Ahhhh... it feels so good to be going home. Despite all the extra security issues at the airport (which really isn't all that bad in San Jose), today's trip has thus far gone smoothly. In fact, because of a certain someone, who I will keep nameless (did you see the link), we arrived at the airport super early, and so I have plenty of time to get today's post written and hopefully published.

Before jumping into my SES wrap-up, it's important for readers to understand how huge, in terms of importance, the San Jose Search Engine Strategies conference really is. Even though SES is a traveling search marketing trade show and can be found throughout the year in Chicago, New York, Toronto, Paris, London, and many other places, no other venue is as important as San Jose. Care to wonder why? It's because San Jose is in the "Silicon Valley". Know what else's in the "Silicon Valley"? How about the home to IBM, Apple, Adobe, Google, Yahoo!, a Microsoft office, eBay, Pay-Pal, MacAfee, and so many other major Internet brands.

With that said, many of the major industry announcements take place at or during the week of SES San Jose. Don't get me wrong... stuff is announced at SES conferences all the time and all over the world, but in San Jose it just seems like there is more to announce. It almost seems as if Internet companies use the SES conference as a stage to trump each other for the biggest announcements, and use search-industry experts, followers, Bloggers, PR people, article writers, and other authoritative news-people that are in attendance to spread the "buzz".

I guess it works because here are some of this past week's SES highlights:

• "Google Sitemaps" Changed to "Google Webmaster Central".
• New Studies "on Searcher Behavior" Have Been Released.
• Google Finds Faults with Major 3rd Party Click-Auditors.
• Yahoo! Did a Live Demo of Their Upcoming Ad-Platform.
• The Exhibit Hall Was Big and Featured Many New Vendors.
• The 5th Annual Google Dance Wins Best SES-SJ Party.
• Danny Sullivan Interviews Eric Schmitt, CEO of Google.
• A Yahoo! Store Developers Meeting Took Place.

Overall, my experience with the conference and the trip is a pleasant one. I attended numerous sessions and sponsored events, had plenty of time to meet up with some old acquaintances and introduce myself to many new ones, visited Fisherman's Wharf, The Winchester Mystery House, and Alcatraz Island, and to top things off I took a lot away, in an educational sense, which can be used to improve on my efforts as a Search Engine Marketer and All Web's efforts as a provider of Search Engine Marketing services.

If you've never been to an SES show, I encourage you to go. Even if you're one who believes they know all there is to know... I can guarantee you'll come home with something new to test and/or implement.

Here are some "Behind-The-Scenes" highlights which made this trip even more than interesting than can be imagined:

• I Lost my License 3-Days Before Going to San Jose.
• I Recovered my License a Day Before Going to San Jose.
• I Had Problems with Re-Charging My Cell Phone
• I Lost my Wallet in San Jose.
• I Cancelled my Credit Card for Obvious Reasons.
• I Recovered my Wallet 1-Day Before my Flight Home
• I Ran Out of Money and Had No Active Credit Card.
• I Sat in Front of Dave Naylor on my Flight Back to Chicago.
• I Left my Phone on a Bench at the Chicago O'Hare Airport.
• My Phone was Found and Will Be Mailed Back to me Soon.

Talk about problems... I had many. Can you imagine how hard it would have been to board a plane without a Government issued Photo ID or any other proof of who I was... especially with the latest terrorist attack and all the extra security in place. I'm just glad I didn't have to find out.

I am hoping to get all of my photos from this past trip published sometime in the next week. When i do... you can view them here and here.

Here is a list of links to all of my San Fransico / SES posts:

- SES San Jose 2006: Day 4 Notes
- SES San Jose 2006: Day 3 Notes
- "What I Like About You"
- SES San Jose 2006: Day 2 Notes
- SES San Jose 2006: Day 1 Notes
- Live From SES San Jose