Lydia Jorden says, “Millennial travelers have been yearning for genuine, local experiences that deliver a special and unique taste of authenticity. They don’t want to merely cross an experience, city or place off a bucket list.These travelers and searchers would like to experience life, while accidentally encountering experiences worthy of Snapchat stories, Instagram images and other forms of bragging, which are usually motivated by an honest urge to foster curiosity and cultural learning — or at least appear that way.For millennials, there are a variety of options to satiate this type... [...]

David Zimmerman says, “Did you sigh when you heard Google is revoking free full access to its Keyword Planner? Your first reaction was probably like mine: Google is sticking it to SEOs, once again.What are we going to do?Of course, we could invest in a third-party tool. Some of those tools might help fill the gap, but they are expensive and only as good as their sample size.And that got me thinking: If I would have to pay for a keyword research tool anyway, why not use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising for my keyword research? If I create a small PPC campaign, I can get keyword data and... [...]

Chris Silver Smith says, “A number of attorneys who specialize in online defamation/libel cases have reported to me that Google has recently suspended its longstanding, informal policy of removing URLs from US search results that are specified in duly executed court orders. This poses a major paradigm shift for many victims of online reputation attacks.Beginning around August or September of this year, a number of attorneys from across the US began receiving blanket denials after submitting requests to remove defamatory content from Google’s search results.Since at least 2009, Google... [...]

Miriam Ellis says, “When America’s first star TV chef, Julia Child, demonstrated the use of a wire whisk on her 1960’s cooking show, the city of Pittsburgh sold out of them. Pennsylvanians may well have owned a few of these implements prior to the show’s air date, but probably didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about them. After the show, however, wire whisks were on everyone’s mind and they simply had to have one. Call it a retro micro-moment, and imagine consumers jamming the lines of rotary phones or hoofing it around town in quest of this gleaming gadget … then zoom up to... [...]

Zee Hoffmann Jones says, “Whether you’re the only SEO at your company, work within a larger team, or even manage others, you still have to stay on top of your projects. Project management skills aren’t and shouldn’t be exclusive to someone (or some tool) with the title “project manager.” I believe that having good project manager skills is essential to getting work done at all, let alone delivering high-quality work in a timely and efficient way.In defense of managementFreakonomics Radio released this podcast episode in October called In Praise of Maintenance. The TL;DR (or TL;DL,... [...]

Jason Decker says, “You’re a savvy digital marketer. You follow Google best practices and read “all the SEO blogs.” You sound like a zookeeper with your extensive knowledge of Pandas, Penguins, Possums and Pigeons. You’re always looking for ways to improve organic search rankings. Instead of investing your time researching some of those gray (or even black) hat tactics that are oh so tempting, I suggest you take a step back and look at the basics of your organic SERP listing.An area that often gets overlooked by digital marketers is engagement and the click-through rate (CTR) associated... [...]

MOZ team says, “From understanding the big-picture search trends to making sure your SEO goals jive with your CEO’s goals, there’s a lot to consider when planning for 2017. Next year promises to be huge for our industry, and in today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand outlines how to craft a truly remarkable SEO strategy to help you sail through 2017”.How to Craft a Remarkable SEO Strategy for 2017MOZ Blog [...]

Jim Yu says, “As we begin 2017, the fusion of the search and content marketing disciplines has become increasingly more evident. A full 89 percent of B2B marketers (PDF) say that they use content marketing, as do 86 percent of B2C marketers, according to the Content Marketing Institute.Additionally, over 70 percent of marketers in both groups plan on producing more content in the new year than they did in 2016. However, content only has real value if it is found and optimized, and if it converts with effective search marketing.Search is the key driver that opens up opportunity in 2017Research... [...]

Joy Hawkins says, “Google’s Map Maker has often received bad press due to the amount of spam that originates from users of the product. In May of 2015, Map Maker was actually shut down to help prevent disasters like this one. So Google’s announcement that they’re shutting down Map Maker entirely in March of 2017 made a lot of people really happy.It’s the end of spam, right? We should all be celebrating, right?Nothing could be further from the truth.Allowing spammers to hide rather than vanquishing themThe truth is that users — some with less-than-virtuous motives — will still... [...]

Jason Parks says, “The current process of building backlinks to improve your SEO is outdated and it’s about to change. Enough with automated emails and random pitches to contribute content on external sites. While this can work, I’m going to share the secret sauce to differentiate your backlink strategy.Beware, this might be uncomfortable for many within the SEO community.Stop hiding behind a computer screen.You need to get away from your desk and make connections within the local community. You have to stop hiding behind your screen and start meeting with business owners face to face... [...]