While not named after the classic Star Trek movie "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", you can certainly compare SES to the recent movie "Star Trek Into Darkness". The latest film pays homage to past Star Trek lore as a part of a franchise reboot. Because of Google Hummingbird, SES found unique ways to "reboot" SEO strategy and considerations as well.
Much of the conference centered on the newest influences on search. The expo tracks were divided into three tracks based on media type - earned, paid, and owned media. This organization permitted SES to focus on the latest topics such as semantic search, content marketing, and enhanced paid search campaigns. All of these address the factors considered in Hummingbird, Google's algorithm which throughly updates its parameters for query relevance. In short, a reboot.
I was not able to attend every program but here are a few images and ideas that came up during the event, hosted at the Marriott on Magnificent Mile. The 2014 expo is currently scheduled for November 3rd - 6th, 2014 at the Palmer House.
On the expo floor, Charles Meyer of 7search presented its concepts about the advantages of smaller networks as a part of a general digital marketing campaign. Meyer advocates that smaller networks are generally "more transparent" than the big three (Bing, Google, Yahoo),
The opportunity being overlooked with smaller networks are that niches may be more affordably reached. While Google, Bing , and Yahoo take up 90% of search, smaller networks contain constant audiences that are worthwhile in the remaining 10%. In many cases, smaller networks provide an opportunity to test ad campaigns before attempting to extend the campaigns into larger networks.
Katherine Griwert, Head of Marketing Content & Communications at Brafton shared some tips and ideas on video. You can view this Zimana post for more information.
One nice aspect - I got to see a Google Glass for the first time, courtesy of Josh Braaten of Rasmussen College.
Even Google Glass, thanks to presenter Josh Braaten, made an appearance at this year's SES Chicago!
Next year's SES is being rebranded under the Clickz name - interesting giving the impact of Hummingbird on search services, and the growing emphasis on other strategies that can impact search. So for now, goodbye SES…and looking forward to Clickz in 2014!
