Good morning, good morning! We’re kicking things off at Pubcon this morning with a keynote from three Googlers. What more could you really want to start your search day? On stage we have Nathan Johns (Senior Search Quality Analyst and one of my favorite folks), Eric Kuan (Webmaster Relations) and Gary Illyes (Search Quality Analyst). This should be good. Joe Larato is playing moderator, host and emcee here. Joe: Voice search,  as a topic. What are you seeing? How is it effecting devices? Gary:  Voice search is very exciting. More and…

Still here. There’s really no better way to end a day than trying to keep up with Aimclear’s Marty Weintraub so that’s what we’re gonna go. Brace yourself, this is gonna get nuts. I’ll do my best to keep up. Marty’s sharing his current Spotify playlist and the music he’s really into. Marty says this is his 9th Pubcon. If you would have asked Marty years ago if he thought he’d be able to take his customer list or actions that deem “success” and then do FB targeting around them…

Hey, hey! I hope you enjoyed your lunch because we’re about to start up again. This afternoon we have Tom Hale delivering our keynote. He’s from Survey Monkey and he’s gonna share tips and tricks for helping us maximize survey results. Tom’s up on stage and he has ENERGY and I love it. He’s the president of Survey Monkey and he loves his job. Survey Monkey is a place where they power curiousity. Surveys are for intrinsically curious human beings. Tom says we’re here because we want to win, and…

Still with us? Good! Next up we’re going to talk influencer marketing with the very smart Kristina Libby and Matt Siltala. We’re starting this session a little early. That’s how I like it. Up first is Kristina. She starts by quoting Lazerfeld & Katy Theory from 1940 which found opintion leaders are most succesful in conveying an idea to people who share certain demo criteria. Krisitina performed an influencer survey to learn more about the influencers themselves — what’s important to them, how do they want to work with brands, etc?…

Lauren Polinsky (MGM Resorts) and Kate Morris (Craftsy) are up to talk about in-house content strategy. Kate starts off saying that she and Lauren are both very, very old. Perhaps not age-wise, but definitely experience-wise. We’ll take that. She mentions that we’re not here to just talk about blue links on a search page. It’s about showing up in the One Box. It’s about Voice Search. It’s about giving people the answer to the question they’re searching for.  It’s about videos. It’s all content. Content isn’t just the text on the page….

Good morning, party people! Welcome to Day 1 of Pubcon here in Las Vegas. It may only be the first official day of the show but I’ve already lost my voice and shared my cold with a few hundred people. You’re welcome! We have a busy liveblogging schedule this week so check that so you know what you can expect and when.   Pubcon’s Joe Larato is up on stage to talk about the Pubcon story. This crazy ride all started in a pub in London. Since then, it has…

If you haven’t heard, Facebook has started testing an alternate newsfeed for unpaid business page posts. The rollout has been slow but in the countries it has been tested in, the results aren’t looking too promising for small businesses.  It’s now even more important – no, necessary – that small businesses build and cultivate email marketing lists as their own personal assets rather than relying on third parties, like Facebook, to drive web traffic and sales. Déjà vu, anyone? If you remember a few years back, 2013 to be exact,…

Hello! It’s just about our favorite time of the year! When some chosen few get to board a plane at an ungodly hour, head west, and arrive in time for Pubcon Vegas. This year, I’m excited to say that it will be myself and Jen making the trip. She’s speaking; I’ll be providing blog coverage; and we’ll both be around to meet, mingle and have a little fun. Here’s a little bit of what you can expect: Catch Jen Dishing on SEO Audits On Wednesday morning, Overit’s Senior Strategist Jen…

Earlier this week, Jen sent me an article about McDonald’s relenting to rabid ‘Rick and Morty’ fans. You’ve probably heard the story by now. If not, The Ringer provides good backstory/context of what happened. Check it out and come back. The tl:dr version is McDonald’s ran a super-limited ‘Rick and Morty’-inspired Szechuan Sauce promotion, only it severely underestimated the demand, and people went ballistic when they couldn’t get their hands on the spicy sauce. They didn’t go I-have-some-feelings-about-this mad, they went rioting-in-the-streets mad. Here’s a quick snapshot of what you missed:…

It was an unusually warm  September 20th in NYC. But for anyone in the search industry the hottest place to be was The Edison Ballroom for The Drum Search Awards USA. The room was filled with some of the brightest stars in the search industry. Revered veterans and industry pioneers sat alongside exciting up-and-comers. To quote Purna Vijiri, chairperson and judge, for The Drum Search Awards USA, “There has never been a better time to work in search.” The competition ran the gamut. Finalists included agencies from around the country,…