It was reported earlier this week by Barry Schwartz (Rusty Brick Consulting and Search Engine Roundtable) and Bill Hartzer that Search Engine Strategies – the series of SEO conferences started by industry pioneer Danny Sullivan back in the late 1990s – and ClickZ Live Events are no more. While the ClickZLive site (https://www.clickzlive.com/events) is still online, the SES conference web site (http://searchenginestrategies.com/) no longer resolves. As to whether the ClickZLive events still shown on the page will happen, right now it’s anybody’s guess.
I got my start as an SEO speaker at the SES conference in Chicago back in 2008. It was right after I left Search Marketing Agency 360i and went out on my own. My old friend Kevin Ryan (Motivity Marketing) took a chance on me and booked me to speak. Since then, I’ve spoken at quite a few SEO conferences over the years, as well as many non-conference events.
SES, and for that matter the entire SEO industry, would never have happened without Danny Sullivan, someone I’ve known and respected for years. Danny’s Search Engine Strategies conferences were the first, and arguably the only place where an “SEO” could go, mingle and learn from other people in the industry. Danny’s group sold SES first to Alan Meckler’s MecklerMedia, and Alan later sold it to Incisive Media before it finally ended up with Blenheim Chalcot Management Ltd.
While it’s sad to see the SES Conferences disappear from the scene, SES was never the same after Danny left the group. I’ve always thought that SES was for newbies and people who wanted to know something about the business in case one of their superiors asked a question related to SEO. But for me, the conferences to attend these days are, and will continue to be SMX, SMX Advanced, Search Love and MozCon.
RIP SES.
