Brighton SEO has always been a key event in our calendars at Seed due to the new ideas, tool insights and networking that it offers. We were more than thrilled when we found out that this year Brighton SEO would be in person, and we could all enjoy it together, face to face. We even had a couple of PPC intruders who enjoyed the day as much!
In this blog, each of us has done a little round up on what they enjoyed most, and what they took from BrightonSEO. Notice the common theme about the freebies…
Maisie
The most enjoyable part of Brighton SEO for me was to be back in a room with like-minded digital enthusiastic people who are all on the hunt to learn more and be better within their area!
It was especially nice to see lots of new faces at Seed enjoying BrightonSEO and learning about the latest industry trends – whilst also grabbing as many freebies as their bags could take.
One talk that stood out for me was a topic on burnout during and post pandemic. It is something that perhaps isn’t talked about enough, or recognised as quickly as it should within the industry. Add working from home and a 18 month long pandemic into the mix – and its become more and more commonplace.
Ryan
My experience of Brighton SEO was a positive one, to be able to be at an event that dissects the industry I love, while handing out tips & tricks was great. I would say there were two talks that I took a lot of notes on that I feel can be implemented on clients moving forward.
These talks were: Understanding user journeys and search intent and A technical solution to content duplication. I learnt a lot about why the use of canonicalisation is so important for search engines and how deleting content is not something to be scared of.
Alicia
I really enjoyed Brighton SEO, it was a great first-time experience and I thought the structure of the whole day was very well laid out.
With 3 talks in each session and 4 sessions in total, it’s a lot of information to take in and absorb and I thought that the frequent breaks in between made everything very digestible and comfortable.
What I received from the talks themselves were either inspirational, confirmation of successful techniques we carry out as an agency already, some very fascinating ideas and new methods to consider incorporating into our work or technical based strategies that went a little over my head.
Overall, the experience as a whole was very insightful and I enjoyed the variety of options of different subjects and areas within marketing that were available to engage with; ranging from theories, behaviours and technical practices to apply to our existing marketing.
The amount of merchandise I received was also very exciting! The ones that spent the time promoting what they do and could do for your business before giving away the awesome freebies were interesting to learn about and I’m sure the number of email addresses they can now market to, will certainly make up for any lost engagement with their brand – so an effective and clever marketing technique. Also, the unlimited free coffee by professional baristas was an extremely nice touch!
Lauren
This was the first time I had attended Brighton SEO in person and it certainly didn’t disappoint! I found the range of talks worked well with all our interests as a service, so we were able to split up and make notes on a variety of talks we can then share with each other after the event.
The standard of the speakers went past my expectations, and the talks were a good mix for people of all strengths/levels. I did however find that the breaks in between the talk were a bit too long which had us waiting around a couple of times. Other than that, it was a great day of learning, we all have loads of things to be researching further or implementing at Seed- and all the free merch was an added bonus!
Adam
This was my first time at Brighton SEO, and it was great to be around so many passionate search marketers all looking to expand their knowledge of the SEO world. The talks were great and gave me loads of new ideas & tips to take away with me.
Speaking to the companies that had stands was also really interesting to find out more about the different types of programmes and software that we could utilise here at Seed to improve our service offering. All in all a great day of learning (with a bit of fun on the roller disco included) topped off with a few beers on the beach afterwards, what more could you want!
Ben
At BrightonSEO, I was introduced to so many different people, tools, and ideas that I think will really help improve my work. I thought the event was really great, informative, and with all the little activities (and free merch) very entertaining.
As my job is in PPC I picked the sessions I attended carefully to make sure that they were relevant to my work, some of these included keyword research, user intent, persona/buyer research, and a session that was actually on PPC.
Some of those sessions have already come in handy in my PPC campaigns. In fact, the only downside to the event was the rather embarrassing fall I had when on the roller disco floor 🙁
This was the first event like this that I’ve ever been to and I really hope I get the opportunity to go to future ones!
Dan
The Brighton SEO was an extremely eye opening and fantastic experience. This was my first time attending an event like this and by the end I was able to say I can now implement many more diverse strategies that I learnt into my own work.
The event was very well organised, with many people around to guide you to your chosen destination. Along with the memorabilia, we were supplied with unlimited free tea and coffee. This was a nice touch from the organisers of the event. There were many stalls located around the building who were showcasing what their business did. I now have multiple connections I never did before and many companies who I potentially could work with on projects in the future. To summarise, I am over the moon with the information I learnt and implore everyone to attend.
Harry
There was a variety of interesting talks at Brighton SEO and there were a couple of talks that really stood out for me, in particular Oli Hearsum’s talk on the untapped potential with new terms.
Oli took advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit to rank for terms that didn’t have much search volume to start off with but grew over time. I thought this was an extremely insightful way to look at creating engaging and relevant content for users as well getting ahead of competitors early. For me, this has helped changed the way I now look at search volume and how thinking ahead of the curve can mean ranking for new high-volume keywords that have little competition.
Lily
The highlight of my day was Toby Neilson’s session on using narrative theory to be better SEOs. I suppose unsurprisingly given the subject, Toby is a fantastic storyteller. His talk centred on how we can use Todorov’s Narrative Theory (Equilibrium Theory) to better communicate with each other, whether it’s with colleagues, clients or peers.
The Equilibrium Theory describes the method of storytelling usually followed since humans started communicating; the story begins with equilibrium, something will then disturb this equilibrium, it then ends with a resolution and a new equilibrium (not to reduce a man’s lifetime work into a single sentence).
Storytelling is believed to be one of fundamental abilities which make us human. When a good story is told, our brains fire off mirror neurons, we put ourselves inside the story. Toby Neilson explained how using this basic structure can be used to more effectively communicate. By structuring our communication in this way, people can follow the journey and connect with the message and really envision the outcome you have proposed.
This technique of storytelling is particularly useful, whether it’s one to one or on a larger scale. He suggests outlining the normal situation (the initial equilibrium), explaining the problem (the disturbance to the equilibrium) and finishing with how you believe your solution will help (the new equilibrium). Whether you’re convincing your other half to upgrade the hotel room or telling strangers why they should buy your wooden lawn chairs, storytelling is the oldest trick in the book (in fact it predates the written word).
