Google engineers talking openly about the latest challenges in indexing web content. Search marketers getting their heads around building promotions on Twitter.  Lunch networking sessions exploring obscure tips and tricks. This year’s San Jose SES had it all, with a glow-in-the-dark Google Dance to boot. Although SES hosts events around the globe, the San Jose [...]

There were many sessions at SES San Jose 2008 on getting more value from SEM traffic and improving the usability of SEM landing pages. Although not so well attended (being the last day of the conference), this session did contain many useful tips and tricks for landing page optimization. Moderator: Anna Maria Virzi, Executive Editor, [...]

If you have ever grappled with trying to create SEM strategies for companies with more than one business unit or how to sell in the value of SEM to upper management, then this session was for you! David Roth did a particularly good job of explaining how he created the current SEM strategy for Yahoo [...]

I didn’t get to cover this one, but Lisa Barone for Bruce Clay, Inc. did a great job: http://www.bruceclay.com/blog/archives/2008/08/semantic_search.html What is semantic search? A way of finding meaning in those 2-3 words you type in the search bar. Search for ‘Definitely, Maybe’, you get music-related results  for Oasis. Search for ‘Marriott San Francisco’ and you [...]

This session looked primarily at how paid search marketers can get the most out of contextual search (what Google calls the Content Network). There was also some information for publishers delivering ads and those who manage contextual campaigns. Moderator: Gregg Stewart, SVP, Interactive, TMP Directional Marketing Speakers: David Szetela, CEO, Clix Marketing Cynthia Tillo, Senior [...]

Keynote: Dan Heath, author of ‘Made to Stick‘ Dan Heath stood in for his brother Chip to make this keynote on why some ideas prevail through time and how marketers can capitalize on these. Some of the most pervasive ideas are those transmitted by urban legends. Dan kicks off with a few examples: that the [...]

It seems like no online marketing seminar is complete nowadays without at least one session on social media. SES San Jose was no exception – social media optimization is definitely creating a buzz in the industry (as it has been for at least the last year). Moderator: Kevin Ryan, VP, Global Content Director, Search Engine [...]

So, it appears that I’m not the only one grappling with how to cope with duplicate content issues and content replicated in different places. The session on this issue at SES attracted a sizeable crowd and a whole clutch of questions at the end. Mark Jackson (of Vizion Interactive) gave a lively presentation with useful [...]