SES New York 2007 Day 1

Video Search Optimization

Moderator: Chris Sherman, Conference Programming Director, SES events series
Speakers:
Eric Papczun, Director of Natural Search, Performics
Sherwood Stranieri, Search Marketing Director, Catalyst online
Gregory Markel, Founder/President, Infuse Creative, LLC

Video search optimization has gained popularity with the increase in video content optimization. Chris moderated the session and Sherwood Stranieri from Intuit began the discussion. The three top most video sharing sites are YouTube, MySpace and Google Video. Being one of the first to put up a video of a certain product will definitely score in the video world. Next Eric Papczun took over. He stressed on the importance of video portals. Videos are moreover searched based on the surrounding texts. Adding videos in the site maps is equally important for the rankings. Even with video search anchor texts and links are actually the key determining factor in ranking the website.

Search Term Research & Targeting

Moderator: Misty Locke, President & Co-Founder, Range Online Media
Speakers:
Christine Churchill, President, KeyRelevance
Dan Thies, President, SEO Research Labs
James Colborn, Product Manager, Microsoft adCenter

It is significant to exactly know what search terms to follow. The keyword tools like WordTracker, Overture, Google Keyword Tool, Keyword Discovery, NicheBot to name a few help determine the significant keyowords. Wordtracker also announced the launch of a new site devoyted to keyword research called Wordtracker Academy. The keywords should be evaluated on three chief features, namely relevancy, popularity and user intent. However, ensuring that keywords are competetive is also very important. All the speakers stressed a lot on the relevance of keywords. If the keywords used are relevant the traffic coming to the site would also be relevant.

Podcast & Audio Search Optimization

Moderator: Chris Sherman, Conference Programming Director, SES events series
Speakers:
Daron Babin, CEO, Webmaster Radio
Amanda Watlington, Ph.D., APR, Searching for Profit
Rick Klau, Vice President of Publisher Services, FeedBurner

The chief reasons stated by Amanda to podcast have been the advantage of extended reach and addition of new media outlets. More reason accounts for facilitating marketing communications and to develop a direct channel with customers. The text surrounding the podcast should be relevantly optimized. As a matter of fact the site where the podcast appears should be optimized. This will prove to be good not only for the site but also for the targeted podcast. Daron on the other hand contemplated whether podcast are really worth it. They are expensive and involve human resource as well. Daron stresses that people will only listen if you are compelling.

Mobile Search Optimization

Moderator: Chris Sherman, Conference Programming Director, SES events series
Speakers:
Gregory Markel, Founder/President, Infuse Creative, LLC
Cindy Krum, Blue Moon Works
Rachel Pasqua, Director of Mobile Marketing, iCrossing

Mobile search is just about to begin. The user experience is not so good which accounts for a low adoption rate and slow growth. However, there are many other reasons which might be enough for prompting a website owner into entering the mobile search business. Many might still not get a hang of it but some of the for mobile some of the tricks are valid for SEO. Krum emphasized that one should start from linking campaigns. Getting links from other mobile sites and mobile directories is very helpful. Mobile search actually works just like online search engines. Getting started early might just be helpful. 

Search Engine Friendly Design

Moderator: Andrew Goodman, Principal, Page Zero Media
Speaker: Shari Thurow, Webmaster/Marketing Director, GrantasticDesigns.com

Is it possible to build sites that are search engine friendly? Yes, it is very much possible. The speakers stressed on key points to ensure that the site is search engine friendly. The most important point is that the sites should be simple and easy to read and navigate. The consistency of the pages should be maintained at the site. The search engines follow links so the page architecture has to be developed with strong link component. Shari informs that webmasters should make a site map. Site maps serves the purpose of way finder above all.

We will soon post the highlights of day 2. Do come back soon for more.

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