WebmasterWorld.com World Search Conference

[littleFella]

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1730375,00.asp

[avaden]

That's a pretty interesting article. I think it's funny how the Palka guy from Ask Jeeves says link buying is "Like buying a good write up in a newspaper". I think this is a bit far fetched. It's called doing what you can to make your company/business/service a successful business by gaining more traffic.

Lets say for instance "Hank" was buying links to better his position in the SERPs. Well, Hank listens to this guy and stops his link buying because Palka says they will get banned. Well, then Hank's listing disappears off the top listings because search engine positioning will NEVER stop. So what's so different in being banned or being on the last page of the SERP's because you can't buy links?

I think what is happening here is, these engine guys are a little upset because they over estimated the level of intelligence the general population has. Why not welcome new business? They are helping the economy by creating new jobs. I just don't understand why it matters at all.

I have to admit...I remember back when the internet was fairly new....and it took me a while to go through the SERPs to find a site that pertained to what I needed to find. So their perfect models aren't always so perfect. Sure, they are very intelligent...but I think the human brain will always win.

On the flip side....I think spamming engines is wrong. If you type in a product name and you see a listing that says, "Get 'product' here". Then you click it and it's some doorway page, cloaked page or some other spammy technique....now that to me is what they need to eliminate. The idea of buying links on other similar websites to help your ranking in a category you specialize, should not be any issue at all.

This says it all right here...

He likened a site buying links to a company paying for a good review in The New York Times.

"""You CAN'T BUY YOUR WAY TO THE TOP!!!!! But if you use our pay per click you can and it's ok."""

That's my 2 cents.... heheh (:

[RLRay]

And in reality, you can buy a good review in the New York Times. It's called an advertisement, and it's expensive. Doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it.

Randy

[John Scott]

I talked to a couple people who went to the conference and said it was less than enlightening. But you do get to actually meet people, which might be fun.

[RLRay]

I went to the Casino Affiliate Convention in Vegas a couple of months ago, and the best aspect was getting to know some of the other webmasters in my industry. It's amazing what a little networking will do for your link building campaigns.

Randy

[awall19]

I went there...there were like 800+ people there.

the meeting people is what makes it really really cool. its not every day you get to talk to the manager of Yahoo! Search 1 on 1 for like an hour. I met lots of cool people too

[dcristo]

So how was it awall? Is the conference more of a networking thing or is it a good learning experience? We have nothing like this here in Aus that I'm aware of.

Was there much talk about the new MSN SE?

[awall19]

Originally Posted by dcristo

So how was it awall? Is the conference more of a networking thing or is it a good learning experience?

part of it depends on your experience level. like after doing seo for a few years most of the stuff will be similar to stuff you know, but you only need to learn a few new things for it to really pay off.

lots of guys know way way more than me, but some information is not easily passed unless it is passed amongst friends.

there was lots of networking time there too