What I Learned at SMX Israel

Conferences are always a lot of fun. Between the networking, the food and the professional advancement, you should go home feeling like your time was well-spent. And I did feel that way at the end of Sunday’s SMX Israel. I wish I could have been in two places at once during some of the sessions, since there were so many interesting topics. Some of the presenters were stand-up comics as well as SEO professionals (shout-out to Miriam Schwab and Michael King), so there was plenty to laugh about while learning. Another great presentation was Gil Reich‘s talk on Google trends, focusing not on Google today but on where it is going (and thanks for the ride!).

Here are some of the things I learned or thought were especially important at SMX Israel:

Reputation management

• The secret of reputation management is in the strategy, not in the technical work.
• It’s impossible to totally hide the past. It’s better to deal with it. A convicted con-man now working with disadvantaged children told his life story in a positive way.
• Relying on tricks is not efficient. Instead, provide well-written content which sends out a positive message.
• It’s impossible to move Wikipedia off the top Google results. Instead, improve the article to reflect your message. Libelous content on Wikipedia will be taken down if you follow the procedure for reporting it.

Retargeting ads

• When retargeting, don’t give people the feeling they are being stalked.
• Limit the amount of time you show them ads as well as the frequency.
• Change your banners around so people don’t get bored.

Trends in Google

• “Search plus your world” is changing the Google user experience completely.
• Internet marketers should focus on the long-term direction Google is moving in instead of focusing on short-term changes.
• Google has entered as many spaces as possible in order to compete with most of the big companies.
• Don’t try to rank for your content you don’t have. Google sees users bouncing back as a signal that this page doesn’t answer that query. If you are getting traffic for searches you don’t write about, link out to relevant content to avoid bounces.

Link building

• Today, the online world is very much about identity and enlightened self-interest.
• One way to get attention online is to be nasty. People love to quote others who share their common enemy. Be careful with this strategy, though.
• Don’t make e-mail your first contact with someone. E-mail them only after speaking to them in person or on a social network.
• If you want a link, ask for it.
• Engage the community and tell people they rock. Your message should be something other people want to spread.
• Context is king. Create a social media persona for each product/service/website you promote.

SEO and social media

• Since Twitter is no longer searchable on Google, there is no need to optimize it for search.
• Instead, focus on Google Plus, which is being over-emphasized by Google and showing up even above more relevant results.
• Take advantage of the ability to post animated gifs on Google Plus.
• Google dashboard shows you secondary connections (friends of friends) and this can be a good way to find more people interested in your content.
• On Facebook, optimize for the Facebook algorithm, EdgeRank.
• Journalists are finding a lot of their articles via social media. Write with them in mind. A good way to understand how journalists use social media is to read the official pages on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn geared toward them.
• When writing a press release, make sure to include all relevant information and provide links to each resource.