Webmaster World Conference wrap up.

I took a red eye out of Boston on Wednesday evening. I’d completely forgotten what my family look like and where I live. So, I have exactly two and a half days at home before I head back across the pond again.

There are two conferences next week. Killer search marketing strategies in London. And then when ad:tech San Francisco finishes, I have to head straight to London for Jim Sterne’s Emetrics Summit, the week after. I felt certain that I had some time at home immediately after that… And then realized that my buddy Jim Banks has the official opening of our Hong Kong office right between that and SES London.

So, I’ll be back on the road for weeks again by the way it looks.

Webmaster World Conference was a lot of fun, as ever. And you may not believe it, but it’s absolutely true. Who was the first person I bumped into as I entered the conference venue?

I think Bill Hunt is on my blog more than I am!

The night before the conference started I got together with my long standing buddy, Fredrick Marckini. He’s not only one of the most seasoned and successful search marketing gurus in our industry, for me he’s also the funniest.

At some point during the event, Fredrick and I ended up back at his city apartment. Here (along with a very cute cat) he has his musical room with keyboards, guitars, the lot. So inspired by a mixture of Merlot and Cabernet we attempted to tune the guitars. Fredrick was much more successful than I was and even managed to blast out a Beatles number (and not too badly, either). Personally, my fingers could only find a long series of misshaped chords which sounded a lot like Fredrick’s cat walking up and down the keyboard. Merlot one – fingers nil!

On the first day of the conference, I was due on the organic panel, as usual. It was supposed to be moderated by Jessie Strichiola but for some reason she couldn’t attend. So Captain Brett asked me if I’d stand in and do the honors. I was more than happy to do that and it gave a chance to get some fresh blood on the panel as stalwart Bruce Clay was joined by Aaron Wall and Todd Malicoat (AKA Stuntdbl).

It was a good session. No photo’s though as my camera and I were separated a couple of times during the show. I did get a nice surprise when I was introduced to Andy Hagans (AKA Mr Angry for a short period). We had a couple of drinks and a chance to catch up on stuff. Mainly current happenings in China and the developing market place. Here’s Andy with me and Aaron Wall.

I met a new friend who was speaking for the first time at WMW (I think). Elisabeth Archambault runs her affiliate business up in Canada. She certainly knows the affiliate game inside out, that’s for sure.

It has to be said that, the highlight of the first day was eventually getting my long overdue interview with search engine superstar, Matt Cutts. He and I chatted for just under an hour covering a lot of topics. Matt is such a nice patient guy and has time for everybody (even if it takes almost two years, in some cases 🙂

He’s an absolute natural when it comes to being interviewed. I’ve listened to the rough cut of the interview and it sounds really good. But it’s not going to be available for a couple of weeks. I still have part two to complete with him. And I won’t be back in the UK to edit and package it until I get back, a few days before heading to China again. Which reminds me. I also have two good interviews with Thomas Bindl and Alan Webb, respectively, with their views on SEO from a European perspective.

I did my usual basic links session on day two, ably supported by the “Moses” of linking, Eric Ward. As well as Jim Boykin and Bill Hartzer. Jim’s presentation was jam packed with actionable do it now data which I thought was just great. And really well presented. And similar from Bill, even if he did start with a joke even cornier than I would come out with! Having said that, there is no doubt I’ll probably use it myself at… er… all right Bill, I was just yanking yer chain a bit 😉

And after that it was a special birthday lunch with Search Engine Watch forums editor, Elisabeth Osmeloski, not looking a day older than the 21 she is 😉

I sat next to her in the restaurant and insisted that she did the full thing. A huge lobster followed by a huge dose of chocolate desert washed down with a few Bloody Mary’s and the odd Pinot Grigio or two. Elisabeth used to work up in Maine with Anne Kennedy and the Beyond Ink crew. And so it was that the “deliciously slinky” Alex Bennert, very kindly took care of the bill. I left the restaurant with Alex who seemed to get sucked into Sephora (next door to the restaurant) and hasn’t been seen since I understand 🙂

It wasn’t until got to Logan airport I realized I’d left my wooden stick in the restaurant as we’d gone there directly after my session and I was still wielding it. What wooden stick is that, Mike.

Well… You’ll just have to come to a conference to find out.

Textbook SEO – naff!

My Clickz column is over here:

I’m just so sick to the back teeth of having to answer questions at conferences and events that have so little to do with getting a decent rank at search engines. And I’m convinced that a lot of SEO type forums (no, not all of them) are responsible for perpetuating a lot of this nonsense.

I was having a conversation this weekend with some smart people in the industry about textbook SEO and forums. And all agreed with me when I said, there are only two types of information in SEO forums: very useful and complete crap!

It’s the trying to figure out which is which for new online marketers which is the difficult bit.

This year, I’m on a mission to eliminate any unnecessary tasks that don’t affect the ranking of a page profoundly. I mean really get rid of any of the superfluous nonsense frequently preached about meta data and well… any other such waste of time 1999 nonsense.

Of course, I only have my own data to go on. But as we have clients in the hundreds, it means that we have a lot of data to judge performance on.

It’ll be interesting to see what useful feedback I get.

The road to hell and back.

There is an artiste in the UK, by the name of Chris Rea. He’s from my part of the world and I have every single piece of music he ever released. He is one of the most incredible slide guitar player you’re ever likely to hear. Except, you most likely won’t get the chance now, as he is just completing his farewell tour in Europe.

His first hit, in the UK and in the States was way back in the 70s, with a song called “Fool if you think it’s over.” I met Chris many times during my years as a radio DJ and always enjoyed interviewing him.

I attended his last concert in my home town, last week. It was simply wonderful. The tour is tagged as “The road to hell and back” which references his biggest ever hit.

So, I bought the tour shirt. And it was this shirt I was wearing, when I popped up to Portland, Maine, to meet a friend I love dearly, who really has been to hell and back.

My friend Jenn, is well known in the SEM industry. And for almost the past year she has been recovering from the most horrendous accident she was involved in.

Now she really is on the way back. And it’s thanks to the support that she’s had directly from Alex Bennert (another wonderful person and dear friend) and her boss Anne Kennedy at Beyond Ink, who took her under their wing up their in Maine.

So I was delighted to see her looking beautiful and radiant like her old self. Now, it has to be said, she still has a long way to go before she’s back on top of everything. But she is a remarkable lady with strength, courage and determination (and my “Road to hell and back” shirt!).

This is a wonderful community. I think I can quote (badly, probably) my mate Dave Naylor, who said something along the lines of “in this industry, what you have is friends first, and you stick up for them.” Well, I’m proud to be a friend of Jenn’s.

Onwards and upwards Jenn. And know that I’m supporting you 100% girl 😉

This was my first trip to Portland, Maine. And certainly, one of the first ladies in search, Anne Kennedy, is one of the first ladies of Portland. She has grown her business to the point that she’s moving everyone into a plush new executive floor downtown. Beyond Ink is a thriving business and that’s no surprise, when you have someone as hugely smart and perceptive as the “deliciously slinky” Alex Bennert running the enterprise.

Anne and her husband Gerry, treated us all to a fabulous night out at one of Portland’s leading restaurants. Before that, we downed a few Martini’s in an excellent Euro trash type bar. Here you can see me with my arms around both Anne and Alex. And yes, judging from my look, either I have my eyes closed… or I’m very much focused on Jenn’s cleavage! Hey, whatever – I’m a guy!

Over to the right you can see Gerry, Anne’s extraordinarily friendly hubby. And behind Jenn is Alex’s husband, Huck. And they make such a great pair also. He’s a bit of a rock star type with his band up in the North East and she’s… Nuts!

I’m back and firmly ensconced in Boston again, now. It’s a big week this coming week. What promises to be Brett’s biggest ever Webmaster World conference. The place is buzzing already and the conference doesn’t start until Tuesday.

I think Brett Tabke is going to be one very happy guy at the end of this one. The Webmaster World conferences started mainly as a complete piss-up for the webmaster community (there’s still a great deal of that) but now it’s growing up to be a force to be reckoned with in the search conference space.

For me, it’s a joy to come back to one of my favourite cities in the US. I adore Boston in the same way I love San Francisco (and I’ll be in SFO next week!). During my iProspect days I spent a lot of time here hanging with my great friend, Fredrick Marckini.

One of the bars I love here is a real cheesy touristy place, called Joe’s American Bar and Diner. But the food is great and it’s so nice to sit outside at Long Wharf when the weather is good.

Just across the road, you have Faneuil Hall.

And Quincy Market.

And this may look like any ordinary street. But this is Newbury Street. One of the greatest streets in the whole world!
Okay… let the conference begin. And if you’ve been struggling with whether you should attend this one or not… believe me when I tell you it’s going to be a cracker!

My second home.

Monday of this week, I met my great friend and colleague, Jim Banks, at Gatwick airport and we flew to Raleigh in North Carolina where my head office is. Jim and I have a lot of business going on together and I’m supporting him with the opening of his new office in Hong Kong in May. So there’s lots to do.

I love to come to my second home here in Raleigh. It’s so great to be in gorgeous sunny weather. And when I walk through the hallowed portal that is the home of internet marketing…

I make my way to my way directly to the seat of resident blogger and big buddy of mine… Misssteeerrrr Garret French! Woohoo!

And I make a point of fraternising with the enemy too. My closest geographical competitor is legendary industry pundit Andy Beal. And I love Andy and his wonderful wife Sheila as I do my own family. So it was fantastic to pop around to the new Chez Beal (a mansion of considerable beauty, I have to say) and have dinner out on the patio.

Of course, Andy invited Jim around too.

And a wonderful night was had by all. Sheila cooked the most fabulous dinner. Andy kept the wine flowing. And we all indulged in a little marsh mallow toasting to finish. Thanks to Andy and Sheila for such a warm welcome and such an entertaining evening.

Eugene Onegin.

My wife, Tatjana, is a true culture vulture. And long has she wanted to visit the famous opera house in London.

However, like many people around the world, she had no idea that the opera house in London is actually, the Royal Opera House, in an area called Covent Garden. She always thought that Covent Garden was the name of the opera house.

So, I decided that she needed a special treat in the form of a night at the opera and a more extensive tour of London so that she could better acquaint herself with the capital. Last year, I was lucky enough to be on the opera house list for best seats in the house, for the famous Russian opera, Eugene Onegin.

I kept it a secret until last week when I told her about my little surprise treat for the coming weekend.

She is a huge fan of the work of Russian poet, Alexander Pushkin. There’s not a scribble he made she doesn’t know about. She can almost recite his life story backwards! And like many Russians and lovers of poetry worldwide, one of her favourite Pushkin works, is the poem, Eugene Onegin.

Famously, the poem was used as the basis for an opera by one of Russia’s most esteemed composers, Tchaikovsky.

So, we had a night at the opera, with my wife saying a little thank you to me with a bottle of my true favourite tipple. The Royal Opera House has the most wonderful champagne bar!

The opera was, in a word, sublime (although a little difficult for me to follow at times, as my Russian is dreadful). But the champagne bar was a dying-and-going-to-heaven experience, for me 🙂

As we were in town, we had a little touristy type walkabout so that Tatjana could get a better feel for it. She took control of the camera as we started our walk around the Serpentine.

Somehow, my wife managed to find her way to the store in the picture below. I waited outside trying to fend off the anxiety attack I felt coming on around my wallatus creditcardus region.

We popped around to, what the Queen and I affectionately refer to as “Buck House”.

I rang the bell a few times but she didn’t answer. I think she was round at the Duke of Wellington pub having a traditional Sunday lunch of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, washed down with a pint of London Pride bitter.

We had a stroll around Westminster, where I explained that, much like the Covent Garden thing, Big Ben is actually the bell inside the clock tower, not the tower itself, as my wife thought.

Earlier this year we were in Milan and went to see the famous Duomo cathedral. However, when we got there it was covered in scaffolding for maintenance work. This time, we went to Trafalgar Square to look at Nelson’s Column and the famous Lion statues and guess what?

SES Munich.

Still reeling with jet-lag after China, I popped back home for a couple of days to empty my suitcase, wash the contents and head off again.

And as I arrive in Munich, who’s the first person I bump into?

Yes, my great pal and world-touring counterpart, Bill Hunt. It’s only a week since we were having lunch in China!

Actually, Bill was the first person I bumped into when I got downtown. But Danny Sullivan and I had agreed to hook up in Munich airport and share a ride to the hotel. So it was really Danny that I bumped into first. It was a great opportunity for the two of us to have a proper catch-up.

Although we see each other at every SES, sometimes we don’t even get a chance to have a beer together, let alone have dinner. So we yakked for a while in the cab and then had a chance to get together again for dinner with a small group, later on.

Bill Hunt is being hidden (almost) by his colleague Sara, who runs his Swedish operation. Opposite her, on the right is Jonathan from Commission Junction, also based in Stockholm, but he’s a home grown Geordie, just like me. Behind him is Danny’s brother-in-law, Gernot. And the great man himself, Danny sits next to my empty chair. Well somebody has to take the pics!

Anybody notice, there’s a distinct lack of pictures of international man of mystery, Thomas Bindl.

SES Munich is one of the smaller, more intimate shows. I remember thinking last year what a great atmosphere it has. And certainly not disappointed this year.

Also, these smaller shows have such great lunches. Hot buffet on the 20th floor this time. So much nicer than the lunch boxes at the major shows.

One thing that really stuck out this year, was how much more advanced the audience was to last year’s show. I did my usual link basics presentation which was attached to my German team mate, Alan Webb’s more advanced tactical presentation.

We had some very good questions I thought. And yes, here’s a pic of the audience to give them something to link to!

Thomas was on the big spam debate session with Danny and Stefan Karzauninkat, from Seekport. There’s a friendly hug going on there, but it did start with Danny faking beating Thomas up!

Munich is Thomas’ home city. And Thomas is one of the nicest guys in the business. He’s very proud of his city and makes a most excellent host. Everyone agreed (the English speaking contingent, that is) that his selection of bars and restaurants was absolutely wonderful, yet again.

However, for me this time, the highlight was lunch in a real Bavarian beer garden. The English Beer Garden, no less! Thomas had arranged a kind of, German SEO roadshow for the Saturday afternoon after SES. And before he and I went along, he treated me to lunch in true Munich style.

The atmosphere was wonderful, with people just chilling and eating… And doing what you do in a beer garden – drinking great beer!

The whole thing was topped off with the sound of a real German brass band up in the tower in traditional dress giving it oompah, oompah all the way!

And so we headed downtown to yet another wonderful location chosen by Thomas. It was a huge restaurant/ bar with cavernous rooms, lots of people and plenty of good cheer.

Upstairs, there was a section set aside for Germany’s finest (spammers, that is) to get together and talk about their… weapons of spam induction!

This was a really great crowd and I only wish I’d had more time to spend with them. However, it was my daughter’s 18th birthday at the weekend. And if I hadn’t made it back home for that… You have no idea how miserable my life could have been made!

One thing I couldn’t figure out as I headed back to the airport. Why is Munich littered with multi-colored Lions?

Speed pitches!

Whoops! Almost forgot about this on my travels.

My buddy Chris Ridings, in the UK, dropped me a note about a new prospecting service he’s involved in. Many people will know Chris from the white papers he’s written, in particular on PageRank and also from his SearchGuild forum.

Speed dating is nothing new these days. And the principle has been applied to sales before. But I don’t that it’s ever been tried in the SEO/SEM sector.

There’s an event coming up in London on May 18 which provides an opportunity to meet up to 30 potential suppliers and have informal meetings with 15 over a period of a couple of hours.

So, if you’re on the lookout for new suppliers/vendors, then this could be the ideal event to cut straight to the chase and no time wasting.

There’ll be speed pitches in other industry sectors too. But the SEM event is at the City Golf Bar in London, May 18th. Details here.

And finally, Beijing.

I popped back to Beijing to catch up with the folks at Microsoft’s Advanced Technology Center. This is where Jingyi heads up her team. She really is an extraordinarily clever woman. Very kindly, she invited me to join her for dinner at Beijing’s most popular Peking Duck restaurant.

She ordered the most exquisite banquet and we sat and discussed… algorithms, for ages! Now that’s what I call my kind of company 😉

The wonderful Katia Melua sings: “There are nine million bicycles in Beijing…” It’s tue. And most of them were parked outside my hotel!

I had some spare time earlier in the day. So I took a cab out visit the Great Wall of China. I mentioned earlier that rarely do you get to be in your own pictures. But a Chinese art student I met (sketching the wall) very kindly offered to take a shot. I think she captured the moment perfectly.

And the wall snakes its way over the mountain tops.

And in the same way, the tourists snake their way along the wall.

There are some odd things you see along the wall. “What do you mean, I’m on the wrong continent?”

At one point, I spotted a wonderful Chinese building and my eyes lit up with delight…

When I realized it was Chinese pub!

I travel all over the world. And in just about every country I’m in, you can almost guarantee that I’ll bump into my friend and fellow world traveller, Bill Hunt. Just so it didn’t look like he and I were in a tourist shop in Soho, London, Bill came up with a good idea to identify the location. And then he and I had a late lunch. Typical. I don’t think we’ve ever shared any time together in our own respective countries!

And that’s China over for another time. Back again later this year.

Next week it’s Munich. And that means five conferences in four weeks. Not bad going, even for my own pace.

SES Nanjing.

Much as I had to retrospectively blog ad:tech Shanghai last November, same applies for SES Nanjing. Yes, Blogger is still blocked in China. So there’s most likely quite a bit of retrospective blogging about the SEM community this week.

I had a nightmare start to the event. Having been on the road for weeks before it (SES New York, ad:tech, Dallas) I had to swiftly pop back into the UK for a one day event in London. Strategically, this wasn’t so much of a bad thing, really. One problem that I always have is that, my passport is always with me when I’m travelling, so there’s often no time to apply for visas.

I spoke with a London based agency specializing in visas to China who said they had a same day service (costs a fortune, of course!). So, I thought I’d drop my passport and application form in first thing in the morning and then collect it on the way back to the airport. The London event was on Tuesday afternoon and I was flying to China from my home city of Newcastle via Amsterdam on the Wednesday. It meant the visa thing was tight, but it was the only way I could do it.

So, you have no idea how stunned I was when I got a call from the agency, mid afternoon at the London event, to tell me that the Chinese Embassy wouldn’t be releasing my passport until the following morning.

That certainly blew my plan out of the water!

So, there was nothing else for it. I had to fly back to Newcastle on the 8.00 pm flight from Heathrow which I had originally planned to do. But then I had to get out of bed at 4.30 am the following morning and fly back to London to go to the Embassy myself to pick up the passport.

Then, I’d catch a flight from Heathrow to Amsterdam and hopefully, all being well, hook up with the flight to Beijing that I had originally booked.

Fortunately, plan B came together with military precision. And later that afternoon, by the skin of my teeth, I was relaxing upstairs on a 747, sipping a well deserved glass of champagne and breathing a huge sigh of relief. Whew!

This was not the end of the saga though. After a very long flight, I arrived in Beijing at 10.30 am local time. My connecting flight to Nanjing wasn’t until 1.00 pm so I drank litres of black coffee to try and stay awake as I had not slept at all well on my flight from Amsterdam.

When I eventually did board the Nanjing flight, I had one of those wonderful “small world” events. As I sat dozing in my seat, I felt a hand from the seat behind tap me on the shoulder. It was my friend Eddie Choi, from Hong Kong, who was also heading to SES. This was great for a number of reasons. In the main though, it meant I had someone to share a cab with from the airport. And also someone who could speak both Chinese and English fluently.

So I drifted in and out of sleep for about 90 minutes until we landed. Straight out of the airport and into a cab we went. Coincidentally, Eddie and I were both staying at the same hotel. So I was delighted that I was heading directly to my room and bed.

I suddenly began to realize, after a long time that, it seemed to be taking even longer to get downtown Nanjing from the airport than it did to get from Beijing! It was 5.00 pm when we eventually got to the hotel. And there was a speakers cocktail and networking event at 7.30 pm. But I just had to get some sleep. When I got in my room, there was a problem with my internet connection. I called the front desk and they said they would send an engineer. I also asked if they could send housekeeping as I had a suit and some shirts which needed pressing.

I then realised what the problem was with the internet connection and fixed it. I called the front desk and told them the engineer wasn’t required. And then, I fell exhausted on the bed. Having been on the road for weeks and in so many different time zones, I was wrecked.

Just as I slipped into the land of nod, there was a knock at the door and in walked the engineer to fix the connection. Much as I gesticulated to let him know that I had fixed it, he still felt that he should check it over anyway.

He left and I slipped back into bed. No sooner had my head hit the pillow than the door went again, this time in came a woman form housekeeping to collect the items for pressing. And yes, she needed a check list and a signature. Off she went. Thank God I thought, now maybe I can get just half an hour before getting ready for the speakers reception.

I was certainly asleep. And I was dreaming that there were two Chinese men in my room at the foot of my bed. As I slowly woke up, I turned and looked at the foot of my bed. And sure enough, there were two Chinese men looking back at me. One of them had a room key which he was waving at me and seemingly trying t tell me that I was in his room.

However, I was the one on bed – not him. Therefore, sorry pal, this is MY room!

They both left with their suitcases and just as my head hit the pillow again, my alarm went off. Yes, time to get ready for the reception. Oh no. I was just sooooo tired.

Shak sent me a txt to tell me he’s arrived at the hotel directly from Shanghai, so we arrange to meet in the lobby. I do the rounds and shake hands with friends old and new and eventually make my excuses to leave. I head back to my room desperate to get some sleep. I switch on my computer to have a quick email check and… Outlook flags up the reminder for the deadline of my ClickZ column. Oh no. Oh please, no!

I write two paragraphs and that’s all I can manage. I write a short note to Erin, my editor and beg for a little extension to the deadline. I then climb into bed and do the perfect impersonation of someone who is clinically dead for the next few hours.

In the morning I awake, rattle off my column and head for a cab to take me to the conference centre.

This is a large exhibition and conference centre.

One of the things I loved about China, last time I was there, was signage. I mean, why have a building with a dull old entrance, when you’re offered the opportunity to slip into a…

The elevator provides an excellent do and don’t guide. No skipping in this elevator and flammable crack is most certainly out of the question.

My first session is moderating a panel on keyword research. The first presenter is from Microsoft. He delves deeply into how an inverted index is built. But says nothing about keyword research. Another panellist owns an agency and explains how he can get a better ROI than any of his competitors. But hardly touches on keyword research or research tools at all. Finally, the Google rep gets up and does a pitch for AdSense. And no, he didn’t mention keyword research either.

In the evening it was Google’s turn to entertain. I caught up with their keynote speaker and President of Sales and Business Development, China. I had breakfast with Johnny Chou in Shanghai the first week he took the job on. So naturally enough we got together at the Google dance for a beer and a catch up.

The following day my session is the usual link basics presentation, followed by a strategy presentaion by Marc Maculua. I’d never met Marc before and this was his first time presenting. At SES. He was good. Very good. And his preso had a lot of excellent takeaways. Yes, I’ll work with Marc again, anytime. And yes – here’s my usual pic for the audience to link to.

Our session was so dynamic that one member of the audience became overcome with emotion as mine and Marc’s presentations were just too much for him.

Later we went to lunch. I just clipped Ian McAnerin’s head on this shot (on the right). Ian and I don’t get much time to hang out. But at this show we had a good old catch-up. At the top of the table is Marc Macalua. Also in the shot is Miles with his lovely wife Sirinee, both next to Ian. On the left at the front of the shot is Mikio Matsuo from Nokia. And I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the other guy (sorry!).

When I was in Shanghai last year, I met a remarkable young lady by the name of Jingyi Xu. She is a scientist par excellence and largely responsible for the development of a huge chunk of MSN’s AdCenter. She is also a complete babe, and very huggy. We have become close friends.

Here’s a picture taken by Marc Macalua, who, like many in China (although he is from the Philippines, not China) smokes at any opportunity. As you can tell, he used this as a method of creating a special effect for this pic of me and Jingyi ;–)

I took a little time off on the afternoon of the final day of the show to have a little look around Nanjing. It’s different city to Shanghai and Beijing, that’s for sure. Our hotel was named after the lake which is the focal point of the city with it’s islands and parks.

The hotel which we’re in has circular restaurant on the 20th floor. It looks right over the lake. It also provides an interesting view of the China contrast. Poverty and great wealth living side by side.

And here’s a pic of the hotel and it’s circular restaurant from the lake.

I bought a ticket and took a look around the lake and the park through the traditional Chinese gate.

At weekends, the good folks of Nanjing take a relaxing walk through the park or take to the water (regardless of the weather it seems!).

The park and lake are very scenic. Of course, when you’re the one taking the shots, rarely could you ever be in them!

I’ve been aware for some time that many things are banned in China. But I never realized that trumpet playing was.

Okay, Beijing next.

Lucrative search engine marketing.

This was a one day event in London organized by Revolution magazine. My pal and former editor from my early Net Imperative days, Phil Buxton, is now editor of Revolution. So, I was cajoled into making a swift detour into the UK before heading off to China for SES Nanjing.

I was due to moderate the final session of the day which was a look at the future of search and an opportunity to question some of the leading UK experts assembled for the day.

However, it turned out that one of the speakers had to bail out at the last minute, so I was called upon to knock a quick session together on SEO. It turned out to be quite a lively session.

It also gave me an opportunity to get a few more links to this oft neglected blog with my usual photo bait.

Spot yourself in the audience?