Ok, so it’s been a great two days at SMX West despite the jet lag that is really starting to kick in. A lot of great topics in the SEM industry have been discussed, and keynotes from Danny Sullivan and Vint Cerf from Google were very informative and encouraging for the industry.

Here are a couple key take-aways from Day 1 of SMX -

• Blog comment spamming – it’s crap (per Danny). Stop it already!
• Local directories – still very important. As long as they have information on them!
• Good content will always be important!
• Web reviews are becoming very important. Encourage customers to write them, and link to them from your site!
• Most local keyword phrase searches are 3-5 words now. Long tail is key!
• There is and will continue to be a rise in in-house search. Agencies need to figure out how they will accommodate and support them!

Ok, next posting I will have some more information on Reputation Management and Branded Search. As I mentioned, jet lag is kicking in and I need a nap…before the Webmaster Bash tonight!