Mike is an SEO Engineer currently developing an enterprise SEO product at Publicis Modem. In addition to Twitter, Mike contributes his inspiring and unique brand of wit to industry blogs as SEOmoz, Unbounce, and Distilled. His primary efforts include coordinating the Creative, Strategy, Technical, and Search teams toward reaching client’s overall goals.  Learn more about Mike here.

How has SEO evolved as part of the overall digital branding strategy for a business?

I’d say the issue is that overall it hasn’t. SEO has evolved in that it needs to have control over more of the marketing mix to be successful but we continue to cause disruption to the jobs of other capabilities. The thing is we typically ask for more responsibility but don’t fulfill the same basics of other digital capabilities. Far more needs to happen first before we fire up the keyword tool.

@ethanlyon: I love to see the collaboration between SEO & PR. Fantastic for linkbuilding.
@iPullRank: Exactly. When PR does the heavy lifting link building is far more scalable. I talk about that shortly.

@lyena: I think, SEO + customer service + sales is necessary. Have to understand the customer/audience. #personas

What do you suggest first when kicking off a project

The first phase is Opportunity Discovery. Everyone on the team should understand the vertical they will be optimizing in. Digital Strategists delve deep into that before the pitch even starts. One of the biggest problems and why SEO gets a bad rap for polluting the web is because we oftentimes do. Everyone on the team should be able to have a conversation on the topic because you all write optimize content for that niche. Use authentic engagement ask people on Twitter or talk to the client.

Next step is understanding business goals. Seems obvious but far too often does the client have a bad sense of what they need. Understand that rankings have never been the end goal but a means to that end goal.

Third step is audience research. People search to fulfill a need, understand those people and understand their needs. After that you can start talking about taking inventory of content assets and brand relationships, keyword research, site auditing and competitive analysis.

Finally a measurement plan should be developed at this phase to determine how effective your efforts will be.

@veezy: What’s the process when a client doesn’t understand what they need?
@iPullRank: When the client doesn’t understand the need you need to research the opportunities and TELL THEM what they need. Ultimately we want to get them the most effective traffic that fulfills the goal. For example if a client is selling TVs they may say “hey I want to rank #1 for the keyword [tv]“. That’s not helpful. You want to ultimately get to a keyword set that fits their target audience and brings qualified traffic.
@shuey03: Then you need to ask the right questions to pull it out of them.

@jasonmun: Can you give us an example of a measurement plan? Are you referring to forecasting success?
@scotttdodge: Here’s a killer one from @avinash http://t.co/F076wr2G
@iPullRank: A measurement plan is basically the statement of intent and the KPIs that we are using to determine success. Perhaps we want a certain audience to buy tvs. Some of the KPIs could be micro-conversions that tell us who visited. Basically the measurement plan gets everyone on the same page for determining how we’re doing.

@patricktigue: What if keywords that are the best fit don’t show any projected traffic? have you forgone seo setup for a ppc test first?
@iPullRank: Then those aren’t the best opportunities — keep looking

@SHOESandSEO: What techniques do you suggest for this. Buyer Personae are #Hot now but what more can be done?
@iPullRank: Suggest for what? Personas are essentially part of the discovery to determine the audience you’re optimizing for. It helps you understand what the persona is doing and will do. Use it in an aggregate sense.

@jaredmckiernan: Do you build your own rank tracking? If not, what do you use?
@iPullRank: I used to build rank checking tools but there are so many good ones out there. My favorite is @getstat. Check out Codex if you guys want to play with it : http://t.co/VYQax4Fj .

What tools do you recommend for conducting an Opportunity Analysis?

Opportunity Discovery is a cyclical process. Each portion will give you insights into one of the others and will cause you to refine your insights.

To understand the vertical simply use Google.

For understanding people use Social Listening tools such as SocialMention, Amplicate, Topsy, Spezify, Icerocket. The Facebook Ad Creator is to Audience Research what the Adwords Keyword Tool is to Keyword Research. There’s the DoubleClick AdPlanner. These are all the free tools.

Paid: Radian6, and quant tools – ComScore, Quantcast, Compete. If your client’s site is on FB’s OpenGraph use Facebook Insights as well.

Quick protip if you use followerwonk, you can also use About.Me and Zerply the same way.

I’m not just talking about keyword research with these. It’s understanding how people use and think about these keywords. It’ll help you create messaging that resonates with your target audience if you use the keywords the way they use them. Eliminates the message mismatch and/or ambiguity of keywords.

I’ve heard good thinks about ZoomRank but I’ve never personally used it.

@kmullett: and tweepi, manageflitter, twiangulate, and twendz is interesting.

@JadedTLC: I also endorse @brightedge for sites with 1mm+ pages.

@veezy: Know any tools that track when Google/Bing/Yahoo dial up/down localization a certain niche or for a certain keyword?
@scotttdodge: Try Zoomrank, or places scout. Will show what type of SERP is being displayed for any given KW.

@TheJune: Understanding the thought process that links various and related keyword give you a great advantage in seo.
@iPullRank: Absolutely. That’s the biggest takeaway from all of this I’d say. The problem with SEO is it was never people focused.

@ethanlyon: Also, have been breaking up linking audiences, finding their need states, testing, IDing best audiences, diving deep.
@iPullRank: Exactly my process. Separate your Targets from your Influencers in link prospecting get the biggest bang.

@jasonmun: Any tips on how to encourage all dept on the same page with SEO? PR, Comms, Product, Customer Service?
@iPullRank: That’s where this audience analysis comes in. It helps everyone get on the same page via the targets. That’s how strategy teams do it but I feel as though we’re better suited because we know the ins and outs of the channels. As a step by step of how I do it? I’m writing a post about Developing Personas for @seomoz soon.

How would you descibe the workflow of a successful “New SEO” project?

First Opportunity Discovery then move to a Content Strategy/Development phase which would include defining the Information Architecture, Annotating Wireframes in site builds, determing what type of content or Creative will be built and determining what portion of your audience connects with that content and how to put it in front of them.

To that point link building is partially built in Social Strategy – Link Building should not exist in a vacuum it should be coupled with other social and promo initiatives such as PR, social, contests and so on to scale and be more effective.

Finally there is measurement and optimization which is essentially no different than it ever was aside from the fact that we need to be measuring our efforts with AUDIENCE in mind rather than just keywords. Of course from there we jump around and do it all over again as needed.

@scotttdodge: A good deal of this advice seems to be focused on bigger-brand, bigger-budget projects. Any SMB/low-budget version?
@iPullRank: This can all be applied to smaller brands on a smaller scale. Just take out all of the quant analysis tools. Also if you can afford link building you can afford a PR campaign.

Looking forward, what should SEOs start investigating now to prepare for the next evolution of search?

Understanding, developing and validating personas using social media and then correlating that data with campaign efforts a la Keyword-Level Demographics.

Packaging link building efforts as part of bigger picture social-focused campaigns. Start thinking about how to become an entity and how users will become entities in the eyes of Google and how to make sure the content you create continues to be authoritative in the eyes of users so Google is ultimately forced to comply.

Social Media and SEO are essentially joined at the hip. Google has basically given up on the concept of search quality in and of itself and they are after this idea of symbiosis with the user. Basically users use search and search uses users to get better at Search.

Embrace Social or you won’t be around next year. Also getting along with the rest of the capabilities is mission critical. Speak their language and you can drive the train.

@SeoHop: I know all do it all as a package deal. But they will never understand the importance of it all. All they see is #1.
@iPullRank: Explain to them that #1′s not a goal but a means to an end. #1 gets them to the door doesn’t keep them in the house.

@lorenzocarreri: What’s entity search?
@dan_shure: JUST did a video yesterday on @iPullRank’s blog – http://t.co/7WEGqjtl . Its a pretty basic overview, but there’s links to more detailed/advanced info below the video.

@iPullRank: I’m speaking at SMX West, LinkLove London, and SES New York. If there’s any more questions feel free to hit me up here or reach out to me on email – mike@ipullrank. And thanks for having me on. Look out for my post on the New SEO Process on @seomoz on Monday.

Details:
Starts at 7:00 pm Mountain Time
About 1 hour long
Use hashtag #seochat

Host: Brett Snyder

About Michael King

Michael King – Developer Turned Search Marketer

Michael King is an SEO Engineer currently engrossed in developing an enterprise SEO offering as capability lead for Publicis Modem. He coordinates the efforts of the Creative, Strategy, Technical and Search Marketing Teams to achieve synergistic solutions in harmony with long-term client campaign goals. Mr. King also supports the Account Team in developing and delivering pitches for business development. Recently Mike became responsible for the SEO campaigns of LG, Citi, Sanofi Pasteur, Cartier, and General Mills and has had many wins. Michael King also recently began to contribute his brand of wit and empathetic narrative to leading industry blogs SEOmoz, Unbounce and Distilled.

Michael has a background in both web (presentation layer and back-end) as well as software development. A native Philadelphian, his development travels began at Microsoft as a Webmaster and led to smaller West Coast startups such as DigitalPersona and WildTangent doing QA Test in different capacities. After years of doing both full-time and freelance development Mr. King was introduced to SEO in 2006 and became a leading force at small agencies and on an in-house team. From there he was fortunate enough to land a role as an analyst at the prestigous Razorfish working on Fortune 500 clients such as Ralph Lauren, ADT, State Farm, Hawaiian Airlines, T. Rowe Price, Citi, and a host of pharmaceutical brands for whom he also buit an impressive set of data extraction tools.

Michael enjoys the challenge of SEO and how it allows him to use the various skills he’s picked up along the way to devise creative solutions.  With a number of wins under his belt for brands small and large he looks forward to leading companies into the further evolution of Inbound Marketing.

Michael on Twitter
Michael on Google+
Michael’s Blog

Why should marketers set a social media strategy?

So, if you’re asking the “why” question in 2012, you’re in a lot of trouble. Most clients we talk to don’t ask that lately. But if you’re still wondering why you need any sort of digital strategy: the answer is, you won’t achieve outcomes without a plan.

Always have (defensible) data. Talk business metrics *in addition* to social (which are KPIs). Also, understand their business/brand. Everyone should get social by now. Differentiator in pitching is doing your HW. If you do deal with people who are really unconvinced about services, nurture …don’t try to push to sale immediately.

@smccollo: A great place to start for anyone new to @thefuturebuzz Most Popular Future Buzz Posts In 2011 http://t.co/hMZghRAv .

@ashbuckles: How have you seen most marketers approach social media differently in the last 6 months?
@adamsinger: Slowly but surely, yes! We are seeing marketers understand content, analytics and community a lot better. But I still think a lot of brands and marketers, particularly in social, haven’t gone through the process (http://t.co/hhf6jZ5c). Typically, we see brands who already understand SEO, PPC and email marketing very ready to embrace social channels. Easy jump. The problem is those companies who still treat their websites like they’re a “digital brochure” …sad …lots of education needed.

@ashbuckles: Do you think executives misunderstand social media because the proof isn’t in their language? Or something else?
@AdamSinger: I actually don’t think it’s a “social” problem. I think so many never bothered to understand the web.
@bryantdunivan: execs misunderstand SoMe because they don’t understand the younger generation and how its a trust factor.
@OptimizePrime: I don’t think execs get social until you can match up specific metrics with their biz goals.
@AdamSinger: yes, education is needed. Need to show business outcomes from ANY digital marketing. Never just KPIs. I actually think we have all the tools we need now to track successfully. It’s not so difficult!
@ashbuckles: Analytics and data providers are beginning to share the basics. The context is still missing though.

@ashbuckles: Data is abundant but understanding and tying together goals and initiatives requires a process.
@AdamSinger: Very much so! Agree KPIs and outcomes BEFORE you start. Get stakeholder buy-in. Work to increase them / refine your mix.

How does a marketer gauge the benefits of a social media investment?

Google Analytics for web / social, Sprout for Social, SEOmoz for social / search. Vocus / Radian6 for monitoring.

ROI calculations: here you go: http://t.co/aq4f1SRv — read @thebrandbuilder’s book. I will shamelessly plug @thebrandbuilder all day btw, he kind of rocks.

What is a proper balance of social media, SEO, PR, content development, etc.?

That is one of those “it depends” questions, but let’s try and break it down a bit. Get search, social and PR to work together! Your PR team should be building you links. Social team should be optimizing blog posts. The perfect balance of search, social, PR and content depends on objectives (lead gen focused? brand building / awareness?).

All of these areas now converge. To succeed, I would encourage marketers to broaden their skills: http://t.co/MI4TvXfQ . If you’re in PR and you don’t get how to create a piece of content that gets 1,000′s of shares, time to experiment.

If you’re in SEO and you have no idea what makes a compelling story, bother your PR and reporter buddies to learn. Socialize your keyword glossary to PR and social teams. No silos. We also share examples @thefuturebuzz all the time of our creative content experiments.

@BrettASnyder: What is your most out-of-the-box “experiment” you’ve run to get the shares?
@AdamSinger: Check out what our client @eloqua made: http://t.co/vvPaujr1 neat, right? …linkbait AND built social connections.

How should PR influence social media or vice versa?

PR and social plans need to synch up. Reporters ARE social (and are PEOPLE) …so should be a part of your community building. Ideally, you build a hub on the web for your brand (like a blog) which is subscribed to by reporters, bloggers & consumers. With your own publishing platform, you can go direct to your market (and reporters) who can react to your news. Also, embrace the notion that every company is a media company: http://t.co/pxjyMtn6 .

@OptimizePrime: What is your opinion/experience with HARO?
@AdamSinger: HARO is great …I think an SEO who learns the art of media relations would possess a truly dangerous weapon.
@markalves: SEO & marketing agencies often respond to HAR O inquiries, recognizing the opportunity for links & PR.

How should a marketer share links thru different social media channels?

Headlines. Draft awesome headlines when you publish, and then tweak them for each community. Don’t copy-paste the same thing into Google+, Facebook, Twitter and Reddit. If you do that, you’re a spammer. Add value / context. Also, ideally your community does most of the sharing, not you. For my most successful sites we barely have to share a thing. It takes several *years* (yes, years). But for some clients that now have a huge following their community does all the hard work.

@ashbuckles: Which social networks are your favorite to use? Personally? Professionally?
@AdamSinger: Depends on how much volume you have. Media sites naturally publish more. If you publish less, spread it out. I think brands need to test the waters for how much their community will consume / share.

@ashbuckles: Can you give an example of “testing the waters” for sharability?
@AdamSinger: Document activity in addition to results. Don’t just look at what you achieved, look at how you got there.

On Thursday January 26, 2012 Search Marketing Weekly will be hosting an #seochat on Twitter. Adam Singer will be our guest answering questions about Digital Marketing Strategies in Social Media.

Details:
Starts at 7:00 pm Mountain Time
About 1 hour long
Use hashtag #seochat

Host: Ash Buckles

About Adam Singer

Adam Singer is Digital Marketing Practice Director for LEWIS PR, a marketing industry speaker and blogger. He provides online marketing and social media PR strategy for top B2B and B2C brands in industries such as marketing, healthcare technology, consumer tech, manufacturing, advertising/subscription-based web startups and much in between.

Singer and his campaigns have been cited by top media outlets such as PRWeek, Entrepreneur Magazine, Techdirt and Mashable for creative use of digital marketing and PR. He is also a frequent marketing industry speaker at events including Leading Real Estate Companies of the World annual conference, Webmaster World’s PubCon, Search Engine Strategies and Integrated Marketing Summit. Singer blogs at The Future Buzz – an award winning blog read by more than 50,000 readers per month.

Adam on Twitter
Adam on Google+
Adam’s music

With the launch of Search Your World, how do you think this will/has affected Local SEO

Not seeing much local G+ integration, but it’s coming. Current theory is that Google Place Pages become G+ Pages. Timeline: If I had to guess, 6 months to a year. I’m really not a fan of “Search Plus Your World” though. Makes search results worse in every case I have seen. I don’t have much more to say about SPYW other than it’s crap, and it’s not going away, and we’ll need to accept it.

@bryantdunivan: It seems to have limited the amount of local space on a serp, but that will be shortlived – maybe pages replace local ads.

How do you find great keywords for local SEO?

Great question. I start with standard KW research. Adwords tool, google suggest, & google related. Build out a huge list. Then I take that list, sort it by Local Monthly Search Volume. Then I manually go through the list and pull out the main terms, the locational terms, and the descriptors.

Ok, hmm, there is too much to it, and I don’t want to burn up the time. Check this doc – How To Build a Localized Keyword List: http://t.co/HEs44cEh .

@markalves: Sources for local SEO terms? Local blogs, forums for neighborhood synonyms.

@aknecht: I dig into geographical segmentation of existing analytics data. Lots of wonderful stuff there and search on them to verify. Another tip, read local newspapers. They tend to use the terms local people use or will influence the terms they use.

@kmullett: What they said + don’t forget WMT. Don’t forget brain power…talk to some people.

Do you have any pro tips for Local SEO Link Building?

Yes! Well, *I* don’t, but the rad folks at SEER do. Have you seen this? – 35 Local Link Opportunities You Missed (from SEER): http://t.co/rpkaV7Yz .

In local, since the biz is often not very link worthy (think small town electrician), I usually to go a little grey-hat and get hooked up on some private blog networks. Then I build links to the posts to keep them indexed. I don’t want to say much more about it. Keywords: “private blog networks”. You need to talk to the right people.

@aknecht: Local chamber of commerce have directories unfortunately many don’t are not public. Need to join & get made public.

@bryantdunivan: Use BBB, local rotary clubs, local orgs to build your links through, guest blog and provide comments to your news provider.

@shuey03: If you can get a creative piece of link bait and get it pushed, it will get links for local businesses.

@lyena: I also recommend getting on customer blogs and vendor blogs.

@kmullett: Local PR releases are good. If your town has a newspaper/radio/tv, create event/news to be on their sites.

What is the most valuable thing you can do in a local SEO campaign for local rankings?

NAP Consistency is #1. If you have incorrect NameAddressPhone data all over the web, you’re not going to rank.

So, here’s what I do to find all the inconsistent NAP data.

1. Step 1. Go to factual.com, and search the business name. Click on the business name in the results, and choose explain. Poke around.
2. Step 2. Assuming you find variations of the phone number out there, plug them into the local citation finder & find all occurrences. If you find variations of the address, search Google for them. Put everything into a spreadsheet.
3. Step 3. Go through the spreadsheet, and do whatever you can to try and get the sites to update the listings.

Hat tip to @daveminchala for showing me factual.com. He’s a local seo pro. Follow him.

Hundreds of sites?! Painfully go through them one at a time, OR @nyagoslav tried Yext for a client and was pretty happy.

NAP cleanup is one thing I can’t outsource. Needs serious attention to detail and client collaboration. When you’ve got everything cleaned up, next step is hyper-local citations! But blogs, business associations, local newspapers, gov sites, etc are all great citation sources.

I do this detailed local competitive analysis report for every new SEO client. See section 1 on this page: http://t.co/B1TX62bK . Almost every time I aggregate and sort all that data, the top rank businesses seem to align with the ones with the most citations. This of course is more important for “pure” 7-pack style rankings, as opposed to blended. With blended, it’s more about links. We recently did some hyper-local citation work for a client, and he skyrocketed in rankings for hundreds of terms.

Here’s how to find hyper-local citations.

1. Step 1. Run a LOT of KW queries on the local citation finder in the city/niche and associate them all with a project. My system for competitive citation analysis: http://t.co/C9BHqK3b . So, for a lawyer in chicago: chicago lawyer, lawyers, attorneys, dui lawyer, robbery lawyer, criminal lawyer, etc.
2. Step 2. Go under “Your Projects” and ALL the citation sources from all the queries will be listed under “view sources”.
3. Step 3. Ctrl-f in your browser for “law”, “legal”, “chicago”, “illinois”, etc. Any niche or location related terms. Copy all the domains that match the Ctrl-f searches into a spreadsheet. These are your hyper local citations.

We did this recently for an hvac client in NYC and found 60+ hyper-local sources. After getting those citations, rankings took off.

@bryantdunivan: How do you get incorrect addresses changed when there is no way to get them updated?
@EdmontonSEO: If there is absolutely no way, and they don’t respond to emails, they’re probably not an important site to Google.

@bryantdunivan: Its imperitive to link to a contact page, so they go to contact you – they know what they are looking for.

@kmullett: Another one we send non-seo clients to is getlisted.org. A simple free route to get started.

Skitzzo Do you consider a link w/ a local modifier in the anchor a citation as well?
@EdmontonSEO: Nah, I consider that a link.

How can you get more reviews to boost your Local SEO?

Best post on the topic: bit.ly/ogt1pq

Get one of these handouts made: bit.ly/wOfpIO

Also want to mention the Link Prospector we built with @GarrettFrench. Awesome for guest blog prospecting: http://t.co/rjyqS8Qs . Coming soon! A couple weeks from launch.

Guest blogging works SUPER well for link building in local.

@BrettASnyder: is a converted PPC dude who works for @SEERInteractive as an SEO Consultant. you can read more about him here: http://bit.ly/xO3o1a .

What exactly is a lazy SEO?

Lazy SEO isnt actually being lazy (sry!) but using tools/processes to automate your SEO and let linking opps come to you. This way you can prioritize strategy development in those super competitive spaces & leverage tools to do the leg work for you. It’s all about problem solving. Find what works and find how to make it scale.

Ex. – Many people use G-Alerts for brand monitoring but its also a strong research tool once you’ve found a profitable query. Idea is that you want your manual process (ID the query) to pave the way and your automated process to carry that momentum forward.

@kmullett: Would that include 1-n posting tools/services, where one post actually replicates to many?
@BrettASnyder: Not really IMO, it’s more taking a manual process that you know works and taking the human element out of it.

@shuey03: Google alerts work great… I like to use @trackur as well.
@aknecht: Love @trackur as well.
@aknecht: Using Google alters is also a good lead generator. It’s amazing what people post that can relate to your business.
@BrettASnyder: For sure, the hard part is sifting through all the crap to find the real strong opportunities.
@ethanlyon: G-alerts to Twitter search queries can also be a great way to monitor brands / linking opps.
@BrettASnyder: Twitter is a great call, I’m big fan of lists/hashtags.
@ethanlyon: I love the idea of G-alerts for arch issues that you might not have realized. e.g. site:[insert site] viagra OR cialis.

What kind of systems and tools do you use to assist in the automated discovery process? & how do you use them

1st step has always got to be identify your problem and what you want to accomplish…then work backwards from the solution. Let’s pick competitive research, I love using Track Engine to monitor changes on a website…say a competitors News section. Once you know what they’re doing for press you can replicate/improve on that and push for linking opps before they get any traction.

You can use Excel to generate content blocks or Canned Responses in Gmail to auto-generate outreach msgs. Use Concatenate function to mash up content blocks and Substitute function to sub in variables. Excel content mashups for eComm product descriptions let you take attributes from your database and use them as the variables. Its all about finding tasks (ie content creation) that client says “thats great idea we just cant do it” & refusing to accept it.

For blogger outreach specifically, always find a way to leverage referral networks when possible. Especially when outreach strategy has been successful w/ particular person/group…take advantage of THEIR network for add’l links. PitchMe is a great blogger referral network too, especially for eComm clients that can offer reviews/giveaways.

@ethanlyon: For really solid queries, use ifttt.com to push to your mobile. Might blow up in your face though for high-vol RSS feeds. Warning about ifttt. Push it to your mobile all important alerts, but make sure it doesn’t blow up in your face. Happened to me Twitter links > delicious tags. Automatically tags the things the people you follow into delicous.
@BrettASnyder: Ifttt is awesome…think of it like creating an RSS feed of linking opps that constantly updates when new sites fit your criteria. I use it a lot for collecting competitor/client mentions on Twitter.
@kmullett: Example ifttt, slightly off topic, send all your tweets to gmail, then filter from inbox. Easy for clients backups.
@BrettASnyder: Or send all competitor Twitter mentions and filter the negative 1s RT.
@dohertyjf: Or push tweets with a certain hashtag to Google Reader. Boom, content ideas.
@kmullett: Working on an ifttt that ties into diigo’s publish to wordpress, drupal, etc. Bookmark to diigo, bam it’s a post.

@bryantdunivan: First step – Always check out the analytics, then do comparisons/KW research to determine the best attack for the content.

@kmullett: Don’t forget tools like samepoint, socialmention, topsy, twilert, tweetbeep, et al. Great for discovery.

@StephStMartin: People will do stuff for the smallest prizes. have contests,post a blog post & best comment wins a giftcard.
@BrettASnyder: And beyond that, export your commenters and run a smaller giveaway for just them!

@djchrisle: @seerinteractive also uses google docs / excel + import XML and custom functions to pull data ow.ly/8rOnn .

@kmullett: Amazed at how many SEOs I talk to that don’t use Google operators in KW research too. allintitle, allintext, etc
@BrettASnyder: G-queries should be used from everything from arch audits to KW research to Linkbuilding and beyond.
@StephStMartin: Don’t forget inurl, allinurl, and my fave, site:

@djchrisle: @ethanlyon and @brettasnyder – dudes are serious with exports in excel. XLS download: ow.ly/8rOvu .
@ethanlyon: ImportFeed() in Google Docs is extremely effective.

@RachaelGerson: Recently saw @BrettASnyder use Excel to automate content creation in insanely awesome ways. ow.ly/8rPgy .

@ethanlyon: Side note: @Ubersuggest is awesome for content ideas… query: how to [topic] .

@ashbuckles: It takes time but here’s some videos — bit.ly/x1snYu
@djchrisle: Go to Lynda.com spend the hours and MASTER (not learn) Excel. You can save DAYS of work. I’m not lying.
@RachaelGerson: Make sure you follow @lavoritano, @bigalittlea & @bonnieschwartz too. Ridiculous Excel skills.

@StephStMartin: Blogroll. They write a comment, you include them in your blogroll & have them share posts socially.

Details:
Starts at 7:00 pm Mountain Time
About 1 hour long
Use hashtag #seochat

Host: Greg Shuey

About Brett Snyder

Brett Snyder is an SEO Consultant with @SEERInteractive an SEO company in Philadelphia. He is a converted PPC guy looking for any way to apply Excel and crunch data in search. He love the day-to-day of being knee deep in SEO but true passion comes from training new team members, friends, and family about the ins and outs of our industry. He’s a displaced Phillies fan and struggling East Coast Raider fan.

@bryanphelps: Goog continues updates to promote big brands.

@ashbuckles: Anchor text links become considerable less important in 2012.

@Matt_Siltala: @ashbuckles I don’t think they become less important, but I think people need to think of it more in terms of natural anchor text. Local and Google+ will be integrated more and more … just watch.

@jasonmun: I reckon branding and social will be key.

@ashbuckles: I think as G+ matures, we see more author authority factors in ranking. The G+ noise ratio is so low compared to Twitter & Facebook that traffic can be incredible in some industries.

@lyena: I think G+ adoption will go slower than anticipated. Businesses are struggling to keep up with Facebook & Twitter

@kmullett: This is a link to the G+ SEO article: http://t.co/HyGAO5Dp. BTW, The Google+ team have already gone on record in many instances about the upcoming tie-ins. Just takes time.

@ashbuckles: I think Google will continue to deliver crazy results for mobile users in 2012. Great mobile results won’t happen this year. Google will try to anticipate location, etc. and miss the mark when delivering results. They’re way behind.

@lookadoo:: More focus on quality content in multiple formats – txt, video, PDF, social.

@OptimizePrime: I bet 2012 will be the year of natural language. Good SEO = organized mess (especially anchor text & synonyms in content)

@kmullett: I think schema will become very important, especially for CTR (better snippets) but will be measured signal at first. I speculate that because Google has to serve quality and there just are not enough CMS’s/sites with it yet.
@ashbuckles: I think schema requires integrated changes that Google can’t force throughout the web in a short period of time.

@bryanphelps: 2012 SEO Prediction: @aaronwall goes to DC as expert witness to bring Google down.

@dan_patterson: I think more and more people are just going to overlook the fundamentals for something ‘shiny’

@kmullett: Based on requests for webinars/seminars and speaking, SM is still the shiniest rock on the block.

@Matt_Siltala: What do you think the biggest changes you are going to be, when it comes to your marketing efforts in 2012?

@garyjmag: It looks like Video is going to become a bigger part of our marketing efforts this year.

@kmullett: We are going to continue to push clients towards action, ROI, tangible value scoring instead of positions.

@lyena: I completely agree with you. Esp. because ranking is already inconsistent with localization & personalization.

@kmullett: Yeah, like a client who’s closing a lot off SEO, and yet is beefed because 2 of the 10 terms they want fluctuate.

@lyena: There will be more focus on optimization & conversion, not just traffic. Usability too and simpler code. I also think that Google will continue taking data from us and PPC will become more important for SEO testing.

@shuey03: I think in 2012 you are going to see a lot more people investing in seo tools to help streamline their efforts.

@ashbuckles: Strategy in 2012 includes more diversification of traffic generators. Relying on 1 primary source of traffic is risky.

@Matt_Siltala: all great answers….agree especially on the tools and focusing on doing something with all that social traffic.

@SmartBoyDesigns: @lookadoo do you find that focusing that time spent on multiple formats would be better spent on more content in one format?

@lookadoo: No, believe universal results are huge & you can enter competitive SERP spaces with various formats. Approach is to have subject matter experts. Train & enable clients to help produce content & think SEO.

@ashbuckles: So what predictions do you disagree with?

@OptimizePrime: I HOPE to disagree with the prediction that (not provided) will rise to 25%

@ashbuckles: I think (not provided) is clearly moving above 25% this year.

@jasonmun: These guys reported 33% bit.ly/rZzMIu

@OptimizePrime: Agreed, picked @randfish’s figure of 25%+ from 1/2/12.

@ashbuckles: I agree Pinterest will take over the world in 2012 (@randfish) — mz.cm/u99AIf For some industries, Pinterest is the perfect traffic source right now.

@shuey03: I predict that SEOs will ruin pinterest by the end of 2012.

Pinterest:

@OptimizePrime: I agree about pinterest, it has great UI. I just hope they don’t switch to no follows once it gets big.

@RachaelGerson: Recently analyzed quality of Pinterest traffic. Higher bounce & lower conversion rates lower.

@ashbuckles: Not surprised. But it can be great for brand development, deep links, and referrals.

@RachaelGerson: The stats are logical. On plus side, seeing some great blog posts written w/ Pinterest images & links. In terms of Pinterest traffic, I think biggest thing is to watch for 404 landing pages. Why waste the traffic?

@ashbuckles: Images are great for some SERPs pages (universal results) and popular images get top placement. Pinterest can help get you visible for certain SERPs pages in certain industries.

@dan_patterson: On the pinterest topic, I think seos will flood it, nofollow will come, but seos won’t ruin it completely. I like pinterest.

@garyjmag: I’m really interested in seeing what happens in local search in 2012….i can see G+ & Places having some tight integration.

@lyena: That would be a challenge for local biz. G+ page is a definite advantage to Places. But who has time for that?

@scotttdodge: I just hope that they figure out how the heck they’re going to support Places. Soon.

@garyjmag: Places already has that shout box for biz status updates. I wonder what the usage is on that already.

@lyena: I call it “we are still alive” status. All my local customers use it. Not sure if it helps.

@@garyjmag: Have you ever worked with G-feet? altho slow, its the only time i felt like they’re providing support.Google Feet is their on-the-ground support team. Visit local biz, helps w/ Places. G+ profile for MN team: http://ow.ly/8jUK3 . They’re currently the middleman btwn my client & Places engineers trying to solve a phone number swap w/ competitor. I think their role is to help biz owners sign up and get set up on Places.

@jasonmun: What are your thoughts on the Paid vs Organic serp? Paid landscape seems be growing by the minute!

@RachaelGerson: I think Google’s blurring the lines to the point that non-industry ppl don’t always know what’s paid vs organic.

@scotttdodge: Not a fan of the insurgence of PPC in the SERP. I’ve never clicked an ad – manage alot, though. Could be my generation.

@ashbuckles: I rarely click paid ads but Google is growing paid revenues like crazy. New placements don’t surprise me.

@scotttdodge: True. I just think ads are so obvious. I’m the type to look at the url of an ad and type it in, just to save them $$

@jasonmun: Soon there will be no Organic listings above the fold!

@davidmalmborg: What about the evolution of SEO? No, it’s not dying, but surely our job will be different by the end of 2012.

@jimboot: With 2 changes a day to the alg, the only thing constant in SEO is change

@lyena: I think, we will be policing content and try to kill syndication.

My favorite tweet of the chat

@Matt_Siltala: If you are good at what you do, don’t worry the basics have not changed and you will be just fine.

Shameless G+ Plugs

• Dream Systems Media
• SEO.com
• Cirrus ABS
• Internet Exposure

@RavenAlison: If you want to see tweets from every PubCon session, there’s twetchup.com!

@aknecht: For those interested here’s a good recap of my #pubcon session on Social Media Analtyics alank.ca/swnTTC

Any major Google or Bing announcements to be aware of?

@thompsonpaul: Google’s using integration of G+ w/ search using the badges functionality it released yesterday. Also ties in heavily to Adwords.

@scottcowley: As most know, Google took away a lot of keyword data right before PubCon. Matt Cutts also hinted at removing PPC data next. Bing is still trying to get traction, but they’re getting more looks because of great data delivered through webmaster tools. Matt Cutts said the marketing focus of webmasters should be on social, local, and mobile. The consensus is that webmasters should stop trying to get keyword data back and use the data they have. However, @mattcutts opened up the possibility of releasing some historical keyword data.

@ashbuckles: @scottcowley Interesting that Google isn’t talking about search any longer. Not surprising, however.

@aknecht: From @mattcutts at #pubcon G is going to devalue ad heavy sites especially if all at the top of the page. @mattcutts said the roll out of the SSL for logged in users will only affect google.com, no immediate plans for other locals.

@alexvolk: Bing also just realized details on Webmaster Tools Fall Updates ow.ly/7x39c

What were your greatest AHA moments at #Pubcon?

@aknecht: Greatest Ahh moment, when I impressed @steveplunkett over breakfast w/ analytics technique.

@KeriMorgret: The loopholes Google hasn’t closed yet that @aimclear talked about at #pubcon

@scottcowley: Biggest “Aha” for me: stop trying to game the system – social signals are changing the nature of SEO forever. It take smore work to fake social signals than to create good content that gets natural social signals. I think many SEOs are frustrated realizing how important Google Plus will become for SEO. It’s blackmail, in some respects.

What link building changes did you learn about this year at #Pubcon?

@scottcowley: Some SEOs are going to be making changes after some things that @GregBoser said about link building. Boser flat out said that “brute force” link building is dead – and that includes tactics that have worked for years. Big things: no page should be getting more than 10% of its backlinks from 1 keyword phrase. New sites should focus on building links only w/ branded keywords for the first few months of the campaign to gain reputability. Exact match anchor text links are dying in importance. Sites are seeing more success with partial match branded backlinks. And Google is putting more weight on sitewide metrics as a whole instead of a few number of very strong, SEO’d pages.

@ashbuckles: @scottcowley Branded links have always been important but marketers often emphasize non-branded traffic… leading to exact match.

@dhdoxey: In the BlackHat session: contact your competitors top links and say they need to link to your competitors new site – Yours.
@aknecht: Best if you can find competitor links that go 404, much easier to get them to repoint them to you.

@scottcowley: One thing that has me thinking a lot lately is the principle of getting links from sites that are getting their own social signals.

What interesting things did you hear about competitive analysis at #Pubcon?

@scottcowley: The best thing SEOs can do (if they haven’t already) is build real relationships using real content to get real links.

@alexvolk: “real relationships” and “authenticity” were recurring themes at #pubcon that I heard from people I trust.

@shuey03: I hear @garrettfrench is building a wicked 404 link building tool

@scottcowley: I thought it was interesting that @kennyhyder says he doesn’t go after the same links that his competitors have. You should learn about your competitors’ backlink profiles to gauge the level of quality, but get your links in other ways.

@Matt_Siltala: Agree with Kenny, you can use as a blueprint, but can always find much better links based on info.

@KrisRoadruck: Relationship building is not a scalable tactic & if you are building relationships for the purpose of a link you are doing it wrong.

Anything you’d like to share about SEO Trends, Schema & Panda from #Pubcon?

@scottcowley: There are still a ton of sites that haven’t delved into Schema.org markup yet. We’re definitely in an adoption phase for a while. Rel=author was mentioned repeatedly as being crucial to the social signal/SEO trend. An interesting note about Panda: some sites are finding their rankings increase as they manually remove low quality links.

Which parties were your favorite at #Pubcon?

@scottcowley: I think @RavenTools did a phenomenal job with the Poker Tourney. I loved the Poker Tourney because players and non-players felt comfortable being there. Can’t say that about them all. Expect it to become an annual tradition. The best parties at PubCon are those that mix fun and/or food with comfortable conversation. I would be remiss if I didn’t give a huge shoutout to @AlanBleiweiss and his yeoman’s work on #EpicDinnerVegas. Amazing gathering. And #EpicKaraoke was where all of the best-kept SEO secrets were shared. So come next year. http://www.twitvid.com/VBYGS

@scottcowley: I should mention that I was disappointed by the lack of quality social/SEO data this year. Nobody can say what’s working/not yet.

@aknecht: #epicdinner hands down, but Raven Poker party was also in a class by itself for pure fun!

@alexvolk: @scottcowley +1 on @raventools tourney and gathering. First rate. and good networking.

@JadedTLC: #epicdinners are always the best party at any conference. Always

What lessons in conversion do you care to share with us?

@KeriMorgret: Naming products what your customers call them help conversion from.

@scottcowley: CROs all approach testing in very different ways. Some say you should test colors, some say to stop testing colors. Heard it all. Helpful things: try testing out completely different appeals – emotional vs logical, for example. If you want to A/B test pages that get minimal traffic, test VERY contrasting variations. If you’ve never looked at your forms for testing purposes, long forms, pre-fill forms, etc. cause major hangups with visitors. If your site isn’t getting a lot of submissions/buys, reduce testing to “microconversions” like click-throughs, video views, etc. One thing you should check out – a Google Quality Rater Handbook was recently leaked. http://bit.ly/s6V3Ev There’s gold here.

@dhdoxey: Engage your audience and help them get what they want by telling them with social.

@Nallawalla: Captchas stop conversions Make a hidden captcha. If there’s no data its valid, a bot will fill it out & you know its spam. Forums are 7-8 times bigger than the blogosphere and yet we do not talk about them.

@Matt_Siltala: … allt he hubs … ie (links, press, content, social etc…)

@KeriMorgret: Miss the old twitter mentions tab? Go to twitter.com/#!/mentions