Maile Ohye
   Developer Programs Tech Lead
   Google

Maile Ohye, Developer Programs Tech Lead at Google, spoke about how mobile search has already surpassed desktop worldwide and that customers can now use voice search on a variety of different products, including their phones. Customers need to be paying attention to their load times and bounce rates while working to provide an outstanding user experience.

  Adam Singer
  Analytics Advocate, Google Analytics
  Google

Adam Singer, an analytics advocate from Google Analytics, spoke about the importance of using data in marketing and how Google Analytics is working to help marketers. This help includes setting up a public demo account, a Data Studio for data visualization, and Analytics Academy – where people can take courses for continuing education in analytics.

  Dixon Jones
  Marketing Director
  Majestic

Dixon Jones, Marketing Director for Majestic, spoke about the research his brand has been doing into the role of backlinks and their impact on site success. They found that when brands were grouped by industry and they focused on trust flow, there was a high correlation with performance.

   Freddie Blicher
   Senior Manager, Corporate SEO
   Marriott Digital

Freddie Blicher, Senior Manager of Corporate SEO for Marriott/Ritz-Carlton, spoke about the challenges of understanding and interpreting the wealth of data available. He made suggestions about how to combine data sources to create a more comprehensive, holistic look at business progress.

  Austin Kane
  Sr. Manager of Search Marketing
  John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Austin Kane, Senior Manager of Search Marketing at John Wiley & Sons, spoke about the importance of valuing technical SEO. He explained that brands also need to have a proactive mindset, not just a reactive one. This means they should pay attention to strategies that can help them grow, rather than just trying to fix problems as they appear.

  Jacqueline Urick
  Head of SEO (SEO Manager)
  The Pampered Chef

Jacqueline Urick, Head of SEO for Pampered Chef, reminded us all that the developers on our teams are people, too! Improving communication can go a long way in helping everyone work together, as well as understanding the goals and pressing concerns of the different groups. Dashboards in particular can be helpful to show progress on SEO projects and to help developers understand your needs.

 
   Mark Munroe
   Founder and CEO
   SEORadar

Mark Munroe is the Founder and CEO of SEORadar. He reminded us that sometimes it can feel as though you have too many cooks in the kitchen when you are trying to design a website. Munroe also spoke about how easily things can go wrong with websites, but that sometimes it can be hard to understand what exactly changed. He recommends implementing monitoring processes and having deep visibility into the website.

  Chad Hallert
  Director of Digital Strategy
  Noble Studios

Chad Hallert is the Director of Digital Strategy at Noble Studios. He explained to the room the importance of genuinely integrating your teams. Integration requires actual change in your output, not just adding numbers together in a document. When paid search and SEO work together, for example, they can achieve great results. The data we get from the various silos and departments in our organization can all benefit others. Looking at the micro-moments in the consumer journey can also help brands identify opportunities for integration by understanding the types of content most likely to benefit customers.

  Collin Colburn
  Researcher
  Forrester Research

Collin Colburn is a researcher at Forrester Research. He spoke about the importance of creating a frictionless, anticipatory, and immersive marketing experience in the world of post-digital marketing. He drove home the point that marketers really need to do what they say; customers are not nearly as interested in what marketers say as they are in what marketers do. Consumers today are interested in personalized messages, rather than general broadcasts, and they want brands that understand the value of being human, helpful, and handy.

  Brian Moore
  Client Services Director
  BrightEdge
 

During this session we heard from Harry Gold, the CEO of Overdrive, and Brian Moore, the Director for Client Services at BrightEdge. They spoke about some of the metrics that executives want to see and how to make the value of SEO clear to those on the board or in the C-suite.