I just attended the SMX West show.  It was my first SEO-search engine optimization show and SEM-search engine marketing show.  I thought it was GREAT.  Everyone did a wonderful job-the speakers, the organizers, the attendees.  I had a lot of fun and learned a lot from all the speakers.  I came back to MN with a list of work I need to do to make my websites better. 

All the search engines were well represented-Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft.  They had panels and Q&A that were very helpful.  Search is evolving.   We as consumers want a varied search experience-video, blogs, pictures, live, text, and more.  The engines are working hard to deliver the best user experience they can.  We as publishers need to provide content in each of the formats that the consumers demand.  The web is indexing more and more data and the challenge is to cut through the noise and deliver the best experience possible. 

One of the coolest things was to be able to address the people behind the engines.  Below is a picture of ME and Matt Cutts-google engineer extraordinaire. 

In the exhibit hall, there were vendors and the search engines.  I really appreciated the Google booth.  They were very well staffed and very helpful.  I met a couple of great ladies that answered all my questions about google adwords, google optimizer, and google webmaster forum.  Unfortunately, there are no 1-800 # that you can  just pick up the phone and call the search engines and ask questions.  At the same time, they have all the resources online-so you need to bounce around online and read the info in their webmaster help section.  In addition, most have a discussion forum that is monitored.  So while you can't get your questions answered on the phone, you will probably get the question answered in the forum. 

So, here is my take away.  If you are intrigued by keywords, PPC, CPA, SEO, SEM-then you must attend this show.  My Kudos to all that made this a great event. 

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