{"id":118313,"date":"2022-04-15T17:53:30","date_gmt":"2022-04-15T17:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/?p=118313"},"modified":"2025-07-21T10:04:29","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T10:04:29","slug":"brightonseo-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/marketing\/seo\/brightonseo-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Takeaways From brightonSEO 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

*May 24 Update<\/strong> – I visited Brighton again in 2024! You can read all about it here – 5 Key Takeaways from BrightonSEO 2024<\/a><\/p>\n

After two years of being landlocked due to the pandemic, I had the opportunity to attend brightonSEO<\/a> across the pond with my director and a co-worker. We enjoyed the talks, the booths, the swag, and of course, the networking with SEOs from different countries and industries.<\/p>\n

There was loads to learn and my agenda was packed with amazing talks, but here are my favorite takeaways from brightonSEO:<\/p>\n

1. A\/B test your SEO efforts<\/h2>\n

Topic: Lessons From Hundreds of SEO A\/B Tests<\/a>
\nSpeaker: Will Critchlow<\/a>, Founder and CEO, SearchPilot<\/a><\/p>\n

As an SEO, I know how hard it can be to rank high for a competitive keyword, and once you get through optimizing and tweaking to get to that #1 spot, why fix something if it isn\u2019t broken?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Will discussed in his talk on the importance of website A\/B testing<\/a> in SEO, where he showed results from various tests SearchPilot performed, alongside polls where SEOs were asked how they thought each test would go.<\/p>\n

One particularly notable test focused on rearranging a site page layout to see how it would impact SEO \u2013 a bit of digital feng shui.<\/p>\n

\"A\/B<\/p>\n

The answer? Believe it or not, the changes impacted the site negatively, which I suspect was due to the fact that content was actually pushed below the fold.<\/p>\n

Another test SearchPilot performed used a \u201cdata-nosnippet\u201d attribute to try and force Google to respect meta descriptions. It basically checked if Google writes better meta descriptions than us, and the effect on CTR.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, the test showed that forcing Google to show its meta descriptions had a negative effect. Why? Because your pages rank for many long-tail keywords, and it turned out that Google\u2019s rewrites of meta descriptions were able to better answer different search queries, resulting in higher click-through rates.<\/p>\n

Takeaway<\/strong> – For better or worse, don\u2019t be afraid to perform A\/B tests on your organic pages. Not doing anything might actually set you back, and give time for competitors to try and outrank you.<\/p>\n

2. Find more opportunities for SERP features (and find them again)<\/h2>\n

Topic: The Hidden Power of the SERP<\/a>
\nSpeaker: Jon Earnshaw<\/a>, Chief Product Evangelist and Co-Founder, Pi Datametrics<\/a><\/p>\n

I have to say \u2013 Jon was honestly one of the best speakers I ever had the chance to hear in my life. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen a presentation as engaging as his \u2013 and you won\u2019t catch me saying that often. He spoke about the changing landscape of the SERP in different industries, and how we can get our website in as many SERP features<\/a> as possible to increase our brand visibility.<\/p>\n

This was my favorite slide:<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

This site is crushing it for the keyword \u201chow to wear a suit without a tie\u201d!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Takeaway<\/strong> – For every piece of content and every competitor that ranks for the keyword we want, we need to give more weight to SERP features, see what\u2019s new, and take over missed SERP opportunities. For example:<\/p>\n