PubCon video interview

I spoke at a few conferences in the second half of 2008, and a video interview from PubCon recently came out.

The always-charming Mike McDonald and I did a 10 minute video interview at PubCon a couple weeks ago. A few of the topics that this interview covers:

– how personalized search affects SEO and how ranking reports become less important over time as a result
– the fact that Google returns different search results by country, e.g. a search for [bank] for the United States returns different results than [bank] in the UK or in Australia. (Note: I had a brain freeze and said “Thomas Cook” when I meant to say “Barclays” or “Lloyds TSB” as an example of British banks)
– the broadening role of SEO and embracing the fact that SEO is a type of marketing
– we talked about Flash, and I pointed out that while Google has gotten much better at crawling and indexing Flash, you can’t just think about search engines; you also have think about the user experience, especially on mobile devices these days.
– we discussed 2009 trends in SEO, including: 1) expect many people to embrace broader view of SEO that includes marketing and social media such as Twitter, and 2) blackhat SEO will become even more malicious
– subdomains vs. subdirectories
– we also chatted briefly about the Kentucky basketball team (Go Wildcats!)

Check out the interview for yourself if you’re interested.

31 Responses to PubCon video interview (Leave a comment)

  1. LOL at the RickRoll in background

  2. Hi Matt

    Hope you had a wonderful Turkey day!

    Thanks for posting your video I do find it very useful.

    Thanks!

    OnlyMe

  3. I always considered SEO and online marketing separate entities, but I am starting to learn that they are one in the same. With the every increasing emphasis on high quality back linking, the social networking facet of SEO/online marketing is increasing important.

  4. Morris Rosenthal

    Matt,

    I’m getting dyslexic. I thought you started your post “I smoked at a few conferences”. Was ready for a real fun interview.

    Morris

  5. great interview Matt and I enjoyed talking to you in Pubcon

  6. Dave (originial)

    how personalized search affects SEO and how ranking reports become less important over time as a result

    Ranking reports have always been a favorite scam of many SEO. IMO, they have never held any importance and nothing has changed in this regard.

    1) expect many people to embrace broader view of SEO that includes marketing and social media such as Twitter”social media” is part of SEO. LOL! Silly me, I thought social media sites were for socializing, mainly by teenagers who don’t like daylight.

    blackhat SEO will become even more malicious

    No reason not to when Google gives them a slap on the wrist rather than banning them completely for a given period. Google has pooped in owns nest there.

    we talked about Flash, and I pointed out that while Google has gotten much better at crawling and indexing Flash, you can’t just think about search engines; you also have think about the user experience, especially on mobile devices these days.

    Flash is fine IF the user is NOT forced to see the gimmick as a default. I.e. ALL should have a link to view the Flash by CHOICE.

  7. Thanks for the 2009 seo heads up. Really intersting and informative.

  8. Great post Matt.

    I have one doubt. – When i searched for my client site in google for a particular niche, it is showing in 2nd page.But if i changed my IP(Indian IP to US IP) and search for it, it is not there in top 10 pages.Why this much of difference ? What i need to answer my client πŸ™

  9. Interesting alcohol placement on the table there. But no official Google stein?

    Also, re localization: is there any work being planned in the future for city-specific localization, specifically pertaining to names of cities and towns that appear in multiple countries? e.g. London, Paris, and Toronto.

  10. RE black hat hackers

    when are we going to see some action I found yeat another of my clients websites had been hacked the cuplrit appears to be Makulamedia

    http://www.makalumedia.com/spain/?p=1-5863

    when can we have a proper reporting mechanisiam for scum like thease

  11. Amazing interview Matt, Interesting for the people like me who unfortunately couldn’t able to attend.

    Thanks Matt for sharing such great bunch of information. Specially, Localization & Personalization of search results impact will be interesting to note.

  12. I have to admit, I had a fleeting thought about giving ol’ Matt a whack over the head with that stein and making myself an early Christmas present of that Android phone. I want one. Bad.

    I’d have never made it out of the room surrounded by that many Cutts-lettes though. Joking(?) aside, I’m glad some of you guys enjoyed the video.

  13. Hey Matt, Hows Life?

    Watched the video, was very interesting. Vegas is a heck of a place for a conference and I can’t wait till I start getting out to some. I don’t think people realize how important they are. Just being on TAC I was able to see a difference in my online persona.Plus meeting people face to face is just great. I hope to be at pub con next year.

  14. Thanks for video. I enjoyed it and posted on my blog :).

    @sethuram
    Please go through the video and you will get your answer.

    Cheers!

  15. There still is a lot to be gained from ranking at the top of search results because it guarantees visibility for a site, IMO. I personally am looking forward to the more aggressive role marketing is going to play in the whole SEO equation in 2009, however.

  16. Interesting that the results are returned by country. I think I would just like it to be done on an international scale.

  17. Dave (originial)

    Matt, just wondering IF you are going to be brave enough to Blog about the new ability to leave *public* comments in the Google SERPS?

  18. Thanks Matt, particularly liked the parts on ranking reports becoming less important over time. Although most clients love ranking reports, the proof is really in the visitor stats. I also agree that SEO’s can’t really be just SEO’s any more, there are many web intelligence related disciplines (marketing, ppc, analytics, usability, conversion factors) they need to be knowledgeable in to provide a quality service to their clients.

  19. Dave (originial)

    Site Metrics, IMO, SEO professionals should educate their clients to let them know that ranking reports are a waste of everyone’s time and *always have been.*

    Not only are there Countries to consider, but their has always been;

    1) Data centers

    2) Perpetual flux in the Google SERPs

    So, while a SEO ranking report MAY get extremely lucky and show the rankings the client will see, the likelihood of it actually matching diminishes by the Minute.

    IMO, all any client needs is a Google Anylitical Account so they see what is happening straight from horses mouth. Use this information with their own stats package. There IS Gold in accurate Web Site statistics.

    SEO, IMO, is really a complete myth (most are obsessed with “link building” at a great cost to their clients). Web page/site design with *good quality and unique content pages* is THE key to long lasting good SERP positions.

    The sooner SEO dies, the better. Better for clients, better for searchers, better for the person charging the client. The whole World benefits.

    I doubt Google seeks out and ranks SEO optimized pages over those that are written *almost entirely for Humans*. So, rather trying to second guess what Google prefers (taking risks and wasting time and money), common sense & logic tells me it is *good quality and unique content pages written for Humans*. After all, Humans use Google NOT Robots.

  20. Hi Matt,

    Are you coming over to the UK in 2009? Maybe for SES? I’m just trying to work which conferences I’ll be attending next year πŸ™‚

    Matt

  21. Hi Matt,

    Yes we see many different SERPs in different countries. I think that new new and current google calculations needs big server power.
    I believe that Google doesnt equal share its power of calculation between countries. Some second class countries see more spaming results. Maybe you tell about this in another interview

  22. Hi Matt – thanks for your interview – you said – different search results by country – will it be user friendly? I don’t think so, first we can do local listing so if some one search super jumbo home loan – he/she can find in locally.
    Secondly main motto of web is global network not only local, and yes there is big problem for seo-r

    Deb

  23. Exactly right, Site Metrics. Matt SEO UK, I don’t know right now. My wife keeps trying to get me to travel less.

  24. Dave (originial)

    Matt, Put your family 1st before it’s too late.

  25. Don’t worry Matt – well you could use SearchWiki to put Thomas Cook at the top of my search results for [bank] – then you’d technically be correct πŸ˜‰

  26. Dave (originial)

    Or, post a blog on how wonderfull you Wife is. Then boost it up to #1 for the search term “best wife in the World”. πŸ™‚

  27. I’m in the same boat, tried to bring my wife along to SES London last year, she went shopping, I brought a FireFox T-Shirt, she’s never really looked at me in the same light πŸ™ . I tried to explain about how cool it was, but strangely she just didn’t get it. We have an agreement now, I can go to 4 conferences a year but I have to take her to see a London show. πŸ™‚

  28. Hi Matt,

    This is my first comment. Thanks for the interview and valuable information.

    I do agree that over a period of time ranking reports have become less relevent however still for generic keywords if I could see, website of higher Google page rank are performing better. For example for keyword “Yoga” the most website which are performing on page one on GOOGLE UK are having google page rank between 6 to 4.

    Thank you very much for the idea of broder view of SEO, embrasing social media such as Twitter.

    Thank you once again

    With Regards
    Subodh Gupta

  29. What a great resource. Matt… you are the king!

  30. I found Matt’s comments that “… ranking is not as important as it used to be.” very interesting. He also said that we should concentrate more on traffic, conversions and sales. However, if you don’t rank, you don’t get traffic or sales! Being on page 1 is still as important as it ever was.

  31. Hey Matt,
    I’ve seen you a couple times at SEO conferences. I also love that you like cats! It’s something we have in common. Great presentation and always great information. Happy new year!

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