SEO, the Semantic Web and Information Discovery

Topic

The semantic web has become an integral part of how the major search engines discover, process and rank web-based data, and how query results are organized and displayed to users. Despite this, neither the principals nor the mechanics of the semantic web are generally well known to search marketers.

Aaron will help to try bridge this gap by exploring the intersection of the semantic web and search marketing, beginning with an overview of core semantic web concepts such as structured data, ontologies and linked data.

Exploring structured data in greater detail, Aaron will explain how microformats, RDFa and other structured data are employed by Google to produce rich snippets, and how SEOs can leverage this understanding to improve search engine rankings both directly and - by employing structured data as a organizing principal for web resources - indirectly.

Finally, Aaron will explore the concept of linked data, and how the embrace of open linked data may have profound consequences for the traditional SEO outlook on the value of content and importance of inbound links. In a linked data world "search" may need to be redefined more broadly as "information discovery", and future search marketing success may be predicated on a different set of principals than today's SEO "best practices".

Presenter

Aaron Bradley (https://twitter.com/aaranged) has been reaping the benefits of search traffic for more than fifteen years, with the past five spent working exclusively on enterprise-level organic search engine optimization.

Until recently he has been employed in-house, having managed SEO programs at Bodog, Ice.com and Suite101.com. He is now an independent web consultant, with a continued focus on organic SEO.

Agenda
· 6:00pm - 6:30pm - Relaxing, drinking, and talking with colleagues
· 6:45pm - 7:30pm - Presentation and Q&A
· 7:30pm on - More relaxing, drinking and talking with colleagues

This event is organized by The Vancouver Search Engine Marketing Group (https://www.meetup.com/VancouverSEM/)