SEO content marketing roundup, week ending August 10th, 2011

Shiny new toys seem to have lost their luster, and just how much is too much? Interesting conversations about having too much content on a given page for your own good, and the dramatic rise and seeming fizzle of Google+ are among the highlights in this week’s latest and greatest web writing news. Take a peek at this week’s selections:

Content Marketing

So how much content is too much?  Marketing Sherpa posts that while content-heavy pages can bring search traffic, they may also incur search penalties.

Lee Odden discusses the trend of “brands as publishers” (and publishers as online marketers) at Top Rank.

In a twist on the brand-publisher-marketer theme, We Grow Media interviews Joe Pulizzi on why marketers should be publishers.

iMedia Connection posts the top 10 brands in video (“new names and killer campaigns”) and how to transform yourself into a brand.

Heidi Cohen lists 30 branding definitions at her site, noting that in and of itself, a brand is not a marketing strategy.

Ian Lurie posts a keeper with an internet marketing priority list at Conversation Marketing.

Another one for the bookmarks: Michele Linn of Content Marketing Institute shares 10 must-have templates for content marketers.

Mack Collier posts using “topic buckets” to improve your blogging and SEO.

Jay Baer posts the first of a new video series with “don’t be a content marketing grinch” at Convince and Convert.

In a similar thread, Shelly Bowen makes the case for sharing content strategy success at pybop.

Five ways to produce content that readers will love are posted at Kikolani.

HubSpot posts three questions businesses should ask when selecting a marketing agency.

Great read at Search Engine Watch sharing a few lessons the author learned about online writers “down on the content farm.”

Eight ways to discover content ideas from your readers are posted at Social Media Examiner.

Finally, a step-by-step guide to effective online article marketing (part 2) is at Search Engine Land.

SEO & Search

As noted in last week’s roundup, the buzz swarming Google+ has died down, and so has its traffic: by Danny Goodwin at Search Engine Watch.

Greg Finn posts a look behind the numbers of the Google+ unprecedented surge in unique visitors – 25 million of them – at Search Engine Land.

Bookmark this one: The complete history of Google’s algorithm changes via SEOmoz.  (Thank you, Dr. Pete).

And bookmark this one, too: Kiss Metrics posts global web usage trends based on Google’s 2011 web analytics review, complete with nifty graphics.

SEO stats galore await you in the latest Marketing Sherpa Benchmark Study, reports Matt McGee at Search Engine Land.

Go fetch, Google-bot! Vanessa Fox posts a how-to on a new way to direct Google-bot to your new and updated web pages at Search Engine Land.  (Also reported by Rob D. Young at Search Engine Watch).

Whoa, dude! Can query volume directly influence rankings? At SEOmoz.

Barry Schwartz reports on ISP’s that have been caught (allegedly) hijacking and redirecting search results at Search Engine Land.

Google’s bringing back realtime search via Google+, as reported by both  Search Engine Watch and HubSpot.

Search Engine Journal posts applying landing page best practices to boost conversions and “the lazy man’s SEO – building content that matters.”

Lee Odden posts six ways PR pros can avoid failing at SEO at Top Rank.

Is digital asset optimization (DAO) the new SEO? ClickZ posts “leveraging keyword research digital asset optimization.”

Demystifying analytics reports for your clients is at Content Marketing Institute.

Social Media Marketing

Seven reasons why you don’t need social media networks are posted at Level 343.

How professionals use LinkedIn is posted at eMarketer.

HubSpot reports that the LinkedIn share button is now on more than 100,000 websites.

Lee Odden shares what he wishes Google+ would do (30 days’ out) at Top Rank.

Jay Baer posts five reasons why social media measurement is making you lie to yourself at Convince and Convert.

Jeff Bullas shares 15 tips for selling on Facebook, as well as five creative Facebook marketing campaigns.

Social Media Examiner posts 29 tips to make your video marketing easy.

Finally, Brian Solis posts a study, stuffed with stats, about abandoning Facebook in favor of Google+.