Google's Panda Update + Social = New Enterprise SEM Opportunities

Enterprise-level search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns must be goal-focused, yet nimble enough to jump on new opportunities that result from social media market shifts and search engine algorithm updates. Several recent noteworthy developments have created new opportunities for search engine marketers. But change also has to come from within if larger organizations want to take advantage of improving their positioning in the current search marketplace. Recent History In January, Google assured search engine marketers that it would take action against search engine spam -- scraper sites, sites with little original content, and sites that gamed its algorithm into achieving top listings for what was obviously low-quality content. In February, Google made good on its promise and delivered a new ranking algorithm designed to eradicate high rankings for scraped, replicated and interlinked low-quality websites. The algorithm eventually became known as the Panda update. Also during this timeframe, big brands like JCPenney, among others, were publicly outed and penalized in Google's search results for buying into certain types of contrived content creation and linking schemes produced by "spammers." Some enterprise-level search engine marketers cringed at the sight of such downfalls and scrambled to quickly change their link building and content creation practices. Others knew that their search engine marketing initiatives were rooted in best practices and beyond reproach from Google. Ensuring your search engine marketing team is nimble and responsive to these types of algorithm shifts is a working imperative for enterprise-level organizations. While one door closed for those companies that bowed under the pressures of securing quick results with risk-riddled tactics, another door opened for those enterprises that are capable for joining forces across different business and marketing disciplines and work together to continually invest in earning high-quality back links to their collective works of unique, original and timely content. Social Time Zones Like the old saying goes, "timing is everything." This is especially true now for enterprise-level search engine marketers. Also in February, Google announced it would begin integrating information from social networking sites, such Twitter, Flickr, and Quora, into its web search algorithms. Bing's search results are also under the influence of social networking data from Twitter and Facebook for friend-liked results. And, as of April, Gmail users and their "friends" who are logged in to Google -- an estimated 20 percent of the U.S. market -- can see what other friends label as +1 in their search results, be it paid or earned. From a search marketer's perspective, the introduction of social content being used as a factor for producing relevant search rankings assuages the importance of producing timely content and branded messaging around trending memes and themes. Enterprises that are still hung up on controlling the messages made through social networks rather than focusing on participating in the conversation need to break down operational business boundaries and change their online marketing ways. No, you don't have to shoot all the lawyers, but you do need to ensure that your search engine marketing team is unencumbered by content approval processes. While timeliness is a key opportunity for big brands, savvy search engine marketers realize that all these recent developments add up to new opportunities to improve their overall online visibility. In this case, search engine marketers can "double down" on improving a brand's overall search engine visibility when they simply work to unite social media marketing initiatives with link building campaigns. In Conclusion Google has said that its search algorithm uses more than 200 signals. Not to be outdone, Bing has said that its search algorithm analyzes at more than 1,000 signals. The elimination of link farms and content scrapers, along with the introduction of prominent temporal signals from authoritative social media networks, have combined to create new opportunities for enterprise-level search engine marketers -- especially when it comes to link building programs. Just remember that anything worth doing is worth measuring. Setting up a centralized dashboard is a working imperative if online marketers are to fulfill business goals, while tearing down barriers built around more traditional business and marketing disciplines. Source http://searchenginewatch.com/

Content Marketing is NOT the new SEO

“So this content marketing is the new shiny marketing toy, and it replaces SEO, the old and not-so-shiny marketing toy?” Those are words – uttered earlier this week – from someone who ought to know better. My answer? No, content marketing is not all that new and shiny, and no, it certainly does not replace SEO. It’s far bigger, broader, and all-encompassing than SEO. I love SEO. It has a place in every marketing plan we put together. Its impact, if done well, can be business-changing. The people that do SEO the right way – I am talking about the real experts – are invaluable. But it’s merely a piece of content marketing. A very important one, but just a piece. Look no further than the name. SEO, or search engine optimization, focuses on search engines. If Google were to go away (the probability of that scenario is .000001%), and no search engine replaced its consumer utility, what would happen with SEO? Content marketing, on the other hand, focuses on…well, marketing. Every piece of it. Content marketing does not focus on one single property, or even a set of properties. It’s online, and it’s offline. If Google goes away, content marketing stays. There is a reason why Google’s most recent “Farmer” algorithm update targeted sites compiling large amounts of low-quality or useless content. Those content farms were using that low-quality content as an SEO tactic only. That questionable content, with its SEO value removed, has no value. Which properties have benefitted from the algorithm update? According to a blog post from Googlers Amit Singhal and Matt Cutts, “sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.” Imagine that. Original content and thoughtful analysis are back in vogue. Same as it ever was? Want to learn more? Sign up to join us as Will Davis and I outline the anatomy of a content marketing strategy in our April 27th webinar What if You Build It and They Still Don’t Come? Source http://www.sys-con.com/

Is a Little Shine Coming Off the In-House SEO Model?

The recent 2011 annual report from SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) and Econsultancy gives some data that can make one wonder a bit. The survey is of mostly North American companies and agencies in the search game. The question I have is about the use (or dare I say popularity) of the in-house SEO model. In-house SEO’s are just that: staffers on a company payroll that have the job of search engine optimization for an organization’s particular needs. SEO agencies ran the show for the start of the SEO era but as more and more people became skilled in the SEO arts more companies decided to bring that function in house. The chart below, however, shows the cycle might be possibly changing again. The number of companies polled using less than 10% of their SEO budgets for agencies (which is virtually a complete in-house play) dropped from 62% to 50% from 2010 to 2011. So does this mean that the in-house model is dead? Not by a long shot but it could indicate that the cost of carrying an in-house team has been a focus of cost conscious companies during the recent economic times. Companies may be willing to give up a lot of control (and many would argue quality) by going back to agencies because carrying pay rolled employees is bigger than just a salary and supplies. Most companies add at least 35% of an employee’s total salary to get the total cost of carrying that person with the extra money representing benefits etc. Marketing Pilgrim’s SEO Channel is sponsored by SEOmoz, the leading provider of SEO tools and resources. Take a 30-day free trial, and see why over 10,000 marketers currently use SEOmoz PRO Everything in life and business is cyclical so maybe this is just the natural order of the SEO game. We really have so little history of the industry to make any conclusions about how these cycles might play out but in the hyper accelerated world of the Internet maybe we are there already. One other thing the report pointed out is what SEO’s of all stripes consider to be important with regard to doing their jobs. The rise of the mobile net is on the mind of the most search marketers with nearly 80% saying it is significant to their efforts. The biggest ‘non-issue’? The Bingahoo alliance with 55% of the respondents saying that it was not significant to them. Looks like Bing has their work cut out for them. So what is your take on the in-house SEO vs agency issue? Is the cost of the in-house play worth the return one can get from having dedicated resources for the mission critical SEO play? Should a company look at just the cost of having staff or should they be a bit more discerning about what the value is as opposed to just the expense? Is it that maybe in-house teams aren’t returning the results that were promised? Is it that the sample for the study is not representative (in your opinion)? Source http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/

Search Engine Optimization and Paid Search: What Should Your Philosophy Be?

company, we are often asked by clients and prospects if there's a basic philosophy when it comes to organic search engine optimization and paid search advertising. "Is one tactic more favorable than another? How do I know which channel to pursue? Should I do both?" Without a hard look at your company's goals and unique situation, there really isn't a concrete answer to these questions. The true test of pursuing either an SEO campaign or PPC advertising (or both) is knowing that it all boils down to your company philosophy, ROI objectives, budget, and countless other monetary and marketing factors. To determine which, or what combination of both, might offer the most bang for your buck, let's examine five types of "models" that my search engine marketing company often deals with. 1. SEO Only. Some clients are strictly interested in kicking off an SEO campaign, usually for a few basic reasons. They often have tried pay-per-click and decided it didn't work, so they aren't interested in trying it again in the foreseeable future (whether the initial campaign was set up effectively and the channel should be revisited is a subject for future discussion). They also often feel that since they themselves ignore PPC ads on the right hand side of the page, everyone else must do the same. While there's nothing inherently wrong with pursuing search engine optimization exclusively, it can take awhile to achieve rankings for competitive, profitable keyphrases, and there's simply no way for your search engine marketing company to accurately predict (as they probably can with some degree of accuracy with PPC advertising) exactly what the initial results will be, and precisely when they will appear. However, for companies which do not have an immediate sense of urgency in their online marketing initiatives and who for whatever reason do not want to pursue PPC, organic SEO still offers a great, albeit slightly delayed, return on investment. 2. PPC Only. Alternatively, a search engine marketing company may encounter the clients who are primarily interested in PPC ... and nothing else. Even with a limited spend, clients can turn their campaigns on and off as needed, making market segments easier to control than with an SEO campaign. Pay-per-click also allows clients to achieve a somewhat predictable ROI if the campaign is managed effectively: "If I spend X, I'll get back Y." The clients that fall within the 'PPC advertising only' category may have worked with a search engine marketing company before, pursuing SEO exclusively, and achieved less than stellar results. Despite all the positive press hyping up what search engine optimization can do for website visibility in recent years, it still tends to be viewed as more voodoo than science by most companies pursuing online marketing for the first time. With such companies, organic SEO is usually a topic we broach after achieving success with PPC. 3. SEO with PPC Stopgap. The first and most common question a search engine marketing company may hear concerning an SEO campaign is how long it will take to achieve results. Naturally, clients want to be able to see the investment almost immediately. This is where the PPC stopgap approach comes in. Though a client's budget is usually fixed, they are often willing to spend a little more on the front end to see immediate results. Once positive results are evident, PPC spending is scaled back as SEO takes hold. An advantage of this approach to clients with limited budgets is that it can be managed on a very granular level. When top organic results are achieved for a given keyphrase, PPC bidding for that term can cease. Over time, PPC expenditures can theoretically be eliminated entirely. This model appeals to those who want a wide range of coverage and immediate results but have a fixed monthly budget that they do not control. 4. Hybrid Model. A hybrid model is similar to a stopgap model, except that the client has no intention of eventually leaving the PPC arena entirely. Rather, the client has their search engine marketing company do a full on optimization AND paid search campaign at the outset, with the expectation that PPC costs will be reduced but not eliminated as the organic campaign takes hold. In this model, a client recognizes that in an organic SEO campaign, they will be limited in the number of keyphrases that they can target by the amount of real estate on their website. With a PPC campaign, however, there is no downside to targeting thousands upon thousands of relevant "long tail" keyphrases, that is, search terms that are comprised of longer strings of words. Using the hybrid model, a company removes keyphrases from the PPC campaign on a granular level as they achieve top organic results for those phrases, but continue to bid on keyphrases that the site does not currently target. 5. Full Out SEM. This approach calls for both SEO and PPC initiatives running at full speed. These types of clients are generally those that consider these two efforts as separate 'beasts' and frankly believe that showing up highly in both channels is a good thing ... as long as the return justifies the spend. These clients are happy to spend as much as possible with with their search engine marketing company and do not usually have a set marketing budget - just strict ROI objectives. As long as each channel is performing within acceptable ranges, they are happy to reap the benefits. Generally, they treat the two disciplines as unique channels and monitor the results independently. Choosing the Right Model Which approach is right? It depends (you weren't expecting a definitive answer, right?). The decision between SEO efforts vs. PPC advertising depends on means, goals, budget, comfort level, corporate restrictions, and many other elements. Keep in mind that these are only five possible models that we often encounter. Many clients do not fit neatly into any of these scenarios. Some clients may start out with one option and evolve into another. Some switch back and forth depending on their own ever-changing situation. The most important thing is to be aware of your options and pursue a path that fits your current goals. Source http://webcast.broadcastnewsroom.com/

SEO Firm Creates Integrity Pledge to Emphasize Commitment to Honesty and Customer Success

(openPR) - Prospect Genius, a local online advertising company, is proud to announce their new employee integrity pledge program. This integrity pledge was created to articulate Prospect Genius’s long-standing commitment to supporting the success of local businesses as well as illustrate for their clients what sets PG apart from other, less scrupulous search engine optimization (SEO) marketing companies. Alex Pelli, Prospect Genius president, states, “We always look out for our customers. Their success is our priority, and we make sure our entire team follows the search engine guidelines so our whole campaign is aboveboard. Our integrity is what sets us apart from black-hat companies that take businesses’ money and then destroy their Web site’s chances by breaking Google’s rules. Prospect Genius has always been dedicated to our customers, but we’ve recently developed an integrity pledge that communicates these values and commitments clearly for ourselves and for our clients.” Internet advertising often gets a bad name due to the underhanded tactics of many online marketing companies. Known as “black-hat SEO,” many of these so-called Web marketers use strategies that are clearly against the guidelines outlined by the major search engines like Google. These techniques can produce positive results in the short term, but when the search engines discover that these rules have been violated, they dole out hefty penalties. This puts a Web site at a major disadvantage, and, ultimately, businesses who advertise with companies that use these deceitful tactics are left worse off than when they started working with the black-hat SEO company. On the other hand, white-hat SEO companies like Prospect Genius work within the strictures put in place by the search engines to provide local businesses with long-term solutions for online advertising and far better value for their marketing dollars. As Pelli comments, “Black hat can get a site to the top fast, but only for a day or a week until the penalties stomp on the site and send it way down the results, sometimes permanently. That’s why we do it right. Following Google’s rules, we take the approach of treating our customers like long-term business partners and make our goal their success both today and tomorrow. We’ll never promise our customers results we can’t produce, and we’ll go about building their SEO campaign in a way that can produce increasingly positive results over time. At Prospect Genius, we hold ourselves to the highest standards of quality and integrity to bring our customers the SEO experience they deserve.” In recent weeks, all Prospect Genius employees have signed the new integrity pledge, committing themselves as individuals to following the rule of always putting the customer first. The full text of the integrity pledge can be found on their Web site, here: www.prospectgenius.com/integrity-pledge. Prospect Genius is a local, online advertising company that uses SEO to connect clients with area customers searching for their services on the Internet. Prospect GeniusAddress: 105 Jordan Road, Troy, NY 12180Phone: (800) 689-1273Web site: prospectgenius.com/Source http://www.openpr.com/

Marketing Data RoundUp: Q1 paid search spend grows 13% YOY

Paid advertising spend in the US search engine space grew 12.6% year-over-year in Q1 2011, according to a new report from IgnitionOne. This figure was up slightly from year-over-year growth of approximately 11% in Q1 2010 and substantially better than negative year-over-year growth of about -2% in Q1 2009. Although all verticals produced year-over-year paid search spend growth of 12.6% in Q1 2011, that growth was led by strong increases from financial services and retail marketers. IgnitionOne data indicates these two verticals increased paid search spend 38.4% and 24.2%, respectively. Briefly: Seven in 10 (71%) marketers who use social media plan to increase their use of search engine optimization (SEO) in the near future, according to the “2011 Social Media Marketing Report” from SocialMedia Examiner. Furthermore, only 1% plan to decrease their use of SEO and 8% have no plans to utilize it, with 20% intending to keep their SEO usage the same. Source http://www.marketingvox.com/

Local Locksmiths use DeclareMedia's Local Internet Directory

DeclareMedia wants to help over a hundred local businesses get more traffic by using their multiple local online directories. DeclareMedia has a new way of helping locksmiths find more businesses to use their service with a listing in the directory for free. If they want their business featured on the homepage, it’s only $20/month but space is limited so they need to hurry and get their placement before it gets taken so they can get even better results. If someone searches on Google for a Georgia Locksmith, DeclareMedia’s got a directory for that. If anyone wants a Virginia Locksmith, they’ve got a directory for that as well. DeclareMedia has hundreds of directories to help locksmiths get more business using the internet. Businesses are trying to figure out how to maximize marketing dollars and get ahead of their competition using the internet. DeclareMedia wants to make it easy for locksmiths to find clients with local internet directories so they can get the business they need. Locksmiths know how to make locks and repair them if needed. Whether people have been locked out of their car or home, a locksmith can offer their assistance in helping you get into your car or home. Locksmiths can also work in security consulting when someone wants to have security access to get into a room or safe. Finding a good local locksmith should be pretty easy and hopefully they are available right away. DeclareMedia knows how to get good rankings for these directories on search engines, which ends up helping customers with their SEO efforts. To get a local online directory is easy, and works well when it comes to search engine optimization. Free listings only take a couple minutes to create while a featured placement listing takes just about a minute longer. With a featured listing locksmiths gain more traffic and lead flow for their company due to the prominent placement on the homepage of the directory. DeclareMedia wants to launch more Locksmith Directories in the next few weeks. About DeclareMedia: DeclareMedia plans to manage up to 3,000 online, local internet directories covering hundreds of business categories. They have created an easy and fast way for both businesses and customers to get what they both need. Businesses can list their business and customers can find whatever service they are looking for. Since the directories rank well in search engines, they help local businesses take advantage of the internet to reach customers in their local area. DeclareMedia is located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Source http://www.prweb.com/