If you’re still trying to perfect your content SEO strategy, you’re not alone. In fact, 52 percent of respondents in the BrightEdge 2014 Search Marketer Survey said they would invest at least 10 percent to 25 percent more in their content SEO strategy if they could identify what was most engaging to their audience.

Knowing how to market your brand through content, and what your audience responds to is an age-old question, actually. Pioneers in content marketing include John Deere with the launch of a magazine in 1895 – “The Furrow” – that provided information to farmers to be more profitable, and Michelin with its “Michelin Guide,” first published in 1900, with info on auto maintenance, accommodations and travel.

What is new in the content marketing equation is the mass of data we have about how our audience is responding to content.

Marketers today know how important data is. In fact, 78 percent of those surveyed for our search marketer report said it’s either “more important” or “much more important” to connect content efforts to ROI in 2014.

But that connection doesn’t come easily. You, of course, need data you can trust and a roadmap of what to measure. With the multiple ways to publish and track content today online, where do you start?

Start with the foundation: your website.

Your Website, SEO and Content Marketing

Organic search is one of the best channels to understand demand. Through organic search, you can know what topics matter to your target audience and what the competition is up to as well.

Your website is the hub of your brand and the beneficiary of all your content marketing efforts, no matter which channel you decide to focus on, be it organic search, pay-per-click, social or any other.

That’s why any content SEO strategy should begin with the foundation, your website, optimized for both search engines and users. In fact, your website content can be one of the most powerful inbound marketing tools when optimized for search.

Most professional marketers are now comfortable with the idea that SEO is a form of content marketing. In fact, traditional SEO and content marketing have the same goal: to get the right content in front of the right people.

However, brands sometimes still feel a disconnect within their organizations between content creation, organic search and ROI. Is optimizing your content SEO strategy really making a difference? How do you know?

BrightEdge studied the impact of optimizing pages for search, and we found potential to drive 10 percent more traffic, 25 percent more revenue and 50 percent less time to results for targeted pages.

So yes, optimizing your organic content seo strategy can and does work.

In fact, 83 percent of marketers surveyed for the BrightEdge search marketing report see the potential, too, stating that increasing content performance by optimizing your organic content seo strategy in 2014 is “much more important” or “more important” than 2013. 

Optimizing Your Organic Content SEO Strategy

The appetite for content to be served on a silver platter to its consumers is growing. Your audience doesn’t want to, nor should they have to, go digging to find the content they need when they need it.

Likewise, content not only has to be relevant, but also strike a chord. Would you find the information you’re publishing useful? Engaging? Thought-provoking? If not, start over.

Some say we’re in the age where traditional marketing meets digital marketing when it comes to SEO. Today, you need staff to focus on both the technical and creative side of content, and staff who will analyze the results to shape the strategy moving forward.

Last month at the Adobe Summit, BrightEdge announce an enhanced Content Optimizer that includes the following capabilities:

• Real-Time Content Coach: Marketers and content writers will have the ability to enhance content as they create it, saving time and effort while growing revenue. The technology guides the author seamlessly through each step directly within Adobe Experience Manager, prompting optimization recommendations for highly effective content.
• Content Demand Targeting: For the first time ever, marketers can tailor content as they write to match the topics that people are actually searching for and interested in reading. The technology bridges the gap between SEO experts and content writers, enabling marketers to be better equipped to develop content based on demand and publish content that consumers are most interested in.
• Optimal Content Structure: Combining the strengths of search engine optimization with the powerful impact of content offers new opportunities for content engagement. SEO managers are now able to determine the optimal structure for effective content, set guidelines and policies within the BrightEdge S3 platform, and instantly share these guidelines in Adobe Experience Manager, connecting SEO know-how with the content creation process.

When thinking about how to boost the quality of your organic content seo strategy, keep in mind all the moving parts of how to make your content for organic search shine, including:

• The research: What topics resonate with your audience? What conversations are happening around a topic? What words are people using when they search? What content is already out there on that topic?
• The creative side: What do those who have a vision of the brand say about content? What messages do you want to disseminate? How do you want it to feel?
• Optimization: All the White Hat foundations of SEO help your content be discovered through on-page optimization best practices.
• Promotion: Beyond optimizing the content for search, tell people about the pages and blog posts on your website through your social mediums.
• Tracking: Harness the big data that’s available to you by setting boundaries on what you’ll track and how you’ll measure the performance of the pages and posts you create.

This year, don’t be a statistic. As marketers, we can all work a little harder to ensure we’re connecting our content to performance metrics that matter to our business, and, make sure our organic search channel is working at full capacity for our brands and our content.

We can’t wait to enjoy the summertime weekend, either - but before you ditch those laptops for sunscreen, get caught up on what happened this week in the marketing world.

Spotlight on BrightEdge

If you’ve visited the blog lately, it’s kind of hard to miss that we’ve completely revamped the look and feel.

We’re excited about the future of the BrightEdge blog, which we’re planning right now. Stay tuned for more blog posts on a more consistent basis, including thought leadership pieces from top brands, BrightEdge insight on digital marketing topics, inside looks at the company and much more, coming soon.

SMX Advanced

BrightEdge is a Gold Sponsor of SMX Advanced in Seattle, June 11 to 12, where we’ll be exhibiting (Booth 22) and speaking. In his presentation, CEO Jim Yu will talk about what advanced SEOs should be doing about mobile.

Find out more about SMX and Jim's session below:

http://searchmarketingexpo.com/advanced/2014/full_agenda#1449

Share14 is coming

On August 20 to 22, BrightEdge hosts its annual Share14 digital marketing event in San Francisco, bringing together many of the Worlds top brands to talk about what’s hot in digital marketing right now. Discounted pricing ends August 7. 

Stay tuned for the official Share14 micro-site launch, announcements and blog insights starting next week!

Check out last years Share13 video featuring brands such as Adobe, SAP, Microsoft and and Hilton - It's time to get excited !

Marketing Tips and In-Depth Articles From The Search Marketing Community

Content from the CEO: May

Check out these in-depth articles and tips from BrightEdge’s CEO, Jim Yu, for the month of May:

The Marketer Role is Changing. What You Need to Succeed - Marketing Land

Do marketers practice what they preach? And are they being rewarded for it? In an industry where best practices are constantly shifting as a result of new technology and trends, marketers need to keep up.

MoCo: Mobile, Content and Advanced SEO: How to Prepare - Marketing Land

What does it mean to be “mobile ready”? You might say having a mobile responsive site — and that’s certainly part of it. But there’s much more that goes into ultimately creating an excellent website experience for your ever-expanding and ever-discerning mobile user base.

5 Ways to Sell SEO to Your CMO - Search Engine Watch

If I came to you and asked to borrow $40,000 for a business venture I'm considering, and I said that you needed to trust the idea was going to work based on my knowledge and experience, what would you say?

3 Essential Questions You Should Be Asking Your CMO - Huffington Post

The marketing landscape has changed drastically over the years, and it's only fitting that the role of the CMO at any company has followed suit. CMOs are now pulled in dozens of different directions, between social, content, mobile and digital marketing movements.

Think Like a Publisher Act Like a Business - Huffington Post

If you were told five years ago that your company needed to get serious about publishing, you probably wouldn't have taken that advice to heart. Today it is the complete opposite. If a strong publishing strategy isn't part of your marketing repertoire then you are missing out on fruitful opportunities for customer engagement.

Weekly News Round-up

Here are BrightEdge’s top picks for action-oriented articles and in-depth analysis of some of the topics on the minds of marketers.

"The Myths & Realties of How The EU's New 'Right To Be Forgotten In Google Works"

Can anyone really be "forgotten" on Google? The EU thinks they can. With all the hype around the EU’s newest “Right to be Forgotten” law, how will this movement affect search around the world?

Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land deep dives into burning questions about how the ruling may pan out.

Some of those Q&As include:

1. Can anyone have anything removed from Google? Sullivan says there are no guarantees that items will be removed, but anyone can ask
2. Will the ruling always uphold in every situation? The answer here is no. The ruling states that content can’t be removed if it will interfere with the “preponderant interest of the general public in having, on account of its inclusion in the list of results, access to the information in question.”
3. What happens with the content in question on other search engines? Sullivan suspects the ruling doesn’t cover all search engines, and if someone wanted that same content off Bing, for example, that person would need to “make a request to each and every search engine they want material removed from,” he said.
4. If something is removed in one country, will it be removed in others? The answer here is still unclear, but if prior history is any indicator, the content removal under this ruling will be for the search engine version of the country the request is being made in (Google.de, for example).

"How to Create a Marketing Plan"

Oftentimes, companies create marketing plans in their heads – and keep them there. So, what should a marketing plan look like? What’s the relation between your marketing plan and your business plan? Who should see your marketing plan? How long should you spend on creating it? These are some of the questions this article in Entrepreneur.com tackles.

Here are just a few ideas from the post and its accompanying video:

• Documented marketing plans are essential to their longevity. It’s not wise for one person to hold all the marketing knowledge in the company; documented plans help any newcomer get up-to-speed on the marketing vision.
• Writing and reviewing marketing plans on a regular basis gives a big-picture overview of the business. The day-to-day hustle and bustle of business can cause you to easily lose sight of goals and progress; documented marketing plans help put that into perspective over time.

"5 Reasons to Include Polling in Your Social Media Strategy"

On social media, engaging with your audience is a No. 1 priority. But how can you gauge exactly how they’re feeling? Here are five reasons to use polls in your social media marketing by Travis Bernard at Search Engine Watch:

1. Free product feedback
2. Deep understanding of customers
3. Community building
4. Content generation
5. Traffic lift

In his article, Bernard also gives his Top 3 picks for polling tools, including Poll, Wedgies and Poptip.

“Infographic: User Generated Content To Boost Sales"

At the end of the day, sales are what make a company run. Did you know about the potential impact that user-generated content (UGC) can have on your sales? This infographic courtesy of Marketing Land by Offerpop dives into how to turn UGC into big-time ROI. In it, we learn some facts:

• UGC is 20 percent more influential than other types of media.
• Brand engagement rises by 28 percent when consumers are exposed to professional content and UGC product videos.

Here are some tips, too:

• Incentivize customers to share photos and videos of purchases on social.
• Promote sweepstakes via social media, ads, in-store and on packaging.

Search Marketing News

Bing Shutting Down Webmaster Forums

“Over the last few years, we’ve had our Webmaster forums up and running. They’ve been around a while now in a few iterations, and like any community, the goal is to grow it to be vibrant and engaging. To foster the deep involvement of experts who help others, creating a community that contributes to improvements and makes its own gravity,” Bing's Duane Forrester said in an announcement.

“There comes a time, however, when you sometimes need to re-evaluate, and once in a while, regroup. Thus as of the end of May (or early June), we’re taking down our Bing Webmaster Community Forum, allowing us time and resources to focus energies in other directions.”

Where to next? Bing said there are several ways to stay connected:

• Help and How-To sections
• Webmaster Guidelines content
• Webmaster Blog
• Email support
• WebmasterWorld

Matt Cutts on Links, Anchor Text and PageRank

Over at the Google Webmasters channel on YouTube this week, Google’s Matt Cutts answers the question:

“If you’re telling me that the most important thing for your SEO strategy is knowing what two links from one page do – you know, I understand if people are curious about it – but you might want to step back at look at the higher mountain top of SEO, and your SEO strategy and the architecture of your site, and how is the user experience and how’s the speed of the site and all that sort of stuff,” Cutts said.

Enough said, right? But what’s the real answer, according to Google? Referencing Google’s original document on PageRank, Cutts said if you have two links from one page to another page, both links would flow PageRank.

More on that in the video here

Have a great weekend all!

SEO managers are often asked about the biggest challenge that they face when running SEO programs in large enterprise environments. While there are many areas that are critical for driving success, it’s hard to pinpoint just one area in the search impact lifecycle that’s the most crucial.

Sure, focusing on producing quality content is important. Yes, stakeholder engagement is needed to get things done. Theme-relevant linking is helpful. Defining strategy and aligning with business units, training and evangelism, data-driven decision making, technical SEO, search localization, testing, social engagement, reporting, and communication – all are must-haves.

However, at the end of the day, I think what’s tying these pieces together is a well-defined process plus flawless execution on tactics.

Today, we’ll cover how Adobe leveraged the those search impact lifecycle steps to implement a successful enterprise SEO strategy that brought more than 20 million SEO visits to one section of the Adobe.com site, increasing these types of visits from 4 percent to more than 60 percent in the first three years of the ongoing project. 

Case Study: Search Impact Lifecycle in Action At Adobe

Changes in search patterns can influence SEO and a business’s content strategy. Here at Adobe, we identified a trend towards the use of non-branded keywords for one of our products. This suggested a need to create and optimize content focused on themes built around these new search terms – for example, topics about product features and functionalities - to maximize the search impact.

To help steer the SEO program in a fast-changing environment, we implemented the 6 steps of the search impact lifecycle:

• Change
• Analysis
• Point of view
• Implementation
• Impact
• Next steps

1. Change. The change phase happens frequently in the world of SEO, and presents us with new opportunities. We encounter algorithm adjustments – some are larger like Google Penguin, Panda and Hummingbird, while others are smaller, like branded versus non-branded keywords. 

When we saw this particular change, we performed research to determine keywords that had high search demand, also adding conversion data to prioritize (at that time, keyword-level data was still available; with the new secure search, we can obtain this data from paid search programs).

The following graph is a representation of data for one top branded keyword and one top non-branded keyword, where the branded is red and non-branded is blue. The X-axis is time over approximately three years; the Y-axis is search demand.

2. Analysis. Next, we completed an analysis. The analysis of the change allows us to better define the opportunity and search impact based on external data or other sources/findings (i.e., testing), and forecast impact to help make a business case.

3. Point of view. Once we completed the analysis, we identified opportunity for the point of view (POV). The POV phase of the lifecycle is an opportunity to present a point of view, where we establish search impact versus difficulty of implementation (resources needed to enable certain enhancements).

At this time, the SEO team reaches out to various stakeholders in the organization to get buy-in, and rallies the forces behind the proposed enhancement.

Note: We often run a pilot to establish search impact more accurately before investing more resources into the project. Once the pilot proves successful, we expand. In this pilot, we created content for 15 pages focused on specific product features, targeting those high-value, non-branded keywords.

4. Implementation. The implementation phase was next. This is where we build the enhancement. In this instance, we optimized and published pages, ensuring that technical SEO was addressed such as page template coding, URL naming convention, page indexing and so on.

With a focus on user experience, the team validated with user groups that the messaging and presentation on the pages was adding value. We also tested and selected best-performing Title and Meta Description messaging to maximize click-through rate from search results, and worked on creating cross-links to these new pages from select theme-relevant pages to enhance user experience and help page indexing and theme.

Search engines indexed the new pages, established theme relevancy, and we started to see a steady progress over time for main SEO key performance indicators (KPIs). 

5. Impact. Now it was time to analyze the search impact, using Adobe Analytics tools and the BrightEdge SEO platform.

We looked at the visibility of target non-branded keywords with the BrightEdge platform. Specifically, we were interested in the progress of rankings of preferred landing pages on the first page of Google search results.

The following screenshot is from the BrightEdge platform and shows the progress of the more than 120 value non-branded keywords we were tracking over the course of the project. The blue area of the bar represent Page 1 positions; the yellow areas, Page 2 positions; and the green areas, Page 3:

We also tracked business SEO KPIs including visits, trials and units sold, using the Adobe Analytics platform. Pages dedicated to non-branded optimization started to contribute to the business with an increasing pace;

After the first year, they brought more than 1.2 million SEO visits. Contribution of these pages to the overall SEO of the project increased from about 4 percent of all SEO visits at the beginning of the pilot to more than 60 percent at the close.

The following graph shows SEO visits to optimized content for a specific section at Adobe.com over a period of 3 years. The X-axis is time and Y-axis represents search engine visits:

The impact phase is where we have a chance to showcase the results of the project, and when we produce case studies, which help us get additional resources (to expand based on the pilot findings).

Impact analysis also allows our stakeholders to share success with extended teams, which helps us evangelize SEO throughout the company. We also share our case studies with industry peers and at conferences.

Based on the impact case study, we proceeded to identify additional opportunities and expanded content themes and optimization to cover more feature details, as well as expanded optimization to geo-targets.

6. Next Steps. As the next steps, we discovered additional opportunities, armed with the solid impact case study.

The Search Impact Lifecycle is a strategic framework for approaching SEO in a enterprise environment. Taking a methodical approach to how changes are made within the business’s Web marketing environment helps ensure the value of SEO is being realized every step of the way.

More...

In future posts, I’ll cover other case studies on how the Search Impact Lifecycle allows brands to steer SEO projects easier, including technical SEO, geo-targeting, SEO testing, and more.  

At BrightEdge our top value is customer success. Since our inception in 2007, we have dedicated ourselves to the SEO community by developing the most innovative SEO technology that increases visibility, uncovers competitive insights, and elevates SEO to a C-level imperative. Our customers have been able to successfully demonstrate SEO is the predominant digital channel for their organizations and advance their careers.

At Share13, we were proud to share stories of how several of our long-term customers have been promoted from SEO Specialist to SEO Director, and others from Director of SEO to VP of Customer Acquisition. At Share14, you can look forward to more inspiring stories, fantastic research, and networking opportunities.

SEO practitioners and digital marketers are truly our favorite people! The features in our latest release are designed to help our customers make an even bigger impact within their organizations.

Channel Reporting

With our new Channel Reporting, we’ve empowered you to up-level the communication to your CMO by showing the importance and strength of SEO in relation to other digital marketing channels, in a data driven way.

Gain Complete Visibility Across Your Marketing Channels

• Communicate the importance of SEO – Highlight the contribution of organic search to your total business performance and make a case for additional investments
• Track performance across multiple channels – Understand which channels are performing and how to best allocate resources
• Analyze trended, comparative metrics in a single view – Gain a complete view into Organic, Social, Paid, Direct, and Other channel performance in a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or flexible date range view
• Drill into pages driving performance - Analyze which pages are driving organic revenue, conversions, and traffic in a seamless reporting flow to Page Reporting

Content Optimizer

Also in this release we’re introducing new technology to help you partner with your content team more closely than ever. With the latest version of Content Optimizer, we bring the most powerful features and intelligence of the BrightEdge S3 platform seamlessly into Adobe Experience Manager through an enterprise ready integration. Be sure to check out our Press Release from Adobe Summit.

BrightEdge + Adobe

BrightEdge is an Adobe Accredited Application Partner, with a history of developing powerful integrated technology offerings. BrightEdge Content Optimizer brings the most powerful features and the intelligence of the BrightEdge S3 platform seamlessly into Adobe Experience Manager through an enterprise ready integration.

Content and editorial teams can leverage an out-of-the-box integration with Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), allowing them to easily create content that is optimized for maximum traffic, conversions, and revenue without breaking or slowing down their content creation flow.

Content Optimizer provides organizations with recommendations that evolve along with the search landscape and are compliant with the complex structure of large websites.

Key benefits for digital marketers:

• Optimal Content Structure: SEO managers are now able to determine the optimal structure for effective content, set guidelines and policies within the BrightEdge S3 platform, and instantly share these guidelines in Adobe Experience Manager, connecting SEO know-how with the content creation process.
• Policy Compliance Across an Organization: Manage policies with out-of-the-box support for multiple teams, templates, and SEO policies. Set SEO guidelines for all site-wide content and enforce compliance across multiple teams and templates.
• SEO Checklist for Succes: Focus on what matters with up to 16 on-page recommendations that have the most impact on search performance. Access recommendations based on their rank, on-page elements, social media traction and backlink profile.

BrightEdge Global Data Cube

We’re also excited to announce that our Data Cube is Generally Available. For customers in the UK working with our London team, we’re happy to announce the BrightEdge Global Data Cube with UK coverage. With the Data Cube, customers now have access to the industry’s largest, most accurate and actionable SEO dataset. 

The Largest, Most Accurate Database

The BrightEdge Data Cube is a massive content repository, the industry’s largest data set made up of billions of pieces of information which includes: keywords, search terms, rich media, and content, along with its performance on the web.

BrightEdge processes over 100 terabytes of data each week. We do so because we realize today’s marketers need a massive data set to be able to understand their entire organic search footprint and take action off of that data.

Hear Our Story About the BrightEdge Data Cube

How the Data Cube Works

Within one centralized view, marketers may perform either URL-based or Keyword-based research in real-time. BrightEdge provides two ways to access the Data Cube. With Goal Based Research we help marketers quickly identify the data that matters most, aligning SEO with business outcomes. With Freeform Search marketers can enter in a keyword or URL in the same way a Google search is performed.

Today marks a very exciting day at BrightEdge, the conclusion of our 5^th annual Hackathon! As the Chief Architect at BrightEdge, the Hackathon is my favorite time of the year, and makes up a core part of our engineering culture. BrightEdge Hackathons provide our R&D, Product, and Engineering teams an opportunity to participate in a competition where they can: think creatively, work collaboratively, build incredible SEO technology, and win prizes!

How We Build Products

At BrightEdge we operate with a relentless commitment to innovation. We’re proud to be a leading Silicon Valley innovator that builds 100% of our product right here in Silicon Valley. Our Research and Development team is comprised of some of the brightest minds in engineering, graduates from the Top 10 Computer Science programs in the world.

Our Engineering team brings industry experience from Google, Facebook, Salesforce, and Apple. And, in addition to developing BrightEdge innovations, BrightEdge engineers have pioneered big data innovation contributions to Hadoop data warehousing, advancing the field of cloud computing.

Why a Hackathon?

We have three main reasons for hosting Hackathons:

1. As Engineers, we’re always dedicated to learning new skills, and building cutting-edge technologies
2. As Hackers, we want to show our creativity by tinkering with code, and coming up with innovative grassroots ideas
3. As a Startup, we want to demonstrate that enormous results can be achieved in a short amount of time BrightEdge Hackathons involve our entire company, as we first open up a portal for any employee to submit Hackathon ideas. Then teams of up to three Engineers have up to 24 hours to build striking new SEO and Content Marketing prototypes.

I’m truly humbled by the incredible code, creativity, and amazing projects that have come from our team during this year’s Hackathon!

Check out the picture of 1st place team below.

BrightEdge Innovations Help our Customers Succeed in SEO

Some of our customer’s favorite features have been developed during past Hackathons. This year’s winning hacks will go through extended development, and will make up some of the great new features announced at Share14 (early bird registration is still open). Engineers work around the clock on projects, and then present their creations to our team of executive judges. The judging is competitive, and the rewards are great. Winning teams get bragging rights, their names engraved on our Hackathon Cup alongside the names of previous winners, and great prizes.

Interested in Engineering at BrightEdge?

As our company grows, so does our team. We’re continuing to hire the brightest minds in engineering. Be a part of next year’s winning Hackathon team, by applying today!