SEO content marketing roundup, week ending February 27th

In this week’s latest and greatest internet marketing news, (big) data-driven marketing and Google dominate online discussion.

The SEO and search community marks the second anniversary of Google’s Panda update, and discusses PageRank, related paid links penalties, a new twist on Google’s search snippets, and post-Penguin linking strategy.

Content marketers discuss increasing big data, mobile and social influences on the industry, while the social media community studies user demographics among networks and building Google+ authority.

Enjoy this week’s best of the web!

Content Marketing

Angie Nikoleychuk likens the characteristics of effective content with the characters of Criminal Minds with “Content Criminal Minds: Why your content needs a BAU” at SEO Copywriting.

Lee Odden shares “3 Essential Content Curation Best Practices to Boost Content Marketing Performance” at TopRank.

Lindsey Weintraub posts “The Content Curator’s Toolbox” at Social Media Today.

Stuart Thomas talks big data and more with “10 big mobile trends to look out for in 2013” at memeburn.

The impact of mobile and social media is evident in Marketing Sherpa’s latest weekly research chart: “New email marketing developments for 2013.”

Joe Lazauskas predicts a power shift in content marketing from agencies to publishers with “Publishers Poised to Become the New Agencies” at The Content Strategist.

In another content publishing thread, Charlotte Woolard reports “Publishers focus on centralizing mobile strategy to meet brand needs” at BtoB Online’s Media Business Magazine.

Michele Linn shares a video post, “B2C vs. B2B Content Marketing: 3 Experts in The Big Debate,” at Content Marketing Institute.

Beth Hayden posts “How to Find Keywords that Work for Your Content Marketing Goals” at Copyblogger.

Erin Pritchard discusses “Content Strategy: The Best Ways to Optimize Your Content” in a video post at Vertical Measures.

Isla McKetta shares “The Secret Backstory of Portent’s Content Idea Generator” in a fun (and informative) post at Portent.

Jennifer Horowitz shares witty marketing “Inspiration…Lessons…Wise Words” at Level 343.

Seth Godin discusses his influencers with “Witnessing internet genius-–plus Joni” at his “sethgodin’s Lenses” Squidoo site.

Becky Gaylord posts “Content Best Practices: Zap Jargon with These Foolproof Steps” at Social Media Today.

Mark Schaefer posts “What comes after content marketing? Here are four ideas.” at {grow}.

Rob McCarthy posts a how to on “Conducting a Website Content Audit” at CMS Wire.

Beth Morgan addresses the fundamentals with “How to Make a Landing Page That C.O.N.V.E.R.T.S.” at KISSmetrics.

Mona Elesseily discusses “3 Neuromarketing Considerations For Landing Page Optimization” at Search Engine Land.

Oli Gardner poses “[How to] Use Design Principles to Increase Conversions” at Unbounce.

For beginners, Rebecca Churt posts “How to Design a Site Structure Visitors AND Search Engines Love” at HubSpot.

David Wallace shares a Marketo infographic on “The Evolution of Modern Marketing Automation” at Search Engine Journal.

Events:

• Content Marketing World Sydney (yes, Australia) is just around the corner, from March 4^th thru the 6^th.
• For ecommerce folks, MivaCon 2013 is next week, March 6^th thru the 8^th, in San Diego. See Matt McGee’s post at Small Business Search Marketing for a $100 discount!
• The Neilsen Norman Group’s Usability Week 2013 conferences will be held in New York City from March 17^th thru the 22^nd, in Dallas from April 8^th thru the 12^th, and San Francisco from April 28^th thru May 3^rd.
• The BtoB Digital (Marketing) Live Conference is scheduled for March 20^th in San Francisco.
• IQPC’s Content Strategies Summit will be held March 20^th thru the 22^nd in Miami Beach, FL.
• The Ad Age Digital Conference 2013 is scheduled for April 16^th and 17^th in New York City.

(Kristi Hines lists “10 Great Online Marketing Conferences for 2013” that covers much of what is listed here, plus other events.)

SEO & Search

Reporting from SES London, Greg Jarboe posts “Meaningful SEO Metrics: Moving Beyond PageRank” at Search Engine Watch.

Citing Google’s Matt Cutts’ Webmaster post, Barry Schwartz reports “After Penalizing Interflora & UK Newspapers, Google Warns Against Advertoirals” at Search Engine Land.

Also referencing Google’s penalties for paid advertorials, Aaron Wall posts “Don’t Buy Link Rich Advertorials (Unless You’re Google)” at SEO Book.

And still speaking of PageRank, Barry Schwartz reports on Google’s Matt Cutts’ Webmaster Help video with “Google: PageRank Dilution Through A 301 Redirect Is A Myth” at Search Engine Land.

Bill Slawski discusses an intriguing search development with “How Google Might Generate Snippets for Search Results” at SEO by the Sea.

Julie McNamee continues her exhaustive tracking of SES London with “SES London 2013: 214 Top tips and takeaways” at Wordtracker.

Nathan Safran discusses the well-rounded SEO professional with “We Need More Full Stack SEOs” at Search Engine Watch.

Panda’s two-year anniversary is marked by a series of three posts by Matt McGee, the last of which is “Google Panda Two Years Later: 5 Questions With HubPages CEO Paul Edmondson” at Search Engine Land.

In the second of the series, McGee posts “Google Panda Two Years Later: The Real Impact Beyond Rankings & SEO Visibility” at Search Engine Land.

McGee’s first of the series is “Google Panda Two Years Later: Losers Still Losing & One Real Recovery” (at Search Engine Land).

In a loosely related post, Jenny Halasz posts a reality check with “How To Stop The Panic Before Asking ‘Have I Been Panda Slapped?’” also at Search Engine Land.

Peter Da Vanzo posts “Post-Panda: Data Driven Search Marketing” at SEO Book.

Lauren Litwinka shares “Graph Search, Google+, & SEO: Pertinent Considerations From Aaron Friedman” at the aimClear blog.

Ruud Hein posts “Larry Page On How To Become Part Of The Google+ Knowledge Graph” at Search Engine People.

Michael Gray makes  a convincing case for “Why You Should Blog Less and Update More” at his Graywolf’s SEO Blog.

Mike Wilton posts “Stop Demonizing Every SEO Tactic That Gets Abused” at Search News Central.

Jason Acidre thoroughly explains “10 Types of Links that Really Matter and How to Get them” at Kaiserthesage.

From SES London, Kevin Gibbons shares “Think Before You Link! Defensible Link Building in a Post-Penguin World” at BlueGlass.

Nick Stamoulis posts “How Much Longer Will Your ‘Easy’ Link Building Tactics Really Work?” at Search Engine Guide.

Sujan Patel shares a “Step-by-Step Guide to Qualifying Your Backlink Sources” at Search Engine Journal.

Also noting Panda’s 2-year anniversary is Eric Ward, posting “The Link Shrink Is In: Is Starting Over The Best Option?” at Search Engine Land.

Citing a new report from Computerworld (and Bill Slawski’s insights), Chris Crum posts “Are These Google’s Ranking Signals For Google News?” at WebProNews.

In a related thread, Jeff Bercovici discusses “Why Publishers Need to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love Google” at Forbes.

And yes, more does not mean better in video, either: Greg Jarboe posts “How Long Should a Video Be? Long Enough to Reach a Point” at ReelSEO.

Citing Google’s AdWords Enhanced Campaigns, Dave Ragals posts “How to Combine Your Online Marketing Technologies Effectively & Efficiently” at Search Engine Watch.

Andrew Zahomacky discusses “Google’s Enhanced Grip On Advertisers” at Blue Fountain Media’s ROI Factor.

A deep dive into big data, ROI calculations, and analytics: Avinash Kaushik and friend Jesse Nichols combine their talents with “Excellent Analytics Tip #22: Calculate Return On Analytics Investment!” at Occam’s Razor.

Eric Enge posts “Misuse of Big Data Can Cost You at the Cash Register” at Stone Temple.

Bharati Ahuja provides all the information and links you need to win a free pair of those cool Google glasses in “The Google Glasses Project – The Future Technology” at WebPro Technologies.

Events:

• SMX West is scheduled for March 11th thru the 13^th in San Jose, CA.
• SMX Toronto is scheduled for March 20^th and 21^st.
• SES New York will return to The Big Apple March 25^th thru the 28^th.
  
• MozCon 2013 (SEOmoz) will be in Seattle (of course) from July 8^th thru the 10^th. Be among the first 400 to register to receive early bird rates!

Social Media Marketing

“Twitter Ads API” headlines Social Media Examiner’s weekly news.

Citing aimClear’s Marty Weintraub’s SES London keynote, Andy Betts posts “8 Ways to Optimize for Humans: The Art of Data-Driven Social Marketing” at Search Engine Watch.

Lindsay Schleisman posts “Search Savvy: Top 6 Search Operators for Online PR Pros” at aimClear.

Richard Kirk shares “18 Social & Local Marketing Ideas Based on the Consumer Journey” at Search Engine Watch.

Shea Bennett posts an infographic on “How People Use Social Media Around The Word (And What This Means For Marketers)” at AllTwitter.

Citing new data from Pew Research, Lenna Garibian posts “Social Network Demographics: Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook” at MarketingProfs.

Demian Farnworth shares “Seven Ways Writers Can Build Online Authority with Google+” at Copyblogger.

Christopher Penn explains exactly “How to set up Google+ authorship” at Shift Communications.

Gini Dietrich cites Christopher Penn’s post (above) and expands on Google+ authorship with “Eleven Steps for Setting Up and Using the Yoast SEO Plugin” at Spin Sucks.

Bharati Ahuja discusses “The Technical Anatomy, Basics And Beauty Behind A Tweet” at  WebPro Technologies.

Tara Urso posts “Create a LinkedIn Company Page: Step-by-Step Instructions” at Social Media Today.

Andrew Nattan posts “The Great Google+ Swindle” at Unmemorable Title.

Google+ pokes Facebook’s Open Graph? Chris Crum reports “Google Launches Google+ Sign-In, Calls ‘Frictionless’ Sharing Spammy” at WebProNews.

Angie Schottmuller posts “Social Media ROI: 14 Formulas to Measure Social Media Benefits” at Search Engine Watch.

Jay Baer shares “The 2 Ingredient Recipe for the Social Media Magic Middle” at Convince & Convert.

Amy Porterfield posts “How to Generate Leads With Video Marketing” at Social Media Examiner.

Nathan Mendehall posts “EdgeRank’s Newest Factor: Negative Feedback” at Social Media Today.

Events:

• Social Media Marketing World is scheduled to take place in San Diego from April 7^th thru the 9^th.

(For an all-in-one listing and description of social media, content & inbound marketing events, check out Neal Schaffer’s “The 12 Best Social Media Conferences to Attend in 2013” at Social Media Today.)

photo thanks to Thomas Leuthard