Here it is, the Mozcon recap post you’ve all been waiting for… The “Shoes of Mozcon”!
I’m just back from my 10th Mozcon (13th, if you count Mozcon Locals), and one of my favorite parts about this always killer conference is all the little traditions that have popped up over the years.
@GregGifford I love these #Mozcon micro traditions. @Mike_Arnesen @dodgejd
— Matthew Decuir (@MattBasically) July 17, 2019
Last year, my good friend Bryant Goodall came up with the “shoes of Mozcon” hashtag and shared photos of each speaker’s shoes. This year he’s taking a break from social media, so I took over the duties. I wouldn’t be doing the idea justice if I didn’t share a post afterwards, so here it is… The Mozcon recap you’ve all been waiting for… The Shoes of Mozcon!
Mozcon Day One
Day two kicked off with our awesome emcees Cyrus Shephard and Britney Muller.
Sarah Bird
CEO – Moz
@sarahbird
Sarah, the awesome CEO of Moz kicked things off with a great chat, and due to a recent injury, she rocked the stage on a peg leg!
Rand Fishkin
CEO/Founder – SparkToro
@randfish
The world famous Moz founder made a strong play for best shoes in the first presentation of the day, where he shared the scary present (and future) state of SEO and digital marketing.
Ruth Burr Reedy
Vice President of Strategy – UpBuild
@ruthburr
Ranking world champion live tweeter Ruth blew some minds with a talk about optimizing for humans instead of machines.
Dana DiTomaso
President & Partner – Kick Point
@danaditomaso
Dana rocked some cook kicks to match her cool slide designs, and her presentation on improving client reporting was a crowd favorite.
Rob Bucci
Vice President of R&D – Moz
@statrob
One of the few speakers to wear boots, Rob blew minds with his presentation about the new Moz Local Market Analytics and the crazy local data it will make available.
Ross Simmonds
Digital Marketing Strategist – Foundation
@thecoolestcool
The always-dapper Ross rocked suspenders and blacked out Nikes to share his ideas for better ways to uncover content ideas.
Shannon McGuirk
Head of PR & Content – Aira
@shannonmcguirk_
Shannon upped the shoes of Mozcon game with strappy sandals during her talk about supercharging your link building efforts with a digital PR newsroom.
Darren Shaw
Founder/President – Whitespark
@darrenshaw_
Darren rocked the comfy sneaker look as he walked us through his case study on taking a brand new website through a structured test to see which factors helped with local rankings.
Russ Jones
Principal Search Scientist – Moz
@rjonesx
Russ rocked a classic blue loafer look while he shared lots of awesome data about how faking things and taking shortcuts are really bad strategies.
Mozcon Day Two
Our awesome emcees took the stage on day two to kick off the second day of incredible speakers.
Heather Physioc
Group Connections Director, Discoverability – VMLY&R
@heatherphysioc
Rocking casual black, Heather kicked off day two of Mozcon with an absolutely killer presentation on workplace dynamics and getting teams to work well together.
Mary Bowling
Co-Founder – Ignitor Digital
@marybowling
Sticking with the classic black theme most speakers seemed to prefer, Mary Bowling shared an amazing presentation about how brand building is the new Local SEO.
Casie Gillette
Senior Director, Digital Marketing – KoMarketing
@casieg
Casie walked the Mozcon stage in cream colored heels, and her presentation about creating memorable content was packed with awesome info and recommended tools.
Wil Reynolds
Founder – Seer Interactive
@wilreynolds
Wil rocked a casual business look for his incredibly passionate presentation about how Google is screwing all of us, and what we should do about it…
Marie Haynes
Owner – Marie Haynes Consulting
@marie_haynes
The first of this year’s community speakers, Marie kicked things up a notch with lots of sparkles during her presentation on improving your site’s E-A-T.
Areej AbuAli
Head of SEO – Verve Search
@areej_abuali
Another of this year’s community speakers, Areej used her simple black flats to stay comfy while she blew through 179 slides in just 15 minutes!
Christi Olson
Head of Evangelism for Search – Microsoft
@christijolson
Christi closed out the first group of community speakers with a talk sharing tons of awesome research on voice search from Microsoft. I missed getting a shot of her shoes on stage, so I caught her backstage to get a photo mid-change back into comfy shoes.
Paul Shapiro
Senior Partner, Head of SEO Practice – Catalyst
@fighto
Paul wore classic brown loafers, and was the first speaker we saw who rocked fun socks (which became a popular side hashtag). His presentation on technical SEO opened a lot of eyes.
Dr. Pete Meyers
Marketing Scientist – Moz
@dr_pete
Not only did Dr. Pete change nerd t-shirts 7 or 8 times per day, his casual yet classy shoes helped him share some interesting research about questions and keywords for search.
Mozcon Day Three
Cyrus took on solo hosting duties on day three since Britney was presenting.
Cindy Krum
CEO – MobileMoxie
@suzzicks
Cindy rocked sparkly wedges for her presentation about fraggles and mobile-first indexing. (Shout out to Jason Dodge for snapping this photo for me, I missed the first few speakers of day three because I was filming a White Board Friday video)
Luke Carthy
Digital Manager – Mayflex
@mrlukecarthy
Luke rocked maroon Vans to share ecommerce UX and CRX tips with some awesome tips for Screaming Frog. (Shout out to Jason Dodge for snapping this one too)
Andy Crestodina
CMO and Co-Founder – Orbit Media
@crestodina
Andy strutted the stage in his fancy white slip-on sneakers (and his trademark red socks, not seen here) while he talked about content, rankings, and getting leads.
Rob Ousbey
Vice President of Operations – Distilled
@robousbey
Rob struck a pose so I could snag a photo of his shoes AND his socks, since #socksofmozcon had picked up a lot of traction by this point. He rocked a presentation about A/B testing and SEO.
Greg Gifford
Vice President of Search – Wikimotive
@robousbey
Thanks again to Jason Dodge for the photo (obviously, it would have been tough to get one of myself). I started off the last round of community speaker slots with a presentation on Google Posts and GMB Questions and Answers.
Check back next Tuesday, we’re sharing a video of the presentation for next week’s Tactical Tuesdays video.
Emily Triplett Lentz
Senior Editor and Content Marketing Manager – Help Scout
@emilytlentz
After realizing that #shoesofmozcon was a “thing”, Emily went to the store to buy these bedazzled sneakers (what she originally planned on wearing was “too boring”). She rocked her community speaker slot, sharing awesome content auditing tips.
Joelle Irvine
Director, Marketing & Growth – Bookmark
@joelleirvine
The final community speaker won Shoes of Mozcon with her kickass patent leather sneakers (which rumor has it, were also bought after realizing #shoesofmozcon was a “thing”). Her presentation on image a visual search opportunities was awesome too.
Joy Hawkins
Owner/President – Sterling Sky
@joyannehawkins
Joy wore comfy sandals to share awesome insight into Local SEO and factors that influence local, but not standard organic.
Britney Muller
Senior SEO Scientist – Moz
@britneymuller
To close out this year’s Mozcon, Britney took the stage in stylish wedges and shared some amazing data and targeting tactics for featured snippets.
And a final #shoesofmozcon I couldn’t leave out…
I couldn’t do a Shoes of Mozcon post without including the classic minimalism that Roger has been rocking for years…