Tag Archives: industry news roundups
Internet marketing news roundup, October 15
SEO headlines in recent weeks have centered on content. Adjustments to both Panda and Penguin, Google’s most frequently discussed quality algorithms, dominated search news in the first week of October. Engaging articles and blog posts are the driving force of search marketing, but last week’s developments remind marketers that content presentation matters, too. Google reiterated its commitment to user-friendly site design on Tuesday. Matt Cutts, the company’s distinguished engineer, announced an update to Google’s page layout algorithm through his Twitter account. According to Cutts, the change impacted about 0.7 percent of search queries Continue reading
Internet marketing news roundup, August 27
For most of the summer, news related to social media giant Facebook has centered on the company’s stock. After its historic IPO, Facebook has struggled to satisfy investors. However, the past weeks have brought Facebook headlines that offers marketers new insights and a series of new options from the company to make their presences on the web more effective in terms of building brand awareness and driving website traffic. As more organizations opt to make Facebook a part of their social media marketing strategies, the use of the platform to appeal to new prospects will become expected from consumers. EMarketer reported that 88 percent of companies in the United States will maintain presences on Facebook by the end of 2012, with the days of massive adoption fading in favor of businesses moving into the next wave of strategic social marketing. Campaigns will mature and marketers using the site must innovate consistently to appeal to new users. According to eMarketer, Facebook’s growth in terms of marketing use will slow considerably in the next few years, but this is due to the fact that most organizations are already creating campaigns. From 2010 through the end of this year, Facebook marketing use is expected to have grown from 72 percent to 88 percent. However, this figure will grow to 92 percent by the end of 2014. As Facebook marketing becomes nearly universal, Brafton reported that marketers will have to ensure that their presence on the site is dynamic and innovative to stand out from competitors. Part of successful Facebook marketing is attracting users with relevant website content. Not all users, however, are created equal. Campaigns with the most success on Facebook appeal to the platform’s most active users. Wildfire reported that power users fit into two categories – brand advocates and sharers. The company conducted a study and found that businesses with campaigns that drive relevant traffic and boost brand awareness are those that successfully appeal to these active users. Among top-performing organizations’ fan bases, 4.7 fit the brand advocate criteria and 34.3 percent are sharers, with the remaining fans dubbed as joiners. According to Wildfire, the businesses with campaigns classified as top performers have experienced more than 90 percent growth in fan count in the last year, compared to just more than 78 percent for average-performing Facebook profiles. Among top-performing organizations’ fan bases, 4.7 fit the brand advocate criteria and 34.3 percent are sharers, with the remaining fans dubbed as joiners. According to Wildfire, the businesses with campaigns classified as top performers have experienced more than 90 percent growth in fan count in the last year, compared to just more than 78 percent for average-performing Facebook profiles. Reaching and engaging more active users can help organizations find relevant traffic that increases lead generation and conversions with social marketing. However, as Brafton reported last week, providing them with site content that demonstrates value and makes them want to share with their own friends is the only way to appeal to these audiences. Facebook has rolled out a series of new marketing tools in 2012 aimed at making it easier for marketers to create brand Pages that are more appealing to their target audiences. Among the latest features is Sponsored Search Results for Facebook’s internal search. Like paid search capability on Google and other sites, marketers can pay for placement on relevant keyword searches. In general, the platform has evolved rapidly this year for both marketers and users, with both receiving new ways to interact and create content to improve their overall experience. The integration and advancement of video hosting on the site has resulted in it becoming one of the most frequently used video platforms on the web. ComScore reported that Americans watched more video on Facebook in July than any other site except Google’s various web properties enabled for video, namely YouTube. Facebook users watched more than 327 million videos on the site in the month, but as Brafton reported, average time spent with Facebook video was lower than other sites. Essentially, consumers enjoy viewing the content, but most are shorter clips rather than extended videos. Companies using video marketing to drive visibility and direct prospects back to their websites can share their content on Facebook to leverage the site’s growing popularity as a video channel. As comScore reported, YouTube has become the premier platform for both hosting and watch video content on the web. Moreover, eMarketer’s report found that 36 percent of businesses currently maintain presences on YouTube, and this figures is expected to grow to 43 percent by the end of 2014. While many using video marketing will host content on their own sites, others choose YouTube due to convenience and simplicity. Brafton has highlighted YouTube as a good platform for marketers to boost their websites’ search presence and easily deliver optimized marketing videos to prospects through search. Adding to a search presence with video can help make a site more appealing and put dynamic branded content in front of prospects’ eyes. Moreover, bringing any content to users on SERPs can help marketers drive traffic. As search engines evolve, it’s increasingly important to solidify search standing and develop a strategy that keeps sites in a good search position regardless of the algorithm updates search engines develop. Another of those updates came last Monday, when Google launched Panda 3.9.1. Through its Twitter account, Google confirmed the minor update that affected less than 1 percent of searches. As search engines evolve, it’s increasingly important to solidify search standing and develop a strategy that keeps sites in a good search position regardless of the algorithm updates search engines develop. The latest iteration of Panda followed the trend of most of the company’s search quality updates this year, impacting few searches. Brafton reported this will likely be the case for Panda more often than not moving forward. Google’s Matt Cutts said at SES San Francisco 2012 that Panda would likely receive occasional updates to ensure proper performance with minimal major changes, while other search quality algorithms – namely Penguin! – receive the bulk of the attention. While Facebook dominated the news of the week, Google’s minor shift also signaled to marketers that compliance with Panda is, more or less, mandatory for successful SEO and content marketing strategies moving forward. As the algorithms receives these small changes, rather than large-scale alterations, it likely means that Google believes the standard has been set for the types of content that appeal to Panda and those that will be punished by it. Marketers will want to look out for Penguin updates now that Google has nearly perfected its Panda algorithm, as the search giant will continuously look for new ways to ensure quality user experiences. Continue reading
Internet marketing news roundup, June 27
Despite the ongoing struggles with its stock price, Facebook has spent most of 2012 aggressively innovating to give marketers new capabilities on the website. Among the additions that came earlier this year were the complete rollout of Timeline in late March and Sponsored Stories. This week, Facebook had one of its most prolific periods of the year, with five new features from the site either rolling out or rumors of their release leaking from the company. Perhaps the most notable of these new social media marketing tools is the Want button, which Brafton reported is likely to be available soon. The tool would function similar to the current Like button, allowing users to endorse products and services marketers mention on their business Pages. For ecommerce companies, the tool could become increasingly useful, since consumers can indicate they plan or would like to purchase an item mentioned on the network. Another new tool released by Facebook this week is the Scheduled Page Posts feature, which seems like an ideal pairing for the Want button. Marketers planning to release new products and services can set links to these items to go live at certain times, where the Want button can help gauge interest and drive appeal throughout the network. Facebook announced the release of Scheduled Page Posts on its Developers blog, along with Unpublished Posts and Page Admin Permissions. Brafton highlighted the new features in a report detailing the increased control and customization marketers now have over their presence on Facebook. With Unpublished Page Posts, companies can now improve their targeting on the website by choosing which fans see the content they share. These posts will not appear on a company’s Timeline, only within the newsfeeds of the fans they select to receive it. This can help companies who frequently share content avoid spamming their fans and reach the most relevant audiences with specific posts. For ecommerce companies, Facebook’s new Want button could become increasingly useful, since consumers can indicate they plan or would like to purchase an item mentioned on the network. Facebook also announced a Page Admin Permission tool on Monday, enabling companies that have multiple employees or outsourced partners managing their accounts to control the access each person has. The move signals growth in the role social marketing plays in businesses, as Facebook developed the tool to help organizations use the platform more effectively. With social used for content sharing, customer service and many other brand-building activities, assigning different responsibilities to employees can help make social more efficient. The innovations kept coming from Facebook, with the company announcing a new Recommendations Bar on Friday. Brafton highlighted the feature in its report, which found early tests resulted in three times more engagement for content that appeared within the bar. Users who have Liked content will see other links to articles and content similar to the posts they are accessing. For marketers, the tool can help highlight multiple pieces of content that have generated buzz on the site, which is always a good thing for brand reach. With Facebook rolling out tools to highlight more content on the site, Bing is busy developing ways to show off products related to user queries. The Rimm-Kaufman Group reported this week that Bing is now testing product listings within the ads on the site. Users will see the images that contain links directing them back to ecommerce websites. Brafton reported on Tuesday that the tool can help drive traffic for business websites. Moreover, the ads will be placed alongside other Bing paid search content. Content marketing campaigns are often associated with SEO and organic search campaigns, but developing high-quality web content can also help paid search efforts as PPC costs tend to go down (and conversions tend to go up) when landing page content is relevant to queries. It’s not often that a Google Panda update gets lost in the shuffle, but the minor search update was released without much buzz. Panda 3.9 rolled out Tuesday night and affected 1 percent of searches. The iteration was released almost one month after 3.8, which had an even smaller impact on search. Google included a link to its blog post from last May that urged marketers hoping to boost their search ranking to develop website content focused on the user. Brafton reported that developing articles and other content that follows these guidelines are likely to help companies avoid any traffic issues related to algorithm updates. Typically, marketers that see decreased traffic following a Panda update are left scrambling as they look to compile data related to the issue. However, a new addition to Google Webmaster Tools could help discover these issues more quickly. On Tuesday, the company reported that it added Index Status to Google Analytics to show companies how many pages within their website have been indexed by Googlebot. Any sudden drops or rises in this figure likely signals a change due to one of Google’s quality algorithms. Brafton reported that the primary value of this new tool is the ease with which marketers can assess the data. Previously, searching for “Site:YourURL.com” would yield a list of all the site pages indexed in Google. However, aggregating the data into a chart can help spot trends and assess the effectiveness of certain campaigns. The Panda update and improvements to Webmaster Tools were probably the most important changes from Google this week. However, the company also rolled out some other features. On Thursday, Brafton highlighted a new Google+ integration with Google search. Users will now see “Actively discussed on Google+” below any search results that are currently trending on the social network. Brafton spotted the addition on Thursday and found that users can also access some of the conversation surrounding the topic by clicking a “Show” button. This is just the latest integration of Google+ and Google search, as the company attempts to drive traffic to its social network. One topic trending on Google+ (and across the internet) was the London 2012 Summer Olympics, which began earlier this week. For the next two weeks, the event will likely be one of the dominant sources of conversation on the web and a likely trending topic on most social networks. Twitter and NBC Olympics launched a dedicated hashtag page to highlight Tweets related to the event. Content marketing campaigns can give sites a timely SEO lift when they include relevant takes on trending news content. Over the next few weeks, content writers can drive more traffic using the games as a topic. It’s not easy to find the tie-in, but if it can be done effectively, give it a shot. Continue reading
Internet marketing news roundup, June 29
Google celebrated the one-year anniversary of Google+, the company’s social network, at Google I/O, its developers conference, in San Francisco this week. While the majority of the platform’s first year of existence has been spent watching Google describe milestones and release new features without much enthusiasm from users, Google announced at its conference that more than 250 million people have registered accounts with the site. However, both those looking to the site for personal use and social media marketing have heard similar announcements from the company without much happening in the way of activity. Brafton highlighted Google’s announcement in reporting that the company also rolled out Google+ Events, which allows users to plan parties and other gatherings via Google+ that sync with their Google calendars. Moreover, attendees can share images on individual event pages. Again, adding new features is important for Google as it looks to make Google+ more popular, but something else will have to give for anything to come of the network. Mobile was a major of focus of the event with announcements ranging from a new Android iteration to a Google+ app for tablets. Moreover, Google also rolled new apps for iOS users in the form of Chrome for the iPhone and iPad. Marketers focusing on mobile search and Google SEO should view this as another push to ensure that their website content is entirely accessible to mobile users. As with other mobile Chrome apps, the tool allows users to sync their Chrome preferences across devices. This makes favorite pages, web history and recent searches available to users across platforms. Brafton reported that the move will be especially interesting for Google, as it has faced scrutiny in the past for consolidating its services too aggressively. Still, most of Google’s products are in wide use, including search, Gmail or the Android OS, and adding new users every day. The success of these services has translated into mobile, and the company is moving further toward unifying them on smartphones and tablets with new Android search tools. Brafton highlighted the new features in reporting that mobile search on Google will no longer take users directly to SERPs. When Android-powered smartphone owners upgrade to Jelly Bean, their default mobile search results will come in the form of an “information card” that provides data relevant to their physical locations and other preferences. While navigating to a SERP is pretty easy for these users, Google is looking to provide the most relevant information instantly through its information cards, which are essentially personalized SERPs. All of Google’s dedication to mobile came at a great time this week, as Pew released a poll that signals the growth of internet access from smartphones and tablets. According to the company, more than half of all American mobile phone owners access the mobile web with their devices. This signals, more or less, that the smartphone is now the default mobile device for a majority of Americans. Brafton noted that 60 percent of the respondents who access the mobile web said that they use it as least as often as they do on desktop or laptop devices. Furthermore, 31 percent said they turn to the mobile web more often. Whether it’s through search or another medium, consumers are using smartphones to find quick information and fill gaps in access time. Despite the plethora of news coming from Google I/O and the mobile industry, content marketing and social received attention from Google as well. On its Google+ Developers blog, the company detailed a new feature for the +1 tool that will allow users to see other content on a site that has been +1′d by people. Companies pairing social with content marketing will likely receive a lift in their efforts to make Google+ a viable option for their businesses. Brafton reported that the feature will always show users content from the same domain, which will keep users navigating through the same site instead of directing them elsewhere. For marketers, the feature can help keep site visitors’ attention and guide prospects closer to conversion, while users benefit in that they’ll learn of articles and other content those in their Circles enjoyed. For marketers, new additions from Google are certainly welcome as they look to increase capability and visibility for their companies. To help marketers make more informed decisions related to their campaigns, Google made an addition to its Web Analytics suite. The Entrance Tab will help marketers see which pages are attracting users to their content. Brafton reported that the utility of the tool is widespread for web marketers. Analytics users can adjust site content, whether it’s headline structure or other aspects of these pages, to methods that are driving prospects to enter then navigate the site. Whether the headline or page title is shared on a social platform or discovered through search, frequent site visitors from similarly structured content means companies should produce more of it. Making mobile search and analytics better were not all Google was up to this week, as Nathan Sauser, a blogger, discovered a Google survey on a SERP. The feature sought to gauge the overall effectiveness of the results delivered to the user, in terms of their relevance and the satisfaction with the delivered content. Brafton highlighted that Sauser’s report indicates a need for marketers to develop content of the highest quality to meet reader standards. Users’ thoughts will inevitably be applied to future search updates, and focusing on delivering relevant information in engaging formats will help organizations drive better interactions with prospects, while also helping them avoid any problems with search updates. One such update came on Monday when Google announced the rollout of Panda 3.8. The algorithm’s latest iteration, like most this year, was a minor shift that affected less than 1 percent of search queries. Google announced the release through its Twitter page as it often has this year. Brafton reported that Google’s Tweet included a link to a year-old blog post that detailed the best practices marketers can adopt to avoid issues related Panda. As has been the case since Panda hit the web about 16 months ago, high-quality, engaging website content will always be the answer to SEO success. It wasn’t all Google news this week, though, as Bing presented an interesting new tool for marketers. The ability for those using Bing’s Webmaster Tools to disavow links they consider to be from low-quality or otherwise problematic sites is a major step in control for marketers. Inbound links are a key component of search rankings, as frequent linking from high-quality sites helps a company improve its standing. However, links from low-quality sites, which have often been associated with webspam and linking schemes, are negatives for any search campaigns. Brafton reported that these links, though sometimes part of black hat paid SEO efforts, are sometimes added by spam sites without the knowledge of the marketer. As such, offering them the ability to disavow these inbound links will them own their search presence more effectively. Ensuring that search standing is not impacted by third parties is increasingly important for ecommerce companies, as activity continues to grow in the sector. A.T. Kearney reported that more consumers are researching and buying products online. Inevitably, many land on these sites through search engines. Once they start browsing a site, however, they’re becoming increasingly selective in terms of the companies they buy from. Brafton reported that 88 percent of consumers said they are frequently put off by sites that are difficult to navigate. Moreover, 96 percent said the ability to find specific items easily is a major factor whether they buy from companies. With the July 4 holiday rolling around, companies using content marketing have a strong opportunity to target consumer interests in the annual celebration of the nation’s founding. In the past, Brafton has highlighted a number of events that marketers have leveraged to provide an element of timeliness to their website content. While creating an article or blog post related to the event can help a site receive some new traffic, it’s important to be certain that’s entirely relevant to your website and industry. And, if some can’t find the right tie-in for Independence Day, well, at least they get to enjoy a day off. Happy (almost) Fourth of July! Continue reading
Internet marketing news roundup, June 22
When marketers think about content marketing, their minds often turns to words. They imagine news articles and blog posts, white papers and instructional pieces populating their websites. While quality written content that is optimized for search is an ongoing need in marketing toolkits, this week’s headlines remind marketers that content marketing (and audience expectation) is evolving. A study from comScore illustrates the growth of video perfectly. According to the company, more than 180 million Americans watched 36.6 billion videos on the web in May. The figure represents an all-time high, and it’s likely that this will grow even more. Aside from those watching content on their desktop and laptop computers, increasingly capable smartphones and tablets have made it easier than ever for users to stream video no matter where they are. Sites, such as YouTube, Facebook and others, have more video content shared in recent months. YouTube and other Google sites alone streamed more than 19 billion videos in May. More than 150 millions Americans streamed video on YouTube in the month. For marketers, creating custom video content that provides similar information as articles and blog posts in a different format is becoming increasingly effective and popular. Brafton reported that YouTube alone served more than 1.3 billion ads in the month. Aside from marketing videos placed before featured content, pairing a video with a blog post on a website can help marketers drive traffic and keep prospects engaged. As more organizations begin integrating high-quality website content into their marketing efforts, providing an innovative video element can be a distinguishing factor. The mobile audience is especially active in watching videos, according to a report from the Nielsen. The study found that 13 percent of Americans watch online videos from some web-connected device every day with 28 percent of respondents saying their video viewing takes place on a tablet. Moreover, 21 percent of respondents watch videos on a smartphone every day. Brafton reported that 72 percent of Americans said they had not viewed video content on a tablet in the last month. While this is a clear majority, the rapid growth of tablets will likely result in a surge in Americans’ mobile video consumption moving forward. While videos themselves do not offer companies an SEO lift, the value of video content is clear in the sheer amount of people browsing the web to watch it. In terms of the subject matter for video content, marketers can apply similar efforts as they do for news content marketing or white papers campaigns. Video targeting will be key to engaging the right audiences. According to a report from 33Across, many businesses are struggling to make sense of the data they have on their target audiences, however. The information that should be used as part of any web marketing campaign is available to marketers, but determining key trends that will inform these efforts is a major challenge for 70 percent of marketers, 33Across found. Moreover, 91 percent believe that they are seeing results from new media marketing, but they aren’t sure how to demonstrate their success. This is often an issue for marketers, and developing a strategy for any web campaign, whether it’s video content or news articles isn’t easy. However, Brafton reported that the majority of marketers say integrating data from several different channels into one cross-channel message is a best practice for success. Conversion funnels are no longer made up of just one point of contact. Prospects are arriving on websites from social and subscribing to email marketing campaigns. From there, they access website content, read articles and watch videos. These should all support similar brand messages and take visitors along conversion funnels. Otherwise, messages can get lost and leads can dry up. One of the most popular ways for prospects to find content is through search. According to AYTM Market Research, 63 percent of consumers said they use search every day. Appealing to these prospects requires high-quality content and a well-rounded presence around the web. Moreover, those using news content marketing should reconsider their keyword strategy, with 49.2 percent of users saying the terms they enter of a varying length. Highlighting this study, Brafton reported that mixing longtail keywords into a content marketing strategy can drive traffic. As more companies develop keyword strategies that allow for natural use or varying terms, search is becoming more relevant and consumers are noticing. More than 88 percent said they usually find the information they’re looking for without much trouble. The Online Publishers Association reported this week that tablet users are ideal targets of these search and content marketing efforts with 94 percent of owners saying content consumption is their primary activity on their devices. These people are reading news articles and researching company websites to find the most relevant and interesting information. Additionally, with mobile devices, the OPA reported that 29 percent of users said advertising of all kinds drives them to search for products with their smartphones or tablets. On Tuesday, Brafton reported that focusing on tablet and smartphone users can help some companies drive site traffic and conversions. As content consumption is so high for this audience, it’s clear they’re actively seeking out relevant articles and video that will help them make decisions on potential purchases. A strong form of mobile content consumption is social media. Targeting all consumers will with social media marketing efforts is especially important given it’s the channel’s proven performance in terms of driving conversions and lead generation. ComScore(13) reported that a case study included Facebook content from retailer targeted improved conversions among fans exposed to posts from the company grew by an average of 3.6 percent. A strong form of mobile content consumption is social media. Targeting all consumers will with social media marketing efforts is especially important given it’s the channel’s proven performance in terms of driving conversions and lead generation. ComScore reported that a case study included Facebook content from retailer targeted improved conversions among fans exposed to posts from the company grew by an average of 3.6 percent. Highlighting the report, Brafton found that 4 percent of Target fans that saw content from the company converted within four weeks. This compared with the 3.3 percent of all fans who eventually did shows converted, showing that social has a strong influence over purchasing habits. Sharing articles, images and other content with fans on the site improves interest and leads to more frequent conversion. Social media marketing campaigns have become increasingly diverse and multi-platform. While comScore’s report shows the value of marketing with Facebook, more than 2 million companies have found success marketing on LinkediIn, the company announced on Tuesday. Additionally, these businesses are increasingly diverse, ranging from global B2B vendors to local retailers. Brafton reported this week that, as part of an effort to make its social marketing more effective, LinkedIn rolled out targeted status updates. With the tool, businesses can ensure that certain followers and contacts see specific kinds of content. Given the multifaceted nature of LinkedIn, as both a professional recruiting tool and marketing platform, businesses using it often create different kinds of content. The ability to get the right posts and links in front of the correct users is critical for success with web marketing. Those relying on LinkedIn and social marketing also received more good news on Tuesday, especially if they use social dashboard tool HootSuite. HootSuite announced that it has integrated LinkedIn Company Pages into its service, which will allow marketers to manage their Facebook, Twitter and other campaigns alongside their LinkedIn Activity. Brafton reported that additional tools to support LinkedIn marketing are important, as the platform is among the top priorities for social marketers in 2012. A diverse week of news is in the books, and next week may very well be a different story with Google I/O set to kick off Wednesday in San Francisco. The conference may provide interesting insights on Google’s plans for its search engine, as well as further announcements related to Google+. Continue reading
