Weekly Marketing Update: Google Local Search Update + Content Performance

In this week’s digital marketing news, Google updates its local search algorithm to reflect stronger ties to search signals, and marketers seek options in the face of Facebook’s declining organic reach for content.

This week’s features also include BrightEdge CEO Jim Yu’s Search Engine Land article on three SEO personas, in addition to how content marketers are struggling to show ROI, and an example of Majestic’s promising new “Topical Trust Flow” feature for editorial.

Finally, Andy Betts interviews two thought leaders who will be speaking at Share14, Adobe’s Dave Lloyd and Majestic’s Dixon Jones.

Content From the CEO

“Three SEO Personas – Are You One Of Them?” by Jim Yu

In his article for Search Engine Land’s “All Things SEO” column, BrightEdge CEO Jim Yu discusses three SEO personas found in today’s digital marketing, asking “which one are you?”

Jim describes the three SEO personas as follows:

1. The Content Marketer
Often coming from a more traditional marketing background and usually talented writers themselves, content marketers are strategists first, knowing “how to create assets for a specific audience … and how to best leverage existing assets to support specific marketing and business goals.”

2. The SEO Data Junkie
Usually rooted in technical SEO with an analytical mind, SEO data junkies “love to deep dive into data and interpret what the numbers mean,” and “are often trying to establish best practices in addition to creating new ways of approaching SEO.”

3. The Decision Maker
Directors or executives who are “often at the CMO or CEO level,” decision makers are concerned with understanding marketing initiatives and “how they will impact the business’s bottom line – including making calls on the strategy where needed.”

Recognize yourself in any – or perhaps all – of these SEO personas? Jim suggests further reading for each type of persona.

In-Depth Articles from the Marketing Community

“Content Bubble: Does Anyone Know Whether Content Marketing Works?” by Susan Kuchinskas

“Brands are jumping into content marketing with hope, but without the proper metrics to gauge results. Can brand content lead to sales or conversions?” asks Susan Kuchinskas in this ClickZ article.

Citing multiple expert sources, including a 2014 report produced by the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs which shows that 90 percent of B2C companies are using content marketing, Susan discusses the difficulty brands have in measuring the success of their content efforts.

While “most content marketers use engagement stats as a proxy for effectiveness … there’s no clear correlation” to business’s key performance indicators (KPIs), writes Susan.

“Interestingly, measurement is a lot easier in the B2B world … where you can link a piece of content to a sales lead or website visit,” says Eric Johnson, president of Ignited. In the B2C world, he said, “They’re using metrics, but softer metrics. It’s hard to say a retweet converted to you buying a car.”

Quoting David Brown, executive vice president at Meredith Xcelerated Marketing, the story goes on:

The gold standard is to connect content marketing to a business measure – not an engagement measure – such as a sale, a repeat sale, or loyalty. If you can only get to engagement, you have to create a bridge or proxy to a business measure. That’s possible, but takes significant analytics to create those correlations.

When it comes to brand content, Susan reports that while there’s evidence that it doesn’t do as well as straight editorial content, “in general, it looks like brand content can lead to sales or conversions.” She says that the next article in this ClickZ series will address the questions: “How does a brand know whether its own content marketing is doing the job, or even better, which content gets the job done best?”

Stay tuned!

“What You Can Do About the Decline of Social Marketing on Facebook” by Gregory Kennedy

The numbers are undeniable: Facebook’s organic reach for brand posts has dropped significantly, reports Gregory Kennedy in his Entrepreneur post. So what is a brand to do?

Gregory suggests six options for digital marketers:

1. Post frequently and optimize.
Gregory notes: “Currently, the Facebook algorithm boosts reach for posts that include images and/or links.” Some links “can give marketers up to a 30 percent increase in organic reach,” he reports.

2. Leverage other social media platforms.
Gregory notes that on Twitter, brands will still achieve 100 percent organic reach, and a large number of retweets “can dramatically increase reach.” Gregory recommends Pinterest and Instagram for retail and fashion brands, YouTube and Vimeo for “viral brand video promotion,” and SlideShare and LinkedIn for “reaching a professional audience.”

3. Content syndication.
Content syndication platforms “can be leveraged by marketers who develop lots of high quality content,” says Gregory. Noting that “syndicating top blog content can dramatically increase your site traffic,” Gregory advises “leveraging multiple content syndication networks such as OutBrain, Taboola or RealGravity to maximize reach.”

4. Use promoted posts on third-party viral sites.
Sites such as BuzzFeed (note: check out the promoted option here ) and EliteDaily can be used “to create and promote content that has a much better chance of ‘going viral’ than what your team could create,” says Gregory. These sites “can achieve significant virality across many platforms including Facebook,” he reports.

5. Retarget users through the Facebook Exchange (FBX).
Generally a tool for advertisers, this option requires you to secure an ad retargeting vendor that will then allow you to target select user segments with Facebook ads. Gregory notes: “This option may not expand your audience, but it will help you maximize the value from the traffic you already get.”

6. Pay for Facebook ads.
Says Gregory: “Unfortunately, this is the best option if you want to reach your audience on Facebook,” but notes that “paying for ads … opens up a host of audience targeting features, and could actually improve the quality of your Facebook marketing.”

“Using Majestic’s Topical Trust Flow to Find Online PR Opportunities” by Ken McGaffin

Imagine an SEO analytics tool that offers full Web categorization, “not just by website, but every page and sub-domain as well.” That is what Majestic’s new “ Topical Trust Flow ” feature promises, reports Ken McGaffin  for Search Engine Watch readers.

Released in April using a patent pending algorithm, Majestic’s new feature is still “a work in progress,” that has “exciting possibilities,” he says.

Ken writes: “Majestic’s Dixon Jones said at the time, that the new Topical Trust Flow would be a huge leap forward not only for SEOs but for ‘inbound and outreach marketers, advertising strategists, PR professionals and business analysts.’”

In his article, Ken focuses on “how it can be used to quickly identify multiple competitor news stories – stories that can lead to PR opportunities for your clients.”

Using Airbnb.com as an exemplary “PR superstar,” Ken demonstrates how analysts “can quickly find a large number of media opportunities” by detailing how to use Majestic’s Topical Trust Flow feature to determine the company’s link and citation scores.

He reports that by using Majestic’s “powerful filter,” SEOs, marketers, PR professionals and business analysts can “isolate the categories” they’re interested in. Ken concludes:

• Topical Trust Flow usefully categorizes domains, sub-domains and pages into almost 1000 categories
• Using the powerful filter you can isolate the categories that you’re interested in – in this example, we’ve isolated news and PR opportunities
• By exploring the source links, we’ve been able to see the news coverage in context and understand something of the strategy that generated the coverage in the first place

“We’ve been able to identify specific journalists, see what type of stories they interested in and what editorial approach they’re likely to take,” he said.

Search Marketing News

Google Updates Local Search Algorithm with Stronger Ties to Search Signals

Google has rolled out a new algorithm “to provide more useful, relevant and accurate local search results that are tied more closely to traditional web search ranking signals,” reports Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Land.

The new algorithm will impact local search results rankings, Barry says, and “some local businesses may notice an increase or decrease in web site referrals, leads and business from the change.”

Events

BrightEdge’s leading digital marketing conference dedicated to content and search, Share14 , is just around the corner! Join us August 20 – 22 in San Francisco, as we bring together the sharpest minds representing the world’s top brands!

We’re delighted to introduce two of those sharp minds that will be speaking at Share14, Adobe’s Dave Lloyd and Majestic’s Dixon Jones, via interviews by Andy Betts here on the Bright Ideas blog. Dave Lloyd discusses customer optimization strategy , and Dixon Jones discusses how branding and SEO go hand-in-hand.

Remember, discount pricing ends August 7 – register now to secure your seat at this unparalleled digital marketing event!