BrightonSEO was a feast of ideas & inspo

BrightonSEO felt like walking into a packed diner at 2 a.m.—the clatter of dishes, the hum of conversation, the faint smell of coffee that’s been sitting too long. It was alive. I dragged pneumonia and bronchitis with me, which added a bit of flavor to the experience. My primary takeaway is: SEO isn’t stuck—it’s moving, and we need to figure out how to keep up without losing the thread.

Knowledge Graphs

Knowledge graphs aren’t flashy. They’re not the sizzling steak or the Instagram-worthy dessert. They’re the bread and butter, the thing that keeps the meal grounded. Engineers care about them. GenAI and LLMs need them to function. Schemas build them. They’re where SEO stops being a weird half sibling to paid media... where it'e an asset. Done right, knowledge graphs could mean less junk—no more obsession with backlinks and no more endless audits.

Schema

Schema is like the line cook who never gets credit. It’s doing the work no one notices, but without it, little happens. In a good future, this is true. Things like @id properties, entity homes, and connected schemas. They’re the essentials. Right now most of the industry isn’t getting it right. But, Martha van Berkel is. We’re working hard to bring her to MKE DMC in 2025 because this stuff matters. It’s where the game changes, but only if we start treating it like it’s worth our time.

Measurement

Measurement has always been a mess. SimilarWeb/Datos talk a big game about clickstream data, but who knows how reliable it really is? GA4 feels like trying to read a map in the dark—clunky, incomplete, and frustrating. Attribution models are stacked to make paid platforms look like heroes while organic gets the leftovers. It’s not sustainable, but here we are, stuck using tools that never seem to tell the full story.

Collaboration

Here’s what stood out at Brighton: We’re all playing our own little games, measuring success in a hundred different ways, and it’s not helping. We need to get our act together. We need to stop acting like this is a competition and start sharing knowledge, tools, and strategies. The whole industry wins when we’re aligned. If we don’t figure this out, SEO risks becoming the punchline to someone else’s joke.

What’s Next?

Brighton left me with a clear sense of what needs to happen next:

1. Focus on Schema: Make @id properties, entity homes, and connected schemas standard practice. No exceptions.
2. Rethink Measurement: Build internal systems that make sense. Stop putting all our trust in tools like GA4 or SimilarWeb.
3. Collaborate Boldly: Share ideas, tools, and frameworks.
4. Test and Learn: Use spaces to try things out and refine them.

SEO is messy, frustrating, and still full of potential. That’s what makes it worth doing. Brighton was a reminder that the magic happens when you lean into the mess, put in the work, and see where it takes you.