After each Optimisey SEO event so far I think: “Yeah! That went well…” for about, ooh, 10 seconds at least. Then I have that moment of “Oh no… how am I going to follow that?”
I hope it’s not too self congratulatory to say that the events have continually gotten better – as I get more and more used to being an event organiser but also, as more of you lovely people attend and continue to attend other potential speakers get to hear about the events and think perhaps it’s not just a fly-by-night thing and perhaps they will take my call when I ask them if they’d come and speak.
This time I may have outdone myself.
I’ve got not one but two international grade speakers that, frankly, I had no right to even ask to come and speak at the events (spoiler alert: but I did and they said yes!).
Without further ado (this is almost worse than my pre-amble bit at the actual events, isn’t it?):
Speaking at optimisey: 26 september 2018
Marie Haynes!
If that’s all you need to hear (by the way, places are free – but space is limited, so you have to):
Book your place
If you’re in the 1% of people going: “Who?” you are in for a treat.
Marie – sorry, Dr. Marie Hayes – is a super smart SEO.
She has built a reputation as the penalty guru – e.g. helping sites recover that have done stuff they perhaps shouldn’t have (or had agencies do it for them) when Google spots it and puts a manual penalty on their site.
If you’ve never heard of Google manual penalties or ‘manual actions’ – they’re bad. Very bad. Penalties have, in many instances, put people out of business. Perhaps deservedly so in some instances but either way, they really, really hurt your rankings and therefore traffic.
Marie is really good at fixing those issues and getting those penalties removed.
I’m a big fan of Marie’s Search News You Can Use newsletter, which is now also an SEO podcast and live-stream video too.
She’s also based in Canada, near Ottawa to be precise – but, lucky for me (and for all of you that get a seat) Marie’s in the UK for BrightonSEO in September and has kindly agreed to add Cambridge to her itinerary (hence the shift in days from the usual Thursday to a Wednesday – as I’m off to BrightonSEO on the Friday too!).
Yay!
Dr. Haynes (her PhD, I’m pretty sure, is in veterinary medicine not SEO – whole other story) will come and speak to us all about Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines – a punchy read, weighing in at a brief 164 pages.
If you read it cover-to-cover in one sitting – you’re looking at around 6 hours or so. Ouch.
The good news is, you don’t have to read them (though you should) – Marie’s talk will help pick out the bits you need to know about; what you should know about them; and how that should affect what you do on your website.
Add to the fact that Marie’s just lovely (when I was starting Optimisey and lots of people wouldn’t even give me the time of day – Marie, despite being in the midst of planning an office move and recruitment and a zillion and one other things, was really encouraging and supportive – so it feels pretty terrific to now have her coming to speak at one of the events).
It’ll be epic. And places will go fast.
Don’t Miss out: Book Now
As if that wasn’t enough – I’ve got another one.
Also speaking at September’s event:
JP Sherman
JP Sherman is a Search & Find-ability Expert at enterprise scale (basically, really big stuff on really big sites). He works for RedHat, a big US software firm, and is usually based in North Carolina. But for a few days in September he’ll be in the UK (no prizes for guessing why!) and I’ve coaxed him to Cambridge too.
This guy was part of a team that pretty much built their own Google-like internal search function for RedHat. He’s so good at this stuff RedHat have just moved him to sort out all their content and search visibility.
He’s whip sharp on this stuff and also loves Yorkshire Tea – so is effectively an honorary Brit.
Again, he’s thoroughly lovely too, only too willing to help others in the community by sharing his knowledge and expertise – so he’s a perfect fit for Optimisey too.
He’s so smart we haven’t even decided what he’ll talk about yet! There are just too many things he’s great at to pick from.
Book Your Free Seat
As well as these two terrific, Grade-A speakers, there’ll also be the usual mix of free food and drink and a roomful of awesome people like you to share it all with.
See you there!
Gosh!