The importance of search engine optimization, or SEO, is well established. What is less understood is the importance of SEO benchmarks for your website’s current SEO performance so that you can compare the improvement over time. Benchmarking SEO performance is something I personally do with every project I work on, and I believe it is fundamental to the success of any project. Perhaps the most obvious reason to check in on SEO benchmark for your current performance is so that you can see exactly where you stand at the present time, and can track how and if you are improving month-to-month. Benchmarking also provides crucial information about which SEO strategies and campaigns are working, and which are ineffective. For example, if you find that 20 percent of your website’s pages are generating the majority of your traffic, you can focus on the specific elements that make that 20 percent successful, while changing or removing the content that is counterproductive or simply inefficient.

Top 6 KPIs to note for SEO benchmarks before you begin

In order to successfully track and benchmark your SEO information, it is imperative that you know which specific metrics and elements to track. The following are some of the most important areas to benchmark:

1. Number of Pages in Google

One of the most important metrics to track is the total number of pages that Google has indexed from your website. This is also one of the easiest. As you create new content for your website, one of the most basic roles of SEO is ensuring that the pages are indexed by Google and other search engines. Poorly written or duplicate Web pages might take longer to get indexed, if they ever are at all. However, sometimes the coding of the website itself can be the cause of the problem and checking Google’s index of your website is an easy way to see if there are any such problems. Checking Google’s index couldn’t be easier. All you have to do is enter “site:yourwebsitename.com” into the Google search bar, and Google will provide you with every single page on your domain name that it has indexed.

Why should you benchmark the number of pages in Google?

Knowledge about how many pages are indexed by Google and what those pages look like in Google’s search results is a great way to get a sense of how your website looks overall. I did this quick search below for Gap.com; notice the following results:

We made this easier inside the BrightEdge platform. All you’ve got to do is navigate to Reports > Site, Then, check out the “coverage” report:

2. Landing Pages

Landing pages are the pages through which visitors entered your site. Landing pages are often used to drive traffic to your website.

Why Landing Pages?

For SEO, the more information you have, the better off you are. Landing pages allow you to see how much traffic is increasing based on the specific topics of each respective landing page, as well as how much each landing page converts to traffic and/or sales on your primary website. In addition, being able to show new landing pages being indexed on Google is a great metric to track. The snapshot below from Google Analytics shows 258 landing pages getting traffic from organic search. The number of these landing pages getting traffic should ideally improve as you create new pages that are SEO optimized. Go to Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages to find out your total number of landing pages inside Google Analytics:

3. Number of Keywords

Sometimes it feels as though there is a never-ending battle between Google’s keyword search crawlers and SEO content creators. Often, SEO content creators that have misaligned intentions go for quantity over quality in their content; however, Google wants their search results to be as accurate as possible while serving up the highest quality content. As a website manager and/or SEO content creator, part of the solution to this battle is to simply create high-quality and useful content which searchers can find and use. However, this is only part of the equation. Like it or not, keywords are and will continue to be an integral part of SEO. The key is to combine high-quality content with intelligently generated keywords. Use Google Webmaster Tools to find out exactly how many keywords your website is currently ranking in the top 20 for, and how the branded vs. non-branded mix looks. Note that this is only to find out the total number of keywords present In the top 20, and not the search volume each keyword is providing. The idea is to increase the total number of keywords in the top 20. Traffic will automatically increase as these keywords start improving their positions. BrightEdge’s S3 platform is even better with Google Webmaster Tools integration, and can help you get the data you need. Navigate to Analysis > SEO Performance and then select “Google Webmaster Tools” as data source to view this report inside the BrightEdge platform.

It is important to note SEO benchmarks the total number of keywords that are driving traffic to your website. Hopefully, both of these numbers are increasing over time. If they are remaining flat, or worse, declining, that is a telltale sign that your SEO strategy is failing and must be revamped as quickly as possible. Understanding which keywords are performing best for you can help give you a sense of what type of information your visitors care about, and can help drive the direction of future content and landing pages.

4. Backlink Profile

One of the most important benchmarks for SEO is “link authority,” otherwise known as the number of reputable websites linking to your website. Even with all of the changes made to Google search algorithms over the years, this metric has remained a powerful indicator and metric for SEO success. Of course, it wouldn’t be practical to check every website specific to your industry for references or links to your website. Fortunately, there are a number of services available that can do this for you. Services like Majestic are a great way to find out how much clout your content has, and whether this number is increasing or decreasing over time. When done properly, high-quality and relevant content from your website will snowball over time. More links from your website shared in an increasing number of places will result in more eyeballs and clicks, which in turn leads to more links in more places. Link-building -- good quality link earning when successful -- can get your website to the very top of competitive keyword searches, which can quickly cause exponential growth in your website’s traffic. Track this information closely, and do everything you can to drive the sharing of links to your website. Conversely, links on websites known for SEO gimmicks, or links to your website that appears spammy can actually hurt your website’s search rankings. Make sure you only link your website legitimately, or your website’s traffic will quickly suffer at Google’s hands. Also remember to note SEO benchmarks for your competitor’s backlinks. If they are getting linked in places you think you should be linked, figure out why and do something to get those links! This report from Majestic SEO shows the important KPIs like Trust Flow, Citation Flow, total external backlinks, and referring domains you’ll want to benchmark and compare in the future:

For an in-depth look at how to build backlinks using tools like Majestic and Rosetta, check out our research report on best practices for white hat backlink building.

5. Organic and Referral Visits

After you have installed GA on your website, you will know exactly how many visitors you have and from what sources. Ideally, organic traffic will grow gradually over time, while referrals will typically cause sporadic “bursts” in traffic, particularly if the referral is in a time-sensitive news article.

6. Social Media

Social media is increasingly important for good SEO. Google wants to see that individuals are sharing your content. It makes sense, as this is a pretty strong indicator of quality content. One easy way to track your social media presence is to use Pages reports in BrightEdge, which can help you figure out exactly how shared your content is across social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. You can also compare the performance weekly. In BrightEdge, you can navigate to Reports > Pages, and select the columns to view the social media numbers.

As you put in more effort into your SEO and social media, you should see improved numbers for those pages. Remember that the return is completely variable, and is based on the current condition of site as well as the amount of effort you put in to your SEO. It’s also interesting to see how improved social sharing affects keyword rankings and overall website authority. For a more detailed look at this dynamic, read our exclusive research report on optimizing Facebook for SEO performance. What are your thoughts on benchmarking these metrics for tracking SEO performance? I want to hear your thoughts, so be sure to comment below.  

Google’s Penguin algorithm targets “link schemes” and unnatural link profiles that it believes are in place to manipulate and boost Web page rankings in Google’s search engine results. Unfortunately, some website owners aren’t even aware that their site has an unnatural link profile, and are quite surprised when they receive a penalty.

In this post, we’ll go over how to avoid the “Penguin slap,” including best practices for conducting a backlink analysis and how to disavow links.

Today, we’ll cover:

• The link clean-up process
• How to get backlinks use BrightEdge
• The last resort: submit a file to disavow links

Get Started with Google Webmaster Tips and Tools

As a site owner who is otherwise compliant with Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, you still may find yourself in trouble if Google finds that links to your website (backlinks) are “unnatural,” meaning the links weren’t “editorially placed or vouched for by the site’s owner.”

Google offers a number of examples of such unnatural links that may violate its guidelines in its Webmaster Tools Help page on link schemes.

Before you get started on your link clean-up project, you will first need to set up a Google Webmaster Tools (GWT) account. I recently posted a step-by-step guide on how to do so, here.

Overview of the Link Clean-Up Process

There is a four-step process to disavow links on your site:

1. Get a list of domains linking to your site, which you can export from GWT (or BrightEdge, if you use it).
2. Examine those links, and determine which ones may be a source of trouble.
3. For those links that you identify as problematic, email the site’s webmaster and ask for removal of the link.
4. After you’ve attended to all of the above, and specifically No. 3, all links that have not been removed then need to be added to your site’s “disavow links list” for submission to Google.

Here is a flow chart showing the link clean-up process that Google prefers you take -- and that BrightEdge recommends -- before you disavow links via Google:

Smart Tips for Analyzing Your Backlinks

When analyzing the backlinks to your website, you’ll want to first examine the authority metrics of the site linking to yours, such as page and domain score. After determining those metrics, you’ll then want to establish thresholds to guide you in investigating further, which take into account:

• Low Quality: You might decide that “low quality” means a site where the domain authority score is less than 20.
• High Effort: Invest in finding the best way to reach out to all “low quality, high effort” domains that link in at least three to four times.
• Minimal Effort: You might decide that if a “low quality” domain links to your site three or fewer times, it's not worth your time to audit. In that case, you might just request removal from the domain’s WHOIS administrative contact (easy to find, assuming the domain is not privately registered).

When determining whether to disavow links, you’ll also want to consider that a linking domain may have decent page and domain score metrics, yet still be harmful to your profile if it violates Google’s Webmaster Guidelines or engages in risky activity.

Using BrightEdge for Analyzing Disavow Links

BrightEdge’s SEO platform offers cutting-edge tools for site owners to both manage and analyze their backlinks, both in terms of understanding their own link profiles relative to those of the market, and in terms of evaluating the risk signals when analyzing their data.

Understanding your own link profile by visiting the Backlinks Analysis feature in BrightEdge. Here, you can also review and compare your link profile to the market and specific competitors.

Using the Backlinks Analysis data supplied by BrightEdge, you’ll be able to analyze:

• Anchor text: What is the split between brand and keyword optimized anchor text?
• Volume: Ratio of links by unique domains.
• Quality: Higher domain and page authority is better.
• Relevance: Is the topic and theme of the linking page similar to the linked-to page

You’ll also want to look at domain diversity (total links versus referring domains). In an ideal world, we would like to get one link from one domain, and then move on. A high number of links coming from a low number of domains may trip a search engine's spam filter. Look out for and avoid site-wide links (for example, in a sidebar or footer).

Check the quality of your backlinks in BrightEdge by selecting “Linking Pages” to see the list of backlinks to the specified URL. Select “Linking Domains” to view the domains. The higher the domain authority, the better. Click the column header to sort.

Pro tip: Ignore “nofollow” links. These can’t harm your website.

The Last Resort: Google’s Disavow Links Tool

After analyzing your backlinks, you may find some that are low quality. If your efforts to remove these backlinks have proven unfruitful, your last option is to disavow links on your site you consider "bad".

In GWT’s instructions on how to disavow backlinks, it stresses:

This is an advanced feature and should only be used with caution. If used incorrectly, this feature can potentially harm your site’s performance in Google’s search results. We recommend that you disavow backlinks only if you believe you have a considerable number of spammy, artificial, or low-quality links pointing to your site, and if you are confident that the links are causing issues for you. In most cases, Google can assess which links to trust without additional guidance, so most normal or typical sites will not need to use this tool.

That noted, if you still find yourself in the position where there is no other recourse except to request Google to exclude the offending links when assessing your site, here are the best practices for doing so ...

Creating a Disavow File

Google’s disavow links tool works with appropriately formatted text files. From Google:

You’ll download a file containing all the pages linking to your site. Use this to create a text file (the file type must be .txt and it must be encoded in UTF-8 or 7-bit ASCII) containing only the links you want to disavow—one link per line. If you want Google to ignore all links from an entire domain (like example.com), add the line "domain:example.com". Your text file can include additional information about excluded links, as long as each line of description begins with the "#" character (all lines beginning with # will be ignored). Don't upload the entire list of links to your site: the text file that you upload is the list of links you want Google to ignore.

For commenting: Lines starting with a hashtag (#) should be used for comments. This is useful for splitting up groups of links in large files, thereby making updates easier going forward.

Once satisfied that you’ve carefully documented and properly formatted your list for the disavow links file, visit Google’s site for submitting and uploading it.

Try to be patient with the process – it can take some time to fully resolve – and remember to be thorough in your backlink analysis. If you believe a source is low quality, or you have a large number of links from one domain, it’d be far more efficient to simply disavow the entire domain.

Penguin can be a major set back for websites, but with the proper process in place to deal with it, including proactive analysis of your link profile, you’re well on your way to having a “healthier” site that will fare better when Penguin comes knocking.  

The new school season is almost upon us, and it doesn’t stop after high school or even college. Your customers can benefit greatly from a learning program that educates and empowers them in the coming year to get more from your product or service.

We’re all familiar with the benefits of onboarding new employees, but have you considered the advantages of onboarding new customers? In the age of content marketing, where brands are spending budget and resources on content for customer acquisition, we mustn’t forget that a brand’s content doesn’t stop after the sale. Regardless of whether you have a product or a service, learning curves often exist to get customers up to speed with how to use a product or best understand the concepts behind that service, so customers can get the most from it. The consequences of not having a learning system around your product or service includes everything from misuse and inactivity to misunderstandings or worse: disengagement from your brand entirely.

Here at BrightEdge, we’ve implemented a multitouch customer learning program that gets our clients up to speed quickly, while maximizing usage of our S3 SEO platform. In this post, I’ll share what it takes to create a comprehensive onboarding program for clients that can be applied to many different types of businesses. If you want to make your product or service a seamless part of your client’s daily workflow, read on.

Make learning flexible

You want your customers to enjoy – not dread – the learning process from your company. No doubt your customer base has varying degrees of knowledge around the product or service, and differences in availability and resources. That’s why customers need choices in their learning. Create some flexibility when considering the following components of a program:

1. Types of learning. Some customers want to learn via video at their leisure, some need one-on-one support, and others like a sense of community. At BrightEdge, we have several options for learning and engaging with the S3 platform and the people who use it. Here are a few keys to our success:

• Our “Ignite” onboarding program. This helps jump-start the customer engagement and ensure they are getting the most from the product.
• Online training and certification. These self-paced training modules help customers learn at their own pace, and better retain information.
• Ongoing continuing education. Product training webinars happen ten times a year whenever new features are added.
• Networking community. Beyond the classroom, we let our customers connect with one another to trade ideas and solve challenges together.

2. Program features. Offer clients a tiered approach to learning that gives them more or less features, depending on needs. At BrightEdge, our customer success program offers varying levels of access and account management. That way, customers can choose how much one-on-one support they want. But don’t just stop there. Explore the types of people who use your product or service, and cater your learning to them. At BrightEdge, we have two distinct customers (agencies and direct), all of which have varying degrees of marketing knowledge. That’s why we have traditional and accelerated learning for each type of customer we obtain. Our standard onboarding program is 60 days, but clients can go faster if they want to. Tailoring the pace of the program and using different tools to cater to the client’s knowledge is key to keeping customers engaged, long after they have completed onboarding.

Spend time onboarding

Onboarding customers is the single most important way for them to be set up for success when using your product (and even when engaging in a service). At BrightEdge, we take a multiphase approach to our customer onboarding program that pairs the customer with a dedicated professional and comprehensive customer learning program. The program is set up in such a way that there is accountability on both sides; each phase has next steps for the customer, and tasks that must be completed on our end. Every product and service is different, but we’ve perfected a six-phase approach that kicks off with an introduction to the program, and then helps customers navigate through the features, and how they can apply to individual goals and marketing strategy. We also help customers find new opportunities for marketing through our tools, prioritize projects and tasks with the most ROI, and much more.

At the end of the onboarding program, consider a wrap-up with the client to go over what’s been implemented, and the ROI they’ve been able to see since the program started. This can be especially helpful for those who aren’t hands-on with the project, like the C-Suite, who need to get a snapshot of progress. We call this the “executive check-in.” What opportunities exist at your company to create an onboarding process?

Create a certification program

What better way to ensure your customers understand the inner workings of your product than a certification program? This type of approach can translate to service-type businesses, too, where clients can be certified in a skill or area of knowledge. Certification has benefits beyond your business, with advantages extending to both the people being certified and the community they serve. At BrightEdge, just some of the benefits of our certification program include the following: The benefits to the certified professionals:

• Certification of our tool is an official designation that professionals can include in their lists of skills.
• Customers have access to a community of like-minded, certified professionals to share ideas with and solve challenges.

The benefits to the business community:

• Businesses can seek out certified professionals with this specialized skill set.
• Customers can have more thoughtful, meaningful experiences using the product or service.

Putting together a comprehensive learning program takes planning and time, but there may be small steps you can take right away to help onboard new clients, and get them learning fast. Think about the touch points that occur when a new customer comes on – how can those be improved? What documentation or conversations can you have that will have an immediate impact on getting your customer up to speed? Lastly, make sure there’s a feedback loop throughout the entire process.

Have customers demonstrate what they’ve learned, and ask for commentary often - not just at the end with a survey. This will not only help you tailor the program on the fly, but also help ensure that when that final survey goes out, your team will get a 10/10 every time. The time you invest in creating a meaningful onboarding program will pay off long-term – we know first hand. Customers will get the most from your product or service and engage with it more often, making it a part of their daily workflow, and renewals will be a “no-brainer.” As we inch closer to a new school season, consider how you’ll educate your customers in the coming year. And the best part for them? No new wardrobe or dorm supplies required!

Mattia Santin is the global SEO/social manager at the adidas Group. There, he leads the global SEO team responsible for delivering organic strategy for brands like adidas, Reebok, TaylorMade, Rockport and CCM.

I caught up with Mattia ahead of Share 14 to talk about how the adidas Group is evolving with the changes we've seen in the past year or so to the Web marketing landscape.

The SEO Landscape is Constantly Transforming

Andy Betts (AB): How much has the SEO landscape changed over the last year?

Mattia Santin (MS): SEO is constantly transforming. The changes in the last year (term not provided, Panda and Penguin updates, to name a few)  changed the industry. The level of impact of these changes  was dependent on the SEO approach each of us decided to take (and the willingness to do this properly without cutting corners). While a great level of flexibility was required (especially with  analytics - not having keyword data anymore) many of the  same white-hat SEO principles, we have been implementing for years, are still very much relevant (content, user experience, value of quality links.  These will continue to be relevant for years to come.

AB: What change has had the biggest impact for you and your company?

MS: The loss of keyword data forced us to look into a different approach to our SEO strategy (goal setting and prioritization). At the same time, we (as everyone else) should have been prepared - as we had quite some time before this change was rolled out globally. The secure search update forced many to look into different data sources and place more focus on page-level data, general site, and content metrics. Editor Note: BrightEdge was the first to anticipate this shift in market with Page Manager and enhanced  Page Reporting innovations. Google Webmaster Tools (GWMT) Integration also provides keyword data right within the BrightEdge platform.

AB: How do you see SEO and content evolving over the next year?

MS: Focus on your users first (the content they consume, how the get access to this, when and where). This, for many, is easier said than done. The mistake many companies make, in my opinion, is that they focus too much on content they want to produce (brand tone of voice, communication medium, and internal processes) and not enough on the needs and desires of the end user. Content should continue to be created with the user in mind (interesting, worth reading and sharing and useful), and published when and where the target users are more receptive to this. Speed of delivery and location (mobile) are, and will continue to be, major factors to consider.

AB: Do you have any tips to share on how marketers and businesses can adapt to the rapid shifts in our market?

MS: I would say that now, more than ever, (at least from an SEO perspective) businesses need to embrace change and set up a team that is prepared to react fast to such shifts. Focus on data and targeting personas will help in ensuring such changes are successful.

AB: What are you doing to shift focus from keyword to page performance strategies in light of secure search?

MS: The secure search update forced us to change the way we look at SEO data (forecasting and measuring its impact, define priorities and opportunities), but it did not change how we should approach it from a macro point of view (what ultimately will allow you to reach your goals). Organic keyword referral data has been a fantastic support for years, but many other data sources are still available (first and foremost page-level KPIs). BrightEdge quickly adapted to the industry shift, and supported us through the process. As with other updates, we have ensured all stakeholders (at all levels) understood the implication of such change and how we were going to react to this.

The Content Marketing Shift: Optimization, Measurement, Performance

Content Alignment is Always an Important (and sometimes difficult) Thing to Do!

AB: How are you aligning your content and search optimization efforts?

MS: In a large organization, content alignment is always an important (and sometimes difficult) thing to do. We have processes in place to handle the creation of different content types and the upload and measurement of its impact. This process changes depending if we are working on meta data (on-page) or more complex initiatives that involve video, user generated content or social integration.

AB: How critical is measurement of content in your organization?

MS: We try to use data in all aspects of the business and measure everything we do (including content). The goal is to embrace data while remaining flexible and driving fast campaign execution.

AB: Tell me more about your view on the convergence of content and SEO.

MS:  We should all ensure content creation is first and foremost driven by our users and data (pre and post creation).   Find the right balance between quality of content and SEO scale.

About Your Attendance at Share 14

AB: Tell me more about your session.

MS: This is my first time at Share, but hopefully I will be able to provide an insight into the way we do SEO at the Adidas Group.  In particular I will talk about how we treat global SEO in a large organization that includes multiple brands, stakeholders and sites across different languages and countries.

AB: Why Share – why do you attend? 

MS: I am looking forward to engaging and networking with other experienced SEO's - learning from their experiences and insights with them. Sharing is one of the best way to become a better SEO.

AB: What advice can you give Share attendees to make the most of their experience?

MS: Be open to share your experiences, and don’t hold anything back.

Your Partnership with BrightEdge

AB: Tell us more about how you use BrightEdge to achieve your business objectives.

MS: BrightEdge helps us measure the impact of everything we do as an SEO team. It also helps educate all global stakeholders via reporting. In an organization the size of the Adidas Group ongoing education and alignment is key to ensure that all the different stakeholder,  that play a major role in our SEO development, have visibility and understand our strategy and success.

AB: What do you love about BrightEdge?

MS: We have been working with BrightEdge for a few years now. We really appreciate the flexibility the team, and platform, has demonstrated in supporting our different (and often changing) needs.

"Although digital has been around a long time, we are still on the front edge of a massive transformation – the ability for companies of all sizes to capitalize on this is still in its infancy.”

These wise words are courtesy of Darren Pleasance, head of customer acquisition at Google. Managing a global team, Darren is responsible for finding companies who are not yet utilizing online marketing, and helping them get started with Google's advertising products (search, display, YouTube).

Darren is responsible for finding these companies, enticing them to try online marketing, setting up and optimizing their first campaigns, and then handing them to Google account management teams once the customer has been onboarded.

In short, Darren owns the first 90 days of the customer life cycle, and is responsible for making them successful and happy. And here's a fun fact: Darren is also a pilot who flies himself to work at Google every week!

I had the pleasure of catching up with Darren to talk more about Share 14, his views on the market and what opportunities lie ahead for the digital marketer.

The ability for companies of all sizes to capitalize is still in its infancy

Andy Betts (AB): What excites you the most about the digital market?

Darren Pleasance (DP): Although digital has been around a while now, we are still on the front edge of a massive transformation. The ability for companies of all sizes to capitalize is still in its infancy.

We are still scratching the surface of the opportunity, and many companies are still transitioning from traditional marketing techniques. Finding a balance between traditional and new media technology is key to success, in order to build upon the opportunity to become more contextually relevant.

Digital marketing offers a terrific value proposition, and it’s still in the early stages. For context, there are over 100 million businesses in the world today, and less than 10 percent of them spend any money advertising online.

AB: How do you see the market evolving?

DP: What is so unique about our industry is that the market still innovates and evolves in a way that keeps it exciting and interesting. The integration of content, search, social, mobile, video and the development of apps continue to transform how people spend their time and where they engage.

Apps in particular are creating a dramatic shift in where people go online, with activity today about 20 percent time in browser, 20 percent at Facebook, and the balance in other apps, including games such as CandyCrush, videos such as YouTube, social such as SnapChat, productivity services such as as OpenTable and Uber, etc. This shift, of course, brings with it challenges and opportunities.

There is also huge opportunity in shifting brand dollars from TV to digital whilst, with balance, capitalizing on the synergy between the two channels. Digital marketing has largely, to date, been used to reach customers closer to the "bottom of the funnel," when they're close to making a purchase decision.

At Google, we call this "performance" advertising. Looking forward, technologies are emerging that allow advertisers to use products like video and display to reach and influence customers much earlier in their decision process.

This has historically been the domain of TV, print and radio, and these still capture the lion's share of advertising spend today (TV spend is more than 2x all online advertising spend combined, and 20x all online video spend), but some of this spend will clearly be migrating online over the coming years due to the improved ability to target and track the impact of this spend.

Mobile, of course, is also a major opportunity we're pursuing. We're in a multi-screen world now with mobile set to surpass desktop users this year (1.6 billion desktops, 1.5 billion mobile devices right now).

With innovations such as geolocation, messaging and mobile apps, mobile ads are rapidly becoming the advertising format of choice for many advertisers.

AB: Content is central to Share 14 theme this year. How do you view the role of content in digital marketing?

DP: It’s a core component of marketing strategy that has pivotal roles across all parts of the customer acquisition and retention life cycle.

There is a new phase of content development forming with in-app and mobile experiences. Content is being developed and tailored for device types that fundamentally improve the overall experience. It’s surprising to still see people just digitize content, but not actually tailor it for mobile.

When we look at video content, YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world. The ability to create low-cost, high-quality content with the help of companies like GoPro, and low-cost editing software has taken the digital world by storm.

The problem is a lot of this content is of poor quality and often not relevant to the end user. The opportunity is for advertisers to take advantage of these new types of content and tools to engage advertisers, often in a mobile context, in relevant and entertaining ways that have not been possible to date.

Google at Share14

AB: Can you give us a sneak preview of what you intend to talk about at Share 14?

DP: I will be sharing some key insights into how the landscape in digital has evolved, and what big trends we are witnessing, while also sharing some tactical tips on how to best take advantage of all the tools available to you, as a digital marketer, to capitalize on these exciting trends.

Alison MacDonald is the digital marketing manager of global marketing for Seagate Technology. In her role, she creates and deploys global digital marketing strategy with a focus on SEO. Her key focus at Seagate is organizing and deploying content strategy for U.S. and regional marketing. Ahead of Share 14, Alison gives her insight into content strategy, SEO and how to stay ahead of the "ever-evolving beast."

The SEO Landscape

Andy Betts (AB): How much has the SEO landscape changed over the last year?

Alison MacDonald (AM): SEO has changed tremendously over the past year, mostly in its transition from just being a “keyword” driven tool, to establishing itself as a collection of best practices that cover everything from content, social media and PR to user experience and Web architecture. 

With all of the Google algorithm updates, SEO is now more in the forefront of many marketers’ minds and is gaining more traction than ever before, both by allowing those who focus on SEO to get more traction and buy in, and by allowing us to be more successful in our programs -- rather than pushing just to get our programs understood.

AB: What has had the biggest impact for you and your company? AM: With all of the publicity of companies being penalized for bad SEO practices, the biggest impact for Seagate has been increased awareness and acceptance across our whole organization about what SEO is, and how we can build an even more solid foundation going forward, with multiple teams contributing, than we have ever been able to before.

AB: How do you see the space evolving over the next year?

AM: SEO is an ever-evolving beast that has never really changed. Marketers should continue to create great content with their customer’s journey and best experience in mind. Google, Yahoo, Yandex, Baidu, etc., will continue to promote top rated content that resonates with an audience: relevant and likeable content that is easy to find. Look out for the customer, write for the customer, and create a solution your customer wants to buy, and your website will continue providing value and you’ll continue to be awesome!

AB: Any tips to share on adapting to rapid change in the market?

AM: Change is inevitable. Keep doing the right thing for the customer, stop trying to predict the future, and don’t try and “game” the system. Great content will prevail in all capacities. If you do get penalized, figure out what you did wrong, learn from it, and move on.

AB: What are you doing to shift focus from keyword to page performance strategies in light of secure search?

AM: We are spending more time understanding our customers, which is not only allowing us to rank better, but also helping us create better products and speak to a customer in a manner they understand. Secure search simply forced us to do what we should have been doing from the beginning: using our internal knowledge to communicate with our external customers.

The Content Marketing Shift: Optimization, Measurement, Performance

AB: How are you aligning your content and search optimization efforts?

AM: Our content and SEO efforts are becoming one and the same. We focus our content creation around how our customers talk about our product at different stages of the funnel, and target our content strategy accordingly. The old-school SEO practice of isolating keywords becomes more of a puzzle when you have the opportunity to align content to buying behavior.

AB: How critical is measurement of content in your organization?

AM: Measurement is a high priority for all of the content we create at Seagate. While it’s an ongoing process that we continue learning from, we have also found that we get better every day due to our efforts to measure the success of our content and how our customers are interacting with it.

AB: Tell us more about your view on the convergence of content and SEO – what are the challenges and what advice can you give the audience?

AM: Know that it’s going to take time to move your perspective (and website) from a keyword-driven entity to a content-driven entity. Don’t forget, or underestimate, the value of your internal resources when it comes to talking about where content should go and how customers want to be talked to. Talk to your customers, understand what they are seeking, and make everything easy for them to find.

One of the biggest challenges we’ve faced is: where do we put all of this awesomeness? We are still working on finding the perfect solution, but we know that the effort and testing and interaction with our customers will be rewarded eventually. It takes time: be patient and persevere!

Your Share 14 Session

AB: Can you tell us about your Share 14 session?

AM: My session is on scaling content and making content that you already have work more efficiently for your audience and for your demand gen/lead gen efforts. Seagate is a hardware-heavy company with a lot of crazy technical documents, but we also have some serious capabilities that our products and services are capable of. We like to talk about both of those sides of the house without doing a lot of rework, while reaching a lot of diverse audiences and personas.

AB: Why Share – why do you attend?

AM: Share is an awesome chance to meet the “industry” hot-shots, digital marketing network, and learn more about what everyone else is doing and learning. I’m looking forward to seeing old friends, making new contacts, and learning new tips and tricks to become more efficient.

AB: What advice can you give Share attendees to make the most of the experience?

AM: Talk to everyone, no matter what their title is or yours. Ask questions in the sessions (it’s embarrassing when no one has a question)! Don’t be shy!

Your Partnership with BrightEdge

AB: How do you use BrightEdge to achieve your business objectives?

AM: I use BrightEdge to help with tracking, research and suggestions. I love the platform and the easy automated reporting that I can set up for various levels of understanding across the organization.

On a daily basis, I use BrightEdge for research, suggestions and brainstorms.

On a weekly basis I use BrightEdge to drive the Web team batty, directing them to track what changes have been made and what changes still need to be made, without going into multiple systems or having to manually check pages.

On a monthly basis, I use it to track performance of content, share of voice increase (or decrease), overall social listening, and creating new content ideas. On a quarterly basis, BrightEdge is my backup for when I need to make changes in our process or strategy.

Annually it shows (in pictures!) how well we’ve performed, which pages/content are the most successful, and what our competitors are doing across all timelines.

I also use BrightEdge to help me feel better about myself in comparison to what other companies are doing.

AB: What do you love about BrightEdge?

AM: I love many things about BrightEdge. For one, the fact that I’ve always worked with someone named “Mike,” so I don’t have to learn new names!

Secondly, that BrightEdge takes recommendations and suggestions, and run with them. Finally, that my ideas come to life because the technical team actually listens, and that I have beautiful PDFs that I can print and put on the wall to show the success of our content and SEO strategy.

See some fun content that is really working: check out BrightEdge's SEO Jokes post.

Duane Forrester is an author and a prominent voice in the search marketing industry. As the head of the webmaster program at Bing, and with about 15 years in the industry, he's seen quite a bit of change.

Yet, some things remain the same -- like the importance of content -- while others things change, like what it means to create "excellent" content.

In this interview, we invite Duane (an upcoming speaker at Share) to give his thoughts on the constants and the changes in SEO.

The SEO Landscape

Andy Betts (AB): How much has the SEO landscape changed over the last year?

Duane Forrester (DF): In some ways a lot, but in other ways not much. This past year will be remembered as the “Year of Content.” So much conversation around how important content is, people moving budgets towards content efforts and so on.

And yet, for all that talk and action, content has always been important. Finally, though, businesses are starting to understand the downside to implicit or explicit shortcuts in this area.

In some instances, people had no idea that they were taking shortcuts, and it served to slow their success. Others who knew what they were doing, were outright hurt. In the end, though, SEO emerges as a better tactic from this intense focus. More people sharing ideas, more people investing more time and efforts truly aligned to giving a searcher what they seek.

And as if content weren’t enough, more and more companies are starting to hear the message around marking up content, and taking an action towards it. This is a future-proofing tactic that will serve websites well. As engines ramp up how they use that marked up data, richer consumer experiences emerge.

The winners from all those experiments in UX, SERP shuffles, etc., will stick around long term. But you’ve got to be marked up to play.

AB: What change has had the biggest impact for you and your company?

DF: I’m going to go with content, even though that has a double edge, as we’re a search engine. Better quality content helps us serve better results to searchers, increasing satisfaction.

Flip that around, and internally the company (Microsoft) has renewed its focus on content – what it is, what stories are told, how it’s shared and so on.

AB: How do you see the SEO and content space evolving over the next year?

DF: Don’t think for a second we’ve turned a corner on this topic. The importance of content is right at the top of the pile and should remain there indefinitely. Right next to usability.

While it’s tempting to think you’ve mastered content, and to seek what’s new and cutting edge, I’ll suggest that a lot of sites still have work to do on the basics. Timing, quality of content, answering searchers needs directly, simply and thoroughly. Creating the words is only one small part of this puzzle and the winners are the ones solving the Rubik’s Cube faster.

Claiming you’ve nailed one, two or even three sides doesn’t mean you’ve completed it. It means you’re on the right track. Close, but not across the finish line.

I often ask during presentations: Who in the room creates excellent content? Usually a bunch of hands go up. That’s when I tell them they’re likely wrong. They are not in a position to judge their content as “excellent.” Customers judge this – by engaging.

If people find your page, click on the result, then leave from that same page, for many websites that’s a fail – no conversion, no ongoing engagement, just a flash of bandwidth drowned by the deafening sound of the exit click.

If you’re nailing content, people want to engage with you more. They are compelled to consume more of it. You become a valued resource. And this is very hard to achieve.

AB: Do you have any tips on how marketers and businesses can adapt to the rapid shifts in our market?

DF: Stay focused on your own metrics. Don’t get jumpy because you read something online about yourself or others … unless, you know, that article about you is true. Then jump as high as you like.

Build a plan: think it through, then execute. Chasing after new ideas every week or month is a recipe for a bunch of unfinished projects.

Learn to predict the future. “Ah, yes, but if I could do that, I’d be rich and on a private island, Duane …” Yeah, yeah, now back down to earth. Predicting the future is an inexact art at best, but trend-watching and crossing that with an understanding of your consumer’s behavior can lead to some pretty interesting insights. Some of which will seem to border on the magical.

To help in this effort, you’ll need to comb through your own data to firmly understand patterns of behavior on your site. You’ll also want to watch for developments across topics that inform consumers, and relate to your products or services.

Now you’re in a position to start taking a stab at, “If Development A comes to be, then consumers may react as such, and their behavior with us/towards us may change like this.” It’s hardly exact, but it’s a skill. Practice it, and you’ll get better at it.

The Content Marketing Shift: Optimization, Measurement, Performance

AB: How are you aligning your content and search optimization efforts?

DF: I can tell you this: our focus is almost entirely on “content” and very little around what we all think of as traditional “SEO.” Yes, technical SEO gets looked at, but maybe not to the depth you might think. The goal in everyone’s mind is clear: we know our target persona and how do we serve them best?

AB: How critical is measurement of content in your organization?

DF: Very important. It’s measured across an impressive number of levels. From qualitative to quantitative, we track it. We train around storytelling, enabling more people to become voices. And we’re constantly testing; everything from features, to messages, to UX to engagement via social.

All that data feeds back to help everyone internally have access to more than just what they typically get exposed to directly. It helps that we have a culture of sharing and of building useful relationships internally, too.

AB: Tell me more about your view on the convergence of content and SEO.

DF: The reality facing businesses today is clearly defined by how consumers engage. Mobile is the leader now, and mobile queries follow that trend. Businesses need to ask themselves not just, “How does my site look on X device?” but also, “How does my content look in the site on X device?”

There are so many failed mobile experiences littering our lives today that it’s a wonder any brand keeps loyalty. In fact, this could be why so many smaller sites have become bigger in the last few years. The ability to more clearly deliver the content the customer wants, in the experience the customer has decided to have, will have long term impacts on success.

Not that this is easy to manage, mind you, but my advice is test, test, test, invest in usability, learn from consumer patterns and deliver unexpectedly great experiences.

About Your Session at Share 14

AB: Tell me more about your session.

DF: Ever wonder what Tesla occupants are searching for? Well I’ll tell ya … their No. 1 query is … well, you’ll have to come to the session to hear those tidbits.

And while it might sound interesting to hear the behavior of those types of searchers, the bigger story here is the move from mobile to mobilized. How technologies in place today are changing consumer interactions and expectations.

"In-car" is an extension of mobile, and opportunities exist right now to impact drivers and passengers. Guide them to your business, leverage SEO or online reviews for better positioning in those all-important moments just before a “local decision” is made and so on.

This is a bit beyond the typical “SEO 201” and “social media is king,” but it’s real and impacting businesses every day – whether they know it or not.

AB: Why Share – why do you attend?

DF: For me, this is about sharing useful information with the right audience. Share brings the right mix of people together and offers a format to engage in meaningful dialogue. It’s a great day when smart business people get together to talk about how to build success!

AB: What advice can you give Share attendees in order for them to make the most out of their experience?

DF: Come prepared. Know what you want to take back to your business – what do you need from other attendees and the speakers to move your business forward? Be practical, but honest.

Hydrate. Yeah, I know, but seriously. This stuff comes fast and furious; being alert means you can keep up and reap the benefits.

Mind the commute times. Nothing sucks more than missing the one session you really wanted to attend because of traffic.

From out of town? Layer your wake up calls. Two from the front desk 15 minutes apart, your watch (if applicable) and your phone.

Take notes. Good old fashioned paper and pen. Skip the live blogging, crafting of funny tweets and stay focused on getting the info you need. Unless of course, your job is to live blog. It’s super easy to get caught up in exciting conversations with people who speak your language, just don’t lose focus on your goals.

If you find yourself in an interesting conversation, make the connection – ask for a card, swap cards, whatever. Just be sure to follow up later that day with a connection on LinkedIn, etc. Don’t stalk, and don’t be needy, but if there’s something legitimately worth connecting over, make it happen.

The only dumb question/noob question/etc. is the one left unasked. No one on stage or off was born with their knowledge, so feel free to openly ask questions and learn. Be polite, but never fearful. If you’re thinking it, so are 10 others in the room. If you’re really embarrassed afterwards, offer to buy all the others who were thinking the same question a drink – you’ll have loads of friends then.

As a speaker, I can say we don’t care if you shave or if your hair is a bit off. We do care if you fall asleep during our sessions, though. That’s an ego crusher.

The success of your company and its initiatives is only as good as its people. And, as an employer that strives to be innovative in all areas of the business, the onboarding process is the first step in demonstrating leadership.

Here at BrightEdge, we put a lot of planning into new hires. As with any growing Silicon Valley startup, the competition is high and the pace is fast. That’s why our onboarding process ensures new staff is set up for success in a repeatable and scalable way.

The faster a new hire feels welcomed and prepared for the job, the faster this person will be able to contribute to the company’s success. It makes good sense for companies; onboarding using the “sink-or-swim” method where staff struggle to figure out what’s expected will eventually negatively impact return.

So what does it take to get your new hires on board and making an impact as soon as possible? Check out the “dos and don’ts” of a killer onboarding process:

• Don’t skimp on time invested for onboarding process
• Don’t make onboarding just an HR function
• Do ensure new hires “get” the strategic vision of the company
• Do make sure new hires know the culture
• Don’t forget to teach about products and services
• Do familiarize the new hire with the website
• Do cross-train for teams that impact one another

1. Don’t skimp on time invested for onboarding process. Here at BrightEdge, we have a 4- to 6-week onboarding process whereby new hires get to know the company inside and out, covering every important aspect of the business so they can absorb years’ worth of history, knowledge and culture. By the time our new hires are through, they really have a clear understanding of the BrightEdge vision.

2. Don’t make onboarding just an HR function​. In a startup environment, everyone rolls up his or her sleeves to get the job done. This doesn’t stop during the onboarding process. At BrightEdge, we have an approach to onboarding that ensures new hires meet with key staff across departments and teams. Each team is responsible for a facet of the new hire’s onboarding process relative to their team’s mission.

3. Do ensure new hires “get” the strategic vision of the company. This includes understanding the company history – where it came from and how it evolved – to an understanding of where it is today, and where it will be in the future. We try to pair the new hire up with a founder or key executive who has been with the company for a significant amount of time for this portion, as those people are usually the closest to the company story and vision.

Taking this a step further, and depending on the team the new hire is on, getting this person up to speed with the big picture of the department or team goals is crucial, too.

For example, a new hire in marketing will need to know what the company’s marketing goals and plans are from the top down so he or she will understand how their role will directly impact the goal.

4. Do make sure new hires know the culture. One of the most challenging parts of entering into a new environment is understanding the subtleties of the culture, how people work, and who to turn to if a person needs something related to their project.

A new hire may have an idea of a functional area of a business, like HR for example, but how those functions are carried out is different at every company. At BrightEdge, for example, we're an SEO company, and even when seasoned marketers join our team, they appreciate knowing the BrightEdge approach to SEO.

For this piece, we like to pair the new hire up with the vice president of operations – someone who knows the inner workings of the day-to-day – to give the new hire the rundown on how to get things done, and what to watch for.

5. Don’t forget to teach about products and services. A new hire can’t expect to be a contributing member at full capacity unless he or she fully understands the products or services a company provides. And it’s not about just learning as they go; new hires should get a thoughtful, thorough introduction into the business’s bread and butter, and what goes into making it successful.

6. Do familiarize the new hire with the website. One of the key areas that companies may forget to onboard a new hire in is the website. Today, the website at a company is the hub and culmination of many teams, departments and goals. And, because everyone surely has a stake in the website – the face of the brand online – a new hire will want to know the goals of the site, how their team interacts with it, and how to make important updates as needed.

7. Do cross-train for teams that impact one another. Some teams just naturally have a symbiotic relationship within a company – take sales and marketing, for example. You can bet that staff from each one of those teams will inform and support one another’s strategy. Here at BrightEdge, we like to “buddy up” new hires with crucial contacts at teams that would impact that new hire’s role for cross-training and collaboration opportunities.

The Onboarding Process Pays Dividends

Although taking the time to ramp up an employee does mean a short-term hit on productivity for those involved in the on-boarding process, it’s a win-win for all parties.

The sooner new hires are ramped up, the sooner they’ll be productive. And, this benefits new employees who want to prove that they can be a productive member of the team.

And startups: this is especially important. With so much to accomplish, and the race against time to build products and acquire customers, thoughtful onboarding ensures new hires aren’t just figuring stuff out on their own.

For teams, a formal onboarding process means scalability. As a company gets larger and product offerings expand, new hires can jump in feet first and start making an impact.

Majestic is a name synonymous with link tools that help the SEO community gain crucial insight. Continuing our series of interviews with Share 14 speakers is the latest with Majestic SEO's (soon to be simply, "Majestic") Dixon Jones, the company's marketing director. Dixon has been an active voice in the Web marketing space since the late '90s, and in this interview, he talks how branding and SEO go hand-in-hand.

BrightEdge is pleased to announce Majestic as a key partner and sponsor at Share14.

The SEO Landscape

AB: What’s your take on the changes to the SEO landscape over the past year?

Dixon Jones (DJ): Every year, the changes in SEO seem to be designed in part to surprise and upset, but I think companies with good business models and a healthy understanding of digital marketing are handling change better and better, whilst those that treat SEO as an afterthought, or (potentially worse), in isolation, are suffering more and more with every iteration in the industry.

Core business values: A great USP, barriers to entry, clear points of difference directly impact success in SEO. It is hard for a search engine to “get it wrong” when you have build up such a reputation that people type in your trademark when looking for a generic product!

The more they do that, the more you can align page performance with branding. That’s the real key to success for any mature (or maturely minded) business.

You don’t have to be “large” to achieve this. Being unique could be as simple as being the only locksmith in town. A barrier to entry could be as simple as choosing a location where zoning laws prevent other players from starting in competition next door.

Being online, as well as being unique, is a massive advantage. One challenge here, though, is the balance between giving your intellectual property up for crawling whilst preventing it from being used against you in a competitive manner.

This is the new, very real threat that is emerging now. It’s all very well to have the widest range of hotels and flight combinations on which to search, for example, but quite another is Google to collate all the information from you and your competition, and present results that never give the user a need to cross your virtual front door.

This is a very real danger. On one hand the mantra from Google has been “create great content” and on the other it has been “make it easy to index.” The natural endpoint of this is that in the process, you give a search engine “license” to almost treat your content as theirs.

To combat this, I really think you need to create brand ambassadors out of your own user base and get them talking about your brand, with your values.

Then you need to combine this with a “lock in” of your own. Give something that does not involve money on the part of the consumer, but make sure that the “information trade” is sticky in some way; some way that the search engines can never take away from you. Every business is different, but at Majestic, the mantra is moving from “content is king” to “functionality is the new content” (content is the new PR).

By this, I mean that what I used to put on our own (well respected) blog, I now give to someone else with the ear of my potential customers. I save the blog, (where I can) for new announcements about our functionality.

We then try and develop faster than our competitors, differently to our competitors and (ideally) in ways where our competition cannot follow.

The Content Marketing Shift: Optimization, Measurement, Performance

AB: How are you aligning your content and search optimization efforts?

DJ: Our big challenge in 2014 is a site migration. We are changing our brand name from Majestic SEO to Majestic after having secured the domain Majestic.com.

Any marketer will see immediately that this is a logical move to build a brand around a good name. In our case that previously involved a name that immediately invoked incorrect associations and preconceptions, which held us up when changing user perceptions about our product.

Marketers are less likely to see why changing our name is also a good long term strategy for SEO. I say this with some feeling, because at the time of writing, MajesticSEO.com ranks on the first page in most countries around the world for the phrase “SEO”!

This may not be the case when we migrate the site, so prima façade, this is a bad SEO strategy -- but returning to my previous point, I want to make Majestic synonymous with being a foundation stone for search and content marketing technologies like BrightEdge.

When users think about “link tools,” they think about our brand, they type in our brand. I bet Dyson still has the problem that everyone types in “Hoover” when they search for a Dyson!

That’s a problem I want my competitors to have – because that’s going to be the one that helps me beat my competitors on search. So we are continuing a successful content strategy to this point. We didn’t just create a “Quality Metric” for pages that emulated Page Rank; we created “Trust Flow,” and more recently, “Topical Trust Flow”.

These are words that are backed up with a massive USP … (Oh, and a trademark!) Now we find (as we planned), that users are starting to use Trust Flow as a benchmark on which to judge the quality of pages in bulk. It’s almost a tradable commodity in the world of domaining (the business of buying and selling domain names).

That bodes well for our “function is the new content” strategy.

About Your Session at Share 14

AB: Tell me more about your session at Share.

DJ: I am talking about content metrics that matter, including measurement, performance and value.

I want to show how we can measure the success of a piece of content based on the traction it gets in links, like how we can highlight when new links come into the content, and why tracking this is good to make sure you engage users with the content that is already interesting enough in your content to connect.

I am also really lucky to be introducing a case study from Epicor, which is almost three case studies in one … but I would hate to steal Epicor’s thunder on that one.

AB: Why Share – why do you attend?

DJ: Hey – every industry has an “inner circle.” This is it for SEO and Content Marketing.

AB: What advice can you give Share attendees to make the most out of their experience?

DJ: Look out for little Majestic Mascots for the chance to win a “Misfit Shine” activity watch.

Your Partnership with BrightEdge

AB: Tell us more about how you work with BrightEdge.

DJ: BrightEdge gives us the power to invest in our future. We develop fast, and that's not easy. BrightEdge looks after the world’s best brands doing SEO, and that helps to fund Majestic’s relentless product development.

BrightEdge does get special treatment from Majestic because they invest in our future, and I hope we return the favor tenfold, because that’s how we invest in the future of every BrightEdge client.

AB: What do you love about BrightEdge?

DJ: BrightEdge is serious about search and serious about partnerships

As part of our series connecting with leading brands and marketers ahead of Share 14, I caught up with Dave Lloyd, senior manager of global search marketing at Adobe Systems. Dave leads a team dedicated to organic and website search strategies, and he's got nearly 15 years in the digital and search marketing space. In this interview, Dave talks about the customer optimization strategy, the difference between demand generation and lead generation, and why search is content -- but content is not always search.

The SEO Landscape

Andy Betts (AB): How have you seen the SEO landscape change over the last year? 

Dave Lloyd (DL): This is my 14th year in the industry, and the pace of change has never been greater. The search marketing industry continues to evolve. Let’s face it: SEO performance relies on a business solid foundation and adapting regularly to changes in the industry.  

When the algorithms change to improve the overall user experience, top marketers must respond by aligning strategically and operationally to their company’s overall goals. And as always, continue learning and preparing for the next change, because change is the only constant.

That’s where we are with search engine optimization today. Things are in transition because customer behavior is moving more to mobile, social, and search activity. Where the customer goes, we go. SEO in many circles is almost a misnomer now.

While we will always optimize for search engines, I tend to think we optimize digital assets according to best practices for both humans and algorithms. We optimize for the customer experience because the search engine is now only a means to the end, a conversion. SEO must first optimize to your future customer where they increasingly spend their time on mobile, in social media, and in search engines. SEO must continue integrating with the broader marketing world, including many of the elements shown in the graphic below.

The old SEO days of running as fast as you can to keep up with search engines, algorithm changes, and dedicated link building strategies are no longer as effective if your goal is to leverage the value of an integrated SEO campaign. The new SEO, customer optimization strategy (COS), takes place above the shoulders in a well-thought-out content campaign that incorporates the old SEO (no, it is not dead), and also recognizes the new power of the customer to express what they want in social and digital media through user-generated content (UGC). The new foundation for COS is data and data analytics, including predictive analytics that enable content decisions based on customers’ future needs.

As customer sentiments and perceptions shift, content and marketing messages shift to stay fresh and relevant. The customer is telling us what they want. We just have to listen (collect data), pay attention (analyze data), and give it to them (make good decisions based on the analysis).

The Content Marketing Shift – Optimization, Measurement, Performance

AB: Tell me more about your view on the convergence of content and SEO.

DL: Search is content but content is not always search. What I mean by this is that search is obviously dependent on content both strategically and tactically. But the "early and often” opportunity for search to benefit and align closely with content strategy must be earned consistently at companies in order to be integrated and fully supported. Bottom line: there is often a gap between the ideal notions of search + content marketing, and what happens in the real world. In the most practical way, this is how the two could work together to improve lead generation:

1. Define a keyword strategy
2. Optimize your website to get found for both brand and non-brand competitive terms
3. Create blog and other marketing content  (inbound marketing)
4. Promote content and participate in social media (demand generation)
5. Convert site visitors into leads (lead generation)
6. Nurture leads with targeted messages (lead management)
7. Optimize your marketing for mobile
8. Analyze and refine strategies

So the back-end strategy at play is generating leads or sales through demand generation. I think of demand generation as an awareness effort designed to drive traffic to your website to cause potential customers to “inquire” about your products.

Demand generation is not lead generation. It’s an enabler for lead generation. Content marketing is often synonymous with inbound marketing, focused on the general marketing funnel effort.

Demand generation is driving those Web visitors further into the funnel thereby generating demand, from the perspective of sales value.

Demand generation is the sales side of inbound marketing; it comes complete with back-end goals related to conversion rates and revenue, whereas inbound marketing is a precursor to demand generation and leaves the ROI issues to the demand generation people in your organization.

Simply, inbound marketing is front-end awareness whereas demand generation also includes back-end nurturing and closing. SEOs today must continue to focus on aligning to content strategy and inbound marketing while striving and innovating to add value to the lead quality being driven through the funnel.

About Your Session at Share 14

AB: Tell me more about your session at Share 14.

DL: I’m honored to be speaking at two sessions – one on global search marketing and the other on in-house SEO operations. In both, I plan to cover strategic and operational topics important to the SEO leader or practitioner with a slant on strategy alignment, process excellence, a focus on data and results, and practical takeaways.

AB: Why Share? Why do you attend?

DL: I attend Share to connect with industry leaders, learn and return with both innovative and practical tips. Our industry changes so quickly that even a few new insights or connections can make a significant difference in results. Share is a world-class event where I can learn about the latest strategies and best practices from search and digital marketing leaders.

AB: What advice can you give Share 14 attendees to make the most of their experience?

DL: As Woody Allen said long ago, “80 percent of life is showing up.” So make the business justification to do that, and then have in mind a few objectives to fulfill at the event – and prepare to share your takeaways with colleagues when you return to the office. Maybe it’s to meet 20 new people plus learn five new things and implement at least three of them within a month.

Takeaways from events like this come from both session topics and hallway discussions, so go out of your way to meet new people and keep in touch. And be sure to take action when you get home.