The wait is finally over. WebProNews has exclusive video coverage of the much-anticipated Rock Em Sock Em Fight from the SES conference. In the first match up, MSN’s Kelly Thomas took down Yahoo’s Jim Lampley. For the championship match, MSN had to take on reigning champion Vanessa Fox of Google. Did Vanessa Fox remain the champion or did Kelly Thomas take all the glory? Find out all the exciting details of the fight in the video footage only provided by WebProNews.

Search marketing is growing with leaps and bounds. This growth is resulting in a whole new array of topics for the SES conferences. In an interview with Webpronews at the SES conference in New York, Rebecca Lieb and Elizabeth Osmeloski, both of Search Engine Watch, spoke with us about these notable changes.

The ethics of SEO has recently raised a lot of discussion. Is it ethical for an SEO consultant to do SEO for a company, and then turn around and do it again for a competitor to that company? According to Lieb and Osmeloski, the ethical question is dependent upon whether or not the other company is a direct competitor. For instance, a consulting company could perform SEO for a company that sells dress shoes, but it could also do SEO for a tennis shoe company. Both companies are shoe companies, but they have an entirely different target market. On the other hand, if the companies are direct competitors, they still could use SEO to their advantage. The SEO consultant can advise them to use key words that are different from the other companies’ key words. In this case, the clients will be saving, because it would not benefit either company if the searches for both were bringing up the same items. The experience SEO consultants have, works as an advantage for competing companies. This topic is actually a problem that has been around for quite some time in advertising and marketing realms. Search marketing consultants try to find a happy medium for both clients based upon their own personal ethics.

A trend that seems to be increasing in the SEO world is the severe lack of people. There are hardly any training programs for SEO since colleges and universities are not offering programs at this time. This lack of qualified people is another problem that has been around for a while in search and interactive marketing. Large companies are beginning to offer training programs to open the door for people to learn about the industry, and maybe help to solve this problem. According to Osmeloski, statistics show people are only staying with companies for 11 months before moving on to bigger and better opportunities.

Another change that has popped up in recent years is the tremendous increase of women into the SEO industry. Women are very dominant in marketing and advertising, and now they are branching out into search as well. Search is complicated. According to Lieb, in the past, SEO has been associated with “technology and geeks.” But a new light has been shed on the industry with the incoming of women to SEO. Because women are known for being good communicators, maybe they have helped the audience gain a better understanding of SEO. It is an exciting time for the SEO right now. The search marketing industry is developing in areas once thought to be unattainable, but these areas are now within reach. Although SEO is facing some issues, the problems are simply reflections of growth.

Ask.com has recently announced the launch of their new social media element to search. It’s a new search algorithm code-named the Edison Project. The new algorithm is a combination of two search engine technologies of Ask.com called Direct Hit and Teoma. In an interview with Webpronews at the SES conference, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable as well as contributing writer to Search Engine Land, talked with us about the Edison Project.

Although not a lot of information has been released concerning the new project, Schwartz has been able to confirm its existence with Jim Lanzone, CEO of Ask.com. He was also able to receive some valuable information from Ask’s Vice President of Research and Development Apostolos Gerasoulis who co-founded Teoma. Gerasoulis is also a professor of computer science at Rutger’s University and is working on the Edison Project. Since the Edison Project is algorithm-based, there will not be a human above it. The only human element will be in the terms of quick popularity and how many people click on their results.

Direct Hit and Teoma were the original social search engines. Direct Hit uses click popularity to determine the relevancy for rank. The more clicks, the higher the page ranks. Teoma is about subject popularity. It looks within the topic and gives a specialist answer instead of the popular answer.

According to Schwartz, Ask.com has been tagging searches for more than three years. They have been tagging the query box and linking it with what the user clicks on. Ask is using the data received from their tagging searches and combining it with the Direct Hit click popularity data and the Teoma specific content popularity data to create this new algorithm that will make for a better search relevancy. Schwartz believes this new search algorithm will also include more components that have not yet been revealed.

Usability may not be the first thing that comes to mind when SEO is brought up, but it should rank considerably high since it is very important. If people aren’t able to find what they’re looking for when they get to a website, then it doesn’t even matter if they are at the top of the search engines or not. In an interview with Webpronews at the SES conference, Kim Krause Berg of Cre8asite Forums, talked with us about the connection between SEO and usability.

Although usability is part of the site design process, it actually has more to do with behavior and ability. According to Krause Berg, just because one website implemented something that works for them, doesn’t mean that another website could implement that same method and have the same success. Each website has their own demographics. Navigation also plays a key role in usability. Krause Berg believes that good navigation is directly related to good memory. Good navigation will always allow you to know where you are and will suggest to you what should be next.

One common misconception concerning usability is that many companies put a lot of links onto their homepage. This practice only calls for confusion on the user’s part. It can be overwhelming and difficult to sort through. Krause Berg suggests that companies approach their website from the user’s perspective. Have someone else look at the site and observe them while they work. See if they have any problems navigating the site. If they do have problems, the company can make the necessary changes before the site’s reputation is ruined.

With the rapid growth of social media, companies need to realize what users want and need. Shopping websites are very popular, and competition is intense among them. Companies must pay attention to usability since it will help them beat their competitors. Usability includes marketing and behavioral tactics. According to Krause Berg, instead of competing to everyone on a global scale, companies should narrow their market and develop a target. Word-of-mouth is a good marketing vehicle to use for finding a target market.

Just when we thought we saw everything from the SES conference, out pops another surprise. We’ll let you be the judge as to whether it’s a good surprise or a bad surprise. Okay, are you ready? We have exclusive video footage of Jeremy Shoemoney blogging in a bathtub! To make matters worse or better our very own Webpronews correspondent, Allan Dick of Vintage Tub & Bath is talking to him about the ethics of blogging!

The ethical advice that Shoemoney offers from his bathtub, don’t forget, is that bloggers should site their source and not simply refer to other people’s opinions and content. Shoemoney also mentioned, from his “relaxed state” that bloggers should be very opinionated and not pamper to the search engine’s needs.

From his newfound home, Shoemoney reported to Dick that since the “purchase” of his Clawfoot tub, his “income has increased dramatically.” He believes this income increase is most likely related to the “intelligent enhancement” that his Clawfoot has brought him.

Now doesn’t that make everyone want to go out and buy a Clawfoot bathtub? I promise this isn’t a promotional effort from Vintage Tub & Bath, but you have to admit the “dramatic income increase” is pretty convincing.

Wow, SES keeps getting better and better. Can’t wait to see what we can learn from the next one.

The results are in for the annual “State of the Marketing” survey conducted by SEMPO. In an interview with Webpronews at the SES conference Executive Chairman of DID-IT.com Kevin Lee, explained to us the findings. Lee also serves on the Board of Directors for SEMPO. The survey results proved to be overwhelmingly positive.

Budgets for SEM in both organic and paid searches are coming not only from online, but they are also coming from other forms of media. Marketers are dealing with the online media silo as well as the media income that is coming from the least performing media out of the remaining budget. These media forms could be newspapers, television, or radio. All these media forms have lost shares to search and interactive. The sector that has lost the greatest share to online and search advertising has been the print media.

There is a considerable job turnover in the industry and which has put out an increased demand for search marketing experts. Lee has noticed these trends in the three surveys SEMPO has conducted. Another recent trend for marketers, has been to have both paid and SEO in-house. Some experts believe there to be a control issue between agencies and in-house, but Lee disagrees. It’s not a control issue, but rather the company wants a balance between their control and their ability to execute the best practices. In other words, companies are not too concerned with who has the power, but they want their businesses to operate in the most productive manner.

Search is a hot topic, and will continue to grow. It has become material. One of the reasons for this is the money that search is bringing in. Another reason is the media coverage that it has received. As a result of all these developments, more and more people are now paying closer attention to search than they did before.