Keynote SMX West Danny Sullivan

Sitting here at SMX West in Santa Clara CA.  Danny Sullivan is about to open the conference and give his keynote.  Here is my take-away from his speech.  Follow me on Twitter for micro updates: http://twitter.com/atraine.

Danny Sullivan
Danny Sullivan
Danny Sullivan Keynote Congrats to winner of the biggest search geek contest for SMX West 2009: Keri Morgret. Congrats Keri! Average search share of current market for Google 68%, Yahoo 18%, MSN 7%.  Stats taken from Comscore and many other sites as an average as they don’t always line up with their stats.  Stats from 2003: Google 33%, Yahoo 25%, MSN 18%.  Google has really taken it way up from the end of 2003 when they basically doubled their share (and Yahoo’s) in the next 2 years. Danny’s Google wish-list:
  1. Google to show real-time CPC for ads.
  2. Tell publishers what AdSense split is.
  3. Solve map spam issues.
  4. Think carefully before moving into further Google-hosted content.
    1. Google Book Search
    2. Time-Life @ Google Images
    3. Knol
Yahoo’s Weaknesses:
  1. Leadership is in disarray.
  2. Loss of talent and “mojo” factor.
  3. Throw search to the wolves to survive.
    1. Google wasn’t allowed to catch search.
    2. Microsoft ain’t giving up.
Yahoo wish-list:
  1. Restore faith, if possible
  2. Keep innovating
    1. Search Monkey, Search Pad.
  3. Enough with the “open” solution.
  4. Don’t do stupid things like angering your advertisers.
    1. Told advertisers basically, hey we’ll do what we want with your ads and shove it if you don’t like it.
Microsoft wish-list:
  1. Love search and show us you love it; we are rooting for you! (Google is too, sort of).
  2. Pick a brand to run with…Live is not it.
  3. Do the hard things too.
    1. Giving up on book search sucked!
Twitter is a hyper real-time tool to see what’s being buzzed about right now including: earthquakes, political reactions, etc. (http://search.twitter.com).  The question is why don’t Google and Yahoo offer Twitter search?  Twitter is one way Danny prefers to search for data and related stories.  He also likes using Urbanspoon app on iPhone to help him find a place to eat when travelling etc.  Eventful is another example of advanced search solutions.  This app tracks your location and then provides you with news, events, etc. that are going on in your area at that time.  He loves Yelp as well for using local reviews and finding local
Time for SEO to Change it's Name???
Time for SEO to Change it
solutions via search.  These solutions are harder to remember then Google, so they will never kill off Google, but they are great tools to use for search and to be used for SEO. It might be time for an SEO name change.  The real focus needs to be on content and maybe should be called “content SEO”.  Don’t be a crap hat…let’s get rid of the black hat / white hat discussion and focus in on something that is really productive.  Let’s get rid of the crap because it is crap.

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