Top Six Search Marketing Insights from SES Chicago

by: iCopywriter Senior Blogger, Gaia Veenis

The SES Chicago conference highlighted quite a few interesting techniques and success stories emerging from the Internet community this November 14-18. All sorts of businesses from the Internet marketing world were in attendance, representing everything from small startups to big household names.  Many of those companies revealed what brought them success and what they've learned to avoid. New developments in the realms of SEO and social media were also evident from the week’s events.   

SES is a conference series for digital agencies, online marketers, webmasters and other movers and shakers in the Internet industry. Since 1999, the organization has been hosting annual conferences in cities around the world, including Berlin, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, NYC, San Diego, San Francisco, Singapore and Toronto. This leading international series has become known as a guiding voice in the multifarious world of search engine marketing. The various SES events take different shapes around the world. This year’s event in Chicago was a comprehensive conference and exhibition that covered many important topics of the moment.

To get an idea of what went down at this year’s SES Chicago, consider a few of the hot topics of the conference and expo:

1. Advanced Keyword Modeling – Demand for keyword research is growing, based on emerging technologies such as Google Instant and the new intent-based results from Bing. With this kind of data, it’s now possible for Internet marketers to do comprehensive expansion and modeling to enhance their search, social media and traditional marketing efforts. 

2. Content Marketing Optimization – Content is truly the most important aspect of any successful SEO or social media marketing campaign. Some of the many content types to consider optimizing include web pages, rich media, Office docs, PDFs and other digital assets. 

3. Measuring Social Media Success – This conference session discussed the value that Internet marketers can and should be gaining from their blogging, Facebook status updates, tweeting and other social media efforts.

4. Multiple Sites and Duplicate Content – Having duplicate content on your website can result in penalties from Google and other search engines. To avoid being banned or penalized, it’s important to consider this issue and strenuously avoid posting duplicate content.  

5. SEO 2.0: Less is More – This session discussed how SEO can be overdone, and how to avoid that issue on your company's site. It’s important to shoot for just the right level of optimization to avoid overload without leaving search traffic open to the competition.

6. Smart Optimization – This session, titled “Reeling Them In: Attract and Convert Your Audience through Smart Optimization,” addressed the best practices to achieve high conversion rates. The overall message: segmentation, real-time reporting and other sources of insight help plan a better campaign and achieve a true marketing voice.    

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Fresh Content: The Big Winner in Google’s New Algorithm

by: iCopywriter

Have you been wondering whether consistently adding fresh, SEO-friendly content will really draw more eyes to your company’s website? While the evidence has always been there, the roll out of Google’s latest algorithm update offers a resounding, “Yes!”

The new algorithm, which reportedly affects 35% of searches, focuses more on the “freshness” of content rather than on past updates. And based on an analysis from Searchmetrics, which has accurately projected the effects of past Google algorithm updates, the focus on freshness is working.

Searchmetrics’ list of winners and losers from the most recent changes shows a clear trend. Whether brands, news sites, video portals or even government sites, the “winners” all have one thing in common: they have new, engaging content for their site visitors - always.

The kinds of sites that will come out on top in this algorithm shift vary, but they include several major, recognizable brands, such as Overstock.com and MarthaStewart.com. Celebrity gossip sites, like PerezHilton.com and hollywoodreporter.com, should also see boosts, as should news sites, such as huffingtonpost.com and Salon.com. Unsurprisingly, video juggernaut YouTube.com should also benefit, along with other video sites, like funnyordie.com.

Visit any of these winning sites, diverse as their offerings and purpose are, and you’ll see one thread in common: fresh, lively content that’s updated almost dizzyingly often.

What does this mean for your company’s website? Only good things, it seems. Stocking your site with new, SEO content will make more of a difference than ever in your ratings. That’s why choosing iCopywriter is a great idea for your business. Our team of college-educated, SEO-trained writers and editors keep constantly up to date on the latest trends in Web copywriting. We can provide the fresh, relevant content you need to stay on top or climb higher. With iCopywriter on your side, Google’s newest algorithm looks like a win-win.

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The Results Are In: Google Doesn’t Like Annoying Ads Either

by: iCopywriter Senior Editor, Heather Price-Wright

Have you ever encountered a website so littered with ads, you couldn’t tell what was site content and what was junk? Are you a little embarrassed to admit that your company’s website might consist of more pop-ups than substance?

Well, start cleaning up the clutter; otherwise, as Search Engine Land Editor-in-Chief Danny Sullivan reported this week, Google might start penalizing you for all those irritating ads.

At this week’s Pubcon conference, Google representative Matt Cutts said that his company is considering using the number of intrusive ads on a site as a factor in that site’s rankings. He noted that Google would look for the things that really matter on a site and whether or not those things were obscured or made difficult to access by too many ads.

For the average Web user, this is awesome news. Hopefully, it means less time spent dodging ads that blare sound or dart around the screen every time you try to minimize them.

This could be great news for businesses, as well, but only if they’re proactive. After all, no matter how strong your website’s content, customers will be instantly put off by too many ads and won’t stay on your site for long. Think of this as Google’s way of helping your company help itself.

Instead of ads, load your website up with fresh, interestingarticles and information. iCopywriter can help you create and optimize content for your site to replace all those junky ads. You’ll be killing two birds with one stone - keeping your Google rankings high and your site visitors happy.

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Interesting Online Trends from YouTube’s 2011 Stats

by: iCopywriter Senior Blogger, Gaia Veenis
 

As one of the most popular destinations on the Internet, YouTube is a force to be reckoned with and a powerful forecaster of trends in everything from pop culture to international politics. In a matter of years, YouTube has managed to evolve from a novelty to a major market shareholder in its own right. The site features millions of videos, created and/or uploaded by users all over the world. They can be anything from home movies and how-to videos to clever advertisements and snippets of TV shows to news clips and music videos, plus everything else in between.

Knowing what people are watching on YouTube is important for many online marketers and Internet-based retailers these days, because it reveals quite a bit about what consumers are thinking and doing.   

What’s Up With YouTube so far in 2011?

It’s getting closer to the end of 2011, and it’s about that time that websites like YouTube start to release lists of their most popular searches and other big trends. One interesting addition to the site this year is a “YouTube’s New Year Countdown” page that highlights the most unforgettable videos of 2011. And now that the year is drawing to a close, everyone’s already talking about stats such as the top music videos and commercials being streamed and downloaded. These are a few of the year’s most-viewed videos so far:

Commercial

The Force: Volkswagen Commercial

Music Video

Jennifer Lopez : On the Floor ft. Pitbull

Live Streams

The Royal Wedding

News Video Clips

Tunisian Unrest, Protests in Egypt, Civil War in Libya and Uprisings in Yemen

So Why Does YouTube Matter?

If you own an online business or work in the Internet marketing industry, you should definitely be paying attention to trends from sites like YouTube. While it may not always relate directly to your business, this is the kind of information that keeps savvy online businesspeople on the pulse of trends in consumer thinking. Fortunately, sites like YouTube and all the major search engines will be releasing plenty of end-of-the-year information in conveniently categorized lists as we move closer to 2012.  

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SEO Content: The Long and Short of It

by: iCopywriter

So, you’ve finally seen the light and realized your website needs a content upgrade. Congratulations! iCopywriter can help you replace clunky, old text with fresh, SEO content that’s sure to draw eyes and clicks to your business. But when it comes to SEO content, how long is too long? Actually, there’s no such thing, nor is there “too short.” (Wouldn’t it be great if everything in life were that way?) As Nicole Beckett notes on SEO News, the idea that there is any “right” length for SEO content is a big, old myth.

Instead, what’s important is to make sure your content is engaging, lively and, most importantly, natural. Don’t stuff five keywords into 250 words. Not only will search engines catch it and penalize you, but readers will know something about your content is fishy and move on. Treat your site visitors like the savvy folks they are, and don’t try to lure them in with overstuffed, unimaginative writing.

Instead, focus on giving whatever subject you’re writing about - from engagement rings to health and wellness to carpet cleaning - exactly the treatment it merits. People will respond to content that is relevant to them, excites them and makes them think about a subject in a new way. Can you get your point across in a punchy, 300-word post, while still achieving your SEO goals? Great! Do you need a few more words to delve into a more complicated topic? That’s fine, too. After all, it’s not how long your content is; it’s how you use it.

iCopywriter doesn’t just know the rules of SEO copywriting; we know what your customers want to read, too. Whatever length, style, tone or topic you’re looking for, our writers can achieve it for you. 

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Concerning News & Positive Trends for Search Marketers

by: iCopywriter Senior Blogger, Gaia Veenis

There have been several interesting developments in the search engine marketing world in recent months, some with very positive potential and others that may be concerning to online marketers. The latest changes Google has made to its algorithms and service offerings, including real-time search and freshness updates, have the potential to be very useful for online marketers and Internet users alike. The new query encryption update, on the other hand, may prove to be a thorn in the side of online businesses trying to promote their websites through organic and paid search marketing.

Real-Time Search and Freshness Updates = Radical Changes to Searching

Anyone who knows a thing or two about online marketing surely knows that Google is always changing its search algorithms. The latest changes that have been turning heads are different from the average algorithm updates, however. The new real-time search algorithm, for example, allows Google to track and deliver search results as the Internet user is typing. Web pages are crawled then and there to search for relevant results that are updated based on content from things like blogs, news websites and social media sites. For anyone who uses SEO to promote a business or website, this means social media will play a bigger role than ever before.  

Freshness updates are making equally big waves in search engine marketing. While the Panda update was pretty big, this newer one has been huge. Now, more than 30 percent of each and every query will be tied to fresh, new, relevant content. This gives more power to new domains, which means online marketers must utilize fresh content and domains more than ever before. Posting fresh, time-stamped content will be an increasingly important online marketing tool.  As many of us have long known, content is really the key to effective search marketing. 

New Privacy Limitations with Google Analytics

Google wants to give Internet users the choice to have more privacy when they’re searching online, which is why the company recently updated its query encryption options. Now, online searchers can seriously limit the data that SEO companies can keep track of by logging into their Google account and performing “safe searches.” While this is a good thing for consumers, it makes things a bit trickier for SEO firms and online businesses that use Google Analytics to access consumer behavior data. It may now be much more difficult to gain access to organic keyword referral data for some traffic. This can be alleviated, however, by using SSL to make the website more secure.

Just like any other change in search marketing, Google’s recent updates will only inspire new ways to advertise for online marketers. With creativity, there are always innovative ways to reach online audiences. 

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