Lecture
The lecture began with a wonderful insight into the banality of the topic of ‘killing SEO’, whilst also offering a somewhat sad perspective on the Czech Republic’s backwardness in the field of SEO and search engines in general, as clearly illustrated in the screenshot below.
An interesting point was that Google has been the pioneer of link building since 2000 and has been using personalised search since 2005 (the year Seznam began using full-text search).
In the Czech Republic, SEO only began to emerge eight years after its global introduction, precisely at the time when Google started using personalised results, which was the first step towards the demise of optimisation.
In the following slides, we explored the evolution of optimisation from its beginnings to its current form and noted that link building is no longer just about building quality backlinks, but primarily about brand building. Another important point is that the details of optimisation are constantly changing, but the fundamental essence and principles remain.
For most of the audience in the room, this was a rather sombre topic, but Marek managed to present it in an entertaining, clear and informative way. During the few dozen minutes he had for his presentation, he shed light on the current state and future of the industry for everyone present.
After the lecture and a break with refreshments, there was an opportunity for discussion. During this, the future of SEO wasn’t really discussed much; instead, we focused on the details surrounding new trends, the use of webmaster tools and basic procedures in the optimisation process.
In conclusion
Overall, I rate the lecture as one of the best I have attended so far. Above all, the discussion following the lecture and the get-together in the restaurant proved to be very inspiring, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Marek.
Lecture and notes from the event
Notes
- SEO in the Czech Republic is still lagging far behind other countries
- 1996 – launch of the first version of the Google search engine
- SEO began to emerge eight years after its global launch
- In the year Google began personalisation, Seznam started using full-text search
- “SEO is a tool for spreading ideas and creating value, rather than simply increasing traffic – everything must make sense”
- “The key is to diversify online marketing methods; this is particularly true for SEO”
- Primitive SEO is complicated by personalisation, AdWords/Sklik, universal search, social signals, local search, one-box results and knowledge graphs
- The emergence of link building in 2000
- Link building is now more about brand building
- “SEO is a game of probabilities”
- “The details change, but the essence remains”
- “Spread ideas, create value!”