BrightonSEO 2019 – Insights and Takeaways

On a sunny Friday morning in Brighton, 4,000 SEO and digital marketing enthusiasts gathered to celebrate and learn about the intricacies of SEO. The bi-annual conference, which initially began in a room above a pub, aims to connect digital marketers from across the globe and inspire new thinking in SEO through a range of inspiring presentations, training sessions, and networking opportunities. In September’s rendition, the importance of simplicity in SEO was interwoven throughout the talks and the invocation for progressive thinking rang throughout the speeches and discussions all the way to the bar.

Smooth and Simple SEO and Site Migration

We started the day with a talk from Kaizen’s very own SEO Manager, Serena Pearson in Syndicate 2. The SEO prodigy’s presentation, “Don’t F*ck Up Your Site Migration” brought the audience through the process of leading a site migration. She tackled the most common issues that can occur and how to avoid making mistakes when reviewing and analysing your work. Serena also spoke about how to fix these problems when they do happen and strategies to implement to ensure everything goes as smoothly as possible. Not forgetting the client-side challenges, Serena gave tips on how to manage clients expectations throughout the process and communicating effectively with stakeholders throughout.

Serena Pearson killing it with her talk on site migration! #SEO #BrightonSEO pic.twitter.com/sm3SdRkBuZ— Kaizen (@kaizen_agency) September 13, 2019

The session also featured Roxana Stingu’s presentation on, “How I learned to stop worrying and love the .htaccess file”. Roxanna simplified the often complicated topic and enlightened the audience about the possibilities of the .htaccess file and how we can use it for leverage. The final technical SEO speaker of the morning was Ashley Berman Hale who educated us on the importance and implementation of accessibility for every demographic when crawling, parsing and rendering with bots. We learned how we can test our sites accessibility and how to use compassion-led programming and design for a more inclusive future in SEO.

Content Strategy Made Simple

Turning our sights to content strategy, we headed to Auditorium 2 after lunch, where Alex Jones gave a presentation titled, “The new blueprint for content campaign success”. Alex highlighted to the audience his strategy for getting the most out of content campaigns and understanding what the client wants. Alex’s simple and effective methods focus on how we can deliver on expectations while reducing the pressure of obtaining links and coverage.

Lukasc Zelezny was the second speaker in the session and used his quintessential eccentric style to deliver his talk, “How To Turn Your SEO From Zero To Hero with GAP”. Lukasc spoke passionately about the simple changes we can administer to improve website traffic and increase shares. He revealed his most effective methods for boosting SEO and making the most out of a limited range of tools. The final presentation in the session was Sam Marsden’s, “Cutting Through the Noise: Delivering Profitable Content Strategies in Competitive Markets”. Sam brought the audience through what makes an effective content strategy and focuses on boosting revenue as well as achieving coverage and profitable results.

The Power of Simplicity

The penultimate Keynote presentation was given by Dave Trott, an ads man by trade, with his inspiring talk on, “Simple is Smart, Complicated is Stupid”. Trott spoke fervently about the power of simplicity in marketing, “Anybody can make things complicated but the difficulty is in making things simple.” In digital marketing, we are given a brief but often lose track of what we’re trying to achieve. Trott believes that by employing a medley of overcomplicated language and ideas, we miss the ballpark, lose the attention of the consumer and consequently the campaign fails.

He concluded his speech, stating that the key to a successful digital marketing campaign is impact and to achieve the impact we must stand out and to stand out we must do what nobody else is doing – Which in an industry dominated by overly-complicated tactics and unnecessarily complex language is by using the age-old power of simplicity. Trott’s articulate prepositions and traditional form of presentation stayed with us long after we left the auditorium and joined the after party.

Kaizen will be attending the 20th BrightonSEO event which will be taking place on the 16th and 17th of April 2020. Come and say hi!