Following a packed day of technical SEO, content marketing, UX, CRO, and digital PR insights, HIVEMCR 24 closed with a fireside chat. Moderated by Stephen Kenwright, Katy Powell, Jono Alderson, Luke Carthy, and Billie Geena Hyde, the discussion covered a range of topics from integration to whether or not organic search marketing was getting easier or harder.
Check out the full video below, or use the links to jump to key sections:
- Is SEO Getting Easier or Harder?
- Digital PR – The Shift from Campaigns to Reactive Strategies
- Is UX the Missing Pillar of SEO?
- Should SEOs Still Be Focusing on ‘Articles’?
- The Role of TikTok, Pinterest & YouTube in Search
- Bing – The Search Engine No One Talks About
- The Biggest Agency Challenge? Integration
The Ever-Changing SEO Sector – Is It Getting Easier or Harder?
One of the key themes of the discussion was whether SEO is becoming easier or harder to execute. Jono was quick to point out that while tools are improving, website architecture is getting increasingly complex.
“The tooling is better than ever. Content management systems have improved. But there’s still a huge skills gap in SEO where we need to understand platforms, pages, and URLs properly.”
He highlighted the increasing complexity of JavaScript frameworks, Cloudflare, and client vs server-side rendering, stating that without deep technical knowledge, SEOs are essentially just “doing marketing.”
Billie Geena offered her perspective, pointing out that while automation and tooling have made some aspects of SEO easier, implementation remains a challenge, especially when working with companies that lack development resources.
“For smaller clients, getting technical changes made is a nightmare. If there’s no development team, the SEO is sometimes expected to step in and fix things themselves, even if they’re not developers.”
Lower budget campaigns were a key theme of the day—whether it was about having sufficient budgets for proper digital PR campaigns, resolving technical debt, or ongoing implementation and maintenance. Being able to do everything when resources are tight remains a significant SEO challenge.
Digital PR – The Shift from Campaigns to Reactive Strategies
Katie then tackled the growing trend in digital PR, a move away from traditional campaigns towards more reactive strategies.
“Reactive PR is easier for quick link wins if you have a client who can provide expert commentary fast. But I still believe campaigns deliver the best long-term value in terms of building authority.”
She acknowledged that the media landscape is shifting, with fewer journalists and more PR professionals competing for coverage, but maintained that a strong story remains the key to success.
Is UX the Missing Pillar of SEO?
SEO has long been defined by the three core pillars of backlinks, content and technical SEO, but the panel agreed that UX should play a bigger role, especially given recent algorithmic developments.
Luke argued that UX hasn’t been taken as seriously in SEO because it’s harder to measure than rankings or traffic.
“SEO is obsessed with numbers; links, rankings, page speed scores. But the simplest user experiences are often the hardest to build. Clients want to know how UX directly impacts revenue, and that’s a harder thing to quantify.”
However, he also pointed out that SEO has successfully expanded into PR, development, and analytics, so there’s no reason it can’t push further into UX as well.
“SEO is whatever we say it is. We’ve taken ownership of performance, security, and accessibility. UX should be next.”
Should SEOs Still Be Focussing on “Articles”?
One of the big takeaways of the session came from Jono, who argued that the traditional approach to content is outdated. We all kind of new this before, but it’s still rife across the industry.
“The idea that SEO means writing keyword stuffed articles is dead. We’ve broken it, just like we broke directories and link-building schemes.”
Instead, he urged SEOs to rethink what content actually means, advocating for more useful, UX driven, and multimedia-rich experiences instead of generic blog posts.
The Role of TikTok, Pinterest & YouTube in Search
While Google remains dominant, the panel debated the increasing importance of TikTok, Pinterest and YouTube as search engines in their own right.
Katie explained that PR and social media are more intertwined than ever, with clients increasingly requesting cross-channel strategies.
Luke went on to admit that many SEOs still struggle to quantify the impact of social platforms on organic search performance.
“TikTok is massive, but it’s difficult to measure. Agencies focus on what they can track; links, rankings, traffic. But we need to start looking beyond Google.”
Bing – The Search Engine No One Talks About
While Google dominated the conversation, the panel turned their attention to Bing, which we can all admit, we often overlook despite the traffic opportunities available.
“More people use Bing in the UK than TikTok,” Stephen Kenwright pointed out, citing Ofcom’s recent research.
But despite its user base, Jono Alderson was sceptical of Bing’s long-term impact:
“I wouldn’t bet on Bing to disrupt anything significantly. They don’t have the people, and they don’t have the plan.”
So, the jury’s still out on that one. Whilst there is organic traffic on the table, opinions were mixed on the future. Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI throws an additional spanner in the works, time will tell.
The Biggest Digital Agency Challenge – Integration
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the discussion was the struggle to integrate SEO, PR, social, and UX into a seamless strategy.
Katie admitted that working across multiple agencies often makes integration difficult.
“Brands have separate agencies for SEO, PR, and social. The challenge is getting everyone to talk to each other.”
Luke went on to argue that true integration is nearly impossible for large agencies.
“Integrated agencies don’t exist. The only people who are truly integrated are in-house teams and consultants.”
“Agencies are built to manage retainers, not to break down silos.”
Final Thoughts from The Panel
As the discussion wrapped up, the overarching sentiment was clear; digital marketing is changing more rapidly than ever. While technical SEO may be getting easier with better tooling, digital PR is shifting, UX is undervalued and social search is rising.
The key to success? Adapting, integrating and thinking beyond traditional SEO playbooks.
“We can’t just focus on rankings and links anymore. SEO is evolving—and we need to evolve with it.”
We have another stellar line-up confirmed for this year’s HIVEMCR, taking place on 15th May at New Century Hall, Manchester. Sign up at www.hive-mcr.co.uk
