On Thursday I'll be presenting on a panel, " Beyond Linkbat: Getting Authoritative Mentions Online " with Chris Boggs and Sally Falkow. Sage Lewis will be moderating. I think this type of session is very timely as search engines begin to put more and more emphasis on higher quality and editorial link sources and less on sources that are easier to manipulate. Increasing competition online also means online branding and influence increase in their importance.

Day two rolled right along here at SES New York with great sessions well documented by an array of blog coverage . This includes our own Jolina Pettice who filed an SES inspired post on " Tips for Overcoming Client-Created Roadblocks " as well as session coverage of " Converting Visitors into Buyers " and the Orion panel on Universal Search . We also posted a video interview with Sara Holoubeck on current SEMPO news.

On day two of the Search Engine Strategies conference the expo hall has opened and I found my way past two floors of exhibitors to find the SEMPO booth staffed by the famous "free agent" and SEMPO board member, Sara Holoubek. In this video interview, Sara talks about the local SEMPO groups that are forming as well as her insight on the new SEMPO Institute Agency Certification. http://video.google.com/videoplay?

Yesterday proved to be an interesting kickoff to this year's Search Engine Strategies conference here in New York. The Organic Listings panel was entertaining and informative as always and the Build Investment Interest in your SEO/SEM firm was an early indulgence for myself that offered great tips for those looking at the future liquidity and monetization for their agency. Jolina weighed in with her posts on excellent sessions,

At SES San Jose in 2006, I took a 21 second video of Mike McDonald from WebProNews while we were standing in line for the bus to the Google Dance. That short video was followed by many other videos interviews with interesting people in the search marketing business which you can find on TopRank's YouTube channel , and on our Videos category. http://video.google.com/videoplay?

How to Build Investment Interest in Your SEO/SEM with an introduction by Anne Kennedy and a presentation by Patricia Hall, Investment Banker, Hallmark Capital. If you own and/or are running a fast growing search marketing agency and want to gain more insight into making your firm more valuable for acquisition/investment, then this session is for you. What Wall Street looks at. Client list is important. Keep in mind, if you have big name clients now,

Organic Listings Forum with Mike Grehan moderating and Jill Whalen, Dave Naylor and Greg Boser on the panel. Here we have an all star SEO cast available to answer questions about organic SEO. Mike starts out with a nod to St Patrick's day. During introductions Greg says he's a reformed black hat spammer. Audience: To what extent does Google use user data and behavior and how relevant is PageRank? Greg: PageRank is irrelevant. It's not important the way it used to be.

After a seemingly quicker than normal flight from Minneapolis into LaGuardia, Jolina and I then made it to the Sheraton in near record time. Monday begins what is the biggest SES show of the year: Search Engine Strategies New York. We're both looking forward to this SES with great anticipation. Jolina blogged SMX West recently and will also be blogging the SES show. We'll be doing a mix of blogging sessions,

This week we did a bit of house cleaning and removed 37 blogs from the BIGLIST of SEO blogs - some of them from well known SEOs. One of the quality measures we use for inclusion on the BIGLIST is frequency of posting. If a blog gets stale, we say bye bye for now. Get your BIGLIST updates via Twitter. This week's update includes several SEO blogs new to our list and a few re-inclusions. Enjoy! John W. Ellis SEM Blog - John writes mostly about PPC, analytics,

No, this isn't a lame attempt at a keyword stuffed blog post title. I've been noticing over the past year a significant increase in the number of references to "online marketing" by SEO blogs, articles and news web sites. It would be easy to say I am biased due to the name of this blog and our agency both using "online marketing" in the names. I'll admit that I probably am. When I started working on selling and marketing web sites in 1997,

With the TopRank BIGLIST at over 450 blogs, it can be a more than a challenge to read so many RSS feeds to stay current on SEM industry news. SEO blogs and news feed aggregators can make it much easier to track what's going on whether its news, tips or events. This post highlights two services that have launched recently including Alltop from Guy Kawasaki and socialblogroll from Nick Wilsdon along with several others. Alltop Launched by Guy Kawasaki,

With the changes last year in the search marketing conference industry there has been disappointing side-taking and rumor mongering but also a healthy dose of optimism about what more competition will do for attendees. I would think the sustainability and success of any conference is in large part dependent upon attendees needs being met. Whether your primary business is interactive marketing, public relations, advertising or SEM,

Here we go again with another BIGLIST update of SEO blogs . Enjoy! Hobo SEO UK - Shaun Anderson writes about a variety of search engine optimization related topics for his agency based in Scotland. SEM Blog ineedhits - If you've been in the search marketing game for a while, you may remember ineedhits who now online marketing news, releases, industry trends and great DIY tips and advice. Brian Chappell - As a SEM and link building specialist, Brian posts tips, videos,

Many companies narrowly define PR activities online solely as blogger relations when in reality, online public relations is so much more. To me, internet based public and media relations encompasses gaining editorial exposure on the web with sites like blogs of course, but it also leverages web based technologies, networks and platforms for developing and maintaining more efficient communication with the media.

Without question, the microblogging platform Twitter ) follow me here ( is a phenomenon many of our readers are exploring or trying to figure out. Whether you're in search marketing, advertising, interactive marketing, journalism or public relations, there are many ways to use Twitter as a communications, networking and even a socializing tool. Some people post the most benign information such as the mass fixation on Twittering while in airports.

As a growing mid-sized online marketing agency , TopRank has had opportunities to interview well over a 100 people for various search engine optimization and internet marketing positions. We've been fortunate to hire and develop an amazing team of professionals. We've also experienced the flip side. There are increasing numbers of resources from which to attract or find candidates whether it's traditional online job boards like Monster.com ,

For the first or maybe the second time ever, we skipped a BIGLIST update last Friday. Things got a little crazy with SES London and other business tasks. But no worry, we have a great lineup of SEO blogs for you this week: SEO Copywriting - Let's celebrate the launch of SEO and wordsmith guru Heather Lloyd-Martin's snappy new blog about the magic of writing for users and search engines.

Wiley recently announced the launch of a new book, "Online Marketing Heroes: Interviews with 25 Successful Online Marketing Gurus", in which TopRank has an entire chapter on the subject of social media marketing for SEO and PR. The list of internet marketing experts interviewed for the book include consultants, agencies, CEOs, PR professionals, client side bloggers and marketers. Topics range from paid search to online copywriting to online PR and social media marketing.

Tomorrow the PRSA is conducting a teleseminar " PR and Social Media - What every practitioner needs to know ". Take a first-hand look at the phenomena that are redefining the practice of public relations. Hear from three digital PR pioneers about the array of new tools, strategies and channels available to today's practitioner from Facebook and Second Life to blogger relations, digital video and search engine reputation management.

I'm sure this will be well covered on the search marketing news blogs but I wanted to make a post because a good number of the new SEMPO board members are people I have known for years and respect a great deal. It can be a big commitment to donate your time to an association and SEMPO has proven itself to be a great resource for the search marketing industry. Chris Boggs - SEO Manager, eMergent Marketing / Brulant, Inc.