SMX Advanced is officially underway in Seattle, and the first session was: The Periodic Table Of SEO: 2012 Edition. SMX’s official description for the session is as follows:
We introduced the Periodic Table Of SEO last year at SMX Advanced. Since then, new elements have been discovered, such as a penalty for pages top-heavy with ads or boosts for being in Google+. Meanwhile, Google warns that an “over-optimization” penalty may be coming.
Here’s the speaker list:
Moderator: Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land (@dannysullivan)
Q&A Moderator: Jonathon Colman, Internet Marketing Manager, REI (@jcolman)
Speakers:
Jeff MacGurn, VP of SEO, Covario (@yerrbo)
Mark Munroe, Senior Director, SEO, Reply (@markemunroe)
Kristine Schachinger, Founder/Consultant, SitesWithoutWalls.com (@schachin)
Chris Silver Smith, President, Argent Media (@si1very)
Here’s what attendees are saying about the session on Twitter (we’ll update as the tweets pour in, so feel free to keep refreshing). It will be almost like being there:
Follow @MargeryS 
Margery Spears
@MargeryS I have never seen Danny so dressed up! Doesn’t he know he’s in Seattle? #11A #smx
Follow @CliffyKOnline 
Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @mattcutts is being fed grapes while sacrificing paid links backstage. If @dannysullivan says it. It must be true #smx #11a
So much Matt Cutts humor. He is keynoting at the event this evening, by the way.
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @si1very about Ranking Factors: Quality/Trust Scores can be assessed separately from prominence #smx #11a
Follow @schachin 
Kristine Schachinger
@schachin Over 100+ factors can be assessed in quality scores (though not all will be triggered) @si1very #11A #SMX
Follow @longtimetrekker 
longtimetrekker
@longtimetrekker Someone in the front row has not muted his or her very annoying computer or phone. Please mute! #smx #11a
Follow @jaredmore 
Jared More
@jaredmore Brands rule, always have and always will #smx #11A
Follow @jaredmore Jared More
@jaredmore Privacy Policy important for trust!! #smx #11a
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @si1very says: the high quality sites out there have good “About Us” pages. Low quality sites don’t #smx #11a
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @si1very quality authorship indicators (bylines, bios, social links, etc) are also quantifiable #smx #11a
Follow @georgekonidis 
George Konidis
@georgekonidis #smx #11a only about 8% of websites have a privacy policy
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @si1very speculates a low-quality writing penalty? Learn how to write well folks. And don’t buy $3 content! #smx #11a
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @si1very Content (and links) above the fold and page width given more importance. #smx #11a
Follow @AkvileHarlow 
Akvile Harlow
@AkvileHarlow Users spend 80% of their time looking at info above the page fold. #smx #11a
Good thing Google is adding its Browser Size tool to Google Analytics, where you can see what content is actually above the fold on your pages.
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline SEO may be getting supplanted by User-Centered Design and Usability. We need to do what’s good for users not rankings #smx #11a
Follow @AaronWeiche 
Aaron Weiche
@AaronWeiche Great #SEO open by @si1very, simple trust signals & the thought that user-centric design is a growing rank factor. #smx #11A
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Microformats are a factor. Users click results with snippets more. And understand what they’re clicking more – @yerrbo #smx #11a
Follow @mikulaja 
Jason Mikula
@mikulaja @yerrbo Talking micro formatting and rich snippets boosting CTR & rankings at #smx #11a
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline If you don’t use rich snippets. The online world will turn into a Ben Affleck movie with an Aerosmith ballad. @yerrbo #smx #11a
Follow @DavidWeichel 
David Weichel
@DavidWeichel Filtering Google’s search results using left nav filters instantly excludes sites that don’t have semantic markup / rich snippets #smx #11a
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Do-Follow, exact keyword anchor text links are seeing lowest correlation to strong rankings. High benefits to non-match #smx #11a
Follow @schachin Kristine Schachinger
@schachin If Google offers a search filter and your site does NOT use rich snippet/microformats you will not be in the result #11a #smx via @yerrbo
Even Danny’s taking the time to chime in on Twitter:
Follow @dannysullivan 
Danny Sullivan
@dannysullivan Links are the four letter word of the SEO industry even though it has five letters @yerrbo #smx #11a
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Social Signals Test: G+ most, Facebook like least, twitter over time, Pinterest strong overall. @yerrbo #smx #11a
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Using only social signals, a new page with no other links or onsite optimization grew to position 12 quickly. @yerrbo #smx #11a
Pinterest strong overall. No wonder Bing’s Duane Forrester recommends it so highly as a Penguin recovery tip.
Follow @dannysullivan Danny Sullivan
@dannysullivan Testing what social signals help with Google surprise, Google+ was huge, but also Pinterest seems to build good links @yerrbo #smx #11a
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Great analysis of the social explosion of the anti-SOPA “Operation Blackout” by @yerrbo #smx #11a.
Follow @AkvileHarlow Akvile Harlow
@AkvileHarlow Interesting – Over 10k peices of content collected from social platforms on the SOPA blackout. Less then 15% became popular. #smx #11a
Follow @TommyGriffith 
Tommy Griffith
@TommyGriffith 68% of content that goes viral on reddit is just an image hosted on imgur #smx #11a
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Almost 70% of what goes viral on reddit is an image. @yerrbo #smx #11a. I’d guess 60% of that are memes!
I’d add that the majority of those images are hosting on Imgur (which hit 2 billion page views per month recently). Read here about how Imgur can drive big traffic to product pages (and they don’t even have iPhone and Android apps yet. They’re coming this fall.)
Follow @cordman31 
Jorge Cordova
@cordman31 for sure @yerrbo is a #reddit guy. What time does the narwhal bacon? #smx #11a
Follow @StephStMartin 
Stephanie St. Martin
@StephStMartin Need to find this Canadian guy who is responsible for 2% of all viral content #11A #smx
Follow @schachin Kristine Schachinger
@schachin Most content consumed at work hrs. Serious in am. Humorous in pm @yerrbo study of 10k pieces of #some & #SOPA virality #smx #11a
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @markmunroe 2005 SEO was fat, dumb, and happy. Not anymore 🙂 #smx #11a
Follow @schachin Kristine Schachinger
@schachin #SEO 2005 buy some links build some doorway pages … not anymore Google is about relevance & trust @markmunroe #smx #11a
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Google giving answers right in the results. more knowledge graph can mean less clicks. Be fantastic to get clicked! #smx #11a
It just occurred to me to check the session’s hashtag on Google+. Not a lot happening there. Not a good sign for Google+ engagement, when the updates aren’t rolling in from an SEO conference.
Google+ Engagement” />
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Google has thresholds for their “quality” metrics. You don’t know where you are, and you could plummet at any time. #smx #11a @markmunroe
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Google Analytics likely not directly used as a quality indicator @markmunroe #smx #11a
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Bounce rates probably aren’t factored either. Doesn’t mean they aren’t important for UX @markmunroe #smx #11a
Follow @AkvileHarlow Akvile Harlow
@AkvileHarlow “If your website sucks, get SUX” (Search UX) “- @markemunroe #smx #11a
Follow @lima8338 
Li Ma
@lima8338 SUX is the new SEO! #smx #11a
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline Overall bounce rate may not be important. But Google sure knows when users immediately go back to Google from your site #smx #11a
Follow @StephStMartin Stephanie St. Martin
@StephStMartin Apparently we are more advanced monkeys @jaredmore #smx #11A
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline “Google has perfect knowledge of how your site performs in the SERPs. You have none” – @markmunroe #smx #11a
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline “Everything starts with a question on the SERPs” – @markmunroe #smx #11a
Follow @AkvileHarlow Akvile Harlow
@AkvileHarlow Engagement tools help if they’re a response to the search query. Use relevant engagement tools that are specific to search queries #smx #11a
Follow @marcbaumann 
Marc Baumann
@marcbaumann #Content can only be judged in response to a #search query. @markmunroe #smx #11a
Follow @schachin Kristine Schachinger
@schachin Optimize for search experience. Are users finding on your site what they are searching for in Google? Via @markmunroe #smx #11a
Follow @jaredmore Jared More
@jaredmore optimizing for UX not Company Goals? Problem is you get to be too info based, and not sales based. Balance #SMX #11A
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline If you aren’t integrating user-testing and surveys into your strategy, you are missing out on major opportunities #smx #11a
Follow @dannysullivan Danny Sullivan
@dannysullivan Site sucks in Google? Maybe SUX issue: bad search user experience, searchers don’t find answer bounce back to results @markmunroe #smx #11a
Follow @schachin Kristine Schachinger
@schachin To Google are users’ search needs being met? If yes..good If no..check your goals @markmunroe #smx #11a
Follow @mikulaja Jason Mikula
@mikulaja Are we really talking correlation v causation? Must we have this at every SEO conference? #smx #11a
Follow @jaredmore Jared More
@jaredmore correlation is not causation, sounds like @randfish #SMX #11A
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @schachin – “Correlation doesn’t equal Causation.” I feel like I’ve heard some great SEO say that before. @randfishkin #smx #11a
Follow @StephStMartin Stephanie St. Martin
@StephStMartin Anyone at #11a of #smx – it’s FREEZING in here! Can we turn up the heat!
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline @schachin – “Observer perception is often incorrect.” #smx #11a
Follow @StephStMartin Stephanie St. Martin
@StephStMartin @si1very @schachin I feel like I’m back in my philosophy logic class! #11a #smx
Follow @jaredmore Jared More
@jaredmore SEO changes but what users want does not #SMX #11A
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline When Penguin hit, a lot of people were looking for Penguin-problems that were actually caused by Panda related issues @schachin #smx #11a
Follow @mikulaja Jason Mikula
@mikulaja @dannysullivan FYI this room is freeeeeeeeeezing #smx #11a
Follow @smx 
SearchMarketingExpo
@smx @StephStMartin We’re working on turning the cold air down in this session room 🙂 #smx #11a
Follow @StephStMartin Stephanie St. Martin
@StephStMartin Trying to understand the Correlative, Causal, Causation argument in #smx #11a? Go here: http://t.co/8eAi0BAx
Follow @CliffyKOnline Cliff Karklin
@CliffyKOnline “Put 10 SEOs in a room and they’ll all have a different opinion” @schachin #smx #11a
Follow @Cut2SizeMetals 
Cut2SizeMetals.com
@Cut2SizeMetals @monicawright we’re getting the same message about Pinterest in #smx #11A
Follow @erikeric 
Erik Erickson
@erikeric Fantastic panel on new ranking factors &indicates Google is, or likely is using. Lots of stuff to implement. #smx #11a http://t.co/Wgv9ZmSH 
Follow @renewabelle 
Jessica Commins
@renewabelle People of #SMX — please help. Someone picked up my iPhone in the #11A session. I’m desperate. If you have it, pls turn it in to concierge?
If you want more of a liveblogged account of the session, Barry Schwartz has one at Search Engine Roundtable.
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