Update: November 14, 2018
Distilled’s SearchLove conference Day One was pretty good, with 25 great SEO and social tips I shared with you yesterday. Day Two brought even more tips and tricks from some of the best practitioners in the world. Here’s the wrap-up.
Personalization, profiles and privacy
Ciaran Norris, Director Emerging Media, Mindshare
- We shouldn’t be talking about search results, we should be talking about traffic from Google.
- Using social cues, we can make advertising cheaper, yet more targeted. Knowing exactly what a consumer will like will make an advertiser and marketer’s life so much easier.
- TV advertising will become A/V advertising.
- Facebook social graph will be the world’s biggest ad network with social personalization.
- A ruling is about to come down in Ireland about whether or not the Facebook Like button on third party sites breaks European Union privacy laws. It’s something to really pay attention to. If you operate in the EU (sell to the EU, etc.), then you fall under these jurisdictions.
Making competitor analysis useful
Wiep Knol, Link Marketer, Gila Media
- Identify the competitors first, then gather and process the information on them.
- Use as many databases as you can to get the right data for the campaign you’re working on, which will assist you in targeting the right websites when link building.
- Only analyze the necessary elements of a link building campaign, don’t just finish a checklist.
The art of getting everyone else to do your work for you
Richard Baxter, Founding SEO Director, SEO Gadget
- Game mechanics 101: points. A points system will help you get going in whatever form of gamification you’re choosing to implement. Examples: SEOmoz, Stack Overflow, LinkedIn.
- Build a leader board so users will be motivated by where they rank.
- People are motivated by status, sometimes more than a monetary reward.
- Learn how to reward users to perform actions on items that are most important to your business.
Real world link building case studies
Patrick Altoft, Director of Search, Branded3
- Don’t build links without improving the site first.
- Link building process: competitor analysis, search Google, shortlist sites, QA process, story ideas, pitch stories, content production, place links, QA process, promote links, track links.
- Most infographics get less than 10 links.
- How much is a link worth? Since time = money, there are few links worth more than $250.
The past, present and future of link bait
Hannah Smith, SEO Consultant, Distilled
- Hannah is taking us through all the old link bait favorites from back in the day…Maddox (crappy kids art still makes me laugh 10 years later), hot or not, rate my face. Oh, the old days of the internet.
- If you have decent data, write a press release with a good headline, and watch the links come in (see: OK Cupid).
- Have a low budget? Written content can get you great links.
What does a CRO expert bookmark?
Stephen Pavlovich, CEO, Conversion Factory
- When doing conversion rate optimization, you need to first identify the problem, then dive into researching ways to fix.
- You can use Evernote to save anything you come across to help spur ideas in the future. Capture anything that is daring and effective.
- Take what works in one industry and apply it to any other. But test those ideas, and make sure they are going to actually work for you.
How brands should do SEO
Martin MacDonald, Head of SEO, OMD Group
- The estimated spend on SEO in 2012 is projected to be $7.8 billion.
- All big brands need to do to succeed at search is to go back to the ABC’s of SEO. When they finally get up to snuff, they will destroy all mom and pop shops in SERPs.
- SEOs need to, and will, become a part of the overall marketing mix.
- How do you look like a big brand without spending an insane amount of money? Build some buzz, empower and look out for your evangelists, and give a crap about your brand.
Write Good Content for your blog
Content is recognized to be in the top 3 for most important SEO factors in ranking. Know your audience, know what they search for, and know how to mix together your knowledge of people with your knowledge of the Google algorithm. Jessica Foster wrote up a great piece on how to write for SEO and for people in her recent guest post for Raven.
Now social media marketers can get the credit they deserve by automatically delivering Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn reports that prove value.
