Dr. Peter J. Meyers says, “In October of 2014, Google launched “In the news“, replacing their traditional news vertical results with a broader range of sources from across the web. Last week, Google’s news results were shaken up again with the launch of “Top Stories”, a card-style set of featured stories. Here’s an example from a search for “John Glenn”. Even John Glenn’s death somehow can’t escape becoming a Trump story, but that’s a topic for another time. What do we know about the shift to “Top Stories”, and... [...]

MOZ team says, “After analyzing hundreds of SERPs over the past few weeks, Rand has identified the 10 distinct content types that work best for SEO and classified which formats are suited for certain queries. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, he explains those content types and how to use them to satisfy searcher intent, match them to the right projects, and enhance your overall strategy”. The 10 Types of Content That Work Best for SEO MOZ  [...]

Chelsea Scholz says, “Webinars are an incredibly popular lead-gen tool in most marketers’ toolkits. However, times have changed (and viewer attention spans have changed with it). Rather than try and force your audience to show up on time for live events and stay for a full hour (ain’t nobody got time for that), it’s time to consider delivering content they can watch anytime they want (just like their Netflix experience). We’re talking on-demand video”. How Marketing Like Netflix Will Save Your Lead-Gen Strategy MOZ  [...]

Andrew Lovasz says, “Google has made yet another algorithm change with its Penguin 4.0 update. While it’s one of the thousands of changes it conducts each year, this one outweighs any of the other, more minor updates. Businesses can leverage Penguin 4.0 in their favor, however, as long as they understand the subtleties the new update entails. Google Penguin’s wobbly path In April 2012, Google cracked down on websites benefitting from links from contrived or “unnatural” outside websites. In perhaps the first ever move by a business to leverage the intelligence of the “crowd,”... [...]

Kevin Lee says, “From its inception as a marketing discipline nearly a decade ago, SEO has generally had a tactical focus. And that’s fine. After all, the specific tactics used to gain links, mentions, rankings, traffic and other KPIs are amazingly interesting subjects in their own right. (I’ve long been fascinated by the exact position of the demarcation line between White Hat and Black Hat SEO). But SEO is much more than tactics, hacks and tools. Today, in many organizations, SEO’s role as a strategic business driver is becoming more deeply felt. Let’s itemize five ways that SEO... [...]

Aleh Barysevich says, “Last year, I wrote about five SEO trends you needed to know in 2016. Plenty of things in the SEO industry have stayed the same since I made those predictions (e.g., mobile optimization is still all-important, responsive Web design is still essential to ranking well, and keyword rankings are still important), but much has changed, too. In this article, I walk you through five of the hottest SEO trends that you can expect to see more of in 2017. 1. Rank Tracking 2017 is going to bring rank tracking back to the forefront. Yes, you read that right. Rank tracking is almost... [...]

Ben Davis says, “What will 2017 bring for SEO? Our experts have already weighed in on the biggest trends that happened in 2016, now they look to the future. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this article. In no particular order, they are: Andrew Girdwood, head of media technology, Signal. Max Holloway, senior search manager, Pi Datametrics. Glynn Davies, head of search strategy, Pi Datametrics. Will Critchlow, founder & CEO, Distilled. Ruth Attwood, SEO consultant, 4Ps Marketing. Felice Ayling, SEO and Social Director, Jellyfish. And for more on this topic check out these resources... [...]

Mark Johnstone says, “A few weeks ago, a post was published entitled The SEO Myth of Going Viral. It referenced 8 pieces of content across 4 different sites that went viral and, most importantly for SEO, gained hundreds of linking root domains. I was the creative director on a lot of those campaigns while working as the VP of Creative at Distilled. Today, I’d like to add some important context and detail to the original post. I actually agree with much of what it said. However, it’s based on the assumption that one big viral piece of content would result in a visible jump in rankings... [...]

Jesse Boskoff says, “When using local search engine optimization, a company should add localized keywords to a website’s posts, create responsive webpages that are compatible with mobile devices, post listings on Google Places, position backlinks on websites that are associated with a company’s geographic region and develop citations that feature incoming links. Typically, local SEO is able to improve a webpage’s conversion rates, increase traffic, boost the amount of customers who post reviews about a business and augment the number of visitors who follow the company’s... [...]

Aleh Barysevich says, “Last year, I wrote about five SEO trends you needed to know in 2016. Plenty of things in the SEO industry have stayed the same since I made those predictions (e.g., mobile optimization is still all-important, responsive Web design is still essential to ranking well, and keyword rankings are still important), but much has changed, too. In this article, I walk you through five of the hottest SEO trends that you can expect to see more of in 2017. 1. Rank Tracking 2017 is going to bring rank tracking back to the forefront. Yes, you read that right. Rank tracking is almost... [...]