BI Revolution

My friend @MarkTraphagen reminded me of this fun SEO Meetup hosted by my friend Phil Buckley (@1918) featuring another friend Amy Lewis (@CommsNinja). The discussion is the changing nature of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and how content truly and finally is KING.

Content being KING has many implications ranging from a need for new Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to shifting tactics and strategy away from the old optimization days and toward a new world where storytelling is the new SEO.

My Storytelling is the new SEO presentaion is on Slideshare
http://www.slideshare.net/martinmartysmith/storytelling-new-seo

(now with over 16,000 views and all views started from this SEO Meetup and the new nature of content, storytelling and SEO. Thanks to Mark for reminding me of how spcial this meeting was :).

Guest Posts - Be Careful of Spammers
Found this post confusing UNTIL I watched the video. 
http://youtu.be/IMxC3wQZOyc 

Like anything guest blogging can be taken to extreme or done in a natural way with quality (great comment by Spook SEO on the video. 

I like guest posting as a form of BRANDING. I don't suggest or create guest posts for links. When a group in Texas conducted a social media study showing big brands don't respond well that was a guest post that reinforced Atlantic BT's core brand. 

Great Social Media Customer Service Race
http://www.atlanticbt.com/blog/social-service-how-social-media-is-changing-customer-service/

I agreed to drive one link back to the author. The "author link:" shouldn't be "payment" as much as a way to follow and read other quality posts by that author. If we were going to do more than an occasional guest post I would develop writer profile pages and link to those (and probably no-follow the link since it just bleeds out Google-juice). 

When a "quality" writer writes for your blog they bring their tribe with them. I loved the examples in the video (as if LOL). The key information is if someone approaches you about writing a post be afraid, be very afraid UNLESS they are known for quality non-spammy writing. 

Top SEO Listings Yes, No & Maybe Because ...
The key to knowing IF a top listing matters and if you have one is NOT looking at the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) with your computer logged in since you will see SERPS manipulated to look like what Google thinks you want to see.

At the very LEAST log out. Logging out helps some, but your IP still has a shadow, so if you want to know the truth use a tool to know your position and then check your analytics to know how many times you were shown and how many searchers came to your website as a result of that key.

SO, Yes top listings matter. No they don't matter as much as they used too. Maybe they matter, but it depends on the term.

Love talking Semantic Web with friends like @DavidAmerland. David is brilliant and a great writer (FOLLOW HIM). I loved weighing in on his Google Plus post about the Semantic Web race. 

You better believe there is a race. There is a race because everyone involved can ADD (lol). Semantic web is going to change everything...again. Shared some thoughts on HOW.  

https://plus.google.com/u/0/115620878851836664537/posts/KYTw7MNxq4p 

Sorry about the length of my rant (lol). Semantic web is pretty exciting to THINK bout much less actually start to program for :).M 

Great infograpic of SEO hacks for WordPress do any 3 of these and your SEO will improve. 

Fascinating look at the evolution of post Panda and Penguin SEO. Try and use old techniques to win page one and you will do more damage than good as this infographic makes it clear. 

Liked this White Board Friday by Rand so much I embedded it into ScentTrail Markteing. Duplicate content can be a BEAR. You are probably duplicating conent and don't even know it. Rand explains how to stay out of Google Jail. 

Follow Rand's Rules and your content will be considered UNIQUE and VALUABLE.

http://scenttrail.blogspot.com/2013/01/rand-fishkin-demystifies-dupe-content.html  

Great List of Naughting and Nice SEO Tactics: 

Nice SEO

• Properly optimized on-page content and tags that are distinct from other pages’ content and tags
• Unique content that’s truly helpful to your target audience
• Natural links from respected sites that point back to your site or blog
• Mentions on respected websites and in social media
• A consistently updated blog that shares useful information
• A social presence that brings value to its audience
• User generated content such as reviews
• Rich markup such as schema
• An active Google+ author account that’s synced up with your blog
• Clean site architecture that’s easily crawled and navigated

Naughty SEO

• Irregular and inauthentic link building campaigns that result in sudden large numbers of low quality links
• Purchased links on low quality link farms*
• Dated link building tactics such as spammed blog comments and spinning content
• “Spammy” or over-optimized tags and content, stuffed with keywords
• Poor quality on-page content that offers little if any value to your target market
• Sporadic involvement in the online ecosystem, such as social media
• Excessive footer links that are clearly present for the search engines alone
• Utilizing the same keyword anchor text across all backlinks
• Linking externally to just one page on your site

Agree 100% November is way to late to correct bad #SEO behavior. NOW is when Google is setting up their Holiday index so get on the NICE side of Google / Santa ASAP. 

Excellent post by my friend @MarkTraphagen on how to make sure your Google profile is sending positive author vibes to your Slideshare decks.

Why is claiming your Slideshare so important?

Read my Why Slideshare ROCKS Content Marketing and SEO )http://martinmartysmith.com/why-slideshare-rocks-content-marketing-and-seo/) post for why #SEO and Slideshare are so related. By spending about ten minutes and following Mark's precise instruction I bet you more than double your Slideshare's SEO power AND add to your author rank juice (all good). 

 

I see SEO a little differently. SEO as a thing unto itself is disappearing. SEO is now content marketing, email marketing, cause marketing and video marketing and almost anything else you can think of.

Sure there is technical SEO. Your titles are still important and keywords in body copy are good unless they are too dense or not consistent with the rest of the page.

SEO as a "let's optimize for SEO" feels dead and gone. If your content doesn't breed supporting social signals then it doesn't matter at least and hurts you at most. The need for confirmation kills the optimize only game.

The idea in the linked post of coordination across departments is correct and important (always has been). The cross functional nature of Internet marketing, the "it takes a village" aspect, has never been more important due to the need for social signals.

If your right hand doesn't know what your company’s left hand is doing good luck with that. Dissonance kills

I would do a few more things to check SEO such as:

* Webmaster tools to check errors. 

* Watch heuristic KPIs like a hawk and pounce when they wobble. 

* Check competitor sites for terms you want. 

* Evaluate links. 

Wrote this piece after spending several hours in the land of mod rewrites, canonical URLs and Content Delivery Networks (CDNs). My friend @1918's Raleigh SEO Meetup tonight was excellent and mind bending. Came home and thought it would be helpful to define 5 simple concepts that can help any marketer know enough SEO to protect themselves and their websites and hire well.

Great post by my friend Bill Slawski (@bill_slawski). Bill specializes in watching and deciphering Google patents. If you haven't followed him you should.