Not just there for the goody bags: What the Clarity Performance team learnt at BrightonSEO

Last month, our SEO and PPC team attended BrightonSEO to expand their knowledge, stay on top of industry trends and gain inspiration for client work. 

BrightonSEO is arguably the largest search marketing conference in the world. It’s a chance for SEOs to meet, learn and do their job a little better.

Read on to hear what the Clarity Performance team learnt from and loved about BrightonSEO.

Dan B, SEO Strategist

“One of the most interesting talks I attended was by Dave Cousin on the topic of Google’s MUM update (rolling out as of June 2021). This update massively builds upon Google’s previous BERT update (2019) which took Google’s AI-powered NLP (Natural Language Processing) capacity to another level – an evolution in search beyond mere keywords to understanding the relationship between and intent of words in a way that more closely resembles human language processing.

However, MUM – which stands for Multitask Unified Model – goes much further than BERT to break down pesky language barriers, as well as pool and serve results to give users the most comprehensive search experience.

The MUM update will enable Google to understand and translate 75 different languages, including text and images. This, in theory, will significantly increase competition in the search engine results pages (SERPs) but highlights the increasing importance of Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness (EAT) and localisation when it comes to content, not just translations. SEOs take note.”

Herve, SEO Executive

“My first ever visit to BrightonSEO was great. Brighton is a perfect location for such an event, as the venue was lovely with a collection of rooms for some of the most insightful talks. The venue was very vibrant from the first entrance with trained staff making sure people had full assistance, and sanitation to ensure everyone was covid safe.

There were many stalls with companies promoting some groundbreaking business tools, free goody bags, and a roller skating disco to keep everyone entertained. There was a selection of talks split between some key concepts such as creativity, theory, and more.

All talks throughout the day covered main areas of SEO & PPC from link building to content with in-depth strategies and some predictions of what’s to come in the future.

The talk that I found most useful was ‘keyword research 101’ by Paige Hobart, who spoke about how to do good keyword research. She mentioned the importance of using pivot tables in your keyword research to distinguish different search terms.

Other speakers also mentioned a few useful tools and features which I’ve started using such as WordNet, SearchAnalytics, Check My Links and more. Overall, this trip has allowed me to gain more insight, and develop my skills and also network with people in similar positions working for agencies. I would highly recommend this event for anyone in marketing and will most likely visit again next year.”

Ronaldo, SEO Executive

“It was my first time at BrightonSEO and it wasn’t really what I expected. The atmosphere was full of energy but relaxed at the same time, and you can tell everyone came here to not only learn but to have fun as well. I really enjoyed being there.

One of the talks about internal linking was particularly useful in relation to what I do. I’ve always known that internal links are important to SEO, but what was really emphasised was the huge difference internal links can make. The internal linking ideas and examples (like ESPN’s website) were great too.

Another interesting talk was on the relation between UX and SEO. Most of us know that page experience is an increasingly important ranking factor on Google but many of us only talk about page speed. We were reminded that UX and SEO have always been linked and SEO was never only about the technical aspects of a website. It’s also about how we help users navigate to the right pages, how we answer their queries and how we make them feel, so we should always keep these in mind.”

Ricci, Digital Strategist 

“BrightonSEO for me is becoming a must attend event for every digital marketer. The event itself has a good selection of PPC topics that are presented, and as the name suggests, a vast number of fantastic SEO topics and general discussions on digital topics.

One great session that I attended was on thinking outside the box to an even greater extent when it comes to the user journey, and SEO transactional keywords. It focused on how the true transactional keywords, that we should be looking to rank for organically with clients, might be miles away from the subject matter that a particular client specialises in.

It’s something that I had always thought about a tremendous amount throughout my career and even made suggestions to clients previously. It was great to meet with other digital marketers who have had the same or similar thoughts that I have had, and to have the opportunity to discuss these with my colleagues and other attendees in greater detail, in a setting that is conducive to doing so!”

As a B2B SEO Company, we deliver SEO strategies designed specifically around the needs of technology, B2B SaaS & software companies. Learn more about our B2B SEO services here.