In less than two weeks the European Search World will gather in London to attend, network and share knowledge at SES London 2012. Like every year it promises to be a great event with a great line up of speakers. State of Search will off course be covering the event and in cooperation with our friends at SEO Chicks there was the contest to win tickets.
Going up to the conference we will also be shedding our light on the event. We have asked several speakers at the event to answer some questions. Questions about SES off course, but also about the market in general: where do they feel the market is heading.
Today it is time to listen to a “SES Veteran”, “mr video”, Greg Jarboe, President & Co-founder of SEO-PR.
A bit on the market in general
How much do you think has “Search” changed in the past year and how much will it change in the coming year?
The “Panda” algorithm change was just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, Panda was just one of roughly 500 search improvements Google rolled out to search last year. I expect it will continue to change at the same rapid pace in the coming year. That works out to an average of two additional tweaks to Google’s ranking algorithms each and every business day.
Do you already feel the impact of “Search Plus Your World” as a searcher?
Not really, because I rarely sign into Google, so my search results are pretty much what they were before Google announced “Search Plus Your World” on Jan. 10, 2012.
Looking at Europe, what do you feel other search engines should do to get closer to Google?
By getting closer to Google, I assume you don’t mean using the +1 button as a signal in their ranking algorithms. I assume you do mean closing the gap in market share, right? Well, other search engines should learn a few lessons from blekko, a search engine whose goal is to provide better search results than those offered by Google search by offering results culled from a set of 3 billion trusted websites and excluding material from such sites as content farms.
A bit on SES
What will your session and your talk in specific be covering?
I’ll be participating in the Meet the Experts: Round Table Forums on Tuesday, 21 February, from 4:30-5:30 p.m., and on Wednesday, 22 February, from 12:00-1:00 p.m. On both days, I’ll be at the Video Optimisation table.
On Wednesday, 22 February, I will be holding an Express Clinic from 2:00-3:00 p.m.. It’s entitled, “Your Video ain’t Viral — YouTube Marketing Mini Critiques.” According to YouTube, less than 30 percent of videos get 99 percent of the views on the site. So, if you didn’t make viral videos like “Charlie bit my finger – again!” or “Susan Boyle – Britain’s Got Talent,” then you’ll want to attend this express clinic to learn important tips, best practices, and strategies. I’ll show participants how to get more people to discover, watch, and share their originally-created videos.
On Thursday, 23 February, from 12:45-1:45 p.m., I’ll be speaking at the session entitled, “Developing a Video Optimisation and Marketing Campaign.” YouTube has become the second largest search engine yet many companies fail to adequately leverage this phenomenal medium to engage new and existing customers as well as key marketing partners. I will use real world examples to help attendees understand and master the entire video process from what to create, how to optimize it, how to market it with social media, and how to measure the real business impact.
What makes SES a conference you want to speak at?
I’ve been speaking at SES London each and every year since 2005. Although I spend about 20 percent of my time at SES London speaking, I spend the other 80 percent of my time listening. That’s the real reason why I keep coming back.
Is there a session, apart from your own, you would urge people to go and see? And why?
There are three key reasons to go to SES London: To (1) keep up-to-date with industry trends, (2) see new products and services, and (3) maintain and build relationships. So I would urge people to attend the keynotes and conference sessions, visit the sponsors and exhibitors in the expo hall, and network at the cocktail reception and Black Hat, White Hat, unconferenced session.
What should people ask you when they see you at SES?
Michelle Goodall of Econsultancy has called SEO-PR the “US online marketing agency specialising in successfully optimising seemingly anything that moves for search.” So, people can ask me about optimising videos, images, news, maps, books, and websites. We were among the first to do this — and provided these services even before Google announced its critical first steps toward a universal search model back on May 16, 2007. In fact, one American blogger has said, “One can’t help but notice that if Greg Jarboe had gone to Google and designed Universal Search himself he likely couldn’t have designed it (better) to play into his strength areas in news and PR related issues.”