SEO content marketing roundup, week ending March 20th

The word for this week’s latest and greatest online marketing news is identity.

So what is “content” anyway? Content marketers discuss the definition of content, an inbound marketing manifesto, as well as customer engagement and attraction through content.

In the SEO and search community, the talk about Google Authorship spills over to Bing with its apparent testing of “subjectship.” But the headlines belong to Matt Cutts’ announcement that Panda is now an intrinsic part of Google’s algorithm, while the Penguin becomes more aggressive in penalizing spammy links.

Meanwhile, social media marketers discuss (lament?) the imminent end of Google Reader.

Enjoy this week’s best of the internet marketing web!

Content Marketing

Lee Odden posts “What is Content? Learn from 40+ Definitions #whatthefoc” at Top Rank.

Rebecca Bridge posts “The Inbound Marketing Manifesto” at Portent.

Content is examined from several different angles by as many guest author perspectives with “All about content: 6 of our all-time favorites” at SEO Copywriting.

Beth Hayden discusses “Why Content Marketing is a Long Game (and How to Play It)” at Copyblogger.

Rebecca Lieb makes a compelling case for “Organizing For Content” at Marketing Land.

Temple Stark walks through “How to Perform a Content Marketing Audit” at Vertical Measures.

Mackenzie Fogelson discusses smart relationship content marketing with “Attract Customers to Your Community with Content” at SEOmoz.

Sujan Patel discusses “Why Your Customers Aren’t Connecting with Your Content” at Search Engine Journal.

Seth Godin posts “Communication is a path, not an event” at his blog.

Planning to launch or update a website? Heather Lloyd-Martin shares pre-launch counsel with “SEO content strategies you may have overlooked” at SEO Copywriting.

Oli Gardner shares “15 Steps to the Ultimate Lead Capture Landing Page” at Unbounce.

Neil Patel posts “When the Apple Falls Too Far From the Tree – 10 Conversion Mistakes Being Made by the Tech Giant” at KISSmetrics.

Christopher Hosford posts “B2B content marketing integration speaks volumes” at BtoB Magazine.

Brad Milne discusses “3 B2B Content Distribution Turbochargers You Should Activate” at Content Marketing Institute.

Sam Slaughter posts “Can Content Marketing Save Journalism?” at Mashable.

Jenny Xie discusses “5 Key Takeaways from Pew’s State of the News Media 2013” at MediaShift, specifying brands creating content, as well as a major shift to mobile.

Marketing Sherpa’s weekly research chart reflects email marketers’ list growth tactics.

Co-authors Hunter Boyle and Corey Post discuss “How to Grow Your Email Marketing List to 5 Digits and Beyond” at KISSmetrics.

Laura Hazard Owen reports “Amazon launches ‘Send to Kindle’ button for web publishers and WordPress blogs” at paidContent.

Jakob Nielsen discusses “Converting Search into Navigation” at his AlertBox blog.

Events:

• VentureBeat’s Mobile Summit 2013: Request your invitation to this “exclusive event” to be held April 1^st & 2^nd in Sausalito, CA.
• The Neilsen Norman Group’s Usability Week 2013 conferences will be held in Dallas from April 8^th thru the 12^th, and San Francisco from April 28^th thru May 3^rd.
• The Ad Age Digital Conference 2013 is scheduled for April 16^th and 17^th in New York City.
• Content Marketing World 2013 returns to Cleveland, OH, September 9^th thru the 12^th. Register by March 31st for early bird rates!

SEO & Search

Updating an earlier post about pending Google Panda and Penguin updates, Danny Goodwin reports “Matt Cutts: Google Adding Panda to Real-Time Algorithm” at Search Engine Watch.

Live-blogging from SMX West, Adam Green reports “Matt Cutts on What’s Needed for SEO Success in 2013 and Beyond…” at Search Engine Journal.

Citing a report by Portent, Barry Schwartz reports “Study Finds Google’s Penguin Update Getting Stricter Over Time” at Search Engine Land.

Matt Cutts’ Google Webmaster help videos, distilled: ClickConsult shares “The Short Cutts | The actual answers to every Matt Cutts video.” Great fun!

The last LinkLove? Gianluca Fiorelli shares the event’s wrap-up with “The Future of Link Building, Will Critchlow at #Linklove:” via State of Search.

Anthony Ha posts “Google Study Says Mobile Searchers Act Quickly, With 55 Percent Of Conversions In The First Hour” at TechCrunch.

AJ Kohn shares a larger perspective of Google Authorship with “Build Your Authority, Not Your Author Rank” at Blind Five Year Old.

Answering Copyblogger’s Demian Farnworth, Don Rhoades posts “Why Hunter Thompson Would Have Hated Author Rank (…But He Would Have Used It Anyways)” at the Gonzo SEO.

In his SEO expert interview, “Social search? Author rank? Terry Van Horne has his word,” Terry Van Horne takes exception to the industry buzz at SEO Copywriting.

Reports of new author images appearing in Bing’s search results led Danny Sullivan to post “Is Bing Testing ‘Subjectship’ Rather Than Authorship In Its Search Results?” at Search Engine Land.

Barry Schwartz reports “Bing Webmaster Tools Adds Site Move Tool,” also at Search Engine Land.

Art Enke gives a Vertical Measures ppt presentation, “Prepare for Panda 2013: How to Destroy ALL Your Duplicate Content,” via SlideShare.

Kieran Flanagan posts “How to Survive Google’s Pending Panda Update” at HubSpot.

Chris Simmance shares “Top 6 SEO Tools To Combat Google Panda and Penguin” at Dashburst.

Doc Sheldon discusses why “REAL Professional SEO Specialists Don’t Have a Bad Name!” at Level 343.

Avinash Kaushik delves deep with “Excellent Analytics Tip #23: Align Hits, Sessions, Metrics, Dimensions!” at Occam’s Razor.

Rachael Gerson discusses “dark social” and tagging to improve the accuracy of your referrals in Google Analytics with her Whiteboard Friday presentation, “Why Google Analytics Tagging Matters,” at SEOmoz.

Benny Blum discusses “How Enhanced Campaigns May Affect Your Analytics” at Search Engine Land.

Jayson DeMers discusses “The Resurgence of Long-Tail Keywords in SEO” at Search Engine Watch.

Joshua Hardwick posts “The Secret Guide to Video and SEO” at KISSmetrics.

Google’s version of Evernote? Hints at a new Google Drive app surface with “Google Keep, a New Service for Taking Notes” at Google Operating System.

Events:

• SES New York returns to The Big Apple this Monday, March 25^th, and runs thru the 28^th.
  
• Pubcon New Orleans 2013 returns to The Big Easy from April 22^nd thru the 25^th.
• SMX (Search Marketing Expo) Advanced is returning to Seattle June 11^th & 12^th. Sign up by March 29^th for Super Early Bird rates!
• MozCon 2013 (SEOmoz) will be in Seattle (of course) from July 8^th thru the 10^th.
• Search Exchange 2013 will be held July 29^th thru the 31^st in Charlotte, NC. Register by April 30^th for early bird rates!

Social Media Marketing

Stan Schroeder reports that “More Than 500,000 Google Reader Users Migrate to Feedly” with its promise of “seamless” migration, at Mashable.

Matt McGee discusses “What Google Reader’s Shut Down Means For Bloggers & Publishers” at Small Business Search Marketing.

Also deliberating the consequences of the end of Google Reader for social and content publishers, Mack Collier posts “What Does the Demise of Google Reader Mean For Bloggers?”

AJ Kohn discusses why “Closing Google Reader Sucks For Me, But Is Dangerous For Google” at Blind Five Year Old.

Kristi Hines shares “Google Reader Alternatives: 3 Web Based RSS Readers to Manage Your Subscriptions” at Kikolani.

“Pinterest Analytics” headlines Social Media Examiner’s weekly news.

Tehmina Zaman posts “How Can Your Business Benefit From Pinterest’s New Analytics Tool?” at Business 2 Community.

Lindsey Weintraub posts “B2B Pinterest Social Media Marketing: 40 Ideas to Get You Started” at Social Media Today.

Twitter chirps up changes to its “ads center” with improved engagement reporting with “The new Twitter Ads center” at its Advertising Blog.

At the same blog (above), Twitter also boasts new targeting options with “Twitter Advertising: More powerful tools for small business and self-service advertisers.”

Matt McGee suggests a more passive use of Twitter as a customer service tool with “How To: Use Twitter as a Listening Station” at Small Business Search Marketing.

Mark Shaefer posts his video interview with Klout Founder Joe Fernandez with “What’s next for Klout? Turning a ‘blunt object’ into a useful tool?” at {grow}.

Greg Sterling reports “State Of The News Media: Everything In Decline But Digital” (and especially social media) at Marketing Land.

Lindsay Bell discusses brand PR crisis management with “LIVESTRONG Lessons: Recovering from a Crisis” at Spin Sucks.

Sameer Panjwan discusses “The Art of Local Social Media Marketing vs. International Social Media Marketing” at Search Engine Journal.

Ian Cleary reviews “9 Tools to Improve Social Media Productivity” at Convince & Convert.

Jeff Bullas shares a humorous infographic from The Maple Kind with “9 Reasons Why Facebook Needs the ‘I Don’t Care’ Button” at his blog.

Brian Solis announces the availability of his new book and offers a preview of the first two chapters with “WTF is Going on with the Future of Business?”

Events:

• Social Media Marketing World is scheduled to take place in San Diego from April 7^th thru the 9^th.
• Social Fresh East 2013 will be held April 18^th & 19^th in Tampa Bay, FL.
• BlueGlassX 2013 will be happening May 21^st & 22^nd in Los Angeles.  Register by March 31^st to save $300 (and hurry – last report, there’s only 62 spots left)!

(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.)

image thanks to Vince Alongi