Two weeks from today marks the start of SMX West in Silicon Valley which will feature a number of big name speakers from the search industry and discussion of topics from search engine optimization (SEO) to link building.

In addition to the knowledge that will be exchanged during the three day event, more than 500 companies will be represented at the conference at the Santa Clara Convention Center, making it a great opportunity for networking with people in the search industry.

SMX West will also be naming the "Biggest Search Geek," who will get two free roundtrip tickets for two to Santa Clara, California along with hotel accommodations and tickets to the conference.

People who think they know the most about search engine marketing have until tomorrow to take the 20 question test, with the winner being announced the first week of February.

It was also recently announced that conference-goers who can stay an extra day will be able to register for a training course from search engine optimization (SEO) expert Bruce Clay on February 13th.