1) Mike is right that SEO does need a better grasp of strategy. SEO is not just about getting rankings. That said, there are varying levels of SEO proficiency. There are niche experts in SEO and also true jedis that understand the whole gamut. Bottom line, many SEO practitioners are no where near equipped to advise on strategy. I think that has a lot to do with Mike’s point though. Time for many of us to elevate our game. And for those who already have the game, be vocal, you’re too valuable to just sit back and act like a keyword jockey.

2) With regards to tactics, I like to see a lot of tactics and ideas. My complaint is that most of what I see worked in a very small scale for a very niche case. It’s because of this reason that seeing lots of tactics is beneficial for me. That said, I think the context of how and if a tactic will even work is vastly misreported. Broken links as an example works okay in certain cases. We actually tried it in pretty high scale, and it didn’t stand up most of the time. We’ll be revisiting it with a new SWAT team. Bottom line, let’s talk about tactics, but let’s talk about how they worked, at what scale, and for which type of project and in what industry.

Good discussions here.

On a conference level, there should be a balance between tactics and strategy, but there is always room for tactics packed slide decks. For me, I get bored during decks packed with lists of tools and tactics. I consume so much SEO content, it really takes a high caliber presentation to bring something new and useful. However, I know that not everyone has consumed hundreds of SEO articles and slide decks a year, for 5 to 6 years.

I’m always amazed when Wil Reynolds asks for a show of hands to see if someone has seen his post or webinar on something. More than half the room doesn’t raise their hands. There are a lot of people missing a lot of tactics. The industry needs people to talk about strategy, but that doesn’t mean that’s what the audience always needs. Sure, conferences like Mozcon, Searchlove, and SMX Advanced should lift us to new heights, but when I attended my first conferences SMX East and Pubcon, it was the tactical presentations that showed me how big timers did SEO. The strategy / case study decks were a complete waste of my time.

I think it’s the job of a presenter to not get lost in their own perspective, but to set themselves in the perspective of their audience. I think it’s easy to feel as if you need to present to the greatest common denominator in the room, but that can leave a lot of your audience hanging.

That said, I don’t disagree that our industry is way too tactical, and honestly, most of us fall on our face when it comes to strategy. A lot of us don’t know how to market. There is room for a number of voices to raise out of the mess and drive us towards strategic thought.

And all strategy breaks down to tactics, even if you’re discussing how you tactically went after developing a strategy. I think we need more of that, not just talking about strategy. It reminds me of Tom C’s talk at Mozcon. Many examples we give in our industry are made by ad agencies. Where are the big ad agency like strategies being produced by SEOs?

I also think this comes down to a huge identity crisis in our industry. Personally, I really don’t know how to define SEO anymore. The umbrella is too huge and we keep adding stuff to it. It’s impossible to be an expert at everything that SEO touches. We’re assuming responsibility for things that we don’t know anything about. And as we start to talk about Real Company Shit, RCS isn’t content, it isn’t a high quality infographic. RCS is running a company well. This pushes us into being management / business consultants almost.

This approach in SEO leads to some really odd recommendations. It makes us feel qualified to discuss areas we’re not ready to.

Fundamentally, I don’t know if SEOs can ever lead strategy. It’s such a limited channel that forgets about so many other aspects of marketing. If a company’s strategy is built by an SEO, it’s a bit short-sighted. Once a marketing strategy is set, SEO should play a role in it.

I also think we’re seeing another issue, which is that the personal and professional progression of individuals is being applied against the industry. A lot of thought leaders are growing to areas outside of SEO. They’re becoming heads of digital strategy, CEOs, and inbound marketing directors. My personal job is becoming more robust, more marketing, and includes a wide range of “inbound” channels. I’m not pulling levers as much as I did 3 years ago. I’m tasked with strategy and building business cases. I decide what levers to pull. I live in a world of telling stories. Does this mean SEO is changing or is my career moving away from SEO? Those knee deep in the trenches might have a very different perspective of what SEO is.

I’m glad we’re having these conversations and kudos on writing a post on it. I entirely agree on your comments on how we should be pushing ourselves to mature as an industry.

I don’t think we’re quite there, but I think that’s what people are feeling like we’re risking getting too close to (with certain presentations, certainly not every one).

Like ya mention below, more “And this is how *we* acted on this strategy” to get people thinking. Just strategy points alone without an example of action is gonna leave people feeling lost.

You’re taking this too literal. I’m not looking to give actual TED talks. I’m looking to focus on strategy over tactics.

Thanks for your comment.

My main point is that there are plenty of tactics. Link begging still works, social outreach still works, forums still work, etc etc. However there are not enough new ideas on how we leverage all of these things strategically or how we get the buy-in at the big kids table.

This certainly doesn’t apply to you, but really these presentations help people get the wheels turning to come up with their own strategies and tactics rather than grabbing a new trick to burn out.

A new tactic should just be icing on the cake, not a requirement. And believe me, I love tactical presos. I loved Paddy Moogan’s talk just like I loved Joanna’s.

Like Ian said below this — a lot of this stuff is not new so it shouldn’t be a stretch to expect the audience to see something great and take it to the next level.

That’s why I love seeing Mat Clayton speak. He doesn’t go through quick tips. He gives code, he shows development frameworks and then says “our strategy is to keep more users alive on MixCloud here’s our approach” All of that sets off more ideas in my head for how to take the pieces of his strategy creatively and apply it to what we do at iAcquire.

That’s more what needs to come out of these talks, not just robots taking exactly what other people did and running it into the ground.

Great comment, thanks for sharing.