar going on 🙂
Industry News | | blueSummit1 -
How many small businesses use SEO?
I'm looking for data (not opinions) on how many small businesses use SEO, that is, either do it in-house, hire a firm, or hire a freelancer. I've poked around on SEMPO and eConsultancy but can't find what I'm looking for.
Industry News | | jsteimle0 -
SEO hosting (EU/Spanish IP's) any1?
Hello all, I'm currently trying to find a great hosting company which can offer a fast and stable service and more important, with the possibility of geolocalizing IP's of Europe and concretely for Spain. I've found Ixwebhosting but they only offer US Ip's, as their datacenters are there. I don't know if it's the same thing outside spain, but here the hosting companies only use to have a single "C-class" range so even buying them different IP's doesn't help that much, and it isn't cheap (2€/month/ip...). So if you know someone offering what I'm looking for (or really close to it) drop a line, I'll appreciate your help! 🙂
Industry News | | PabloGV0 -
Punchy Friday: Too much SEO Education?
This is not a question really, just an observation. Yesterday I was listening to "Stuff You Should Know" podcast, and it was about "Tickling". They were addressing how it is impossible to tickle yourself, and they theorized it was because our brain is AWARE that it's your own hand doing the tickling. The first thought that came to my brain was that our brain had put a "NoFolow" link on the tickling page of our brain website when it is from our own hands. I'm reading WAY to much about SEO . . . Happy Friday everyone.
Industry News | | damon12123 -
Who would you like to ask a SEO question the most?
I was wondering about which people in the industry you'd like to ask a question the most in the q&a? On my list is Matt Cutts (obviously), Marshall Simmonds, Jimmy Wales and Biz Stone.
Industry News | | ThomasHgenhaven0