What I Learned from by attending Google Search Conference (#GoogleSC) at Hotel Westin at Rajarhat Kolkata

Introduction

I received an invitation from Google asking me to fill out the forms; a screenshot is shown below. I had my finger crossed, as I wasn’t aware of the events. I did a little Google search and unearthed the following information.

The last year 2017, they started this #GoogleSC in 5 cities and this year 2018, it has scaled to 11 City. I received the invitation in my mail with the access code.

On 20th July 2018, That morning it was raining heavily, and I booked a cab to the event. It was happening at a 5-star hotel, The Westin at Rajarhat, Kolkata, Near EcoPark.

I reached the venue around 9:20 AM, and completed my registration for the event, and occupied my place. I found people having Coffee, so I also moved and got myself a cup of coffee and some cookies.

My Co-Participant – S.K.Wasim

I moved back to my place, and next to me, was a guy named S.K. Wasim, who is a Youtuber, he runs a Channel called “Online Bangla,” and I started interacting with him. We talked about how difficult it has become to earn decent money from Youtube. He said to me that, he had started this youtube while he was a student. He left his studies midway to continue his passion of Youtuber.

I further enquired how he generates a content idea; he told me that he follows popular English and Hindi Channels and gets the idea from there and produces video in Bangla language for his audience. His Channel subscriber base has grown to more than 200000( two hundred thousand), this is a significant number and makes good money.

Keynote Speech

The Events started with a keynote speech by Saikat. He spoke about how Google is changing the lives of people. He mentioned that once he has met a cab driver who was also a Blogger and had monetized his Blog using Google Adsense.

This Event was a bridge to connect Content Publisher like Blogger, Youtuber, SEO Professional, and Google. He emphasized that there is a lack of good content and publisher in regional language. There is a massive demand for content in local languages.

Local languages searches have surpassed English Language searches. He concluded by saying that Google can stay No:1 Search Engine position, only when they can give the best result to the searcher and it depends on the content of the publisher. Google does not produce content on its own.

Syed Malik Mairaj (Lead Google search ) – Man in Beard

Then the next Speaker was Syed Malik Mairaj (Lead Google search ), He spoke about how GoogleBot indexes a site and stores the information in its database and shows relevant results to its user when they search on Google.

This session was interesting as it was about SEO, Organic search and something which interests me.

Aaseesh – who sent invitation mail to all

The Next speaker was Aaseesh, who spoke about Data Security and its importance on ranking. HTTPS is a ranking signal now. He also said that a site without HTTPS is like an open postcard, where anyone can read its message and is vulnerable to attacks.

Next, we had lunch and the opportunity to network with fellow professional and take a selfie with them. Food was mouthwatering and deserves mention here, which included Roti, Nan, Paneer, Veg pulao, Chicken, Fish, Salad, and desserts like Gulab Jamun, Icecream, and Moong Halwa.

The afternoon session, we had Speaker Like Shivrendu, John Bown, Gary (Who had flown from Switzerland) for the event.

Shivrendu

Shivrendu spoke about the importance of Meta Schema and how vital it is to tag our website according to different meta-schema. He also talked about the harmful practice of doing it and advised us to refrain from doing and may result in penalization of the website.

John Brown – Google Adsense Approval

John Brown spoke about Google Adsense. He emphasized the mission of Google to connect with Content Publisher and serve its search user. Many people had a query regarding why their Adsense account has been banned and how they can recover their account.

He emphasized that Content Creator should not click on the Ads or ask their friends or family member to click on the Ads to monetize, these fraudulent activities are a sure way to get your Adsense Account Banned. Once banned, it is hard to recover.

Gary Conducted Q/A session. Many people utilized this opportunity and queued in to ask their query. I found many participants had come from neighbouring states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur to attend this event and get their question answered by Google Official.

I Actively participated in Q/A session; I think I was one of the participants to ask maximum questions. I not only asked questions but also answered query to many participants. I was noticed and appreciated by the Google Official, made me feel elevated.

One of my cliché replies was that Google would tell certain things not to do, but Seo Expert like Neil Patel and Brain Dean recommends.

When there was a question that keyword in url matters for ranking?

My answer was that there is no instruction from Google, but Seo Expert like Neil Patel and Brian Dean recommends.

Google official echoed with my reply before I could finish and the crowd bursts into laughter. Many Participants walked up to me and patted on my back. Few professionals exchanged visiting card with me.

Next, we had the Tea break session followed by Group photos.
I took a selfie with all the speaker and interacted with fellow participants and exchanged visiting cards and promised to stay in touch with each other and added them on Facebook and happily bid goodbye to all of them.

Conclusion

Overall, It was a great session, very interactive, insightful and learned a lot about new things, technology and ways to earn money online. Events like this help you make new friends and expand your network. As the saying goes “your network is your net-worth”.