Sherry Bonelli says, “Fall is in the air, and that can only mean one thing for most digital marketers: budget season. The approaching fourth quarter is often the time when companies begin the budget and planning process for the next fiscal year. And it seems that ROI, while always considered a top priority, has renewed importance now. Advertising Age recently reported that intense demand for ROI is causing companies to replace their CMOs at a rapid rate — as much as a 48-percent turnover in top retailers. You’d think that ROI would be easy to track on digital, right? Compared to offline... [...]

Andrew Dennis says, “In March, Google Search Quality Senior Strategist Andrey Lipattsev stated that Google’s two top ranking factors are content and links. Content and links have a symbiotic relationship: great content attracts links, and links improve the visibility and popularity of content. However, not all types of content will attract links, and even content types that typically attract links require strategic promotion in order to secure those links. What makes content linkable? There are numerous types of content: blog posts, articles, white papers, eBooks, listicles, videos,... [...]

Brian Clark says, “Of all the components of a holistic online marketing strategy, search engine optimization (“SEO”) seems to mystify many the most. And it’s true that years back, the key to ranking well in Google was a form of dark art. That’s changed in recent years. Google’s algorithm has gotten smarter, and is more distinctly tuned in to what the audience thinks is relevant and valuable for a given search term, rather than what we as marketers would prefer to rank well”. SEO that Grows Your Business with John Jantsch Copyblogger  [...]

Serge Stefoglo says, “Content marketing has been discussed and researched more in the last 5 years than ever before. There are various kinds of content marketing strategies out there. Blog promotion, infographics, video strategies, and creative content are some. Depending on your goals, some are more effective than others. At Distilled, we’ve been fortunate enough to work on many creative content pieces with some incredible clients. This article is going to focus on a piece of content that my team and I created for a client. We’ll take a look at both the creation process and the tangible... [...]

Barry Schwartz says, “Google launched the real-time, more granular version of Penguin on Friday. Google wrote in its announcement that it “now devalues spam.” Many SEOs and webmasters took that to mean that Penguin no longer penalizes – and it seems like they are right. Google’s Gary Illyes said on my public Facebook post that the new Penguin algorithm “managed to devalue spam instead of demoting.” But he also said that Google’s recommendation for using the disavow file has not changed. In other words, you should use the disavow file to help recover from Penguin issues. But... [...]

Pratik Dholakiya says, “SEO has come a long way from being all about on-page optimization, building backlinks and creating “relevant” content. When I read popular search engine blogs, I notice a definite trend: SEO is moving toward a more inclusive strategy that goes beyond new ways of link building or content marketing. A huge part of present-day SEO practices is brand building and influencing search queries themselves, as opposed to starting with a truckload of keywords and creating content around them. Therefore, while links, keywords, content and site optimization remain the building... [...]

Kelsey Libert says, “The Fractl team has worked on hundreds of content marketing projects. Along the way, we’ve kept track of a lot of data, including everywhere our client campaigns have been featured, what types of links each campaign attracted, and how many times each placement was shared. While we regularly look back on our data to evaluate performance per campaign and client, until now we’d never analyzed all of these data in aggregate. After combing through 31,000 media mentions and 26,000 links, here’s what we found. Most marketers assume that if they build links on high-authority... [...]

Garenne Bigby says, “The widely used term “SEO” refers to search engine optimization (or optimizer). When you make the choice to hire someone to optimize your website for search engines, it is a huge step and has the power to save you time and improve your website. If you happen to choose an SEO that is not that great, it has the potential to damage your own reputation as well as your website. Take the time to inform yourself about the good and bad that can come from using an SEO that is not reputable. What Does an SEO Do? SEOs and consultants or agencies similar to this are capable... [...]

Jordan Kasteler says, “After a nearly two year wait, Google’s Penguin algorithm has finally been updated again. It’s the fourth major release, making this Penguin 4.0. It’s also the last release of this type, as Google nowsays Penguin is a real-time signal processed within its core search algorithm. Penguin goes real-time Penguin is a filter designed to capture sites that are spamming Google’s search results in ways that Google’s regular spamming systems might not detect. Introduced in 2012, it has operated on a periodic basis. In other words, the Penguin filter would run and... [...]

Asim Mughal says, “If we talk about website optimization, keyword research is an essential part for both PPC marketing and search engine optimization success. The internet is choke full of articles by search marketing experts who tell you that it is necessary to optimize your site for the terms that people are actually searching for. But when it comes to finding those terms and turning them into profitable keywords, this whole process is no easy feat. You have to put a huge effort to prepare a robust keywords list for your website. But here’s the thing… Keyword research doesn’t... [...]