10.15

Unfortunately, the live blog won’t be appearing quite as much today.

We are hoping however, for it to be back for the afternoon.

09.47

You are there! Hopefully we shall be back on track in a few minutes or so.

09.45

Hello? World? Are you there?

09.34

The live blog may be a little sketchy today as we are currently having a few technical (WiFi) difficulties.

Hopefully we will be running full steam ahead soon!

09.17

After a slight delay (technology), Sean Walsh is now speaking in Track 1.

17.28

MacDonald leaves the stage to a great applause.

Drinking shall begin tonight at 7 o’clock at Tiger Tiger in Leeds.

See you all there!

17.25

A question is asked about the public attitude towards SEO. ‘Should we say that we are spammers anyway?’

MacDonald says that this should never be used for a solution, personally or on an industry basis.

At the end of the day, he says, saying that the SEO industry is still spamming will do nothing but mislead a client and that is wrong.

17.20

A sneaky picture of Martin onstage behind one of many amusing slides.

17.18

MacDonald is now taking questions from the room for the remaining ten minutes.

17.18

MacDonald asks the room whether they have ever bought something after seeing it on Twitter.

No one admits to have done so.

He says that as an industry, SEO needs to really think about what it is doing to fill the holes that are being found in strategies.

When someone is looking for specific products, having already done their research, he says, by all means pay whatever, PPC or affiliates to get that sale.

He closes by saying that SEO people are the online marketing superheroes but at the moment, make sure that the past of SEO stays there and everyone works for a better future, despite public opinion of what the industry is.

17.12

80% of search clicks go organic but nearly 40% of click conversions end in a buy.

All of this, Martin says, should go together though at the minute, that is sadly not the case.

In order to get it all, different parts of digital marketing need to be working together.

SEO can work with social for better E commerce return says MacDonald.

17.07

Martin says that as consumers, we are getting used to people and companies interrupting us.

He uses advertising on YouTube as an example.

Inbound Marketing means that you can appear at every stage of the consumer cycle, he says, from hearing about a product, to researching it, buying it and telling other people.

17.01

SEO has evolved through necessity in order to survive.

He asks, ‘what are we now?’

Going through a series of names including ‘growth hackers’.

Experimenting, Martin asks Google and to no avail.

He finally settles on ‘in-bound marketing’.

16.58

He says that between 2002-2005, all that he used to care about was page views, visits and traffic.

Now he can count 40+ factors affecting rankings within a minute. It used to be simple, he says.

Not anymore.

There are thousands of gears, all interlinking with each other within rankings to make sure that SEO is doing its job properly.

It is now much harder to do our jobs. But this needs to be done every day; we need to be helping our clients and benefiting them.

16.55

Martin notes that legit websites, such as the official Ecuadorian Travel Information site, can even link to unrelated websites such as payday loans.

He says that once, he would use tactics such as that, but it is not SEO. In his words, ‘it’s just being a dick.’

He asks the audience, ‘is this kind of thing what you want to tell your grandchildren? That you were a spammer?’

Martin assures us that he does not mean that SEO is dead.

16.51

Martin’s opening slide begins with ‘that’s it, I’ve quit SEO.’

He says that we need to evolve from the old image of SEO; dirty spam and dirty programmes.

That is not what is happening in SEO anymore and this unclean image needs to change.

16.46

The live blog is about to move to Martin McDonald’s talk in the main auditorium.

16.37

Sha and Rmoov officially announces that they are now releasing here at ionSearch, Rmoov for Webmasters.

This helps webmasters set up emails for webmasters concerning link removal alongside the set up of alerts for people who want their links removed from the domain.

Rmoov for Webmasters will also help the master clean up the emails concerning link removal and can help filter genuine requests.

A simple plugin for WordPress is all that is needed for Rmoov for Webmasters.

16.31

Sneaky picture here of Aleyda who is currently speaking in Track 1.

She is getting some great feedback on Twitter at the moment. #ionsearch

16.27

Once the data has been collected, emails have been sent and you are waiting for responses (at least once every 3 hours), bear in mind that people will want at some stage to be paid to remove links.

Some people will want up to £1000 for a single link. Perhaps, Martin says, £10 to £20 is fine, but keep a record of who tries to extort you.

If links are really hurting you, Sha says, make a business decision to see if paying money is worth it.

Bear in mind however, that sometimes you can pay a person and they will still not remove the link.

Be careful.

16.21

Don’t always put the blame on the webmaster. Be nice and human to them and if necessarily  apologies to them for anything that you have done wrong.

Curate your email templates accordingly. It must apply to the specific webmaster so that they can deal with you accordingly.

Martin says that with one old client that he was cleaning up, up to 40% of the links actually had a solid relationship with the brand.

From changing the templates, the success rate went from 20%, right up to 90%.

Though many of the webmasters who got in contact were particularly angry, those contacts then formed great working relationships.

16.17

Webmasters aren’t the only ones to stop you getting to the information that you need says Sha.

Privacy Protect do not accept email requests, though in their email failure message, there is a link to submit your query.

16.13

Top Tip: Use a good machine when removing links. A battered old laptop simply will not do and it will only serve to frustrate you. Use a decent machine with enough RAM.  - Martin Woods

16.09

Never be afraid to ask around and access old email address to work out what has happened on your domain.

Sha says that you really need to put ‘eyes on sites’ with excel to work out just what is what concerning links.

A lot of people, she says, will fall down when they see a healthy looking website with a good DA.

Martin says it is important to keep a record of all your data sources. Even the date of when this data has been added.

16.05

Martin says that it is a good idea to get a bigger picture from your data.

Blueclaw, he says, has been removing links for over two years now and the company found that data collection from outside Google is important. There are sources out there.

Bing is a lot kinder about links though there needs to be a large accumulation of data to be able to understand the amount of links which are in danger.

16.01

Martin Woods is now introducing Sha and the subject of link removal from the Penguin update.

15.57

Sha from Rmoov will now be the priority of the live blog for the next  session!

15.49

At 15:50 Aleyda Solis shall be talking in Track 1. There shall also be a SEO for Ecommerce panel in Track 2 and a link outreach workshop in track 3.

15.46

Great picture here from earlier on in the day of Samuel Crocker discussing how to buy in on big brands.

15.41

Coffee break now at ion.

What Makes A Good Link is still going!

Great stuff going on here.

15.07

‘Link building will get more technical and harder but it will always be there. You need to be very very clever or building content that people want to share,’ says Stephen Lock

15.05

Kelvin Newman says that link building in the future will be called something else.

Ross Hudgens concurs and offers his own ideas.

‘Maybe just call it content marketing.’

14.59

Stephen  Lock says that if your website is burnt and you are not a brand, you are free to dump the site and start again.

14.54

Marcus Tandler jokes that, ‘you haven’t been hit by panda, it’s that your links are just shit.’

14.48

Ross Hudgens says ‘what annoys me is when I can’t get a great link that a competitor is using. We shouldn’t copy each other. That only hurts us as SEO companies.’

14.44

Kelvin continues, ‘we often forget that we aren’t competing with Google. We are competing with our competitors. That is important to realise.’

14.42

Kelvin answers ‘what makes a great link?’ and says, ‘anything that you can be proud of and show a client. That is the first step.’

14.31

The live blog is now moving to the ‘what is a great link’ panel in Track 2.

14.28

Shain from Hootsuite has just finished his talk.

14.24

Shain says that integrating G+ pages to Hootsuite is a high priority for this year.

He also says people have even had their ‘owly’ tattooed on them.

They got a pro account for life and free beer.

14.16

Hootsuite University is the largest social media training system in the world.

This also hosts the largest selection of webinars and whitepapers on the planet.

No matter what, Shain says, Hootsuite will craft a webinar about whatever a user wants.

There are currently 6 million people in 15 languages using Hootsuite.

14.09

Even David Cameron and McDonalds makes use of Hootsuite according to Shain.

14.02

Hootsuite use a range of personal community events alongside envoys & ambassadors to get the word out.

People will even represent themselves as Hootsuite delegates at

events in exchange for ‘premium’ Hootsuite perks.

13.55

Hootsuite is using, as Shane says, a freemium model to make money.

But how?

Hootsuite talk to their community through the owl and ensure that their users are getting the best out of Hootsuite using a personal model.

13.50

Shain Shapiro from Hootsuite is now onstage.

He shall be trending on Twitter using #hootmission

13.42

The live  blog shall be continuing in Track 1 with Hootsuite at 1:45.

13.05

Lunch time now at ionSearch!

Sessions will recommence at 13:45.

Shain Shapiro from Hootsuite shall be talking in Track 1.

A panel discussing big brand search marketing shall be featured in Track 2.

Site architecture 101 shall be taking place in Track 3.

12.43

Ignacio is now concluding.

More information can be found here.

12.37

If customers are not ready to buy, try and get their email address.

To get this, offer them special access and offers.

A bad headline in an opening email can lose you conversion, almost more than any other aspect of an email.

12.32

Now that you have the user, you have to remember their mood to get them where you want.

Have they come to buy or research?

They will evaluate your product or brand in no more than 90 seconds, says Ignacio.

12.28

Sharing content is important for conversion.

More users are turning to social channels than ever before.

90% of people buy on recommendation and content created for social networks generates up to 40% higher ROI.

12.25

The medium is the message, Ignacio says.

‘Where’ is just as good as ‘what’ concerning content and building relationships with information outlets is imperative.

Outreach with companies such as ‘The Huffington Post’ has worked well in the past.

12.21

Authorship is now key for content and it should be created to illustrate all human emotions.

Whether that is laughter or rage, consider the user and connect with them.

Ignacio shows a case study using drug rehabilitation pictures which were used in a campaign to put people off of drugs.

The emotion incited in the user was disgust. It worked.

12.16

Algorithm cannot be fooled says Ignacio.

You have to work with it and use content smartly as not all content is the same.

Consequently, not all traffic is the same either.

12.14

Content marketing is just not creation.

It is getting it in the right place and getting people to buy again and again says Ignacio.

12.09

We can no longer make shallow content. Google’s job is to refine the world’s information.

Google are a middle man though they want to be closer to users says Ignacio.

How can Google remain useful?

By judging content and turning users into customers.

12.04

Ignacio or ‘Iggy’ has now started!

11.58

The session has now concluded.

The live blog shall be staying in Track 2 for a Keynote Talk with Ignacio Lucea.

He shall be discussing using content as a tool for conversion.

11.52

The session is now concluding.

Julia says as a tip, ‘do not take missiles to a knife fight.’

11.50

Litson says there is still room for clean content and going international will help.

11.48

Andrew Girdwood says that the cookie stuffing situation will get interesting in the next few years.

Nick Garner says that stuffing is easy but it can cause awkward questions from clients.

He also states that he does not practice cookie stuffing.

11.44

Julia Logan is now explaining cookie stuffing.

11.36

Nick Garner says that the engine has not moved on a lot, but people who spam can be caught quicker.

11.34

Girdwood notes that the Google Affiliate Network has closed. They can now be fierce with affiliates in the future.

Julia Logan of IrishWonder however, disagrees.

11.28

Big brands want affiliates who have worked in various markets says Girdwood.

Find varying opportunities to work.

11.23

Andrew Girdwood says that affiliates will fight dirty if an unclean campaign is being fought.

There are advantages to playing even a slightly safe campaign concerning casino marketing.

11.19

The English market is four times more competitive than any other market says Mike Litson.

Focusing on foreign speaking markets is far easier to rank for links.

11.09

We shall be now going to the Affiliates 101 in Track 2 until 11:55.

Join us on Level 2!

10.51

Great picture here from our in-house photographer of Ross Hudgens.

10.34

Ross Hudgens of Siege Media has now finished answering questions.

There will now be a short break until 11:10. See you soon!

10.21

Hudgens answers, “the worst is behind us in regards to links. Nothing much is going to happen,” in regards to link building in twelve months time.

10.18

Hudgens is now taking questions.

10.17

If you can, mention your product or service as part of a case study on another post.

10.15

Early comments are great for posts which are going to rank well.

You can get a lot of traffic from being aware of what is going to top Google.

10.13

Infographics get more click throughs and safe links, he continues.

10.11

Content marketers should think more about YouTube channels says Hudgens.

Great channels get great results.

10.08

“Facebook posts with 80 characters or less get on average, 23% more shares.”

10.06

Hudgens says that wherever there is content, there should be, no matter what, share buttons.

10.04

Also make use of tools. Tweetdeck is great for scheduled tweets, especially at night.

This is great for world coverage.

10.03

How to improve social push? LinkedIn is an underused social outlet.

Use it for B2B says Hudgens.

10.00

“YouTube can also be searched to see where your brand has been linked to.”

YouTube analytics is great for this.

09.54

Hudgens suggests searching Google by date to find recent results.

You can also set up alerts for keywords, to be set in a timely manner.

09.52

“Content marketing is painful, constant and takes time because we have to be creative,” says Hudgens.

09.50

All the way from LA, Ross Hudgens has now started.

09.48

Hudgens’ opening slide remarks, ‘content marketing is painful.’

This should be a good one. He is about to start.

09.42

Drinks and food are still available in the courtyard.

09.35

The Linkdex Workshop in Track 3 shall also be taking place at 9:55.

09.33

The Link Removal & Google Penalties Panel shall be taking place at 9:55 in Track 2.

09.30

Small break now until Ross Hudgens takes to the stage to discuss Rapid-Fire Content Marketing.

09.27

Dumont closes his presentation to a healthy applause.

09.26

Dumont is now answering questions.

09.25

Looking at all metrics is important to learn and evolve.

Continually watch your competitors and think broadly for new  data.

09.22

Dumont recommends Topsy as a great tracking tool alongside Buffer.

09.19

Dumont says that ideally, web analytics and marketing analytics must find a reciprocal sweetspot.

09.15

Andrew Dumont from SEOmoz is onstage!

09.13

We’re just about to start!