And it’s about SEO.
I’ve been neglecting my SEO a bit recently while I’ve focused on my copywriting, so I was proper chuffed to make it back to BrightonSEO last month.
Boy how it’s changed!
I went to my first BrightonSEO in 2014, shortly after joining iCrossing. Back then, the venue was the Brighton Dome, which seems teeny-tiny in comparison to the gigantic Brighton Centre. There was one room of stalls, one stage, and the presentations were just thinly-veiled sales pitches for new and expensive tools.
Now in 2019, the event is more like a University Freshers’ Fair than a marketing conference, with giant screens and booming sound-systems, celebrity speakers giving motivational speeches and cool bars with retro arcades – and, in true Brighton style, yards of IPA taps.
But the biggest and best difference was that the quality of the speakers had increased exponentially. Unlike five years ago, there was much less emphasis on shifting products. Now it seemed like the speakers had been chosen for the quality of their insights and expertise.
Admittedly, some of the sessions were a bit basic for my tastes – the new target audiences for BrightonSEO are entry-level executives and small business owners. But there were still some eye-opening sessions for veterans.
I particularly enjoyed Dixon Jones’ exploration and explanation of how PageRank really works and Luci Wood’s thorough and insightful introduction to Google Discover. Go check them out.
And off the back of it, I decided to write an article which you can read here.
Funnily enough, the week after BrightonSEO, one of my enterprise-level clients asked a question to the tune of, “so, exactly how much content should we delete?”
I was like, whoa hol’ up.
Weirdly, I think the question of deleting content is common among my larger clients. Many of them seem to believe that deleting old content is not only simple but effective, but an inevitable stage in every piece of content’s lifespan.
And it’s not just the big boys who suffer from itchy trigger fingers – deleting content is just as popular (and as horribly detrimental) with small biz websites and blogs, too.
So no matter who you are and how much content you produce, hopefully the article will be of some use to you. Writing it took me back to many of my favourite SEO resources, like Search Engine Watch and SERoundtable, and I even got back in touch with some long-neglected buddies in the industry. It’s good to know my knowledge in the sector hasn’t dropped off too much, despite the time I’ve been out of the industry – I think, now that my copywriting is at a decent level, I will start to focus a bit more on my search skills.
So, if you know of a good refresher course or a way to get up to speed quickly, I’d love to hear it.
In the meantime, here’s another link to my article: have a read and let me know what you think.
And if you find it useful, don’t forget to share.