You give Search a bad name! (Part 1)
Don’t worry! I’m not breaking into a Bon Jovi karaoke moment. Humour me on this title, all will soon become clear…
I have spent years defending best practice in Search and sitting on committee bodies such as the IAB and the IPA to support the maturity of the Search industry, particularly in support of the role of the agency. So it really angers me when such efforts are still being hampered to this day by practices and profiles that give Search a bad name or reputation.
Here’s a few examples I’ve come across recently (as I started to write these examples out, I realised there was enough evidence here to fill several blog posts, so there will be more examples to follow in the coming days!):
1. Good old Search Engine Strategies (SES)
I attended SES London a few weeks ago, after a few years’ leave of absence from this conference. But I was horrified to find that the panels had the same cronies on who were panellists in the late 90s, talking about the same outdated topics e.g. “link building, is it about quality or quantity?” - AND charging small businesses and enthusiastic practitioner delegates £000s for the privilege of learning nothing new from CEOs who haven’t coded a site or managed a PPC campaign for at least 10 years.
No wonder the once darling of the Search conference circuit has in recent years been superseded by SMX. Shot through the heart, and you’re to blame! Time for some new blood in terms of speakers, some new topics and probably a new re-brand too, please, SES!
(Part 2 of ‘You Give Search a bad name’ will be published in the days to come)
