• The New Link Spam: Facebook Status Updates
    Remember back when blog comments became prime fodder for search engine optimization inbound link spam? When blogs began to emerge as a relatively popular medium, link spammers recognized a new opportunity to spam blog comments with predefined anchor text for SEO benefits. And now, as social media further congeals with SEO, are social media platforms the next area ripe for link spam? You better believe it.
  • Two Technologies You Cannot Live Without
    Over the past few years, I've been experimenting with doing business as if it's already 2015. And you know what? It's better. What technologies have I depended on entirely? If I had to pick two: gone would be the word processor, fax machine, social networks, and even telephone! What remains are the two essentials: email and search!
  • Social Is the New Search
    With the news that Facebook and Bing have strengthened their social search partnership, the office this week was abuzz with questions directed toward me and my team. · What is "social search"? · Why would the search engines expend energy in integrating social data into its results? · What does this mean for search and social marketers?
  • There is No Blank Slate in Marketing
    In 2002, Steven Pinker wrote a book called "The Blank Slate." For 509 pages, Pinker argues that when it comes to our brains, and by extension, our minds, there is no such thing as a blank slate. While our destinies are not predetermined by our genes, there are certainly hardwired mechanisms that influence the paths we take. It's not solely nature or nurture, but a combination of both. Our minds are neither perfectly malleable plastic (the "blank slate" of behavioralists) nor are they cast in stone. In the end, you cannot deny human nature.
  • Mel Gibson, Or Joplin? Once Again, Twitter Bests @CNN And @Foxnews For @Breakingnews
    As the recovery effort in Joplin, Mo. continues in the wake of the devastating tornado on Sunday, various major news networks have since caught on to the magnitude of the story, and are now doing in-depth coverage of it for the benefit of those affected in the area, and abroad. But on Sunday night, when the tornado first hit, the coverage was practically nonexistent, and those seeking the latest info went to Twitter Search, Facebook, and other status and real-time networks in droves.
  • Optimizing Social For SEO: A Three-Step Beginner's Guide
    At the Pro SEO conference in Boston last week, Rand Fishkin discussed the recent changes and updates to Google's search results -- in particular, how search results in Google are being affected by users' social circles. How can you get started building your social circle and using social media to help your SEO results? Here's my three-step guide for beginners.
  • Social Media Content Marketing Through A Kindergartner's Lens
    Way back in 1988 a little book by Robert Fulghum captivated America for the better part of two years. Called "All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten," the book outlined the basic lessons every kid learns in the first year of primary school and how those apply to our everyday lives as adults. As I've worked over these last many weeks on this content marketing series, I've thought a lot about that book, so I dug it out and reread it. Predictably, its lessons apply particularly well to today's focus: social media content.
  • The Convergence Crossroads: Is The Future of Media About 'Connected Marketing'?
    What's the point of media attribution? That's a good question. It reminds me of the scene in the movie "Big" where Tom Hanks says "I don't get it. Why would anyone want a toy like that?" Through the eyes of the prospective customer, perception was reality. In truth, marketers shouldn't think of attribution as an end goal unless they want to risk being faced with the same question that was asked by Tom Hanks. What marketers need to embrace is the concept of Connected Marketing, within which attribution is just a part.
  • Two Sides Of Social: Connecting Or Disrespecting?
    Apparently I opened a can of worms in my last column. I was talking about real-time tweeting during the Search Insider Summit, lead largely by Rob Griffin, who added additional comments after the column ran. The collective force of the Search Insider audience jumped on Rob with a pretty unanimous condemnation of tweeting during live events. Some of the snippets:
  • Search Insider Summit Buzz-o-Meter: How Low Can Ya Go?
    was once told that top-10 columns are the lowest form of publishing. Wonder what that makes a column with 10 top-10 lists? Lower than the lowest piece of whale dung at hide tide? Let's find out...
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