SEO content marketing roundup, week ending March 6th

This week’s latest and greatest online marketing news is highlighted by Google’s “How Search Works” interactive infographic and its unprecedented public release of its Search Quality Ratings guidelines – as well as the big G’s move to offer a social sign-in with Google+.

In other social media marketing headlines, Facebook will be holding an event tomorrow to debut its Newsfeed makeover, and Instagram boasts quantum growth as it reaches 100 million users.

Meanwhile, content marketers discuss the relative ROI among different marketing channels, the pros and cons of brand evangelism, blogging, and effective presentations.

Enjoy this week’s picks!

Content Marketing

Citing a recent CopyPress study, eMarketer posts “Which Content Marketing Tactics Get the Best ROI?”

Marketing Sherpa’s weekly research chart looks at marketers’ perceptions of their email marketing ROI.

Ritika Puri posts “Why Content Should Always Align with Brand Sales Goals” at The Content Strategist.

Nick Stamoulis discusses the complexity of the larger firm’s buying cycle with “Does your B2B content strategy target all the key influencers?” at SEO Copywriting.

Andy Betts reviews Lee Odden’s SES London presentation with “Creative Content Marketing: Winning Hearts, Minds & Wallets” at Search Engine Watch.

Dan Tynski discusses “The Top 6 Reasons You’re Failing at Content Marketing” at the BuzzStream Blog.

Pawan Deshpande posts “4 Content Curation Tips You Can Take from Brand Success Stories” at Content Marketing Institute.

Chris Winfield discusses the value he’s found in using open data for content creation brainstorming and research with “Harnessing Open Data: 4 Resources To Get You Started” at Marketing Land.

David Teicher discusses “21 Startups and 4 Trends You Need to Know Now (Content, Commerce, Big Data and Smart Interfaces)” at Ad Age | digital.

Erin Pritchard posts “Taking Shape with Content Marketing (Why Creating Custom Content Is Important For Your Business)” – an infographic – at Vertical Measures.

Amanda Sibley posts “What in the Heck Is Co-Marketing?” at HubSpot.

Roger Dooley discusses “The Dark Side of Reader Comments” at Neuromarketing.

Demian Farnworth discusses “Why Google+ Is the Best Social Platform for Content Marketers” at Copyblogger.

Citing compelling research on blog formatting, readability, and credibility, Heidi Cohen post 31 elements to get your blog on track with “Blogging: Content Is Not King.”

Doc Sheldon warns “Don’t Let the Wrong Person Handle your Company Blog” at Level 343.

Lee Odden shares 10 savvy tips with “Optimize Conferences: 10 Killer Ways to Become a Conference Content Machine” at OptimizeBook.

Ian Lurie shares his webinar video and slides, “30 Tips for Awesome Presentations,” at Portent.

Renee Warren posts “The Ultimate Guide to Customer Acquisition” at KISSmetrics.

Jennifer Horowitz discusses “Creating Customer Evangelists” at Level 343.

Taking a contrary view is Jonathan Salem Baskin, asking “Is the Brand Evangelist Really the Marketer’s Friend?” at Ad Age | cmo strategy.

Michele Linn captures no less than “60 Memorable Tweets from Content Marketing World Sydney 2013 [Day 1]” at Content Marketing Institute.

Hartley Brody posts “How to Approach the Creation of Viral Marketing Content” at HubSpot.

Rae Hoffman discusses “Six Components Of A Killer Personal About Page” at The Sugar Rae Blog.

Events:

• 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

Citing Google’s Inside Search announcement, Danny Sullivan posts “Google Releases Interactive Infographic: ‘How Search Works’” at Search Engine Land.

Referencing Google’s How Search Works “Fighting Spam” feature, Danny Goodwin posts “Google’s Live Spam Screenshots Highlight ‘Useless’ Web Pages” at Search Engine Watch.

Barry Schwartz reports that as part of its How Search Works interactive infographic, “Google Publishes Its Search Quality Rating Guidelines For First Time” at Search Engine Land. (Schwartz also provides the link to the Rating Guidelines downloadable pdf in his post.)

Adam Stetzer posts “Interflora Google Penalty, Advertorials & SEO Content Marketing” at Search Engine Watch.

Panda slapped this time around? Vanessa Fox posts “Your Site’s Traffic Has Plummeted Since Google’s Panda Update. Now What?” at Search Engine Land.

Bill Slawski posts “Why Google May Change Search Result Snippets” at SEO by the Sea.

Sujan Patel discusses “3 Ways to Make Your SERP Listing Stand Out” at Search Engine Journal.

Ken Lyons discusses the “seismic shift in content attitude” among SEO and search marketers in “Dramatically Raise the Value of Any Piece of Content with These 27 Tactics” at Search Engine Watch.

Annie Cushing discusses “How To Get Full Referral & Content URLs From Google Analytics” at Search Engine Land.

Josh McCoy posts “How to Configure & Track Google Analytics Goals for SEO” at Search Engine Watch.

Joanna Lord asks “When It Comes to Analytics, Are You Doing Enough?” at SEOmoz.

Eric Tsai discusses “How to Get Into Big Data Analytics” at DesignDamage.

Rebecca Murtagh posts “Social Signals & Search – Reading the Tea Leaves” at Search Engine Watch.

Rand Fishkin discusses usability and SEO in his latest SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday presentation, “UX Myths That Hurt SEO.”

Greg Sterling posts “Flush With New Cash, Structured Data Engine FindTheBest Ready To Make Its Move” at Search Engine Land.

Meghan Lockwood posts “6 Parts of Your Marketing You Should Always Be Optimizing” at HubSpot.

Purna Virji posts “Conversion Rate Optimization the Right Way: Tying in Qualitative Data” at Search Engine Watch.

Neil Patel posts “What Makes a Great SEO Proposal?” at Quicksprout.

Events:

• SMX West is scheduled for March 11th thru the 13^th in San Jose, CA. Register by March 10^th for pre-conference rates.
• 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 tomorrow (March 7th) for last call on (extended) 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

Lee Odden posts “Social Media Shakeout (Where Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ stand in 2013)” at Target Marketing Magazine.

Citing The Google+ Developers Blog announcement, Tim Peterson posts “Google Offers Social Sign-In Alternative to Facebook” at AdWeek.

It happens tomorrow: Matthew Panzarino reports on Facebook’s plan to redesign its news feed with “Facebook holding an event to show off a ‘new look for News Feed’ on March 7^th” at The Next Web.

Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom reports on the company’s explosive growth with “Instagram Today: 100 Million People” at the Instagram Blog.

One million followers (for real): Nick Besbeas posts “What HP’s 1 Million LinkedIn Followers Means for Marketers” via infographic at the (Official) LinkedIn Blog.

Ashley Zeckman posts “Feeling Lost In LinkedIn? 5 Elements of An Optimized LinkedIn Profile” at TopRank.

Ginny Marvin reports “Twitter Likes Promoted Tweet Results, Pushes Brand Surveys Out of Beta” at Marketing Land.

Jason Miller posts “Measuring Your Social Media Efforts” at the Salesforce Blog.

John Cade posts “How to Do a Social Media Competitive Analysis” at Social Media Today.

Josh Constine reports “Facebook Lets Advertisers Tap Purchase Data Partners To Target Customers, Categories Like Car-Buyers” at TechCrunch.

Cotton Delo posts “In Atlas Deal, Facebook Gets Serious About Measuring Ads (Says Deal Is About Measurement, Not an Ad Network)” at Ad Age | digital.

Facebook engaging in cyberbullying? Jeff Bercovici posts “Facebook Hits Back at New York Times’ Bilton Over Post-Suppression Claim” at Forbes.

Relating the original Facebook vs. NYT saga, Greg Finn posts “Facebook Fact Checks The New York Times Claim To Lower Organic Engagement” at Marketing Land.

Brian Solis posts “No Business is Too Big to Fail or Too Small to Succeed – Sobering stats on business failures” at his blog.

Neil Patel posts “Dealing with Social Media Criticism: Deflect, Defy, Defend?” at KISSMetrics.

Martina Simon posts “A Guide on How to Not Suck At Social Media Campaign Marketing!” at Jeff Bullas’s Blog.

Kristi Hines lists “16 Ways Businesses Are Using Twitter Vine” at Social Media Examiner.

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 Danny Sullivan