SESConference.com February 2012

Sneak PreviewSES London

18–21 February 2013

Envisioning New Ways of Working and LivingSpeaking with Microsoft UK’s Dave Coplin 10

Predictions for SEO in 2013 6

Using hreflang for Multimarket Ecommerce 7

Measuring the Success of Your Content 10

about SESstaffMatt McGowan

MD, North AMericA

Mike GrehanPublisher

Sharon MorabitoheAD of eveNts, AMericAs

Ro OsborneMArketiNg Director, AMericAs

Program Development

seNior coNfereNce MANAger

coNfereNce ProDucer

Laura RothAnna Lee

Operations

seNior eveNt MANAger, uk

oPerAtioNs executive, uk

custoMer service MANAger

custoMer service executive

Steve BrownNicola AspellCharisse RosalesAmanda Targowski

ClickZ & Search Engine Watch

sPeciAl Projects eDitor

coPy eDitor

AsiA Desk eDitor

Melanie WhiteCaitlin RossmanAdaline Lau

Sales & Marketing

sAles Directors

Director, clieNt services

heAD of eveNts MArketiNg, uk

MArketiNg MANAger, uk

MArketiNg MANAger, us

MArketiNg AssociAte, us

Web DesigNer

oNliNe oPerAtioNs MANAger

oNliNe oPerAtioNs AssociAte

Elaine MershonElaine RomeoPeter WesterholmJoAnn SimonelliSophie EkeRosie PerkinsAmy XuPloy TangtrakulRebecca HolzLouise LabergeAleksey Gershin

Magazine

eDitor

coNtributors

Dawn CavalieriDave CoplinPeter HandleyDave NaylorSimon PensonNichola StottSuren Ter-Saakov Bas van den Beld

Corporate

chief executive

grouP MANAgiNg Director

Tim WellerJames Hanbury

SES: Volume 7, Issue 1 | February 2013© 2013 Incisive Media plc

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Welcome to the London issue of SES Magazine. SES London will consist of four days of unparalleled education in online marketing, including the latest techniques and trends in search, social media, display, mobile, email, and more. We’re pleased to have Dave Coplin, chief envisioning officer for advertising and online at Microsoft UK, as keynote speaker. He will discuss how the Internet is becoming more about “doing” and less about “finding,” and how shifting to a more human, consumer-centered approach can increase customer satisfac-tion and brand relevance.

Several UK-based practitioners featured in this issue will be speaking at SES London. Zazzle Media’s Simon Penson will discuss “Content-Driven SEO on a Shoestring.” Nichola Stott of The Media Flow will explore an earned-link strategy that combines technical tools, creative ideas, and client resources. Dave Naylor, SEO of Bronco, will provide a deep dive into SEO tools.

See pages 14–15 for sample sessions.To make the most of your time in London, be sure to download the SES London app. The

most up-to-date agenda can also be found on the conference website, SESLondon.com. And don’t forget these upcoming events: • SES New York, 25–28 March, New York Marriott Marquis (SESNewYork.com) • SES Shanghai, 29–30 May (SESShanghai.com) • SES Toronto, 12–14 June, Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre (SESToronto.com)

In addition to the four-day learning environment, there will be many opportunities for informal networking throughout the conference. See you there!

Best regards,

Mike Grehan, Chairses ADvisory boArD chAirPublisher iNcisive MeDiA

Matt McGowan MANAgiNg Director, North AMericAiNcisive MeDiA

SES ADVISORy BOARD

Comprised of both industry thought leaders and real-world practitioners, the SES advisory board brings together top players in the field of interactive media and search. The team works to deliver continually cutting-edge search techniques, more integrated and relevant content, and professional development resources to SES attendees.

Mike Grehan, ChairPublisher ses/seArch eNgiNe WAtch/clickZ

Paul FeganheAD of e-leArNiNg iNcisive MeDiA

Jon MyersvP, coMMerciAl Director eMeA MAriN softWAre

Matthew BaileyPresiDeNtsite logic MArketiNg

Andrew GoodmanPresiDeNtPAge Zero MeDiA

Lee OddenceotoPrANk oNliNe MArketiNg

Chris BoggscMo iNterNet MArketiNg NiNjAs

Bill HuntPresiDeNtbAck AZiMuth coNsultiNg

Giovanni RodriguezcofouNDer AND ceo sociAlxDesigN

Mikel Chertudisr. Director, oNliNe & DeMAND MArketiNg ADobe

Anne F. KennedyiNterNAtioNAl seArch strAtegistbeyoND iNk usA

Laura RothseNior coNfereNce MANAgerses coNfereNce & exPo

Eddie ChoiMANAgiNg DirectorfroNtiers DigitAl

Anna LeecoNfereNce ProDucer ses coNfereNce & exPo

Crispin Sheridansr. Director of seArch MArketiNg strAtegysAP

Bryan EisenbergbestselliNg AuthorbryANeiseNberg.coM

sesconference.com • SES 1

contentsCOvER STORY COLUMNS

1

2

14

ENvISIONING NEW WAYS OF WORKING AND LIvING Speaking with Microsoft UK’s Dave Coplin

CONFERENCE INFORMATION

SPONSORS & EXHIBITORS

SAMPLE SESSIONS AT SES LONDON

5

6

7

MARKETING USING INFLUENTIALSReach Your Target Audience by Getting People They Trust to Like You

PREDICTIONS FOR SEO IN 2013High-Quality Content, Transparency, and Branded Domains Will Be More Important Than Ever

USING HREFLANG FOR MULTIMARKET ECOMMERCEImprove Your International Targeting with New, Region-Specific Code

8

10

13

YOU CAN’T GET SOMETHING FOR NOTHINGEarn Your Links by Intelligently Positioning Your Excellent Content

MEASURING THE SUCCESS OF YOUR CONTENTCustomisable Reports and Secondary Metrics Can Help You Meet the Toughest Data Challenge of 2013

REvISITING THE PAST TO PREDICT THE FUTURE view Your Competitors’ Past Trends to Anticipate Changes in Advertising and Traffic

Follow SES at twitter.com/SESConf

The way we use technology is rapidly changing. No longer merely a place in which we look for information, the Internet is a web of knowledge, peo-

ple, places, and relationships. Dave Cop-lin, Microsoft UK’s chief envisioning officer, advertising and online, is just the person to describe the potential inherent in this trans-formation. He took some time to speak with Dawn Cavalieri, editor of SES Magazine.

Dawn Cavalieri: You’ll be delivering the key-note at SES London. On what do you plan to focus during your session?

Dave Coplin: In our modern society, the role of technology is something of a paradox: to most consumers, technology is invisible (or at least it should be), yet to brands and busi-nesses it has become a massive focus, an area where all can be won or lost.

Although technology will play a mas-sive part in our future, the most complex and interesting part of the equation is how customers and consumers have changed and will continue to change in their use of it. We firmly believe that success will come to those brands and businesses that are able to successfully marry the changes in

technology with the changes in society, and focus on the outcomes that make the most sense for consumers based on the context that surrounds them.

The web is quietly, but quickly, undergo-ing a social revolution, blending the analogue and digital worlds to become even more pow-erful in the way we all live, work, and play. Search is at the very heart of this change as the Internet evolves to be more about “doing” and less about “finding.” Understanding this change is crucial, not just for the satisfac-tion and welfare of consumers and custom-ers, but equally for the success and relevance of brands and businesses. This session will uncover the challenges and opportunities we face as we move further into this new way of living and working. It will describe how shifting to a more human approach enables us to unlock the full potential of all that tech-nology has to offer a modern society.

Dawn: You’re the chief envisioning officer, advertising and online, at Microsoft UK. De scribe your role at the company. What does a “chief envisioning officer” do?

Dave: We’re a technology company, and one of the easiest things to do in a technology

company is to spend all your time focusing on technology and thinking about products. Envisioning is the antidote for that: it takes us out of that cycle and helps us understand the human element of what we do. Under-standing how people might use technology is really important, especially when we as people get locked into doing the same things over and over again because it’s what we’re used to. How many times do you hear “we’ve always done it that way”? For me, that’s not always a great answer.

Envisioning New Ways of Working and Living Speaking with Microsoft UK’s Dave Coplin

interview by Dawn Cavalieri

continues on page 9

February 2013

2 SES • February 2013 {London}

sponsors &exhibitors SES London | 18–21 February 2013

PLatiNuM SPONSOr

Marin SoftwareStand 11www.marinsoftware.co.ukMarin Software provides a leading digital ad management plat-form. Global brands measure, manage, and optimise more than $4 billion in annualised ad investments on Marin. Offering an integrated platform for search, display, social, and mobile mar-keting, Marin helps advertisers and agencies improve finan-cial performance, save time, and make better decisions. Head-quartered in San Francisco, with offices worldwide, Marin’s technology powers marketing campaigns in more than 160 countries. For more information, please visit: http://www.marin software.co.uk.

SPONSOrS & ExhibitOrS

adobeKeynote Sponsorwww.adobe.comAdobe keeps your ad campaign on point, on time, and on budget.

Effective advertising starts with putting the right message in front of the right people at the right time. Adobe® Media Optimizer, part of the Adobe Marketing Cloud, gives you a single view across your media channels, so you know which placements and messages are producing the best results. What’s more, by giving you a precise forecast of how your advertising will perform, Adobe can help you make the most of every dollar in your budget.

adthenaStand 13www.adthena.co.ukAdthena is one of the UK’s most popular Competitor Search Intel-ligence Solutions.

Adthena’s Search Competitor Intelligence is unique—it finds all your competitors and all the keywords that are relevant to your marketplace. It not only reports on the competitors and keywords but also reacts to the fluidity of ranking, spend, share of voice, and all other PPC / SEO and SEM activity—giving you matchless power in your market.

So don’t fret; benchmark all your SEM campaigns with one complete tool and be the king of your market. For your free demo please request now, call us at +44 845 201 2211, or send a message at @adthena.

auroiN LLCStand 06www.auroin.comAuroIN, a recognised organization in Internet marketing, has shown commendable advancements in the near future and brought forth heaps of changes in the general perceptions of people that the tem-ple city of Bhubaneswar carried.

AuroIN visualized its dawn in the ideas of a person who show-cased an unbeatable energy and chivalry to give his dreams an image, a physical existence that flaunts his undying efforts to bring about a change in the ongoing corporate scenario. This prestig-ious enterprise owes its every brick to the quick wit and strategic notions of its chairman and managing director, Mr. Annada Prasad Padhy. He took this dauntless initiative and today stands aloof for establishing the largest digital marketing industry in the country.

AuroIN’s accomplishments in this year are really noteworthy and will sit as a milestone. Through these years AuroIN got the chance to work with highest budget clients. It runs three other com-panies, Makerank, Reputation Head and SEO World Class, along with AuroIN. AuroIN has started a project exclusively for its resell-ers—“SEO Sales Engineer.” Our services broadly include profes-sional SEO services, SMO, and SEM. Our SEO tools are appreciated by all our clients. The company has its existence in India as well as in New York and Singapore, catering and extending its services to over 40 countries across world with a client base of 1,400. The AuroIN family comprises 700 employees spread across the world.

bing ads accredited ProfessionalSponsorwww.BingAdsAccreditedPros.com

brightEdgeWiFi Sponsorwww.brightedge.comBrightEdge is the global leader in enterprise SEO, helping more than 4,500 of the world’s largest brands stay ahead in the rapidly evolving Internet landscape. BrightEdge S3 harnesses the power of analytics on big-data to drive revenue from web sites, search engines, and social networks across the globe in a measurable, pre-dictable way. BrightEdge is based in San Mateo, CA, with offices in New York City and London.

ClickZ academyStand 25www.clickzacademy.com/elearningClickZ Academy presents a range of online training courses that offer a comprehensive learning opportunity and allow you to pro-gress at your own pace. Authored by industry experts (including SES speakers), the course material helps marketers develop core competencies to build and execute successful strategies.

Expo hall hours: Tuesday, 19 February, 10:00–6:30pm | Wednesday, 20 February, 10:00–3:15pm

sesconference.com • SES 3

Stand #s on right.

DoubleClick by GoogleSponsored Sessionwww.doubleclick.com/searchDoubleClick Search is a search management platform that helps agencies and marketers efficiently manage some of the largest search marketing campaigns in the world, across multiple engines and media channels. Streamlined workflow, powerful reporting, and its very familiar AdWords interface enable buyers to efficiently run campaigns, while strategic bid optimization improves campaign performance. Last but not least, native integration with the Double-Click platform, as well as other Big Data capabilities, allows users to create campaigns that can standout from the competition.

LinkdexStand 24www.linkdex.comLinkdex is the data and technology partner to leading agencies and brands around the globe. With accurate data at the heart of an award winning platform, we extract actionable business intelligence for SEO, content marketing, social media, and public relations.

Powered by innovative technology such as influential author discovery, social circle suggestions, content 360 analysis, and geo-performance benchmarking, Linkdex allows clients to build rela-tionships with key influencers in a market, optimise content and engage with the people that matter, and measure performance all from one integrated suite. Please contact support@linkdex.com for more information.

Majestic SEOStand 02www.majesticseo.comMajestic SEO provides competitor backlinks intelligence to SEO spe-cialists. Majestic SEO is the planet’s most comprehensive backlinks information provider, and offers a number of tools to access to this valuable resource. Most recently, Majestic launched Site Explorer—offering more data than anyone else by a considerable margin.

Majestic enables registered users to test its services free of charge by generating reports for sites users control. Registration is free, and highly competitive subscription plans start at low prices, with a 1-month minimum commitment. Subscribers have a range tools to enable link analysis of competing domains to be performed. For Enterprise users, Majestic offers an API service for internal use, which enables developers to integrate the data into new or existing suites of reports and applications.

Link data includes 3 trillion links on the web by: • Anchor text • Link strength • Crawl date • Country source • IP number • Follow/frame/redirect and other flags

Stop by their stand to request a demo and trial.

Content ManagementLinkdex .................................................24Textbroker ..............................................1vocus ...................................................... 4

Content & News Feed ProvidersTextbroker ..............................................1

Display AdvertisingAdobe ........................................ SponsorMarin Software .................................11

General Search EnginesTextbroker ..............................................1

Interactive Marketing Associations & PublicationsSearch Engine Watch .....................25topseos.com ......................................... 9

Local Search Marketing Services & DirectoriesAuroIN LLC ........................................... 6

Marketing Optimisation Solutions Adobe ........................................ SponsorBrightEdge ............................. SponsorDoubleClick ............................. SponsorLinkdex .................................................24Search Engine Watch .....................25seoClarity ............................................26topseos.com ......................................... 9Trusted Proxies ................................... 3

Organic Search MarketingBrightEdge ............................. SponsorLinkdex .................................................24seoClarity ............................................26SEOmoz ................................... Sponsortopseos.com ......................................... 9vocus ...................................................... 4

Pay-Per Click Networks & Management ServicesDoubleClick ............................. Sponsor

Search Marketing AgenciesAuroIN LLC ........................................... 6

Search Marketing SoftwareAdobe ........................................ SponsorAdthena Competitor

Intelligence ..................................... 13BrightEdge ............................. SponsorDoubleClick ............................. SponsorMajestic SEO ....................................... 2Marin Software .................................11seoClarity ............................................26Trusted Proxies ................................... 3

Specialised Search Engines (Multimedia, Mobile, Shopping, International, etc.)Majestic SEO ....................................... 2

Staffing SolutionsAuroIN LLC ........................................... 6

Training Courses & Certification in Search MarketingClickZ Academy ................................25

Web AnalyticsAdthena Competitor

Intelligence ..................................... 13

Website Search & TechnologiesAdthena Competitor

Intelligence ..................................... 13Majestic SEO ....................................... 2Search Engine Watch .....................25

product & service guide

4 SES • February 2013 {London}

sponsors &exhibitors SES London | 18–21 February 2013

Search Engine WatchStand 25searchenginewatch.comSearch Engine Watch provides tips and information about search-ing the web, analysis of the search engine industry, and help to site owners trying to improve their ability to be found in search engines.

seoClarityStand 26www.seoclarity.netseoClarity is the first and only enterprise SEO platform that pro-vides you complete visibility into ALL of your SEO efforts—from search engine crawler activity and on-page optimization to keyword rankings, click-through rates and conversion rates—and updates it daily. seoClarity is comprised of professionals with strong direct marketing backgrounds, a team of incredibly smart statisticians, and the brightest minds with over 30 years combined of SEO expe-rience working in and with enterprises. The result is a platform that delivers unparalleled SEO intelligence and ease of use, all adding up to a formula that saves you time and effort, while contributing to a positive ROI.

SEOmozLanyard Sponsorwww.seomoz.orgSEOmoz develops the industry’s #1 SEO and social monitoring plat-form with a robust link intelligence API. Plus, we host a compre-hensive collection of free SEO and inbound marketing resources and a vibrant community of 300,000 online marketers. SEOmoz PRO combines SEO management, social media monitoring, action-able recommendations, and so much more in one easy-to-use plat-form. Mozscape, our unique index of the web that crawls over 350 billion URLs, powers the popular Open Site Explorer link analysis tool. Take a 30 day free trial! SEOmoz is also home to Roger Moz-Bot, the world’s most helpful and cuddly robot.

textbrokerStand 01www.textbroker.co.ukTextbroker is the online marketplace for custom-made, unique written content. It brings together customers looking for unique and exclusive textual content with an ever-increasing number of freelance authors who can write about virtually any topic. Orders include SEO-optimised web copy, blog posts, articles, press releases, news, ecommerce descriptions, buyer guides, and beyond.

The parent company was founded in Germany and offers its ser-vices for German, English, French, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish speaking content. Typical customers comprise SEO and marketing agencies, internet portals, and ecommerce vendors and publishers.

topseos.comStand 09www.topseos.comThe independent authority on search vendors, topseos.com evalu-ates and ranks the top internet marketing companies. Categories ranked by topseos include: search engine optimization, pay per click management, affiliate marketing, social media optimization, and many more.

Since 2002, topseos has been a trusted resource for businesses looking to launch or improve internet marketing campaigns. The pathfinder service allows topseos to work directly with you to help find companies that best fit your business needs. Why waste time searching through thousands of sites with false promises? Go straight to the authority, gain insight into the industry, and work with the best.

trusted ProxiesStand 03www.trustedproxies.comTrusted Proxies provides highly anonymous geo-specific enter-prise class private proxy servers for the SEO and online publishing industries.

Speed up keyword ranking reports and SEO research reports, avoiding search engine bans.

Get geographically accurate SERPs by being able to run your SEO reports as if you were in the same countries as your clients.

Surf the web and see geographically specific content and restric-tions the same way your customers experience the web from their country.

Manage multiple social media accounts including Facebook and Twitter on behalf of multiple clients without getting blocked.

Perform in-depth competitor research without revealing your own online identity.

Visit www.trustedproxies.com to get free advice and start an immediate free trial!

VocusStand 04www.vocus.comVocus is a leading provider of cloud marketing software that helps businesses reach and influence buyers across social networks, online, and through media. Vocus provides an integrated suite that combines social marketing, search marketing, email marketing, and publicity into a comprehensive solution to help businesses attract, engage, and retain customers. Vocus software is used by more than 120,000 organizations worldwide and is available in seven languages. Vocus is based in Beltsville, MD, with offices in North America, Europe, and Asia.

sesconference.com • SES 5

focusMarketing StrategieS

Our minds tend to play tricks on us, tricks that make us believe that we see something or that we want something. And because our minds

do this, we tend to want to “control” them by creating structure and making things simple. To do that, we look to others.

TrustTrust is very important in our lives. Because we are rarely sure of things, we like to find trust in the people around us. If another person has seen something similar to what you have seen, it is an acknowledgement—it

“proves” you are right.We are trained to trust based on the peo-

ple around us. We trust our teachers; we trust our parents and partners. We trust them to make us feel stronger and secure. They are the ones acknowledging our decisions. In a way, we let others make decisions for us so that we don’t have to make them. After all, making choices is difficult.

Our minds are constantly making choices; however, most of the time we are not aware that we are making them. According to Har-vard professor Gerald Zaltman (see article in the Harvard Business School’s newsletter), 95% of our decisions are made without our conscious awareness. This includes actions like scratching an itch, but it also involves buying decisions.

We may think that we are making just one decision when buying something—to pur-chase or not to purchase—but in fact we are making numerous decisions, subconsciously. Many of these decisions are based on our environment or on the authority of others.

For example, when buying a pair of shoes, we do not just think about whether we like them and can afford them. We also consider (possibly without realizing we are doing so) how our partners, parents, or colleagues would feel about them. If these people would like them, chances are higher that we will actually buy them.

The people whose opinions we trust can be separated into two types: those around us

(for example, the partners who will like or dislike the shoes) and authorities we look up to (teachers, celebrities, and experts). If they support something, it is likely that we will.

Marketers have always used the trust we put in other people. Advertisements feature celebrities for this very reason, and people close to us “advertise” products as well, by word of mouth. What brand of detergent do you use? Chances are that it’s the one your mother uses. What phone provider did you choose? Maybe it’s the one your colleague recommended.

Online Decision MakingIn the online word, the choices we have to make have only increased compared to those in the offline world. But the principle is the same: we base our decisions on the people around us and on authorities—those we trust.

Social media plays a big role in this decision making. If someone we trust liked a page, we are more likely to like it, or at least read it. If an industry expert has shared something on Twitter, the link will probably be clicked more than if a relatively unknown person has shared it. It’s the same game that our mind plays with us offline.

Google knows this and is constantly look-ing at human behaviour to see how we could or would respond online. And it is adjusting its services accordingly. The introduction of

“rel=author” shows that Google knows that we like to read things from authoritative people. The more authority you have, the higher the chances are that your picture will show up in front of your article in the search results, and that people will actually click on it.

Google also takes our environment into consideration. It no longer bases personal-ized search results just on your search behav-iour; it also bases results on your online behaviour and that of the people around you.

How Online Marketers Can Use TrustThe big question for us as marketers is how should we act on this. Are we going to do the same things that we did offline? Or will we adapt?

Most marketers apply the offline princi-ple to online: take your message, shout it as loudly as possible, and hope that someone picks it up and maybe retweets or reshares it. This, however, is the least effective way to approach online marketing.

As a marketer, you should find the influ-entials—the people around your target audi-ence, both the authorities and the people close to them. Target them separately and make sure that they embrace you. They shouldn’t retweet you; they should tweet about you. They should really tell the peo-ple around them how much they like you, because they like you. Get them to like you—and I don’t mean to click a button. Get them to really like you.

Bas van den Beld is a web and

search strategist, speaker, train-

er, and blogger. He owns State-

ofsearch.com, winner of the

“Best European Search Blog

Award.”

Marketing Using InfluentialsReach Your Target Audience by Getting People They Trust to Like You

by Bas van den Beld

Don’t miss this session at SES London:activating the Social-Search Dynamic Wednesday, 20 February, 3:15–4:15pm Queen Elizabeth II Conference CentreSpeakers will include:

• Nick Beck, Managing Director, Tug • Bas van den Beld, Founder,

Stateofsearch.com

See page 15 for details.

Find the influentials—the people around your

target audience, both the authorities and the people close to them. Target them separately and make sure

that they embrace you.

6 SES • February 2013 {London}

focus SeO

Predictions for SEO in 2013High-Quality Content, Transparency, and Branded Domains Will Be More Important Than Ever

by Dave Naylor

Anyone working in the SEO industry in 2012 felt the effects of Panda, Pen- guin, and the notorious “unnatural link profile” emails. It was a tough

year for link building. Many link-building techniques resulted in unnatural link pro-files, which were easy for Google Penguin to spot algorithmically.

Panda, which began in early 2011, is still going strong. The latest update ran on 21–23 December (it takes a couple of days). Panda penalises low-quality websites, and there are many factors to consider when it comes to quality. People tend to ignore items such as contact details (including phone number and email address), logo, and testimonials—all of which could be ranking factors.

With Penguin there is a host of consid-erations: What percentage of keyword anchor text links have you got compared to brand anchor text links? What percentage of nofol-low versus follow links? Site-wide links ver-sus single-page links? What percentage of links point to your home page versus deep pages? Which links are considered low qual-ity? All of these make for an extremely con-fusing, and risky, business.

So what will 2013 look like?

Link Building Gets a Shake-UpFor starters, I think we are going to see link building take a back seat as it loses effec-tiveness and the risk goes up. More people will carry out white-hat link building, using social media, particularly Google+, for SEO. We’ll see a shift towards online PR and away from link buying and controlling anchor text in order to build more natural link profiles.

Could Facebook Search Be a Google Killer?Facebook and Yahoo! are rumoured to be discussing a joint search engine. A Face-book search engine could be devastating for Google, but it would open up a huge new area for SEOs.

Quality, Not Quantity, Is the KeyIt’ll be harder for those with large amounts of content to play the numbers game. Google will continue to punish low-quality con-tent, emphasizing unique content including images and videos.

As links decline in importance, on-site factors will play a larger role. Any technical SEO problems will probably knock you off page one.

Google has started to focus more on site quality and less on keyword usage. (You can see this with title tags, which don’t have quite the impact that they used to, possibly because of overuse.) As more people adopt smart TVs, smartphones, and tablets, respon-sive websites will receive greater weighting in the rankings. A mobile version of a web-site just won’t cut it anymore. That brings me to usability.…

Make Sites for Users, Not Search EnginesSites that have lots of pages targeting spe-cific key phrases are dead. Now it’s all about having a usable site. Concentrate on usa-bility, make sure that you have all of your goals created in Google Analytics, and check bounce rates by device, browser, and screen size. Split test big changes—after a while the difference really adds up.

Transparency Is Good for EveryoneThe communication and transparency that we saw from Google in 2012 will likely con-tinue, and this can only be a good thing for both sides: Google will get higher-quality websites, and website owners will improve their rankings.

Panda and Penguin Become Built InAt the moment, Panda and Penguin are run-ning as updates every month or so. This is how Google used to run its index, in what was called the “Google Dance.” We may see Panda and Penguin more often until the point at which they are running every day or perhaps all the time as part of the algorithm.

It’s All about the BrandThere was an update towards the end of 2012 that focused on brands. A client of ours who didn’t have a well-known brand but who was ranking well suddenly got bumped down a few places by big names. In 2013, brands are going to take the lion’s share. So forget those keyword domains; branded domains are now where it’s at.

One thing is certain: it will be another interesting and challenging year for SEOs!

David Naylor (commonly known

as DaveN) owns Bronco Inter-

net, a successful web develop-

ment and SEO agency. He is

considered one of the best

SEOs in the world.

Google has started to focus more on site quality and less on keyword usage. As more people adopt

smart TVs, smartphones, and tablets, responsive websites will receive greater weighting in

the rankings. A mobile version of a website just

won’t cut it anymore.

Don’t miss this session at SES London:SEO tools Deep Dive Thursday, 21 February, 11:45am–12:45pm Queen Elizabeth II Conference CentreSpeakers will include:

• Richard Baxter, Founder and Director, SEOGadget

• David Naylor, SEO, Bronco

See page 15 for details.

sesconference.com • SES 7

focusSeO

Using hreflang for Multimarket EcommerceImprove Your International Targeting with New, Region-Specific Code

by Peter Handley

A common problem with multimarket ecommerce and international search engine optimisation is the target- ing of website content to the cor-

rect region, to allow search users in a spe-cific area to find the pages relevant to their location.

It’s particularly difficult where there are substantially similar websites or pages targeted for those regions and languages, as duplicated content tends not to perform strongly in Google search. This is an espe-cially common issue for ecommerce websites.

Purpose of rel=”alternate”, hreflang=“x”In December 2011, Google introduced a method to help webmasters with this target-ing: rel=”alternate”, hreflang=“x”. This lets you indicate to Google the content that you want to show up in search engine results for various regions. This is most effective when you have one powerful website ranking in all regions, despite having specifically targeted websites or sections of the site that would be more suitable in that area or language.

This doesn’t directly affect the rankings for these webpages; rather, it helps to make the right pages visible to the correct audi-ence. If you have a US-focused ecommerce site that ranks in Google.co.uk, despite hav-ing a dedicated UK ecommerce area for the UK audience, you can “swap” the pages that rank and send customers to the correct ver-sion of the page.

Implementation ChoicesThere are two ways to use rel=”alternate”, hreflang=“x”: add the appropriate code to the <head> tag on a page-by-page basis in all ver-sions of that content, or employ a particular type of XML sitemap.

• <head>. When Google launched rel= ”alternate”, hreflang=“x”, the only way to implement it was by adding the appropriate markup to the <head> of each page of your website. You would

tell Google that page “x” was for one particular language or region, and that pages “y” and “z” were for other respective locations or languages.

This is a laborious method, as it requires updating all pages that you want to reference. Doing this across sites with hundreds or thousands of pages, each with its own regionally tar-geted version, is a logistical nightmare. Since this proved costly and time-con-suming to implement, Google created a second option.

• XML Sitemaps. Introduced in May 2012, the XML sitemap approach simplifies the processes. You just have to map the variations, work out the country code for each region, and use that map to create the appropriate XML sitemap.

Selecting the Correct Language and RegionsEach region or language for which you have content requires the correct code. For an English-language, internationally targeted site, the code is “en“, whilst for an English-language, British site, it is “en-gb“. It’s important to get this right to make sure that the right content is visible in the correct ver-sions of the search engines.

Why Use hreflang?The beauty of this technique is that it works across different domains and subdomains and even on subfolder setups, all of which are common ecommerce setups.

During our initial implementation on an ecommerce site operating in three distinct English-language regions, we found that it worked as intended—for the most part. We used it because there was one strong site that ranked in all three regions we were tar-geting, despite the existence of individual websites for each location.

We’ve seen marked increases in traffic from search for the regional domains that didn’t previously have any visibility, and the rankings in each country now mostly lead users to the correct version of the website for them. As we expected, rankings haven’t changed at all as a result of this, but the goal wasn’t to change rankings; it was to make sure that the content being served to users was correctly localised to them.

This is something to plan carefully. Get the implementation of this method wrong, and it could cause all sorts of havoc to vis-ibility in your targeted regions. In the right circumstances, this is a powerful tactic to serve up the correct localised products to each region that you target.

This procedure allowed us to piggyback on the visibility of one of the company’s existing web properties. When coupled with other international SEO work to increase visibility, it can dramatically improve your international targeting, particularly when you’re entering a new region.

Peter Handley is the SEO direc-

tor at theMediaFlow, a bou-

tique online marketing agency

that focuses on search with

earned link-building strategies.

theMediaFlow has also created

the hreflang XML Sitemap Generator tool.

This is something to plan carefully. Get the implementation of this method wrong, and it could cause all sorts

of havoc to visibility in your targeted regions. In the right circumstances this is a powerful tactic to serve up the correct

localised products to each region that you target.

8 SES • February 2013 {London}

focus SeO

Be honest. When was the last time you really got something for noth-ing? ¶ If I get extra reward points at my chosen supermarket, I know

that it’s a calculated exchange against the data I’ve provided about my shopping habits and the likelihood of my future custom. If I get a voucher for a free muffin from my local coffee shop, you can rest assured that there’s small print to the tune of “with any pur-chase.” Truly receiving something of value for absolutely nothing in return seldom hap-pens, and that’s just life—which is why I find it hard to understand why there’s an institu-tionalised practise within some sectors of the SEO industry that seeks to build links that have no reason to be there. Nothing of any relevant value has been offered to earn them.

You might ask, but what about cold hard cash? Surely offering financial compensa-tion means that I’ve earned the right to have that link to that page? Not at all: paying for something and actually earning it are two entirely different things. Do a Google search for “Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends” and tell me if you still think I’m being naïve. Any argu-ment about manipulated, bartered, or bought links has been moot anyway since 24 April 2012, the day that Google really did become proficient in identifying such links (as many webmasters experienced) with the launch of the Penguin algorithm update.

I’ve never understood why some agencies and online businesses support the strategy of engineering, bartering, or purchasing links over and above actually earning them? Every single method (even malicious spam programs) requires effort and some level of budget. If you or your SEO agency uses any of the above, it still takes budget, staff, and analysis. Why not put these things to work on a method that’s going to be an investment, not just an expense. SEO is part technical dis-cipline, part marketing discipline, and I feel strongly that any good SEO agency should be able to help your online business earn links. All this requires is an understanding

of marketing principles, which should be second nature.

Identify your AssetsWhat do you do that makes you special?

Maybe you sell curtains and you think that’s not so special—maybe not at that level—but why should I buy my curtains online from you? Do you offer next-day deliv-ery on made to measure? Were you estab-lished in 1925? Does your site have a tool that allows users to add a photo of their room and superimpose your curtains onto it? Do you have a crazy CEO with a rags-to-riches entrepreneurial story?

The attributes that we might consider to be traditional “USPs” (in marketing speak) can be translated into linkable assets on your site, or in content that can be positioned to interested media off site.

Think about:

• Your people and their stories • Your products and features • Research and data • Awards and merits • Ethical and social policies • How you innovate • Points of difference

All of these things can be used for the cre-ation of content that is interesting, engaging, humanising, and even newsworthy. Content like this can be used on your own site and marketed to the relevant audience so that it attracts links on autopilot. Or such content can be created exclusively for online media with a readership that would find this con-tent interesting or beneficial.

Find the AngleGetting your content messages, quotes, inspirational stories, and quirky data posi-tioned off site can take skill and experience. This is why a good SEO agency that works in this way can be valuable for you. Know-ing how, when, and to whom to position “the

angle” to another website is what you’re pay-ing for as a service.

The skill in positioning such content to a high-quality site is in understanding what makes the content interesting or beneficial to the sites’ readers. After all, regardless of whether you’re pitching to journalists or bloggers, the main question they will be ask-ing themselves is “why should my readers care about this?”

Whether a piece of content is relevant and newsworthy is often straightforward, and the angle will come naturally. On occasion, in drier markets this can require some creative thinking. We find that this often happens in business-to-business sectors where a client may feel that their product has very limited appeal and only to purchasers of that prod-uct. In such cases we find that when taking a product to its human application, there’s always a story to be found.

As an example, think of a business that manufactures temperature-control systems, designed to be integrated into incubators for premature infants. It’s not the product itself that’s appealing; it’s the human appli-cation. Manufacturers of software compo-nents such as Intel use this approach. Most of us wouldn’t have a clue what an Intel Xeon processor does, but through the company’s advertising and marketing efforts, we’re familiar with their brand and know that their products help other products do cool stuff faster.

Can yours?

Nichola Stott, managing direc-

tor at theMediaFlow, has

worked for some of world’s

largest digital communications

businesses.

You Can’t Get Something for NothingEarn Your Links by Intelligently Positioning Your Excellent Content

by Nichola Stott

Don’t miss this session at SES London:Earned Link Strategies Wednesday, 20 February, 2:00–3:00pm See page 15 for details.

sesconference.com • SES 9

focusCoVEr STory

The way technology has changed our lives over the past 30 years is incredible, but in reality, it’s nothing compared to what we can achieve if we open our minds to differ-ent ways of working and living. Envision-ing helps us see the possible so that we can decide what may be most appropriate for us. It’s a way of focusing on outcomes rather than products or tactics. At Microsoft, we have fertile ground in terms of being able to see the most incredible ideas and innovation years before they might hit the mainstream. By combining that with a view on how soci-ety might evolve, we end up with a pretty intoxicating combination. I’m incredibly lucky to be able to say that is my job.

Dawn: You say that the Internet is evolving to be more about “doing” and less about “find-ing.” What do you mean by that?

Dave: Today, we use the Internet as a means of helping us achieve all that we need in everyday life. What used to be a novelty is now a necessity, a normal part of everyday life. When you take a step back and think about how much our use of the Internet has changed in just the past 10 years, it’s pretty staggering. In this incredibly narrow period of time, the Internet has become part of the very fabric that connects all aspects of how we live our lives. Implicit in this change is that we no longer use the Internet merely as a source of information—remember when the web used to be about just pages and links? Instead, that web of knowledge has been joined by a web of people and relation-ships through social media, and now slowly but steadily by a web of places as we start to digitise every aspect of the world around us.

Combined, these take us from the World Wide Web to a “web of the world”—effectively, a digital copy of the world around us that we can use to build incredible services that trans-form the way we live, work, and play.

The move from “finding” to “doing” is implicit in this and the evolution of how consumers use the Internet. It simply means that people no longer use the Internet just to find information; they use it to achieve outcomes (e.g.,“don’t just tell me about the product; help me buy it at the right price/location, too”).

Brands and businesses need to really take time to understand that, and success will come to those that can connect across the web of the world to deliver information and services that revolve around the consumer rather than waiting for consumers to step through the (virtual) door.

Dawn: What will be the challenges and oppor-tunities for digital marketers in 2013 and beyond?

Dave: The role of technology in our society has radically changed in the past decade. It’s not all that long ago when in order to see a personal computer, you needed to be in a place of work or a place of study. These days, most people go home to better tech-nology than they have at work; as a result, their expectations of what can be achieved are also radically different.

Mobile technology offers yet another dis-ruptive change as it provides a window into the digital world, wherever we are, enabling us to use the incredible power and insight

of the Internet in the context of what we are doing and where we are to help us make bet-ter decisions in the real world. Added to this, the very proximity of the device (it’s with us pretty much all the time) means that the best information is never out of arms reach regard-less of where we are or what we’re doing.

There has been (and will continue to be) much hyperbole about mobile marketing. The crucial thing for marketers to under-stand is the unique nature of the dialogue that mobile marketing allows. The personal nature of the devices affords a very differ-ent conversation, but the real transformation comes when brands and businesses under-stand the power that comes from understand-ing the context of the customer (where they are and what they are doing) and incorporat-ing that into the service or information being provided.

Dawn: What can SES attendees expect from your presentation? What tips or insights will they take away from it?

Dave: Interestingly (for me at least), I don’t expect to provide many explicit answers about the future for the SES audience, but I do hope to start a dialogue, opening eyes and minds to a potentially different future. Along the way I hope to expose some of the incred-ible potential that lies hidden because we aren’t able to break away from our historical programming in order to take advantage of it.

Technology is an inevitable part of our future, but the real opportunity and chal-lenge lie in understanding how people will change and adapt to use it. Throughout the presentation, the audience will get some tips and insights for their brands and businesses to make the most of the changes we know are coming, and better still, to help spot those that are further out.

Envisioning New Ways of Working and Living

continues from page 1

Success will come to those businesses and brands that can connect across the web of the world to deliver information and

services that revolve around the consumer rather than waiting

for consumers to step through the (virtual) door.

10 SES • February 2013 {London}

focusAnALySInG cuStOMer data

2013 is the year in which digital will fully embrace a content-led future. Following years of technology obses-sion, we’ve realized that the only way

to create a long-term business (irrespective of platform) is to produce great “stuff” that people will find valuable. The major stum-bling block is tracking that value back to the bottom line.

While a lot of marketing and advertising spend can indeed be easily measured online, clearly defining the value of content crea-tion is more difficult. Sixty-eight percent of CMOs report that they are shifting more spend to content-led initiatives in 2013, indi-cating a palpable need to measure how effec-tive that budget is going to be.

And while there is no foolproof, head-slappingly obvious way to measure it, there are metrics I use across the various cam-paigns that I manage day to day.

Questions to AskBefore building your organic segments in Analytics or setting up your social sentiment or listening campaigns, create a list of ques-tions (about actions, conversions, reactions, and behaviours) that you believe are impor-tant. This list may include:

• How many times has the content been viewed?

• How long was spent viewing it per visitor and in total?

• Did readers “convert” and perform the task you wanted them to?

• Was content shared via social channels and, if so, how much and by whom? Could Klout or amplification metrics add more insight value here?

• Were other pages viewed, or was the value siloed?

• What might that additional earned “traffic” have cost you as paid traffic?

• Have readers engaged with the content and, if so, what percentage overall? How many shares and comments did it gain?

Measuring the Success of Your ContentCustomisable Reports and Secondary Metrics Can Help You Meet the Toughest Data Challenge of 2013

by Simon Penson • How often is your brand being men tioned across the social graph? Is this number

growing? • How is brand sentiment? Is it improving or declining over time? • How many purchases or conversions can be directly measured today, in 6 months, and

in 12 months from that activity? • Is the average value of that conversion/sale higher or lower than average? • What is the revenue per reader of the piece? • What is the average order size in terms of both number of products and dollar amount?

From these questions, you can begin to establish the key segments and custom reports that you want to create in Analytics.

Organic Search MetricsMost businesses are used to using analytics tools to decipher ROI, and among all the tools, Google’s are the most widely tested and trusted.

But how do you avoid drowning in average data? To get a true grasp of value, you must first understand what you should measure. There are four types of content marketing metrics: consumption, sharing, leads, and sales. For the majority of marketers, the first two are the focal points, but in reality the latter pair represents the clearest signs of success.

To discover what gets the biggest bang for the buck, I often use one or more of the follow-ing custom reports or segments.

You can customize both how you segment and drill into the data using the various param-eters as dimensions, and which metrics are included in the report. This will provide you with the greatest flexibility in how you view your data.

For instance, if you blog regularly, understanding the real value of your effort is very useful. Begin by creating what we call an “editorial report.” This will give you the specific performance of each blog post, showing organic searches, entrances, bounce rate, revenue, conversion rate, and other figures. Members of my team use it regularly to compete against each other (and me) on our own work and also across our client portfolio. Below is the actual setup created from within the Custom Reports section.

sesconference.com • SES 11

focusAnALySInG cuStOMer data

You can add to it by generating similar reports based on author if you want to measure individual performance.

Another useful area of the Analytics platform is the Multi-Channel Funnels segment. While it is not designed purely to measure content performance, with a few tweaks it becomes very useful for attribution.

The best way of fine-tuning the funnel reports is to build a New Channel Grouping from within the Top Conversion Paths subsection of Conversions.

Clicking on the Create New tab will give you the option of creating a number of new Labels for each key section of the site.

Once these are added, you will be able to clearly map which sections of the site are responsible for which conversions and what value they have to the business. This can help you channel resources to further improve underperforming sections or A/B test others. You can also include whitepaper download URLs here to understand the wider value they bring.

Tracking Lead ValueIf you really want to drill down into the detail, you can set up Goal tracking to do a similar thing. It doesn’t give you the full picture that the Channel Groupings report does, but it is

a simple way of understanding the value of specific pieces of content. This works well if you want to track the value of a download or a piece of content where there is a specific URL on which users land after carrying out a specific action. Google offers a simple guide to setting it up.

And If you Want Really Advanced…The wonderful world of Regex (or Regular Expressions) can help you suck amazing data from your usual platforms into Excel, for instance, to play around with even more.

In simple terms, Regex is a pattern that allows you to describe a certain amount of text so that you can pull out very specific data—for example, “keywords attracting more than 1,000 visits that feature the words perfume, aftershave, and moisturizer.” Annie Cushing is a Regex and Excel guru, and you could do worse than follow her for more on this subject.

This can prove really useful when exam-ining specific content campaigns, and can be used to create advanced segments within Ana-lytics to track things like nonbrand organic searches (to prove the value of SEO). In a content scenario, you can use the advanced filtering to distill traffic sources to particular content campaigns or areas of the site.

By navigating to the Content section of Analytics, you can look at specific URLs to understand the value of total campaigns or areas of the site.

Here the content you’ll want to inspect is placed within the /amazingcontent/ sec-tion, and by adding it to the advance filters section, you can exclude everything else and understand revenue per page/section, visits, bounce rates, and more for the campaign (see next page).

continues on page 12

12 SES • February 2013 {London}

focusAnALySInG cuStOMer data

Secondary MetricsThe value doesn’t end there, of course. The whole point of content marketing is that it should be measured over a 12-, 24-, or even 36-month period, and that’s when secondary indicators come into play. If you are measuring then you should certainly include such proxies as:

• Quality of leads • Retention period • Lifetime value per lead • Length of sales cycle • Number of new customers referred by lead

Social MetricsIf you are heavily using social to market your content, it is also worth understanding how to measure each channel’s value in that overall campaign.

As most marketers know, measuring social value is one of the most challenging parts of the ROI mix, and quite often businesses default to simplistic audience-size metrics to try to understand it. The reality is that we should be digging deeper to look at engagement and proxies such as:

• Facebook likes • Retweets • LinkedIn and other shares • Links back • Comments • Time spent on page • Average page views per visitor

back to site • Mentions

Again, it is easy to build social-specific Analytics reports by using the Social section within standard reporting. The Social Value tool clearly shows you the value you are see-ing from social referral and interaction.

A great way to understand the wider picture is to investigate the Conversions subsection of Standard Reporting and then simply add in Basic Channel Grouping Path as a secondary dimension. This will give you the funnel path users took before convert-ing. You can then use the same New Channel Grouping process as in the organic example earlier to visualize actual pages with which they have interacted before converting.

Other ConsiderationsYou can, of course, go on forever with data analysis. The key is to create something that suits your business and its unique set of measurement requirements. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.

There are many platforms out there to help you understand the lifetime value of customers and how you can better retain them. Closed loop marketing is the next step in the process, where the insights you have gained can begin to play out over the longer term—when things such as content flow and other lifecycle marketing techniques come into their own. But that’s a subject for another day.

Simon Penson is the founder of

Zazzle Media, which specialises

in content marketing and strat-

egy. He began his career as a

journalist and magazine editor.

Measuring the Success of Your Content

continued from page 11

sesconference.com • SES 13

focusactiOnable AnALySIS

Going back in time is something that many of us wish we could do. For-tunately, we now have the ability to do just that—at least with Internet

marking and PPC. We can go back an entire year to view our competitors’ data. Each new year brings new challenges, and there’s no way to know for certain what will happen, but the question remains: how can we use 2012’s competitive historical data to our advantage in 2013?

Many struggle to find a way to fore-cast the future and apply their predictions to Internet marketing and PPC. Ultimately there is no right or wrong method, but uti-lizing historical PPC data makes the task simpler. By looking at last year’s trends, we gain the ability to predict rises and falls in advertising or traffic. Surprisingly enough, the application of this data is rather practical.

Say we are planning our ad spend and budget for 2013. The ability to see what our competitors were doing at this time last year would be extremely useful. Figure 1 shows a sample of things that we can view back to January 2012.

Step 1: Decide Whom and What to TrackIn this example, we examine Zappos. Once we choose our competitor, we can find out how much money they allocated to keywords and ads; we can even view the ad text for a specific month. We may want to focus more on keywords, ad traffic, or ad texts, or explore a combination of them to analyse the most data possible.

Step 2: Look at the Competitors’ Trends We can investigate trends of the advertiser to see where their advertising may have fluctuated. In Figure 2, we can see that Zap-pos gradually increased their keywords over time, but we also find a bit of a dip in June of 2012, followed by a sizeable increase.

Step 3: Look at the Month Desired and Analyse the DataTo discover what Zappos was doing with their advertising in June 2012 and why it may have changed, we’ll start by taking a look at ad texts.

We find that Zappos was focussing on various types of shoes including Uggs, Con-verse, and Michael Kors. Obviously, we would go in for a closer look at the keywords on which they were bidding, and extend our investigation to the following months.

Step 4: Use Historical Data to your Advantage When creating a PPC plan, your decisions should always be data driven. Guessing whether a strategy will work is not a sound way to begin a sustainable marketing plan. Take a look at the past and present strategies of your competitors in order to determine what worked and what didn’t. The examples here represent only a fraction of all of the historical information that we can find.

SummaryWith PPC data, we can spot gaps in our com-petitors’ advertising and deduce the reasons for those gaps, or find that their advertising remained consistent. Whatever the findings, using historical data for up to twelve months back sheds light on our competitors’ histo-ries and helps us make appropriate, data-driven decisions.

As the COO of the SEOquake

Team, Suren Ter-Saakov utiliz-

es his extensive knowledge of

search engines to help develop

tools that serve those who

make their living online.

Revisiting the Past to Predict the Future View Your Competitors’ Past Trends to Anticipate Changes in Advertising and Traffic

by Suren Ter-Saakov

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

14 SES • February 2013 {London}

sessions SES London | 18–21 February 2013 | hosted by

Day 1—Tuesday, 19 February

10:30–11:30amTrack 1Link building in a Post-Penguin WorldDeveloping and executing a link-building strategy, even after the Penguin update, does not have to be a daunting task if you separate it into internal and external strategies. Externally, you’d be sur-prised by the rich landscape of links you already have. You need to determine what your priorities are and what links you already have, and fill in the key gaps in a way that won’t get you into trouble with the engines and that takes advantage of social linking to get visi-tors to do some of the heavy lifting. Internally, you probably have many links that are just not right, so you may need to spend a bit more time fixing them.

This session will guide you along the process, provide simple steps to get the most out of the links that can contribute to your site performance, and discuss the tools you can use to do it.

Moderator: • Bill Hunt, SES Advisory Board; President, Back Azimuth

Consulting Speakers:

• Kevin Gibbons, UK Managing Director, BlueGlass Interactive • Paul Madden, Owner, Automica Limited

11:45–12:45pmTrack 2Creative Content Marketing— Winning hearts, Minds, & WalletsInvestments in content marketing are on the rise, but few com-panies have fully realised what the best practices are for creating high-quality content over a long period of time. Developing ideas for effective marketing can be a challenge. This session will help you to:

• Develop a framework for creative and efficient content creation. • Find resources and ideas where others cannot. • Leverage a mix of evergreen, repurposed, curated, and cocre-

ated content for better marketing results. • Apply SEO and social media optimization principles to amplify

content reach and engagement.

Speaker: • Lee Odden, SES Advisory Board; CEO, TopRank Online

Marketing

2:00–3:00pmTrack 3the age of big Data & the Modern MarketerWhile most marketers today are well-versed in the metrics of their online marketing channels, far fewer are leveraging their “Big Data” across all digital marketing channels for cross-functional insight into customer behaviour, to gain efficiencies across all channels, and to grow traffic and revenue. Key takeaways from this session will include:

• The impact Big Data will have on modern marketers, forcing them to become part marketer, part chief information officer.

• How to leverage the latest advancements in technology to gather, analyse, and react to new consumer behaviour uncov-ered by Big Data, with an emphasis on visibility, optimisation, and automation.

Moderator: • Matt McGowan, Managing Director, Marketing & Americas,

Incisive MediaSpeakers:

• James Murray, Digital Insight Manager, Experian Marketing Services

• Jon Myers, SES Advisory Board; Commercial Director EMEA, Marin Software

Day 2—Wednesday, 20 February

2:00-3:00pm Track 1Content-Driven SEO on a ShoestringQuality content is at the heart of any post-Panda SEO strategy. To develop quality content, you need a steady stream of ideas and executions that engage your audience and build search equity. But how can you create this when budgets and resources are being squeezed? This jam-packed session will include multiple case stud-ies and statistics to teach you:

• How to plan and produce effective content marketing with limited budgets, resources, and expertise.

• Great tips and techniques to create high-quality, searchable content on an ongoing basis.

• Who in the market is getting it right and how imitation can save you time and money.

Moderator: • Lee Odden, SES Advisory Board; CEO, TopRank Online

MarketingSpeakers:

• Simon Penson, Managing Director, Zazzle Media • Catherine Toole, CEO, Sticky Content

Sample SessionsDownload the app or visit www.SESLondon.com for complete agenda and session descriptions.

sesconference.com • SES 15

sessionsDownload the app or visit SESLondon.com.

2:00-3:00pmTrack 3 Earned Link Strategies— Leveraging tools, ideas, & PeopleThe links that provide the greatest benefit to your site are those that are earned. In this presentation, speakers will detail an earned-link strategy that combines technical tools, creative ideas, and cli-ent resources (people) as earned-link ambassadors. Learn how you can help your clients be the most relevant and stay the most rel-evant. Takeaways will include:

• PR tools for media research • Blog prospecting tools • Case study ideas • Real examples of creative strategies (how to find the angle)

Moderator: • Anna Lee, Conference Producer, SES Conference & Expo

Speakers: • Caragh McKenna, Senior Manager, SEO, The Search Agency • Nichola Stott, Managing Director, The Media Flow

3:15–4:15pmTrack 2activating the Social-Search DynamicBrands that seek performance from social media must embrace the dynamic between social and search. If search marketing is all about delivering value from consumer intent, social is about delivering value from consumer interest. Search marketers must understand the dynamic between search and social where interest begets intent, and intent reinforces interest. This presentation will discuss:

• How to develop an integrated social-search strategy. • Key points of crossover between search and social marketing. • Ideas for achieving synergy and efficiency between both chan-

nels with actionable strategic frameworks. • The importance of combined measurement and analytics

strategy. • Client examples from some of the world’s most revered brands.

Moderator: • Jonathan Beeston, Director, New Product Innovation, Adobe

Speakers: • Nick Beck, Managing Director, Tug • Bas van den Beld, Marketing/Search Strategist, Founder,

Stateofsearch.com

Day 3—Thursday, 21 February

10:30–11:30amTrack 1Living in a “Smart” World—how Mobile & tablets are Shifting user behaviourWhile mobile users are highly active in updates and sharing, many brands are failing to optimise and engage with them. And from a search perspective, more than 25% of search traffic is from mobile devices. By better engaging with the more mobile customer, brands can achieve better performance. Attend this session to learn:

• Strategies to tap into the potential of the social mobile channel.

• Which brands have created valuable engagement in the channel.

• Tactics and practical steps that brands can take to be more effective in mobile social media.

• Case studies of how brands such as Top Shop, Ford, VW, KLM, Dominos, and Foot Locker are achieving great engagement

• The effects of emerging trends such as Big Data or connected products and how they will change our perception of social media in the future.

• Strategies to connect more effectively with your mobile con-sumer through paid search marketing.

Moderator: • Cindy Krum, Chief Executive Officer, MobileMoxie LLC

Speakers: • Mark Brill, Lead Partner, Brand Emotivity • Sri Sharma, Founder and Managing Director, Net Media

Planet

11:45-12:45pm Track 2SEO tools Deep DiveIf you are responsible for your company’s search engine optimisa-tion, then you know that you need all of the various tools of your trade close at hand. This session will describe the tools that will help you to accomplish your tasks, including:

• Indexing • Competitive analysis • Diagnosing and remedying problems • Page- and site-level information • On-page optimisation

Moderator: • Jon Myers, SES Advisory Board; Commercial Director EMEA,

Marin SoftwareSpeakers:

• Richard Baxter, Founder and Director, SEOGadget • David Naylor, SEO, Bronco

Meet the experts at the most educational online marketing event

SES New York, March 25–28

SEO. Social. Website Usability. E-Commerce. E-mail Marketing. Analytics. And much more.

Make joining the SES community part of your 2013 goal.

SESNewYork.com