ch Engine Land celebrates 16th Birthday //
Search Engine Land is celebrating its Sweet 16 today.
Although most of the original 2006 team have moved on, Search Engine Land’s mission remains the same since day 1.
Search Engine Land was founded by Danny Sullivan as a way to help people search for information.
- This is where you can keep track of what’s going on in the search space.
- A community.
- A whole new world revolves around search engines. This world continues to evolve and shape, and has such an impact on society as well as our daily lives.
There are many things to look forward in 2023.
Let’s first look back at Search Engine Land in 2011, give thanks to all those who made this year possible, and then tease you about what we can expect for the coming year.
We appreciate your time!
Thank you for reading! Yes, you!
Our mission is to provide you with the most current news and information every day. We also offer useful guides and insight to help you succeed in your career, navigate changing search landscapes, and predict what the future holds.
We hope you have found our news coverage and articles useful over the past 12 months.
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Many thanks to Search Engine Land!
Search Engine Land also has a small team. Steve Jobs once stated that a small team of A+ players could run circles around a large team of B- and C players.
We have A+ players, I believe.
- Barry Schwartz. Barry Schwartz is a legend. He has been writing for Search Engine Land since its inception and covered search for an incredible 19 years. Barry has written over 40,000 news articles, covering all the latest developments in our industry. It’s been an honor working with him this year. His work ethic has been beyond admirable.
- Nicole Farley – Nicole is a great addition. Her professionalism and kindness impressed me when we first met several years ago. Nicole has exceeded my expectations since joining the team and continues to keep up with all the latest developments in PPC.
- Angel Ninofranco I was thrilled to have Angel join our team and to be able to work with her again. Fun fact: Angel is my second hire at two companies. Angel is an excellent editor who makes sure that our SME content is worth your time and attention.
- Kathy Bushman It was great working with Kathy at the SMX events. Her attention is always focused on what’s important, making sure that we provide top-quality content and an experience for everyone who attends our events. Already, I am looking forward to the agendas of SMX Advanced in 2023 and Next in 2023 – both are coming sooner than we think.
- Sarah Slifko–Camarra & Karen DeWeese I cannot thank them enough for all the help they gave us in getting our SME program organized and established. Sarah and Karen also do a lot of work behind-the scenes for SMX.
- Marc Sirkin : Marc was a great ally and sounding board when we started to make big, important changes to our website.
- Chris Elwell Chris is a great leader. He challenges us to do better and shows thoughtfulness when it comes to business decisions. He has created a great company and team. He has been an integral part of the industry’s development, as you may not know. To learn more, watch the video interview that he did in 2020 with Barry.
Third Door Media is home to many more amazing people that I haven’t mentioned. Even if you weren’t mentioned, I still appreciate all that you do to make Third Door Media successful.
It’s gone, but it is not forgotten
Search Engine Land has seen a lot of changes in the past year. In January , I joined Search Engine Land. Nicole and Angel joined Search Engine Land around the halfway point of 2022.
We also said goodbye to some of our team members. The “In Memoriam” theme is now in place.
- Henry Powderly was formerly Vice President of Content for Third Door Media. He is the Publisher of Search Engine Land (August 2018-June 2022).
- George Nguyen was an editor from June 2020 to March 2022.
- Corey Patterson, former editor (November 2021 – June 2022)
Top 3 Highlights of 2022
Although there were some difficulties, it is safe to say that 2022 was a success overall for Search Engine Land.
SMX Next and SMX Advanced
The audience ratings for both shows were the highest ever recorded by Third Door Media. Both events attracted more than 8,500 search marketers.
These numbers are impressive, but what really matters to me is the feedback that we received from those who gave their time to our events. It was overwhelming positive for speakers, content, and experience.
It was great to see Google at SMX again, with keynotes featuring HyungJin Kim & Ginny Marvin.
The 2022 Search Engine Land Awards highlighted some of the outstanding work happening in our industry. I cannot wait to see your successes over the next few months. Make sure you enter next year.
SME program relaunch
Launching our Subject Matter Expert (SME), program was one of my top priorities.
We are grateful to all our SMEs for the amazing content and insights that you shared in 2022. We will highlight the 10 most popular SEO/PPC columns for the year, so make sure to check back Dec. 29-30. I look forward reading more of your great insight and advice in 2023.
In 2023, I will be seeking new contributors. More details to come. If you are interested in contributing to Search Engine Land, 2023 could be your year.
Traffic and audience growth
It’s not a secret that Search Engine Land has had its share of SEO mishaps. One of them was a very disastrous “consolidation”, which was done with a blowtorch rather than a scalpel.
Despite the long list of SEO tasks, traffic and audience growth continue to trend in the right direction.
- Sessions up to 30%
- Pageviews up 25%
- Users up to 16%
- Organic search traffic up 22%
- Direct traffic up 34%
What’s next for Search Engine Land
Already, we are looking forward to 2023. We will continue to provide news coverage and insight on search.
We’ll also be introducing a few new features that we hope you will enjoy.
Our to-do lists include long overdue updates of our SEO, PPC periodic table and the accompanying guides.
Save the dates for our SMX Events:
- SMX Advanced: June 13-14.
- SMX Next: Nov. 15-16.
There’s more.
From Search Engine Land to Third Door Media, I wish everyone a wonderful rest of 2022 as well as a healthy and happy 2023.
Search Engine Land celebrates its 16th Birthday .