A weekly roundup of the most interesting and useful posts and articles on search / inbound marketing from the past week.
Social Media & Content Marketing
Writing for the Web
The average web reader spends just 3 seconds on a page before he or she decides whether to stay or leave. Practical tips here for how to grab and keep attention.
Google+ Numbers Still Don’t Matter, At Least In The Way You Expect
Tech bloggers, newspapers, and social media pundits constantly carp about Google’s claimed numbers for its Google+ social network. Here’s why none of that really matters to Google. Also, find out about what’s changed in the new Google+ Redesign rolled out last week.
YouTube Opens Partner Program to Everyone
Now anyone able to qualify for at least one monetized video in their YouTube account can be a YouTube Advertising Partner (previously reserved only for very popular content producers.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Don’t Forget About Mobile Canonicalization
Because of mobile, more and more sites have two different versions. Make sure you’re handling that properly for both user experience and the search engines.
What Is Google AuthorRank?
Tim Moore of CrushIQ interviews AJ Kohn and Virante’s own Mark Traphagen about the implications of Google’s AuthorRank, which Google says will eventually affect search rankings.
How to Understand Keywords in Searcher Context
How to step aside from your own prejudices and blind spots to find keywords searchers are using but which might never have occurred to you.
Paid Search Advertising (PPC)
Consumer Ad Awareness in Search Results
Study shows that the average search user isn’t always aware that there are ads on the search results page. Most people only recognize the presence of ads when they are in the right sidebar of SERPs.
Google CPCs Continue to Decline While Yahoo/Bing’s Rise
Also, Overall ad spend on paid search rose in the first quarter.
Web Analytics
A Case for Analytics: If You’re Not Measuring, You’re Not Marketing
57% of marketers point to “measurement, analysis, and learning” as one of their biggest hurdles.
When to Use Google Analytics Goal Values
What goal values can tell you, when to use them, and how to set them up.
For Clicks and Giggles
How to Get More Likes on Facebook.
Quarterback photo by ESPNHS. Used through a Creative Commons License.
