Working with Search Engine Land

Search Engine Land is the industry-leading source for information about paid and organic search marketing. Our brand is driven by an authoritative team of journalists and a roster of subject-matter experts who contribute as writers and advisers for Search Engine Land, and as speakers at our SMX – Search Marketing Expo conference.

If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising opportunities, please visit our Third Door Media site to see our full range of offerings.

Working with Search Engine Land’s content team

The editorial subject matter experts behind Search Engine Land are always looking to connect with accomplished marketers, organization leaders and company representatives. Our authority and expertise come from our endless curiosity for search marketing and our conversations with knowledgeable sources make us better at meeting the needs of marketers in the field.

If you are looking to connect with a member of the content team our first suggestion is to make sure you are familiar with our publications and conferences to see the types of subjects we cover and to acquaint yourself with our editorial points of view.

Feature Reporting 

At Search Engine Land our aim is to produce the best journalism on organic and paid search marketing around. So, we hold our sources to a high bar.

Generally, we are looking for independent sources that don’t stand to gain financially from the subjects in our reporting. That’s especially important in our reporting on specific marketing technologies or solutions. We are far more likely to engage with a knowledgeable 3rd-party source than company representatives or evangelists.

We also favor sources who offer evidence to back up their statements. If you are pitching a story that highlights campaign achievements, for example, please be prepared to show our editorial team any data or materials in support.

And lastly, we are looking for sources who offer something unique and often serendipitous to our audience. While reviewing established and foundational search marketing approaches is important for any professional in our field, our focus is on more sophisticated and evolving topics that do more than give marketers a baseline competence. Most of our audience are experienced marketers.

Generally, we are more apt to react to pitches that offer one of the following:

• Marketing tactics with proven results
• Insights into how marketers can respond to changes in search and advertising platforms
• Profiles of important or emerging marketers who are making a difference
• Breakthroughs in search and digital marketing

If you are interested in pitching a feature or volunteering your expertise as a source, please email [email protected].

Given the volume of pitches we receive, we will only respond to those inquiries that we are interested in pursuing.

News

Search Engine Land covers important news related to search marketing. However, given the number of announcements, product releases, platform updates, personnel changes and studies that are generated daily in this space, we are very selective when it comes to what news pieces we cover.

If you are interested in pitching a news piece to us, please familiarize yourself with the format with which we write our news briefs. Our news briefs are templated to highlight the most important details and to call out why we, and the marketing community at large, should care about that specific news.

Highlighting the relevance, importance and uniqueness of your news item is truly key to getting the attention of our editors.

Overall, we are more apt to pick up news pitches that:

• Highlight quickly why the news is of importance to marketers
• Offer up interview subjects who will be candid about the topics and not shy away from answering tough questions
• Show evidence to back up claims, especially in product news
• Offers our brands exclusivity if we choose to cover

If you are interested in pitching a news item, please email [email protected].

Given the volume of pitches we receive, we will only respond to those inquiries that we are interested in pursuing.

Contributing to Search Engine Land

In addition to creating actionable and insightful editorial content, Search Engine Land also seeks to elevate notable subject-matter experts by offering them opportunities to write for Search Engine Land or to speak at SMX events. Those opportunities are offered on an invite-only basis.

We do not accept unsolicited pitches at any time and we will not respond to any that we may receive. We will occasionally solicit pitches for speaking proposals or for specific contributions to editorial projects, and we publicize those opportunities on our websites when they occur. Visit our SMX site for more info on when speaking proposals are open.

How do I get invited?

We generally invite subject-matter experts who are either highly recognized as leading experts in organic or paid search marketing, leadership and marketing strategy or who have developed relationships with our content team as trusted sources.

The best way to build a relationship with editors is by pitching news and features that meets the above criteria or by routinely sharing ideas. Most subject-matter experts invited to write or speak start out as being quoted in our editorial content.

The best sources are authoritative on search marketing, are candid in their discussions and understand when they may be too self-interested to be quoted on certain topics.

If you have a feature or news tip or want to be a source in our reporting, email [email protected].

Our sales team also offers sponsored article opportunities for those that want to share insights and amplify their content to our community.