June 2014 — One of the top industry-recognized search marketing conferences, SMX Advanced is held in Seattle, Washington in June every year. “The topics are mind-boggling,” said Top Of The List President and attendee, Beverly Mapes.
“Although this year, no single major change was announced, the vast number of topics and changes in the industry add up to some very important pieces that will help us be an even better value for our clients.”
Highlights of these changes include:
- The continued increase in mobile traffic has resulted in numerous changes: site speed is more critical, even more emphasis is placed on responsive design, and better mobile statistics are available in Google Webmaster Tools.
- Javascript is now being read by search engine bots, which improves the search engine’s understanding of what is on the site and subsequently the site’s SEO.
- Structured data is increasing in importance, and new tools are increasing along with it’s importance.
- Authorship– all the rage at last year’s event – was only mentioned as something that seemed to be diminishing. Indeed it is now “dead” according to the most recent industry news.
Numerous other revelations, from link acquisition tips to new niche blogs, continued to pour in, either through sessions or the great networking venues. Mapes hopes to have the entire Top Of The List team in attendance next year. “There are three session ‘tracks,’ and having someone in each of them would be ideal,” she said. “Even so, we’ve already made changes at Top Of The List as a result of just my attendance at the conference. And that adds up to added value for our clients, and continued growth and expertise for our team.”
About the Author
Nicole Vesota
Vice President & Project ManagerNicole has been working in online marketing since 2007 when she joined Top Of The List. She loves creative endeavors and spending time with her daughter.