Welcome to Friday.

Good news for Google – maybe bad news for you (or maybe not) – SEO related spending will be 80 billion by 2020 (that’s just four years away). Some details about the forecast can be found here – http://searchengineland.com/forecast-says-seo-related-spending-will-worth-80-billion-2020-247712

If you have an SEO agency, then you need to read this article – some tips on how to get things done just a bit better – http://searchengineland.com/thinking-smarter-taking-seo-work-next-level-246704

Maybe you’re just starting out – you should have some skills to pay the bills – https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/04/19/24-key-skills-for-seo-professionals-and-wannabes-in-2016/

Have small business clients – or maybe you own a small business – here are some must do tips.

https://www.clickz.com/2016/04/15/30-quick-and-easy-seo-tips-for-small-businesses

And finally if you aren’t using Instagram, maybe you should be – https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/04/20/23-stats-and-facts-about-instagram/

Enjoy your weekend.

Happy April Fool’s Day – don’t worry no fooling with the articles we highlight this week.

29 of the most interesting SEM stats –

https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/03/28/29-most-interesting-sem-stats-from-march-2016/

Highlights I like – you should note.

Check out the right hand stats. Note these are early results, I’m sure as consumers take notice, there may be some additional changes.

Mobile – if you’re site isn’t mobile ready – do it now.

Digital ads will pass television.

Since Google changed the position of the ads, they have decided they will change Adwords too – here are some details. http://searchengineland.com/adwords-redesign-first-look-246074

Use Reddit to discover new types of content – https://www.clickz.com/2016/03/25/how-to-use-reddit-search-to-discover-winning-content-ideas

Some details about the SERP changes – http://searchengineland.com/first-page-minimum-bids-continue-to-rise-in-wake-of-google-desktop-serp-changes-245917

Enjoy your weekend.

Happy Friday! If you enjoy college basketball then the next few weeks will be one of your favorite times of the year. I always enjoy rooting for the underdog – hopefully a few of them will win.

Google says they are going to tweak there mobile algo in May. Some of the details can be found here – http://searchengineland.com/google-boost-mobile-friendly-algorithm-coming-may-244941

We have been working with a client to improve their sites mobile “look”, and you should check out this tool we use to quickly review the changes we’ve made. If you have some pages on your website that you’re wondering how mobile friendly they are, this tool will be able to help you as well.

http://quirktools.com/screenfly/

If you have a website and you rely on advertising for some of your revenue, then this article might be able to help you get some more money.

https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/03/15/seven-ways-publishers-have-reacted-to-ad-blockers/

Speaking of ads – if you do any advertising on Google Adwords, then you’re probably paying more to get in front of your audience.

If you’re thinking of launching a new site, here are some tips to help you get a head start.

http://searchengineland.com/7-proactive-ways-jumpstart-seo-site-launch-241657

And finally Google issues some guidance on bloggers and links.

https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/03/11/google-issues-guidelines-on-bloggers-and-links-for-freebies/

Enjoy your weekend!

Good Friday – I hope you’ve had a wonderful week!

Google has a take on the changes to the SERPs page – http://marketingland.com/googles-take-recent-changes-results-page-166976 – if you don’t think they tested it thoroughly, and found out how much more money they made with it, then you should think about it some more. OF course they have said that it helps the ‘user’ experience, but remember at the end of the day, their goal is to make money.

We’ve talked about advertising on Facebook a few times over the past months – this is another great addition to include with your Facebook advertising notes.

https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/03/02/a-comprehensive-guide-to-advertising-on-facebook/

What are second tier links and why they will help your business – http://searchengineland.com/importance-second-tier-links-242941

Are you ready for the next Penguin update – this site should help you be more prepared.

https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/02/29/the-penguin-in-the-room-what-to-do-until-google-rolls-out-its-latest-update/

Friday is here. Still not feeling 100% yet. Blah.

Big news this week is Google changed the way they did ads – ton of crying etc. on the web. From properties we manage I didn’t notice any real significant changes (yet). One thing I did notice was a change in some sites with Google Adsense accounts – I noticed a strong uptick in earnings (traffic being the same) – again like everything else Google does we’ll just have to wait a bit, let the changes sift down, continue to monitor and adapt if need be.

A couple of good articles about the change –

https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/02/23/google-kills-right-hand-side-ads-what-does-this-mean-for-sem/

http://marketingland.com/googles-new-serp-layout-biggest-winners-losers-166036

If you like twitter, here are some folks you can follow – http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/97114-20-SEO-Feeds-to-Follow-on-Twitter

Tips for advertising on Twitter – https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/02/22/how-to-run-a-successful-twitter-lead-generation-campaign/

I’ve mentioned before that I like Facebook – here is some more info if you’re still having trouble with Page Insights – http://webmarketingtoday.com/articles/120453-Understanding-Facebook-Page-Insights-Part-2/

Enjoy your weekend!!

Hope your week has gone well. I have some kind of cold / flu thing going on so felt pretty bad most of the week. I am starting to feel better now, so that’s a plus.

Twitter launched a ‘flight school’ for marketers – here is a review of it – https://www.clickz.com/2016/02/17/twitter-101-clickz-attends-flight-school

Facebook advertising is fun, sometimes things don’t go as planned. Here are some great tips to make sure that you’re measuring the right things and doing it correctly.

https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/02/16/11-reasons-why-your-facebook-ad-measurement-is-messed-up/

Some awesome link building ideas – http://searchengineland.com/5-link-building-techniques-youve-neglecting-242510

Tools to help you monitor your local business – http://webmarketingtoday.com/articles/120380-4-Affordable-Brand-Monitoring-Tools-for-Local-Businesses/

I enjoy lists of websites that improved – here is one that looks at websites from the U.S. that improved most – https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/02/17/which-us-sites-gained-the-highest-google-visibility-in-2015/

I hope you enjoy your weekend.

It’s Friday, winter has returned this week – it snowed almost every day, not a ton, a couple of inches at a time. I’m ready for summer. I hope you got to watch the Super Bowl. This year I really wasn’t for a team, since the teams I normally cheer for lost in the playoffs (or didn’t make the playoffs). If you like defense, then you should have loved watching the game.

I did watch the commercials too. There were some winners and losers, I’m sure that you have your favorites too. It would be interesting to see how many Amazon Echo’s were purchased last week. I talked some more about the commercials I liked / didn’t like, earlier this week.

http://www.gasmileageguide.com/gas-savings-blog/super-bowl-ads-my-take/uncategorized

82 percent of searches of Super Bowl ads came from mobile – doesn’t really surprise me.
http://searchengineland.com/google-82-percent-of-super-bowl-ad-searches-happened-on-mobile-up-from-70-percent-242050

If you sell products (brand products- that other retailers sell) and use Google Shopping, you have some changes coming up – http://searchengineland.com/retailers-gtins-required-by-may-16-for-google-product-listing-ads-242292

A good look at benefits vs. features and how to sell more of whatever product your selling.

http://webmarketingtoday.com/articles/120273-Benefits-vs-Features-Understand-the-Difference-Boost-Sales/

Make sure that you’re using these methods with your SEO. http://searchengineland.com/jump-start-seo-6-surefire-tactics-240114

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Super bowl weekend is here. It makes me sad because now we’ll have to wait for several months to watch football again. Pay attention as you watch it this weekend to the commercials. I’ll post my winners and losers next week.

Some Guidance on Google Analytics –

If you need to tell someone how to set things up – send them to this article –
https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/02/03/an-absolute-beginners-guide-to-setting-up-google-analytics-for-your-website/

Here is a good list of metrics and their explanations – https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/02/04/25-metrics-to-measure-your-content-marketing-efforts/

Something I may try pretty soon – from Twitter – Buy followers. It will be interesting to test if these followers perform better than traditional followers that find you.

http://marketingland.com/buy-twitter-followers-10-things-need-know-follower-ad-campaigns-twitter-160960

And finally some notes on links – http://marketingland.com/10-local-link-building-tips-2016-162061

Enjoy your weekend!

We survived the snow from last week. About a foot of snow feel here, it was hard to get an exact measurement because the snow was drifting around so much. Our friends a couple of counties to the north

got a couple of feet. A lake we visit sometimes in the summer got a couple of feet too, causing portions of the marina to collapse and houseboats (some worth a couple hundred grand) to sink. We still have snow and driving around hasn’t been much fun, but this weekend it is supposed to be in the ‘50’s and then next week we may have some severe weather.

The power didn’t go off, which was a blessing. Today we have some of my favorite bits of news from the week.

Having a list helps you know what needs to be done and when you need to do them. A couple of posts that tell you just that.

https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/01/27/14-most-important-seo-tasks-in-order-of-priority/

https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/01/21/seo-basics-22-essentials-you-need-for-optimizing-your-site/

Google revised their webmaster guidelines – here is an article that discusses those changes – http://searchengineland.com/google-updates-the-general-guidelines-section-of-their-webmaster-guidelines-241236

If you have some customers that use Instagram – here are some advertising tips.

http://webmarketingtoday.com/articles/120141-Why-and-How-to-Use-Instagram-for-Advertising/

I love playing around with Facebook advertising – guidelines for optimizing your targeting.

https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/01/25/how-to-use-facebooks-new-audience-optimization-targeting/

I hope you have a great weekend.

Just wanted to post my normal Friday bits before the winter storm hits with full force. We’re supposed to get about a foot plus of snow but we’ve had freezing rain since about 4am or so this morning and that is never a good thing.

It doesn’t matter too much how that Google tweaks their algos. Their goal is to provide good results to someone that is searching… don’t forget that. Think of it like a store, if you went every day looking for something and could never find it, or it took you hours to find a loaf of bread, would you go back? Nope.

While having thousands of words on a web page doesn’t make your page wonderful, check out this article –

http://searchengineland.com/study-quality-backlinks-comprehensive-content-are-still-biggest-factors-in-google-rankings-240575

Between 1900 and 2000 words seem to be the sweet spot, along with some good inbound links. Remember with that content you need to engage your user so they start reading and continue to read at least for a few seconds before hitting the back button.

Some more updates – http://searchengineland.com/google-core-algorithm-updates-continue-as-seos-notice-weekend-google-update-240415

It all comes down to good / useful content.

I hope wherever you are you are safe and warm and have a wonderful weekend – I’m sure I will be shoveling something.