SEO content marketing roundup, week ending February 29th

Happy birthday, Panda! In this week’s latest and greatest Web writing news, celebrating its one-year birthday, comes Panda 3.3. Meanwhile, content marketers discuss PR and the future of email, mobile (and content) marketing, SEO/search pro’s talk Google’s Panda 3.3 and its new analytics, while social media marketers take note of Facebook’s display ad revenues and influence. All this and much more await you with these weighty picks from the best of the web. Enjoy!

Content Marketing

The world’s most innovative companies in media for this year are posted at Fast Company.

So are you ready for 2015? A slideshow of four marketing trends that “you must acknowledge” is featured at MarketingProfs.

Expert predictions – and “fair warning” – for content marketing come 2015 are posted by Clare McDermott at Content Marketing Institute.

Neil Patel shares the “shocking truth” about how web graphics affect conversions at KISSmetrics.

MarketingProfs posts four email marketing trends that remain strong, even as email marketing evolves.

HubSpot reports new data indicating that businesses that blog generate 2-times more email traffic than those that don’t.

comScore has released its report on mobile marketing: “The 2012 Mobile Future in Focus.”

Google posts how consumers love their smartphones (“Now businesses must fall in love with mobile”) in its Mobile Ads blog.

Danny Goodwin discusses Google’s mobile world vision for 2012 at Search Engine Watch.

Joe Pulizzi illustrates the history of corporate storytelling (i.e., it’s not new) with an infographic at Junta42.

Content marketing vs. social media marketing: what’s the difference? A question pondered several times, but worth another look at Content Marketing Institute.

Chris Winfield shares no less than 92 ways to get and maximize press coverage at SEOmoz.

Five things your press releases should be doing are posted at SitePro News.

Mark Schaefer interviews PR veteran and sage Harold Burson, who shares a bit of his wisdom as the most influential PR professional of the century.

SEO & Search

Big news from the Big G: Matt McGee reports that Google has confirmed its Panda 3.3 update, as well as changes to how it evaluates links and local search rankings at Search Engine Land.

And don’t miss Matt McGee’s reference to Panda’s one-year birthday via a great infographic at Search Engine Land.

Bill Slawski discusses his apprehension about local search rankings with “How Business Names Might be Used by Google in Local Search Rankings,” at SEO by the Sea.

SEObook notes the one-year Panda anniversary/birthday with a too-funny video series and graphic (not quite info-graphic). Great stuff!

Reporting from SES London, Lee Odden “lucks” into 45 SEO and social media tools and shares them via Top Rank.

SEO expert Terry Van Horne posts “How to Implement Video Microdata for Google and Schema.org” at Search Engine Watch, helpfully explaining what Schema.org is anyway.

Yet more from Lee Odden via SES London: “Meaningful SEO Metrics: 3 Ways to Approach Measuring Online Business Success,” at Top Rank.

Marketing Sherpa’s Research Chart of the Week is about considering SEO tactics carefully, with “SEO tactics vary widely in degree of execution difficulty.”

Taylor Pratt posts how to set up actionable SEO dashboards with the new Google Analytics at SEObook.

Slingshot SEO discusses Google Analytics Certification and how to pass the GAIQ test at SEOmoz.

Advanced Web Metrics (Measuring Success) posts some interesting Google Analytics stats, including the fact that half of the web uses Google Analytics.

SEOmoz’s latest “Whiteboard Friday” presentation is on “the math of CRO” (conversion rate optimization), by Rick Perreault of Unbounce.

Rick DeJarnette posts nine best practices for optimized Title tags at Search Engine Land.

Kristine Schachinger posts a back-to-basics how-to on writing Title tags for SEO (geared for beginners) at Search Engine Watch.

How Google’s social search affects SEO is discussed by Chris Horton at Business 2 Community.

Andrew Goodman posts a thoughtful retrospective of search with “It’s the End of SEO as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)” at ClickZ.

Social Media Marketing

YouTube enhancements headline Social Media Examiner’s weekly news.

Marty Weintraub discusses “the secret of Facebook” (“paid organic is the new black”) at aimClear.

David Amerland posts “Why Facebook’s Future Will Depend on its Timeline” at Business 2 Community.

Peter Pachal reports on Facebook’s tremendous influence on mobile – to the point that it’s referring out – at Mashable.

Ann-Marie Jancovich takes “a look at small businesses and how they are using social media” at Vertical Measures.

J.R. Pittman posts creating your story with social content (“The personable business…”) at Level 343.

Seth Godin speaks to how service industries ante up and then some via social media sharing.

Lee Odden posts “Social Media ROI & the Value of Exchange” at Top Rank.

Koka Sexton posts the ambitious “The Real Secret to the ROI of Social Media” at Business 2 Community.

Mack Collier ponders “where all the great social media thought leadership blogs have gone” at his blog.

Michael Stelzner interviews Tom Webster of Edison Research on social media trends at Social Media Examiner.

Steve Beatty discusses trends in “modern social bookmarking” at Search Engine Watch.

Matt McGee, citing the Wall Street Journal (using comScore data), reports that Google+ users spend a scant 3 minutes per month on the platform, making it a “virtual ghost town” as compared to Facebook and other social networking sites. At Marketing Land.

Tom Pick posts 34 (of the) Best Google Tips, Tactics and Guides of 2011”   at Webbiquity.

Brian Solis posts “The State of the Twitterverse 2012.”

Jack Martin posts the four lessons of engagement taught by Steve Martin’s Twitter Book at Portent.

Grant Webb posts a how to on using StumbleUpon for business at Jeff Bullas’s blog.

And last but certainly not least, Brian Solis speaks to “The Rise of Digital Darwinism” at his blog.

photo thanks to cliff1066™