ClickZ live (formerly SES) will be coming to San Francisco on August 11-14, 2014. When this show was SES (Search Engine Strategies), it focused largely on the technical aspects of Search Engine Optimization and was a direct competitor to the SMX conference, PubCon, and the MOZ conferences. Now, they’ve broadened it’s scope, making it more like the DMA Association show (Direct Marketing Association).

ClickZ Live San Francisco

ClickZ Live San Francisco, CaliforniaAre you going? I’m not sure if I’ll even go.  There is only one track on SEO now, and most of it seems either very basic or very hyped.  For example, there’s an overview to Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird (but the question is can you really learn that much in a session that you can’t learn better, faster, and cheaper via the blogosphere?), and then there’s a session called “Assess, Diagnose, Fix: How to Become a Leading SEO Mechanic,” which sounds both very hyped and very basic.

And the prices?  Yikes!  An All access pass is $2395.00!  That’s pretty pricey for a show which seems to have only about 1/2 content that is really serious and technical.

On the positive side, they do have some sessions on email marketing, social media, and other aspects of Internet marketing that are incredibly important. So will the show by hype, hope, or hopping? I can’t say. I don’ think I’ll actually attend; I’ll be saving my money for SMX, which seems like the best show these days on Search Engine Optimization. What do you think?

Learn more about ClickZ San Francisco.