It’s hard to keep up on the latest thought leadership, ideas, trends and news in the web marketing industry, which is why we bring you the Final Lap. Each member of Pole Position Marketing Pit Crew, and the office alter ego, Max Speed, bring you their winning article to help your business.
Topics include SEO, paid search, usability, link building, local search, content marketing, social media and other areas of marketing and business. Plus, you’ll find articles that have earned “honorable mentions” and are also worth a read. Enjoy and feel free to comment with your winning articles.
The Winner’s Circle
Stoney deGeyter, Lead SEO & CEO
- Google Propoganda, SEO and Why Marketers Need to Wake Up, by Rae Hoffman
I love a good rant. Especially when it comes to people buying the SEO Kool-Aid. Google can’t do everything it wishes it could and Matt Cutt’s says things often just to shift the winds, hoping that SEOs fix their search results where they can’t. While it’s good to keep an eye where Google wants to go, you can’t believe everything they say.
Mike Fleming, Marketing Campaign & PPC Strategist
- Google Didn’t Want Us To Use The Keyword Planner This Way. But It Works Nicely., by Dan Shure
Learn about some unorthodox ways that you can find keywords that matter by going beyond the obvious entries into keyword tools and using all of the functionality available to you to make sure you cover all of the possibilities.
Annalisa Hilliard, Local SEO & Social Community Strategist
- 85 SEO Facts, Myths & Theories…Confirmed Or Busted!, by David McSweeney
The only constant in SEO is change. David does a great job covering the bases in this post. He looks at 85 SEO beliefs and provides reasoning as to why they are, or aren’t legit. If you’re looking for an overview of the current search marketing ecosystem, this is a beneficial place to begin.
Deb Briggs, Content Marketing Strategist
- Why Your Branded Content Shouldn’t Always Be About Your Brand, by Luke Cope
The Borg mantra, “Resistance is futile!” should not apply to your branded content. Content such as blog posts are about the soft sell and building a relationship with not only existing customers, but future ones. So resist the urge to make your content an advertisement. Luke tells you why content should be helpful, educational and encourage the reader to take action.
Kathy Gray, Social Media Marketing Strategist
- Experiment: What Percentage of Facebook Fans REALLY Saw Your Post?, by Jon Loomer
We’ve all seen our Facebook page reach numbers decline over the past few months. But, are they really as bad as we all think they are? Possibly not. While the experiment does have some flaws, it’s interesting to think about. As Jon notes frequently on his blog, reach isn’t the be-all, end-all metric for Facebook success and we shouldn’t focus all of our attention on it.
Honorable Mentions
- Foolproof Formula to Incredibly Catchy Blog Titles, by Rebekah Radice
- Creating Content For Your Users That Will Also Get You Links, by Julie Joyce
- What’s Your Google Gibberish Score?, by Karon Thackston
- Link Building Tactics I’m Focusing on this 2014, by Jason Acidre
- Microsites for Local SEO: the Pros and Cons, by Phil Rozek
- The Ultimate Guide to On-Page SEO for WordPress by Jacob King
- Scaling Up the Effort: The Process Behind Great (Contracted) Content by Mackenzie Fogelson
- The Sunday Share: A Dr. Seuss-Inspired Guide to Twitter by Danny Brown
- Google Reviewing “Not Provided,” Withholding Keywords From Organic But Not Paid Search Clicks by Danny Sullivan
- Put Your Best Foot Forward with Consumer Ratings Annotations by The Google AdWords blog
- Are PDFs Optimal For SEO? The Pros And Cons by Janet Driscoll Miller
- How Different Colors Are Convincing You To Buy Things by Talia Wolf
- SEO Traffic 2014: Your One-Stop Reference Guide for Non-SEOs by Ana Hoffman
- From 10 Blue Links To Entity SERPs: Is Your Website Ready? by Barbara Starr
- 40 Fears That Keep Search Marketers Awake at Night by Henley Wing
- Responsive Design vs. Task-Oriented UX Design by Larry Marine
- The Incomplete Google Ranking Signals, Part 1 by Bill Slawski
Share your winning articles in the comments below.