Google Dance 2016: The recap post

Over 500 search marketers gathered at Google last week for a revival of its annual Google Dance celebration offering food, drinks, fun and knowledge.

on March 7, 2016 at 12:03 pm | Reading time: 3 minutes
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Google Dance 2016

After a nearly 10-year absence, the Google Dance — Google’s annual gathering for search marketers — happened once again at the main Google campus last week.

About 500 people, attendees at our SMX search marketing conference, traveled by bus from the conference venue in San Jose to the Googleplex in Mountain View for the three-and-a-half hour event.

Arriving on the campus, they were given Google Dance t-shirts (something I never thought I’d see again), drinks, light snacks and a chance to mingle with Googlers and see demos of Google products.

For many, perhaps the best thing was simply being able to visit Google for the first time, the company that’s so dominant in the work they do.

Google also gathered about 50 SEOs for a special meeting. The details were off the record; generally, it was a chance for SEOs to give feedback about how Google interacts with publishers — a good in-person discussion all around. I was especially heartened to see Google make the time for this. I was also impressed at the detailed, high-level feedback that the SEOs provided.

Another surprise was the appearance of Matt Cutts, the former head of Google’s spam team and a well-known spokesperson for Google to the webmaster community. No, Cutts isn’t returning to his role. Rather, a veteran of past Google Dances, he wanted to see the latest one. Plenty of people enjoyed grabbing photos with him.

Huge thanks go out to webmaster trends analyst Gary Illyes and search quality analyst Nathan Johns. They were instrumental in the return of the Google Dance. Without them, it wouldn’t have happened. And big thanks to all the Googlers who rallied around to support the event and make the search marketers there feel welcome.

For those who couldn’t make it, both SEM Post and Search Engine Roundtable have recaps. Here’s our own, some of the best tweets I’ve found:

https://twitter.com/dannysullivan/status/705234423684313088

https://twitter.com/SoCoJay/status/705281558266052608

https://twitter.com/SoCoJay/status/705283141120831488

https://twitter.com/dannysullivan/status/705243441043623936

 

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Danny Sullivan
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Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land and MarTech, and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

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