Optimize your online presence with fresh SEO insights from the experts

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an indisputable cornerstone of online marketing, but the shape and scope of SEO have evolved tremendously over recent years. If you want your content to succeed, it must be optimized for a vast array of mediums, including voice search, video, and apps. Speed and mobile are more important than ever. Structured markup, JavaScript… it’s a massive landscape, and just when you get your footing, it changes.

You understand the importance of an optimized web presence. You’re serious about staying fresh on the latest SEO tactics and how to implement them. That’s why you should attend SMX® East.

Join us November 13-14, 2019 in New York City for two full days of SEO sessions specifically designed for professionals like you. Major players will be there to share firsthand advice on exactly what they’re looking for when it comes to outstanding content.

Together, we will dive deep into the areas of organic search that matter most to you and your bottom line.

SEO Sessions

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Breaking Down The Periodic Table of SEO Factors: 2019 Edition

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Overview

Join us for an expert-led examination of the newly updated 2019 Periodic Table of SEO Factors! This is an in-depth look at the search ranking factors that influence your results. What’s on the rise? What’s on the decline? And what still works?

You'll leave this session knowing the elements that deliver maximum SEO success -- it's a must-attend for serious SEOs.

Speakers

Barry Schwartz

Contributing Editor, Search Engine Land and Owner, RustyBrick, @rustybrick

Jessica Bowman

SEO In-house, Owner, @jessicabowman

Moderator

Detlef Johnson
SEO for Developers Expert for Search Engine Land and SMX, , @deckarts

Learning From The Winners of Google Algorithm Updates

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Overview

Google algorithm updates of 2018 and 2019 fundamentally changed the organic search landscape. Many SEOs, webmasters, and content creators are adapting to Google's new criteria for high-quality content. What does authoritative content look like today? What are the opportunities to improve?

In this session, you'll get real-world examples of what Google considers to be high- and low-quality content. You'll apply what you've learned to improve your own sites and content.

Speakers

Lily Ray

Director, SEO, Path Interactive, @lilyraynyc

Glenn Gabe

President, G-Squared Interactive, @glenngabe

Moderator

Barry Schwartz
Contributing Editor, Search Engine Land, @rustybrick

Behind The Scenes With Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools

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Overview

Two of the most powerful tools for SEOs are the Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools… are you leveraging them to the fullest extent possible?

In this session, you'll get a comprehensive look at what these free and versatile tools do and how to use them most effectively to accomplish daily and weekly SEO tasks.

Speakers

Daniel Waisberg

Search Advocate, Google, @danielwaisberg

Sandhya Guntreddy

Principal Program Manager, Microsoft, @guntreddy_05

Moderator

Barry Schwartz
Contributing Editor, Search Engine Land, @rustybrick

Google and Bing Talk Spam and Penalties

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Overview

Want a behind-the-scenes look at how Google and Bing determine what's good and what's bad? Join Fili, former Google Search Quality team member, and Frédéric, who leads the anti-spam team at Bing, for a candid conversation on how both engines are fighting spam and handling manual penalties.

They'll discuss:

  • Webmaster guidelines: the things both Bing and Google think are bad and the subtle differences between the two search engines
  • Penalties: the philosophies behind them, how they are applied by each engine and how to get reconsidered
  • What's new: the latest blackhat SEO they're seeing and why it's still prudent to avoid the dark side

Speakers

Frédéric Dubut

Senior Program Manager, Microsoft, @CoperniX

Fili Wiese

SEO Expert - Search Engine Land Contributor, SearchBrothers, @filiwiese

Moderator

Chris Sherman
Partner & VP Event Programming, Third Door Media, Inc., @CJSherman

Advanced Tactics For A Mobile-First Indexing World

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Overview

Google is now using a mobile-first index that looks at your site's pages through the lens of a mobile device. That means performance in search is now directly tied to how well optimized your mobile website is.

In this session, you'll learn advanced techniques to perform an audit in a mobile-first world to ensure that content, links, metadata and structured data are compliant, regardless of how users access your site. You'll also discover tactics and techniques for maximizing the effectiveness of your site's AMP (accelerated mobile pages) content.

Speakers

Eric Enge

General Manager - Search Engine Land Contributor, Perficient Digital, @stonetemple

Aleyda Solis

International SEO Consultant, Orainti, @aleyda

Moderator

Barry Schwartz
Contributing Editor, Search Engine Land, @rustybrick

SEO and SEM Data Sharing For Maximum Impact

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Overview

As the search industry matured, SEOs and SEMs were often siloed in different teams, with little direct communication. Times have changed, with silos breaking down and marketers often taking on multiple, cross-disciplinary roles. And with good reason: SEOs and SEMs can learn a lot from each other, and leverage skills and knowledge to amplify the performance of marketing campaigns. In this session, our speakers explore how sharing data and working together can be a significant boon for search marketers.

Speakers

Wil Reynolds

Founder, Seer Interactive, @wilreynolds

Moderator

Brad Geddes
Co-Founder, AdAlysis, @bgTheory

Conversational Search and The Impact Of Voice On SEO

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Overview

With millions of devices featuring Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa functionality in use, it's clear that the future of SEO requires creating and optimizing content for devices that humans talk to.

This session covers the opportunities and challenges the conversational web presents, including:

  • The role featured snippets play in surfacing voice search results
  • Using variables such as location, long-tail keywords and reviews
  • Creating task-based and informational content
  • Identifying cost-effective ways to experiment and learn with conversational search
  • How to optimize your content and user experience for a future in which half of all queries are voice–driven

Speakers

Eric Enge

General Manager - Search Engine Land Contributor, Perficient Digital, @stonetemple

Brittany Page

Assoc. Director of SEO, 3Q Digital, @3QDigital

Moderator

Detlef Johnson
SEO for Developers Expert for Search Engine Land and SMX, , @deckarts

How Brands Approach SEO and SEM

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Overview

Brands face unique challenges when it comes to SEM and SEO:

  • Maintaining brand image within restrictive headline and description requirements
  • Ensuring that testing doesn't impede other branding efforts
  • Following trademark guidelines

These are just a few issues that make search advertising tricky. Brands must also have to carefully plan SEO efforts, with marketing and product groups coordinating "ownership" of keywords, content and other assets.

In this session, you'll hear first-hand how successful brands are overcoming these and other pressing issues in their search marketing campaigns.

Speakers

Mike Henderson

Digital Marketing Director, SuretyBonds.com, @innuhendo

Chanelle Harbin

SEO Manager, Disney ABC Television Group, @chanelle_harbin

Moderator

Chris Sherman
Partner & VP Event Programming, Third Door Media, Inc., @CJSherman

Ranking in Google Local and Google Maps

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Overview

You'll need more than traditional web search tactics to achieve exceptional rankings for multi-location brands. Knowing what works (and why!) is critical to helping your customers find you quickly... with minimal confusion over locations, branches or competing brands.

In this session, experienced local search marketers will share insights from several case studies that show how they achieved better rankings within the local pack and Google Maps search results by focusing on factors like reviews, Google My Business categories, and fine-tuning their GMB settings.

Speakers

Dan Leibson

Vice President of Local & Product, Local SEO Guide, @danleibson

Cori Graft

SEO Team Lead, Seer Interactive, @corigraft

Moderator

Barry Schwartz
Contributing Editor, Search Engine Land, @rustybrick

Schema and Structured Data: "Hidden" Gold For SEOs

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Overview

Experienced SEOs know that ranking is harder than ever. And with featured snippets and voice search becoming more important, your existing tactics may not be enough. In today's world, structured data (a.k.a. schema) drives both Position Zero/featured snippets in the SERPs and answers to voice queries on Google Home and Google Assistant.

In this highly technical session, you'll learn:

  • Advanced tactics that ensure your sites rank well by making content accessible to search engines
  • Tips on how to implement, test and validate structured data
  • Advice for how to future-proof content to avoid getting left out of the voice search conversation

Speakers

Chris Long

Architectural SEO Manager, Go Fish Digital, @gofishchris

Aleyda Solis

International SEO Consultant, Orainti, @aleyda

Moderator

Detlef Johnson
SEO for Developers Expert for Search Engine Land and SMX, , @deckarts

Google My Business From A to Z

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Overview

Join us for a detailed exploration of all the new capabilities and key features available with Google My Business. This session will provide tactical advice on how to use GMB for managing business listings, handling reviews, promoting your business, reviewing your analytics and much more.

Speakers

Dan Leibson

Vice President of Local & Product, Local SEO Guide, @danleibson

Moderator

Barry Schwartz
Contributing Editor, Search Engine Land, @rustybrick

Refreshing Evergreen Content: How, When and Why

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Overview

Creating new content is not always the answer to better content marketing. Sometimes you are better off leveraging existing assets or coming up with a new spin on an existing topic.

This session is a step-by-step guide to supercharging SEO by refreshing older content based on a case study by Condé Nast. Spoiler alert: They achieved an average 200%+ increase in search traffic on well-known magazines Allure, Epicurious, Brides, Glamour, Vogue, GQ and Wired.

Speakers

John Shehata

Vice President, Audience Development Strategy, Conde Nast, @jshehata

Moderator

Chris Sherman
Partner & VP Event Programming, Third Door Media, Inc., @CJSherman

The Correct Way To Test Your SEO Campaigns

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Overview

It can take several months to determine if your SEO efforts are properly implemented and generating results (either positive or negative). In addition, managing the variables within an SEO test can be extremely complex -- requiring, at times, complicated technical configuration, set up and diagnostics.

In this session, you'll explore different ways to set up your SEO tests to effectively track their success and failure rates over time.

Speakers

Alexis Sanders

Technical SEO Account Manager - Search Engine Land Contributor, Merkle, @AlexisKSanders

Moderator

Barry Schwartz
Contributing Editor, Search Engine Land, @rustybrick

The Challenges Of Hiring & Retaining SEO Talent In Today's Competitive Environment

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Overview

In today's highly competitive job market, it's a challenge to find the right people at the right price with the right experience, especially if your company is in a geographically challenging area for candidates. With experience leading teams at AOL, HPE and other organization, Simon will discuss the challenges with hiring SEOs and how to overcome them. He'll also discuss the best options for motivating and retaining them so you don't have to go out and regularly hire replacements, instead allowing you and your employees to concentrate on growing your business.

Speakers

Simon Heseltine

VP of Audience Growth, Trader Interactive, @yorkshireborn

Moderator

Chris Sherman
Partner & VP Event Programming, Third Door Media, Inc., @CJSherman

Local Presence Management for Multi-location Brands

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Overview

Maintaining a single corporate site is not enough for multi-location brands and franchises. Consumers don't search for store locations, they search for "near me" locations. Each storefront must have complete and accurate data on Google, Facebook, Yelp and other destinations. The challenge is doing all this for hundreds or thousands of them.

In this session, you'll learn the key elements of local presence management at scale, how to work with available APIs and the tactics necessary to maximize local discovery and consumer engagement.

Speakers

Aminta Iriarte

Social Manager, Crunch Fitness

Moderator

Greg Sterling
Contributing Editor, Search Engine Land , , @gsterling

Tackling the Challenges Of Enterprise SEO

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Overview

Large organizations face unique challenges when it comes to SEO. Whether you are running multiple websites across a variety of content management systems or managing content across different countries and languages, your challenges are specific and increasingly hard to manage.

In this session, our panel of enterprise SEOs will cover how they have been solving their own technical and structural issues and help you think through how to solve yours.

Speakers

Tanu Javeri

Sr. Global SEO Strategist, IBM, @TanuJaveri

Laura Lippay

SEO Lead, Comcast, @lauralippay

Moderator

Jessica Bowman
Owner, SEO In-house, @jessicabowman

Future-Now Local Search: Assistants, Voice, Maps and More

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Overview

While we don't have flying cars (yet), we're making incredible progress with personal assistants and mapping. For example, Google Assistant can now call a restaurant and make a dinner reservation for you. The new Apple Maps has built-in augmented reality and CarPlay options to better connect with customers on-the-go.

These nascent technologies will soon be commonplace in the local and multi-location search space. In this session, our experts will take a trip to the "future-now" and get a look at what you can start using today to help dominate your local search efforts.

Speakers

Greg Sterling

Owner - Search Engine Land Contributing Editor, Sterling Market Intelligence, @gsterling

Eric Enge

General Manager - Search Engine Land Contributor, Perficient Digital, @stonetemple

Moderator

Barry Schwartz
Contributing Editor, Search Engine Land, @rustybrick

JavaScript: The SEO's Swiss Army Knife

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Overview

JavaScript drives at least some functionality on 94% of all websites. And this reliance is likely to grow as Google, in particular, doubles down on PWA (Progressive Web App) adoption. PWAs allow you to create responsive, application-like experiences for mobile and desktop devices, without the need for a stand-alone app. But there are still situations where GoogleBot can't access content within JavaScript, leading to problems with indexing and poor rankings.

Attend this advanced session to explore how Google processes various JavaScript frameworks, URL formats, dynamically loading content, expandable content, DOM Snapshot, SPA applications, automatic vs. user-interaction loading and more.

Speakers

Martin Splitt

Google Developer Relations Search, Google, @g33konaut

Jamie Alberico

Technical SEO, Not a Robot, @Jammer_Volts

Moderator

Barry Schwartz
Contributing Editor, Search Engine Land, @rustybrick

Ask The SEOs

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Overview

During this PowerPoint-free panel, veteran search marketers and technical SEOs will answer your burning questions about search engine optimization. Got a puzzling issue? Wondering about emerging trends or tips and techniques? Ask the experts!

Speakers

Tanu Javeri

Sr. Global SEO Strategist, IBM, @TanuJaveri

Fili Wiese

SEO Expert - Search Engine Land Contributor, SearchBrothers, @filiwiese

Dave Davies

CEO, Beanstalk Internet Marketing, @beanstalkim

Moderator

Jessica Bowman
Owner, SEO In-house, @jessicabowman

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