SEO Conferences - Which to start with!???

[Mrupp44]

My SEO / Internet marketing business (I also have contractors that handle web design and development) is going well and growing and I am interested in attending one of the many conferences. (SEO is my passion but I am more of a marketing guy than super technical) I was hoping for a little bit of advice from somebody who has been to some of them where would be good to start.

Where should I start? I am in Wichita, KS. which is in the middle of the US (bring on the yellow brick road and Dorothy jokes) and don't plan to leave the country for one.

PUBCON, SES, SMX, SEARCHFEST, MOXCON, PUBCON......

Thank you very MUCH for any advice. Super appreciate it!

Matthew

[EricaMcGillivray]

So I'm completely bias as I'm a Mozzer and one of the Mozzers who runs MozCon.

With that said, MozCon is definitely my favorite conference. Last year was both the first year I helped run MozCon and the first year I attended it. I knew all the pieces, and I was blown away by the caliber of the content and the speakers. The topic runs a little intermediate advanced, especially if the topic is primarily SEO-focused, and the speakers themselves are incredibly smart and true experts in their topics. Most conferences to me are really hit or miss, but MozCon was one where I felt that I learned at every session. (I've been in the industry for 6 years.) The single session, one room format with keynote-style talks really suites my learning style and my need for community (live-tweeter right here). (And Seattle is awesome!!)

My second favorite one is SearchFest PDX. Their speaker quality is superb. Though you have to pick between sessions. I found the community pretty great here too. And the year I went, it was right by the food trucks which I can't stay away from in PDX. I felt the sessions were really tailored by topic so you could chose to go on the track you knew and learn something or skip around to learn something new.

If you want to talk to Matt Cutts or get all fannish around him, SMX is the conference to go to. As except for the "celebs" of search or a specific keynote, it's panels, speakers get less time to talk, which I go back and forth how much I like that. I find panels, due to the sheer numbers of speakers a conference organizer must find to talk on a similar topic, can sometimes be a large hit or miss between speakers. And they can also crash quickly if the moderators aren't on top of it.

SES has been a bit more a beginner's conference in my mind. I've found a lot more SMB and SEOs starting their careers going to these than other conferences. It's all panels with a few exceptions like SMX. Both SES and SMX accept pitches, and sometimes, you can get some rougher talks due to beginning speakers. (We ALL have to start somewhere!)

I haven't been to PubCon or any of Distilled's conferences (SearchLove, LinkLove), though I've heard PubCon to be more like an SMX and SearchLove to be closer to MozCon in styles.

Anyway, hope you found that useful. Feel free to ask about specifics you're considering, and really, I can answer about anything about MozCon.

[EGOL]

Right... I carefully read the titles and descriptions of the talks that will be given.   Lots of stuff does not apply to you, some you might already know, some might be over your head.

Look for a meeting that has lots of talks that make you salivate.   That's the one to attend.

I often get more out of the exhibit hall than out of the talks.  You can ask lots of questions there, leave, think about them and then go back.

[Asher]

When I asked this question a while ago the overall consensus was to go to Mozcon, I also hear good things about SES and SMX and was told to go to them as well, but highest priority was Mozcon.  Hope that helps.

[danrawk]

I would map them out, see what the itineraries are for each and go from there. I know SEOMOZ sells videos for download of their past sessions. perhaps reviewing one of those would give you a better idea! :>)