There is money being left on the table by online retailers, as many have not made the most out of their search engine optimization opportunities.

Searchers represent a valuable commodity to search engines, and the keen-minded technologists behind the algorithms want to make search sites as useful as possible, no matter what the query.

This week WebProNews is at SES Chicago covering the conference. Stay here for all your SES coverage.

In the session "Igniting Viral Campaigns" Bill Hanekamp, CEO of The Well got things started by saying, "I get really nervous in front of SEO people, because I’m a marketing guy."

He said the content you provide should be:
1. Entertaining
2. Relevant
3. Timely
4. Exclusive

Brrr!  I am off to Chicago in the morning to speak at SES. Temperatures below freezing and snow already on the ground.  For a little African lizard like me used to blazing heat it’s way too cold.  I bought myself some thermal underwear and pulled out my down parka and off I go.

What we have for you today is a double scoop, double feature and two times our regular interview spunk involving Kevin Ryan, Global Content Director for Search Engine Strategies and Search Engine Watch and Kevin Heisler, Executive Editor of Search Engine Watch.

I’ll have to say, there are a few gems in this one, so read on:

WebmasterWorld and Incisive Media will run their December conferences on the same dates, with potential speakers, sponsors, and attendees left with the decision of where to go.

PubCon, SES Chicago To Collide

While at SES in Chicago, I got to hear Rick Klau of Feedburner talk a few times. While listening to him, I realized that Feedburner’s services are well worth the free account; not to mention the paid account.

One in three online users visit a comparison shopping engine during the holidays, and Internet entrepreneurs should understand how they differ from conventional search engines. Our Chris Richardson took in the discussion of these services at SES Chicago.

The evening keynote at SES Chicago by the person most readily identified with the conference series, Danny Sullivan, looked at the future of search. WebProNews’ Chris Richardson frantically typed notes while a balky laptop battery ticked down to zero.

The rise of the social network has e-business professionals batting ideas back and forth about how to properly utilize them to draw attention to a service or product. One of the areas explored is social search – where’s it headed, what needs to be improved and what people are doing about it.

Millions of people carry cellphones, and many of those devices can surf the Internet. Search engine companies have recognized their potential and are targeting mobile services both to consumers and advertisers. Our Chris Richardson tapped out some notes on his cellphone while speakers at SES Chicago discussed the topic of mobile search optimization.

During an early session at SES Chicago 2006, the speakers on the topic of video optimization all made a similar suggestion – keep that meta data identifiable so your video will be too. Chris Richardson of WebProNews was on hand to pick up the details.

To get one’s videos indexed correctly by the search engines dedicated to that content, it’s the spoken word rather than the pretty pictures that matter most. Mike McDonald listened in on the expert panel at SES Chicago discussing the process.