With less than 20 days to go, the countdown to Friends of Search 2022 is on!

Speaking of counting down…

Want to know which keynotes Friends of Search’s founder Eduard Blacquière and crew member Martijn Beumer are looking forward to the most? Check out their top picks below.

With speakers like these (and more!), we can hardly wait ‘till June 14 and 15!

See you there!

Tickets

Eduard’s top picks of must-see SEO speakers

Lily Ray

Lily Ray is the Sr. Director, SEO & Head of Organic Research at Amsive Digital, where she provides strategic leadership for the agency’s SEO client programs. Born into a family of software engineers, web developers, and technical writers, Lily brings a strong technical background, performance-driven habits, and forward-thinking creativity to all programs she oversees. Lily began her SEO career in 2010 in a fast-paced start-up environment and moved quickly into the agency world, where she helped grow and establish an award-winning SEO department that delivered high-impact work for a fast-growing list of notable clients, including Fortune 500 companies. Lily has worked across a variety of verticals with a focus on retail, e-commerce, b2b, and CPG sites. She loves diving into algorithm updates, assessing quality issues, and solving technical SEO mysteries.

“With her in-depth research Lily has been well known to bring clarity to relatively unknown SEO aspects like E-A-T and algorithm updates. You’ll learn to apply this to your business.”

Aleyda Solis

Aleyda Solis is an SEO consultant and founder of Orainti, speaker and author, who also offers SEO tips in the Crawling Mondays video series, the latest resources in SEO in the #SEOFOMO newsletter, and Free SEO Learning Roadmap in LearningSEO.io. She’s also co-founder of Remoters.net, a remote work hub, featuring a free remote job board, tools, guides, and more to empower remote work.

“There’s probably nobody else who shares more SEO knowledge, templates and insights than Aleyda. You’ll walk away with a ton of actionable insights.”

Barry Adams

Barry Adams has been building and ranking websites since 1998. Through his Polemic Digital consultancy business, he focuses on technical SEO and specialised services for news publishers. Barry counts some of the world’s biggest media brands among his clients including FOX, News UK, The Guardian, Future Publishing, and TNW. He is a regular speaker at conferences and events, delivers annual guest lectures for local universities, and writes an irregular newsletter on seoforgooglenews.com.

“With Barry you can be sure that you will get an honest and in-depth presentation, with lots of take-aways to implement.”

Martijn’s top picks of must-see PPC speakers

Rodney Ip

Rodney Ip is a Global Product Lead at Google, responsible for driving product strategy of the latest innovations in Google Ads. He has been in the digital ads industry for over 15 years, 8 of which have been at Google. He is also part of Google for Nonprofits, a program where Googlers consult with nonprofit organizations to maximize the value of their digital strategies.

“Google’s Global Product Lead working on Performance Max campaigns. Possibly one of the biggest changes in running campaigns in Google Ads. If you’re in Google Search Advertising you must have seen this presentation to understand what Google thinks you should adopt in the near future.”

Andrew Lolk

Andrew is the founder of SavvyRevenue: an agency focused on scaling Paid Search for B2C eCommerce stores across Europe. They manage Paid Search for some of largest D2C brand and retail eCommerce stores or provide sparring to in-house teams.

“Our core opinion on PPC is that automation should drive everything at scale, and you need to understand and solve the business problem, not solely the PPC challenges, to scale successfully.

We focus on the European market, and are headquartered in Denmark.”

“Andrew will talk about his experiences on Performance Max campaigns. After this session you will be inspired on how to handle and test this new campaign type yourself.”

Simo Ahava

Simo Ahava is a recognized expert on customizing web analytics and tag management solutions to improve the entire “life cycle” of data collection, processing, and reporting. His main areas of expertise lie with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, and Google has appointed him as a Google Developer Expert in these fields. He is especially interested in communication structures within organizations, as he firmly believes that communication breakdowns are the underlying cause to practically all data-related problems.

Simo is particularly invested in demystifying analytics development work, and his main focus is on increasing awareness, skills, and critical thinking around data and development.

Simo is a partner and co-founder at 8-bit-sheep, a digital services boutique. He’s also co-founder (together with Mari Ahava) of Simmer, an online learning platform for technical marketers.

Among other things, Simo writes a popular blog on all things Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager development at www.simoahava.com. An experienced speaker and prolific blogger, Simo can be seen and heard in conferences, product forums, support communities, and developer meet-ups alike.

“I’ve been following Simo for years on data analytics and web tracking. He will talk about the new holy grail in web tracking called ‘server-side tracking’ and tell you if this will solve all your GDPR and cookie challenges.”

Have you been waiting on the edge of your seat for us to start rolling out the line-up of speakers? We’re thrilled to announce the first 4 extraordinary speakers that will be taking the Friends of Search stage in Brussels this June.

1. Annelies Schreuder-Hoogveld
   Annelies is an experienced SEO professional with a love for tech SEO. Her technical know-how was developed in consultancy, where she gained experience at many of the Netherlands’ biggest companies. She currently works at bol.com, a well-known online retailer in the Benelux. After being a tech SEO specialist, she became the product owner of a team of developers focussing solely on building solutions for SEO within bol.com. She likes to think outside the box and build solutions that work on scale. She also loves to share her knowledge on SEO within and outside of bol.com.
2. Barry Adams
   Barry Adams has been building and ranking websites since 1998. Through his Polemic Digital consultancy business, he focuses on technical SEO and specialised services for news publishers. Barry counts some of the world’s biggest media brands among his clients including FOX, News UK, The Guardian, Future Publishing, and TNW. He is a regular speaker at conferences and events, delivers annual guest lectures for local universities, and writes an irregular newsletter on seoforgooglenews.com.
3. Kristina Azarenko
   Kristina is the founder of MarketingSyrup Digital Inc., an SEO consultancy providing high-impact SEO consulting for medium to large-sized B2C companies that are ready to scale using SEO. Kristina was named one of the 13 women shaping the SEO industry. She is also an expert contributor at Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land, SEMrush, HotJar as well as a speaker at Google Search Central Live Conference, Women in Tech SEO Festival, BrightonSEO eCommerce Summit, and other marketing events. Kristina also provides in-depth SEO training through her SEO Challenge Course which has helped 150+ graduates understand SEO properly and gain confidence in this field.
4. Lily Ray
   Lily Ray is the Sr. Director, SEO & Head of Organic Research at Amsive Digital, where she provides strategic leadership for the agency’s SEO client programs. Born into a family of software engineers, web developers, and technical writers, Lily brings a strong technical background, performance-driven habits, and forward-thinking creativity to all programs she oversees. Lily began her SEO career in 2010 in a fast-paced start-up environment and moved quickly into the agency world, where she helped grow and establish an award-winning SEO department that delivered high-impact work for a fast-growing list of notable clients, including Fortune 500 companies. Lily has worked across a variety of verticals with a focus on retail, e-commerce, b2b, and CPG sites. She loves diving into algorithm updates, assessing quality issues, and solving technical SEO mysteries.

Check out all speakers on this page.

Tuesday, 16 November 2021 Amsterdam – During Friends of Search Amsterdam the winners of the Friends of Search Awards 2021 have been announced. In the category ‘Best SEO’ viaBOVAG.nl bested the competition. In the category ‘Best SEA’, HEMA took home the win.

Barry Adams, chairman of the jury and founder of Polemic Digital: The jury found the viaBOVAG case to be an excellent and innovative use of modern technology to automate large scale SEO efforts, driving impressive growth numbers for the website. It’s rare to see such a combination of strategic insight and advanced technical execution, and it elevated the case above the other nominees to give it that extra winning edge. HEMA was able to navigate the complex data structures typical of large organizations, to get the right information needed to make ads more personal. They combined their online and offline programs both for audience targeting and incrementality measurement, and produced impressive results for the company. The framework they implemented for this project will lend itself well to honing their campaigns further and continue to improve results.

A jury of international experts
Assessing the entries, the jury looked at how the cases distinguish themselves in clear strategic thinking, innovation, effectiveness, tangible results, clarity and privacy-friendly and responsible data use. Other than chairman Barry Adams, the jury consists of an international team of independent search experts: Kirk Williams (ZATO), Purna Virji (LinkedIn), Kate Adams (Google), Frederick Valleys (Optmyzr), Astrid Kramer (Astrid Kramer Consulting), Marcus Tober (Searchmetrics) and Linda Hogenes (Coolblue).

The jury of the Friends of Search Awards has decided! In the category Search Engine Optimization (SEO), viaBOVAG.nl, Smulweb and Intergamma will compete for the win. Albert Heijn, HEMA and Heinen Delfts Blauw are nominated in the category Search Engine Advertising (SEA). The award ceremony will take place during the Dutch edition of the Friends of Search 2021 on 16 November in the Kromhouthal in Amsterdam.

Barry Adams, chairman of the jury and founder of Polemic Digital, is positive about the entries: “This year the quality of the submissions was excellent once again. The cases provide a good overview of the strategic and tactical approaches that lead to outstanding results in SEO and SEA. The awards show that the search engine marketing industry in the Netherlands is mature and experienced, with a strong focus on the latest technologies.”

A jury of international experts
Assessing the entries, the jury looked at how the cases distinguish themselves in clear strategic thinking, innovation, effectiveness, tangible results, clarity and privacy-friendly and responsible data use. Other than Barry Adams, the jury consists of an international team of independent search experts: Kirk Williams (ZATO), Purna Virji (LinkedIn), Kate Adams (Google), Frederick Valleys (Optmyzr), Astrid Kramer (Astrid Kramer Consulting), Marcus Tober (Searchmetrics) and Linda Hogenes (Coolblue).

On Thursday, November 16, 2021, the best work in search will be rewarded once again, during the Dutch edition of Friends of Search, which takes place in the Kromhouthal in Amsterdam. Registration for in the categories Best SEO and Best SEA (PPC) opened today at friendsofsearch.com/nl/awards/. Early-bird tickets for the Dutch, as well as the Belgian edition of Friends of Search are still available.

This year’s jury consists of two teams, each consisting of three thought leaders within the search industry. The SEO jury consists of Marcus Tober (Searchmetrics), Linda Hogenes (Coolblue) en Barry Adams (Polemic Digital). The SEA jury consists of Purna Virji (LinkedIn), Kate Adams (Google) and Frederick Vallaeys (Optmyzer). When assessing the entries, the jury will consider, among other things, strategy, innovation, effectiveness, results, transparency and privacy-friendliness. Registration closes on September 10.

Last year, Slimster outperformed other nominees SKODA and Europcar in the category Best SEO. Slimster.nl convinced the jury with a perfectly executed migration. In the category of Best SEA, Leen Bakker turned out to be victorious at the expense of other nominees A-Z Barbecue & Gourmet Party Service and Bol.com. With an enormous variety of Google ads capabilities, Leen Bakker translated the physical shopping experience into a succesful online advertising strategy.

Friends of Search is made possible by the following sponsors: Adchieve, Addurance, Adwise Artefact, Greenhouse, Happy Horizon, Hybridagency, Increase, Knewledge, Merkle Nederland Group, Orangedotcom, OrangeValley, Producthero.com, Reprise, SDIM Online Marketing, Searchresult, Traffic Builders, Universem, Upthrust, , Producthero.com and WiSEO.

The eight edition of Friends of Search, the largest search conference of the Benelux, organised by industry associations DDMA and VIA, will take place on 16 November 2021 in the Kromhouthal in Amsterdam. This year, another Belgian edition will be organised in cooperation with DDMA’s sister organisation BAM on 17 november 2021 in The Egg in Brussels. Early Bird ticket sale for both editions has started today. 

Considering the COVID-19 measures and visitors’ health and safety, the organisers have decided that both editions of Friends of Search will take place near the end of the year.  

It is crucial for a search professional to keep track of all the developments around search in a fast-changing search landscape. During Friends of Search, international speakers will share their vision on SEO and SEA in 2021 and bring you up to speed on the latest trends. Finally, Friends of Search offers visitors the rare opportunity to connect with other search fanatics and broaden their networks.  

Exclusive Friends of Search webinars for ticket holders 

Since the conference doesn’t take place until near the end of the year, Friends of Search organises two Friends of Search webinars, exclusively for ticket holders. On June 8, award-winning SEO consultant Barry Adams will give a webinar on technical SEO in 2021. On September 14, Gianluca Binelli, founder of PPC Marketing Agency Booster Box, will provide a webinar on a to be announced topic. Ticket holders can register for free on the Friends of Search website. 

Eduard Blacquière, Digital Marketing Consultant: “Friends of Search was one of the first large events that brought search fanatics together. Since COVID–19, the need fort his has grown exponentially. That’s why we consciously moved this year’s edition of Friends of Search to November, because we believe in the power of bringing people together physically.” 

Lennert de Rijk, CEO Benelux & Nordics Artefact: “Since 2014, Friends of Search has been thé meeting place of the search community in the Benelux. By creating a top–notch program of speakers each year, Friends of Search has developed itself as one of the most import search conferences in Europe, with speakers queuing up for a spot to speak to and connect with visitors. It’s amazing that we can make this possible again in November.   

Friends of Search Awards 

For the Dutch edition of Friends of Search, the Friends of Search Awards will be held for the second time. In the categories ‘Best Search Engine Optimization (SEO)’ and ‘Best Search Engine Advertising (SEA)’, participants will compete for the coveted first place. The winners get the unique chance to present their case to an international audience. Registration opens on 25 May 2021. 

In just a little over two months, the seventh edition of Friends of Search will take place. This event has recurred yearly since 2014. Friends of Search is thé online marketing event where SEO and SEA experts come together. The international conference is all about the newest developments around search engine marketing and knowledge sharing. This year’s edition is promises to be a spectacular event with prominent international speakers on the programme. An interesting detail: due to the popularity of the event, this year’s edition does not consist of one, but two days: one in Amsterdam and one in Brussels!

The search landscape is changing rapidly. That is why it is of great importance for experts to keep track of the newest developments and trends. On the Friends of Search event, well-known international speakers will share their vision on search in this day and age with you. The presentations consist of useful advice and tips which will expand your knowledge and take your business to the next level. The speakers as well as the audience present are highly proficient, which serves as a perfect opportunity to share knowledge.

Great international speakers
This year, international experts will take their places on the podium once again. Experts like Rik van der Kooi (Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Advertising), Martin Splitt (Developer Advocate of Google), Brad Gaddes (Co founder – AdAlysis) and Bastian Grimm (CEO & Co-founder of Peak Ace AG) are just a few names on the list of speakers who will share their expertise during the Friends of Search 2020. The full list of speakers can be found here.

New this year: Friends of Search Awards
Are you an SEO or SEA expert with a great talent for new insights or ideas about search? Then you should participate with the Friends of Search Awards 2020. This new award offers a unique chance for everyone who works in search and wants to show its digital skills to the rest of the world. The award ceremony will take place during the Friends of Search event, where the winner earns a place on the podium to share its case with the entire audience of Friends of Search.

The FOS-Awards consist of two categories: Best of SEO and Best of SEA. The deadline for submitting a case is 20 December!

Ticket sale has already started
Friends of Search takes place on 4 February 2020 in the Kromhouthal venue in Amsterdam and on 5 February 2020 in The Egg in Brussels. A large part of the tickets has already been sold, so do not wait too long and get your tickets in advance here!

Next year we are introducing the first edition of Friends Of Search in Belgium. But that’s not the only thing new: we will also be awarding the first ever Friends Of Search Awards in 2020.

Every year the most prominent Search experts from all over the world present their most innovative cases. And you can now be one of them, because the winners of Best SEO and Best PPC case both win a speaker slot at Friends Of Search 2020!

The jury consists of an independent jury of international experts and (former) speakers of Friends Of Search. This jury assesses entries based on strategy, innovation, effectiveness and results, but also on responsible and privacy-minded data use.

Let us introduce the jury.

SEO Judges

Areej AbuAli, SEO Manager at Zoopla and Founder at Women in Tech SEO
Areej is SEO Manager at Zoopla where she focuses on all things technical and on-site SEO. She is the founder of the Women in Tech SEO community which is a support network aimed for women in the Technical SEO field. She has been in the industry for the past 6 years, has spoken at BrightonSEO and MozCon and is a member of the UK Search Awards judge.

Barry Adams, Founder & SEO Consultant at Polemic Digital
Barry has building and ranking websites since 1998. Over the years he’s honed his skills in a wide range of businesses, from small agencies to Fortune 500 multinationals. In 2014 Barry founded SEO consultancy Polemic Digital, delivering specialised SEO services. In addition to his consulting work, Barry lectures on SEO and digital marketing for several universities and travels the world to speak at digital conferences, and is on the judging panel for the annual European and US Search Awards.

Linda Hogenes, Owner (Technical) SEO at Coolblue
Linda is the head of SEO at Coolblue, one of the biggest e-commerce companies in the Netherlands and Belgium. Her two biggest projects in the past 5 years at Coolblue were migrating 360 separate domains (such as laptopshop.nl) into coolblue.nl and coolblue.be and adding a French and English version to the website. In total, she has been working in SEO & digital marketing since 2010.

Marcus Tober, Chief Innovation Officer at Searchmetrics
In 2005, Marcus founded his first SEO company, which became Searchmetrics in 2007. A self-described Big Data and stats geek, Marcus is frequently asked to comment on trends in the industry. Every time Google makes a significant change to its algorithm—think Panda—or upsets the apple cart with ideas like secure search, Marcus is in demand. And he doesn’t mind ruffling some feathers with his opinions.

SEA(PPC) Judges

Brad Geddes, Co-founder at AdAlysis
Brad has been involved in PPC since 1998. He is a co-founder of AdAlysis, a PPC recommendation engine. He is the author of Advanced Google AdWords, the most advanced book ever written about Google’s advertising program. One of his trademarks has been demystifying the complicated aspects of SEM. Not one to hold secrets, Brad prefers to educate marketers on the various aspects of crafting successful marketing campaigns to ensure the success for all parties involved.

Denise Scheel, Sr. EMEA Partner Marketing Lead at Microsoft
Denise started her online advertising career in 2007 working with Display Advertising and has since moved on to Search Advertising. From the beginning she has been a passionate Bing fan. With more than 12 years of marketing experience in different roles across Communications, PR, Product Marketing and SMB Audience Marketing, she now leads the Microsoft Advertising Partner Program for the European region. Denise holds a Master in Applied Media Science and loves to coach and help others to find their full potential.

Frederick Vallaeys, Co-founding CEO at Optmyzr
Frederick (Fred) is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, author and leading influencer in PPC search marketing. One of Google’s first 500 employees, he helped pioneer PPC marketing as the company’s first AdWords Evangelist. Today he serves as Co-Founding CEO of Optmyzr, a leading and award-winning PPC management software system. A sought-after industry thought leader, he contributes to leading marketing publications and conferences.

Kate Adams, Head of Media & Measurement Specialists NL at Google
Kate started her career at Google 11 years ago as a Search Specialist, consulting advertisers and agencies on the best Google Search set-up and features to maximise campaign performance. Later Kate joined the Google NL Management Team and founded the Product Specialist team, helping shape the strategy of the Google NL business and leading this team containing the most specialised experts in Google’s Measurement, Search, Display & Video products. Even though Kate’s scope has widened across the full suite of advertising products, she remains a Search girl at heart.

Submit your best SEO or best SEA(PPC) case before December 20, 2019 at friendsofsearch.nl/awards.

Entering the FOS Awards is free. Just keep in mind ownership of an entry must be with brand/advertiser side. Check our FAQ for more info.