We’re pleased to announce we pitched the topic of UGC SEO to SMX East and it was just selected for its own session on the first day as an intermediate SEO topic. This is the first time a major search conference has covered UGC SEO as its own topic. I spoke about it last November at Pubcon, but it was part of a mostly forum-focused session.

The session description is mostly about comments & reviews, but I’ll be covering other types of user-generated content:

SEO & User Generated Content – The “voice of the customer” can be a dual-edged sword. Positive reviews and comments can help reinforce reputation or even persuade others to buy. Negative feedback can be the kiss of death if it gets out of hand. But ultimately, applying good SEO to user generated content extends the reach of your site and gives you more potential touchpoints with searchers, particularly if you mine your UGC for keyword research. Come see how several sites are turning the (free) content created by their customers into search engine gold.

The session will be October 4th, 10:45-noon, during the 1st day of SMX East. Here’s the full agenda. If UGC SEO is of interest to you, I suggest you follow this site’s RSS feed and consider registering for SMX East (it is $400 off if you register before July 30th. Note: the conference will likely sell out).

Other speakers will be announced soon, but I (Dustin Woodard) have already confirmed. If you have any ideas, stories or suggestions on what I should cover, feel free to leave a comment.