27. 10. 2017

Brighton SEO 2017 Round-Up: Our Favorite Presentations

BrightonSEO was an absolutely fantastic experience this year. Our Digital Marketing Recruitment team enjoyed meeting up with the best minds in the industry and learning more about the recent trends.

For those of you who couldn’t make it, here is a quick overview of Adaptive Digital’s favorite talks and presentations from the event.

1. Untapping the Hidden Potential of Post-Purchase Data & Customer Advocacy in E-Commerce SEO

Edward (Teddie) Cowell
Director of SEO UK and International – ‎MediaCom

Teddies’ conversation was one not to be missed as he provided huge amounts of insights and actionable steps to obtain more reviews in order to influence the different segments of the consumer buying cycle. To make his case, Teddie came armed with research to show how post-purchase data, especially reviews, impact user behaviour, conversions and the ability for marketers to target different parts of the buying cycle.

Packed with stats, examples, and guidance on how to get more reviews, it was a highly insightful presentation delivered accessibly on a technical topic.

2. Managing SEO in a complex business

Alina Ghost
Marketing Manager – Tesco

In her presentation Alina tackled what she believes to be the root cause of most difficulties that marketers deal with regarding SEO management in large or complex businesses. She pointed out that the difficulty comes from prioritization between business objectives and category objectives.

If SEO activity doesn’t result in a product or solution at the end of the campaign there is no reason to continue to put money into it. To avoid this, non-digital departments need to be continuously collaborating with SEO teams. This can be accomplished through relationship building, consultations, and ongoing training. It’s all about understanding the impact of content in the bigger picture and giving energy towards optimizing doorway pages that already rank.

3. Using search data to inform business strategy

Sophie Moule
Head of Marketing – Pi Datametrics

Sophie Moule’s presentation was one of my favorites at the event. Her main point was quite straightforward: in 2017 there is still a bigger visibility opportunity in the SERPs than anywhere else. And if SEO managers don’t learn how to report this immense value, then they will continue to be excluded from budget allocation and other crucial business decisions.

SEO is not a paid media channel and so it will likely never have the budget PPC or Display might have, but if you show the value SEO drives holistically, the content will be present at multiple checkpoints in the consumer’s journey.

Reporting on the true commercial value and profit of the work SEO managers accomplish will earn them a seat at the table.

4. Brand search, ethics and the future

Robin Fishley
Search Director – Saatchi & Saatchi

Robin Fishley explored the future evolution of SEO and brands in his talk. Search is the biggest channel, always first in customer intent, and 60% of all transactions include a search at some point in the journey.

But Robin suggested that the main problem that companies struggle with is that “most brands don’t understand what content is or even what they need from their content.” The solution is simple: understand the purpose of your content and make sure it’s aligned with your brand.

In a Web 4.0 Utopia where all websites are perfectly optimized and all SEO signals are equal; Robin explores what the role of content might be: could ethics or morality be a future top ranking factor?