Search optimization – 2006: snippets of the event

The November 16-17 conference "Search optimization and promotion of websites on the Internet", organized by the IT consulting company Ashmanov and Partners, proved quite a dynamic event. The report by Aleksandr Sadovsky, who heads the Yandex web search department, caused a storm of indignation as he offered examples of websites which Yandex will blacklist, excluding them from the results page. The speech by Vladimir Dolgov, country manager of Google's operation in Russia, did not live up to expectations. He gave a standard Google sales pitch without lifting the lid on the company's plans in Russia. During the closing roundtable discussion, noted search optimizers of the Russian Internet admitted that the standoff between search engine operators and search optimizers is leading into a dead end. Still those attending the discussion were unable to offer any insights into the future of search optimization.