SEO content marketing roundup, week ending February 6th

Where were you when the Superbowl went dark? Social media marketers discuss several brands that successfully leveraged the power outage, as well as Facebook’s imminent targeted ad transparency.

Meanwhile, SEO and search pros discuss Google’s authorship markup and its impact on rankings, and word is that content marketing now supersedes social media as the #1 marketing priority this year. Hope your lights are working so you can read up on this week’s internet marketing web gems!

Content Marketing

eMarketer posts “Content Vaults to No. 1 Marketing Priority for 2013” (adding “Social media excitement wanes, as content marketing gains ground”).

Citing eMarketer data, Matt McGee posts “Report: Worldwide Online Sales Topped $1 Trillion For First Time In 2012” at Marketing Land.

Is your site sporting a content mullet? Heather Lloyd-Martin discusses “5 copywriting blind spots that can cost you sales” at SEO Copywriting.

And speaking of content mullets: Greg Sterling posts “Survey: Half of Small Businesses Never Update Their Listings Online” at Search Engine Land.

Chris Brogan posts “Why Content Marketing is Not Branding” at Copyblogger.

Jon Miller posts “How to Create an Amazing Content Resource Center” at Marketo.

Adam Ray posts “Become a content marketing all star. Part one: Graphadelic” at Econsultancy.

Courtney Seiter shares “15 Strategies To Get More Shares For Your Content” at Marketing Land.

Arthi Rames posts “How to write content that sticks and works” at Niyati.

Do you market to teens? Jakob Nielsen discusses “Teen Usability: Designing Teen-Targeted Websites” at his Alertbox.

Joe Warner posts “White Elephant Alert! Why A CMS Is A Terrible Reason To Hire A Dev Shop” at aimClear.

Drawing from their 2013 Marketing Analytics Benchmark Report, Marketing Sherpa’s weekly research chart looks at the amount of client data marketers collect.

Events:

• The Online Marketing Summit (OMS) is just around the corner, from February 11^th thru the 13^th in San Diego.
• Marketing Sherpa’s Email Summit 2013 is also fast approaching, from February 12^th thru the 15^th in Las Vegas.
• Content Marketing World Sydney (yes, Australia) is scheduled for March 4^th thru the 6^th.
• The Neilsen Norman Group’s Usability Week 2013 conferences will be held in New York City from March 17^th thru the 22^nd, and in Dallas from April 8^th thru the 12^th.
• 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.
• Kristi Hines lists “10 Great Online Marketing Conferences for 2013” that covers much of what is listed here, plus other events.

SEO & Search

Eric Enge discusses Google’s authorship as a ranking signal with “What Google’s authorship markup means for SEO” at SEO Copywriting.

In another piece about authorship markup, Thom Craver posts “Eric Schmidt: Google Will Give Higher Rankings to Content Tied to Verified Profiles” at Search Engine Watch.

Michael Garrity discusses “The Difference Between rel=author & rel=publisher” at Website Magazine.

Paddy Moogan posts “Beyond Link Building – Using Links and Content to Hit Business Goals” at SEOmoz.

Danny Goodwin posts “Google Warns SEO & Businesses to Avoid Fake Reviews” in expanding its G+ Local Pages at Search Engine Watch.

UpCity posts an impressive list of “25 Excellent Female SEO Bloggers Worth Reading.”

Gabriella Sannino takes on dissenters with “The Hard Truth – We Are Women in SEO” at Level 343.

If you’re a small business blogger looking to write a well-optimized, evergreen post, Matt McGee shares “7 Keyword Research Tools for Bloggers” at Small Business Search Marketing.

Bryson Meunier posts “How To Do Mobile Keyword Research In 2013” at Search Engine Land.

Referring to Google’s latest Panda refresh, Ken Lyons shares “4 Steps to Panda-Proof Your Website (Before It’s Too Late!)” at Search Engine Watch.

Claire Broadley posts “How to Unlock Your ‘Not Provided’ Keywords in Google Analytics” at KISSmetrics.

Russ Henneberry posts “How Does Google Analytics Attribute Goal Conversions?” at Crazy Egg.

Adam Audette discusses “The Best Way To Handle 404 Pages For SEO And Users” at the RKGBlog.

Yes, the devil does lurk in the details: Tom Schmitz warns of “9 SEO Quirks You Should Be Aware Of” at Search Engine Land.

Events:

• If you happen to be in Seattle, take advantage of this low-cost, high-value meet-up, “Seattle Information Architecture & User Experience,” featuring Ian Lurie of Portent and Ruth Burr of SEOmoz. It’s on February 12^th at 7 p.m.
• SES London is on for February 18^th thru the 21^st.
• 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. Register by February 21^st for early bird rates!

Social Media Marketing

Samantha Murphy posts “9 Brands That Thought Fast on Social Media During the Super Bowl” at Mashable.

In a similar vein, Anum Hussain posts “10 Innovative Social Media Newsjacks of the Super Bowl Power Outage” at HubSpot.

Lee Odden posts “The Power of We: How to Build Personal & Corporate Brand Thought Leadership Through Social Content” at Top Rank.

Mark Burgess shares “Lessons for Small Business From the Top Marketing Professors” at Blue Focus Marketing.

Kate Kaye and Cotton Delo post “Facebook to Make Targeted Ads More Transparent For Users” at Ad Age|digital.

Virginia Nussey posts “How’s It Going, Facebook? Feature Updates to Watch For” at Bruce Clacy, Inc..

Aaron Friedman posts “How Facebook Made Me Search In Strange New Ways” at Search Engine Land.

Citing Google’s Graph Search, Doug Antkowiak posts “How to Find Pages You Like on Facebook (and Unlike Them)” at Conversation Marketing.

Jeff Bullas shares “10 of the Latest Facts, Figures and Statistics about Facebook” at his blog.

Chris Taylor posts “Finally! Your Full Instagram Feed Hits the Web” at Mashable.

Andrea Vahl shares “8 Ways to Discover Valuable Social Media Content” at Social Media Examiner.

Michelle Stinson Ross posts a “Beginners’ Guide to Google+” linking to a blog series by Digital Always Media at Search Engine Journal.

Sarah Schager shares “20 Tips to Get More People to Read Your Google Plus Posts” at Vertical Measures.

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 Jason A. Howie