Bruce Clay's Blog, page 7
January 11, 2017
January 9, 2017
My 10 Predictions for Digital Marketing in 2017
My 10 Predictions for Digital Marketing in 2017 was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.
It was hard to miss the “good riddance to 2016” trumpet blasts just two weeks ago.
So 2017 starts off in a pretty good position with small shoes to fill.
However, the expectations we as individuals have for our own achievements have not waned. Redo everything and improve it all. “Nothing is sacred” has been my mantra lately. Up takes effort.
For you, let 2017 be the year you say you got better every day. The year you surrounded yourself with smart people. The year you got a hold of better data. The year you made more informed decisions.
In that spirit, I perform my annual exercise of crystal ball gazing, offering predictions for the search marketing and affiliated digital marketing spaces for the year to come.
Why have I done this every year for the last 12 years?
A few reasons:
Everything we do is done in service of this primary goal: Get more traffic to websites.
To get more web traffic, we have to know what works and what will change — and the sooner the better.
With a digital marketing road map clearly drawn, we can gain a competitive edge by innovating strategies around upcoming opportunities.
So the predictions below are the starting point for a conversation about how search marketing is evolving to be smarter over the next few months.
Give them a read and let me know what you think.
My Predictions
1. The SEO world will be shocked to see that organic listings will shrink as PPC and Local Paid Inclusion takes hold. Google will become a pay-to-play space with only the top few organic rankings getting continual search traffic, usually for information-centric sites.
2. Mobile will significantly dominate the traffic on the web. In the early part of the year, desktop search will fall as a percentage of total queries. Later in 2017, desktop search will gain search traffic share as an information portal as mobile search tests a totally paid model.
3. Voice search will exceed half of all searches, and find increasingly common use for desktop search. This will totally flip the concept of keywords as people speak what they want instead of typing it.
Bruce Clay’s 2017 #SEO prediction: Voice search will exceed half of all searches. Read all 10
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4. AMP is here and will likely remain, but it will not be a very successful project. There are several other and more attractive solutions that will gain a foothold … Your website as an app? Yes, definitely.
5. PPC will grow exponentially. When the entire first screen is paid ads you become a believer. We advise ourselves and clients that they need to follow the money … How does Google make money? Certainly not from organic listings.
Bruce Clay predicts 2017: the first screen of a mobile search is paid ads. Read 10 #predictions
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6. Shopping on Instagram, Instagram storefronts and affiliate programs take hold. The online fashion industry is many billions of dollars, and visuals rule. Look for massive growth in the area of Instagram shopping.
7. Ads on social media continue to grow, not without challenges. Social is rejected by users as an inappropriate channel for ads. While highly targeted social ads are great for the success of advertisers, users will have the final say.
8. We will see new forms of behavior around virtual social rooms. Social media users and platforms innovate new means of social engagement instead of meeting people in person. Virtual reality (VR) chat rooms become a new social experience.
9. Content is going to be a significant SEO focus, driving most projects throughout the year. This is an easy prediction to make. The key is that the quality of the content will be judged by RankBrain, and so content for content’s sake will not prevail.
10. New tools will help content marketers produce targeted, high-quality content at the time of publishing. Content writers demand more data and become more technically bold as easy-to-use tools provide traffic and competitor SEO stats, ushering in a new generation of targeted high-quality content.
What’s Next? Serving Up Strategy
How should these changes affect your digital strategy this year? That’s where my 2017 resolution kicks in.
I’ve committed to blogging every week, and you can bet these predictions will be a catalyst for many posts to come.
Follow along with me by signing up for free email updates for the blog.
It’s always an honor to answer your toughest digital marketing and SEO questions. Let me know of any topics you’d like me to cover here.
Fun fact: 2012 was the one time I took a formal poll to rate how I did on my predictions one year out. I scored a 58%.
As for these predictions, how do you think I did? Let me know in the comments.
January 3, 2017
The Digital Marketing Conference Calendar: 100+ Events Across the Globe, Updated for 2017
The Digital Marketing Conference Calendar: 100+ Events Across the Globe, Updated for 2017 was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.
Throughout the year, digital marketing conferences are held all over the world, from Los Angeles to Paris and everywhere in between. The thousands of SEOs, SEMs, content marketers, social media strategists and business owners who attend these conferences do so for the whirlwind of information, education and networking.
Where else but a digital marketing conference can you learn from the likes of Gary Illyes, John Mueller, Rand Fishkin, Larry Kim and Bruce Clay all in a single day? 2017 holds more than 100 digital marketing conferences and events and we’ve updated our Internet Marketing Conference Calendar to help you view them all to start planning your year ahead. (Click here to skip straight ahead to the calendar).
Save on Digital Marketing Conferences: Plan Now, Spend Less
Everyone likes a good deal, and the easiest way to save on a digital marketing conference is to book early. You can save up to hundreds of dollars when you take advantage early bird rates. Plan early and save big! Map out your conference attendance with the Digital Marketing Conference Calendar — it’s your exclusive guide for 100+ Digital marketing conferences of 2017 and beyond. Where will you go? Maybe you’ll head off to SMX Paris? Or perhaps you’ll head to New York City for Affiliate Summit East. You definitely don’t want to miss SEO training with Bruce Clay in SoCal, Italy, Dubai and India!
The Digital Marketing Conference Calendar
January
Affiliate Summit West
Jan. 15-17
Las Vegas
Type-A Parent Blogger Summit
Jan. 16-17
Las Vegas
SEOToolSet Training
Jan. 16-20
Los Angeles
Learn Inbound
Jan. 25
Dublin
February
SEOToolSet Training
Feb. 6
Dehli
Social Media Strategies Summit
Feb. 7-9
San Francisco
SEOToolSet Training
Feb. 8
Mumbai
SEOToolSet Training
Feb. 10
Bangalore
Wisdom 2.0
Feb. 17-19
San Francisco
Pubcon SFIMA Summit
Feb. 21-22
Fort Lauderdale
Digital Summit
Feb. 22-23
Phoenix
SearchLove
Feb. 23-24
San Diego
Digital Marketing for Financial Services
Feb. 27-28
San Francisco
MozCon Local
Feb. 27-28
Seattle
Social Media Week
Feb. 27-March 3
Hamburg
Social Media Week
Feb. 27-March 3
Lagos
Social Media Week
Feb. 27-March 3
New York
March
SEO Campixx
March 6-12
Berlin
Engage Conference
March 9
Portland
ad:tech
March 9-11
New Dehli
SXSW Interactive
March 10-19
Austin
inOrbit
March 10-11
Slovenia
SMX Munich
March 14-15
Munich
ad:tech
March 14-15
Sydney
LeadsCon
March 20-22
Las Vegas
SMX West
March 21-23
San Jose
Social Media Marketing World
March 22-24
San Diego
Type-A Parent Blogger Summit
March 23-25
Charleston
Digital Summit
March 27-28
Seattle
ad:tech
March 30-31
Shanghai
April
An Event Apart
April 3-5
Seattle
Digital Summit
April 4-5
Los Angeles
Next10x: Mastering Mobile Digital Marketing
April 5
Boston
Conversion XL
April 5-7
San Antonio
Content Marketing Conference
April 11-13
Boston
Midwest Digital Marketing Conference
April 12-13
St. Louis
Digimarcon Cruise
April 16-23
Florida
Marketing to Millennials
April 20-21
New York
Hero Conf
April 18-20
Los Angeles
Conversion Conference
April 19-20
Las Vegas
Digital Citizenship Conference
April 21
Los Angeles
Type-A Parent Blogger Conference
April 25-27
Denver
Social Media Strategies Summit
April 26-28
Chicago
Authentic Marketing Conference
April 28
Los Angeles
May
Big Digital
May 8-9
Adelaide
SEOToolSet Training
May 8-12
Los Angeles
MarTech
May 9-11
San Francisco
ad:tech
May 10-11
San Diego
SEJ Summit
May 11
Chicago
Digital Marketing Conference
May 12
Los Angeles
eMetrics Summit
May 15-18
San Francisco
An Event Apart
May 15-17
Boston
The Social Shake-up
May 22-24
Atlanta
Digital Summit
May 23-24
Atlanta
SMX London
May 23-24
London
Search Marketing Summit
May 31-June 3
Sydney
June
SMX Paris
June 1-2
Paris
SearchLove
June 5-6
Boston
Social Media Week
June 5-9
Los Angeles
Social Media Week
June 5-9
Mexico City
Social Media Week
June 5-9
Milan
SEOToolSet Training
June 6-7
Milan
Internet Retailer Conference
June 6-9
Chicago
Fusion
June 7-8
Washington, D.C.
Ungagged
June 15-16
London
eMetrics Summit
June 19-22
Chicago
Blogher
June 22-24
Orlando
MN Search Summit
June 23
Minneapolis
Call to Action Conference
June 25-27
Vancouver
Digital Summit
June 27-28
Denver
Type-A Parent Blogger Summit
June 29-July 1
Chicago
July
An Event Apart
July 10-12
Washington D.C.
World Domination
July 11-17
Portland
Digital Summit
July 12-13
Portland
MozCon
July 17-19
Seattle
Digital Summit
July 26-27
Kansas City
Affiliate Summit East
July 30-Aug. 1
New York
August
Digital Summit
Aug. 14-15
Minneapolis
LeadsCon
August 21-23
New York
SEOToolSet Training
Aug. 21-25
Los Angeles
Digital Summit
Aug. 23-24
Philadelphia
Podcast Movement
August 23-25
Anaheim
An Event Apart
Aug. 28-30
Chicago
September
Content Marketing World
Sept. 5-8
Cleveland
Digital Summit
Sept. 12-13
Detroit
Digital Summit
Sept. 19-20
Washington, D.C.
INBOUND
Sept. 25-28
Boston
October
Digital Summit
Oct. 2-3
Charlotte
B2B Marketing Forum
Oct. 3-6
Boston
Type-A Parent Blogger Conference
Oct. 5-7
Virginia
& Then
Oct. 8-11
New Orleans
State of Search
Oct. 9-10
Dallas
Branding Energy
Oct. 9-11
Reykjavik
Conversion Conference
Oct. 11-12
London
SearchLove
Oct. 16-17
London
Hero Conf
Oct. 23-25
London
Digital Summit
Oct. 24-25
Chicago
SMX East
Oct. 24-26
New York
An Event Apart
Oct. 30-Nov. 1
San Francisco
November
Pubcon
Nov. 6-9
Las Vegas
Type-A Parent Blogger Summit
Nov. 9-11
San Diego
Ungagged
Nov. 12-15
Las Vegas
eMetrics Summit
Nov. 13-14
Berlin
Conversion Conference
Nov. 13-14
Berlin
SEOToolSet Training
Nov. 13-17
Los Angeles
Digital Summit
Nov. 15-16
Raleigh
December
Digital Summit
Dec. 5-6
Dallas
An Event Apart
Dec. 11-13
Denver
Want to add the Internet Marketing Conference Calendar to your Google Calendar to better see which upcoming events fit your schedule best? Add it to your Google Calendar here (once it’s added you can toggle it on or off once it’s added).
Internet Marketing Conference Fast Facts
There are more than 100 digital marketing conferences in 2017.
June and April is the busiest conference month.
Los Angeles is the epicenter of Digital marketing conferences — more conferences take place there than in any other city in 2017.
The longest digital marketing conference of 2017 is the South by Southwest Interactive, where techies, entrepreneurs and digital marketers will work, learn and undoubtedly play for nine straight days Austin, Texas.
Add Your Event: Digital Marketing Conference Calendar Submissions
If you know of an event that you think should be included on this calendar, we want to hear about it! The Internet Marketing Conference Calendar is open to any conference associated with Digital marketing, including search engine optimization, search engine marketing, social media marketing, digital marketing, Internet technology, B2B and B2C. Meetups will not be included on this calendar. If you’d like to submit a conference or event for inclusion on the calendar, please email Social-BC[at]BruceClay[dot]com with the name and dates of the conference, and a link to the conference website.
What Digital marketing conferences are you most looking forward to in 2017? Share with us in the comments!
December 29, 2016
The Most-Read Digital Marketing Blog Posts of 2016
The Most-Read Digital Marketing Blog Posts of 2016 was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.
Hello friends! Happy New Year!
We’re looking forward to a lot of exciting new products and services to share with you in 2017, including an upgrade to our blog. The exciting commitment we’ve made — Bruce made — is more posts by him. Stay connected with weekly posts from Bruce by subscribing to the blog here.
In 2016 we were busy bringing digital marketers answers to the toughest questions surrounding SEO, content marketing and PPC. Out of more than 100 articles, these are the top 12 most-read articles on the Bruce Clay Blog this year.
From managing SEO projects to understanding the Facebook algorithm, keeping your website fresh to disavowing links, here’s the year’s most popular posts for you to read up on as you head into the New Year!
1. The Always Up-to-Date SEO Checklist
Just getting started optimizing websites? Here’s a checklist to keep on-hand to keep in-hand as you embark on an SEO project. We update this SEO list regularly so it reflects all the updates to ranking factors as they emerge.
2. What Is Google PageRank, How Is It Earned & Does It Matter in 2016?
PageRank is the score Google gives pages when determining the quality and quantity of links pointing to a web page. Find out why PageRank is a critical SEO component and how to better your PageRank.
3. 30 SEO Interview Questions You Should Be Prepared For
If you’re looking to hire an in-house SEO analyst, we want to help you find the right one. That’s because our most successful SEO consulting happens when there’s a competent SEO manager working in-house. So we compiled the questions we would ask of a prospective SEO analyst in an interview. It’s a must-read for anyone making digital marketing hiring decisions.
4. The Digital Marketing Conference Calendar
The Digital Marketing Conference Calendar is your one-stop shop for planning your digital marketing conference attendance. Discover more than 100 search engine optimization, paid search, social media and content marketing events happening around the world. This conference calendar is updated regularly, and undergoes a massive update each January. Next week, the calendar will be published anew to reflect the conferences of 2017! Subscribe to the blog to get the 2017 edition delivered straight to your inbox.
6. Keep It Fresh: Steps for Updating Your Website Content
One of the factors Google takes into consideration when determining a site’s maintenance (an important ranking factor) is how up-to-date the content is. This article explains the process of cataloging content, identifying what needs to be updated, evaluating content performance, strategizing content updates and monitoring the results post-update.
7. Advanced Search Operators for Yahoo, Bing and Google
If you’re researching a site you’re working on, investigating a competitor’s site, or trying to locate something specific online, advanced search operators can come in extremely handy. Develop ninja-like search skills with this useful guide.
8. 43 Reasons SEOs Can’t Fear Change: 2016 Digital Marketing Predictions
Digital marketing thought-leaders Bruce Clay, Eric Enge, Cindy Krum and more shared what they were anticipating for the industry in 2016. It’s interesting to look back on this January article now and see how accurate their predictions were. Next month, we’ll have a new predictions post for 2017. Subscribe to the blog to get the predictions for 2017 when we publish them next month!
9. All-In-One Mobile SEO & Design Checklist
Learn about mobile SEO and how to take your mobile user experience and mobile search rankings from good to great with this hands-on optimization checklist! We updated this post in light of Google’s change to a mobile-first index as well as new technologies including AMP and PWAs.
10. The Complete Guide to Disavowing Links for Google and Bing
A September 2016 update of Penguin — Google’s link analysis algorithm — brought the sophistication with which Google judges links into sharp focus. It’s vital that SEOs closely evaluate every link pointing to their site to determine its quality and relevance. If the link is found wanting, it’s time to disavow. This article is your complete guide to disavowing links for Google and Bing.
11. What Is the Facebook Algorithm?
Facebook’s News Feed filtration system takes into consideration as many as 100,000 individually weighted factors to deliver the most authoritative, relevant and timely content to individuals. Learn more about these factors and how to optimize your content on Facebook to increase your organic reach.
12. 15 Social Media Manager Interview Questions
If you want to hire a social media manager but want some guidance on vetting candidates, this article will guide you through the criteria we would look for in a social media manager and the questions we would ask.
We are excited to see what 2017 has in store for digital marketers. Bruce will be a familiar face on the blog tackling critical “why does this matter?” questions to help the C-suite make strategic decisions. And we’ll continue to cover breaking SEO, PPC, content marketing and social media news, and provide in-depth, tactical guides to fuel your next digital marketing win.
To stay in-the-know, subscribe to get posts from the Bruce Clay Blog delivered straight to your inbox.
December 16, 2016
Procrastinator’s Holiday Gift Guide: 11 Amazon Prime Buys for (or from!) an SEO
Procrastinator’s Holiday Gift Guide: 11 Amazon Prime Buys for (or from!) an SEO was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.
If you’re like me you still have a few Christmas presents to buy for loved ones on your list.
Thank Besos we can turn to Amazon Prime to buy online and get gifts in time for next week’s office holiday parties and family affairs. Procrastinators rejoice!
Here are 11 gift ideas spanning all price ranges and interests, (nearly) all for sale with Amazon Prime two-day delivery.
From good reads to the hottest new tech, these gifts are sure to get a smile from digitally minded friends and family. Some SEO holiday wish list items might even find their way to your own Amazon wish list.
1. Amazon Echo and Echo Dot
Smart home devices and systems are the cutting-edge tech of 2016. Last year Amazon entered the market with Echo, and Alexa was introduced as a household helper for turning on music or giving weather reports on voice command.
This year Amazon’s released a smaller and more affordable voice-controlled smart home device in Echo Dot. For a fun toy that’s opening doors to our voice-controlled, smart home future, give the gift of Amazon Echo, $139.99, or Amazon Echo Dot, $39.99.
2. Google Home
In the same vein as Echo is the Google Home voice-activated smart home assistant. Unfortunately, as a direct competitor to Echo, Amazon isn’t allowing vendors to sell it. But if you’re looking to buy for a Google tech fan on your list, hop to it and get it in-store at Walmart or online from the Google Store for $129.00.
3. “Digital Sense”
Digital marketing is in a maturation period. Marketers are expected to be more sophisticated, technically savvy and, on top of it all, more human than ever. What does that even mean?
With a brand new business strategy book that offers frameworks for optimizing the customer experience, Travis Wright and Chris J. Snook share the “common sense” secrets that the most effective leaders in business use to increase customer satisfaction and employee happiness. $26.00 on Amazon Prime.
4. iPhone headphone lightning adapter
In the category of insanely useful and usually delayed when buying for oneself: lightning adapters that allow iPhone 7 owners to plug regular headphones into the device. By now, half of us have lost the one that came with the iPhone 7, am I right?
Apple’s official adapter is $8.99 on Amazon Prime. Take adapter usefulness to the next level with a 2-in-1 that allows users to charge and listen at the same time; $9.77 on Amazon Prime.
5. “Social PR Secrets” 3rd Edition
Once upon a time, “brand” and “publisher” were terms reserved for the Coca-Colas and New York Times of the world. Today we think of brands and publishers as designations accessible to anyone.
If you have a blog, YouTube channel, Instagram, Etsy storefront, podcast (or dreams of any of the above), you are a brand and publisher. The handbook for anyone who meets these criteria is Lisa Buyer’s “Social PR Secrets.” She even remembers to put it all in perspective with a chapter on mindfulness and the value of unplugging from time to time. $24.99 on Amazon Prime.
6. Aeropress coffee and espresso maker
Got a coffee addict and tech nerd on your list? They’ll appreciate the elegantly low tech solution to the perfect single-serving mug of coffee. K-Cups are convenient when you don’t want to brew a whole pot, but you know they got nothing on real beans.
As an Aeropress owner myself, I tell you the coffee meets French press standards while the clean up, transportability and store-easy size make it a cinch for everything from camping to office life. $29.95 on Amazon Prime.
7. Snapchat Spectacles
Maybe a stretch to put this on the list, Snapchat’s hard-to-get spectacles aren’t a Prime buy (they won’t arrive in time for Christmas; they’re slated for delivery Dec. 22 to Jan. 11) but they make the list as 2016’s hottest tech for the social media obsessed.
These retail for $130 if you can find one of Snapchat’s pop-up vending machines. For everyone else, they’re resold by vendors on Amazon starting at $246.
An affordable Snapchat-themed alternative (not pictured): the official Snapchat plushie which is available on Prime for $8.99.
8. “Ready Player One: A Novel”
Ernest Cline’s work of adventure sci-fi fiction takes place in 2044, when the virtual utopia known as OASIS serves up puzzles and intrigue, danger and power.
It’s been praised as Willy Wonky meets the Matrix, making it an exciting choice for the sci-fi geek on your list. Plus Steven Spielberg is directing the movie slated for release in 2018. $9.99 for the paperback on Amazon Prime.
9. Tile Mate
JSYK don’t buy Tile for me. I’ve already got one linked to nearly everything I refuse to lose from my keys to my cat. (Seriously.)
Save a sister the future headache of hunting for lost keys, wallet, phone, tech … this slim little chip is connected to a smart phone app so users can find anything fast. The 4-pack on Amazon Prime is $69.99 (stocking stuffers!) or buy a single Tile for $24.95.
10. “No Sleep: NYC Nightlife Flyers 1988-1999”
Perfect for the music lover or 90s kid on your list, “No Sleep” by DJ Stretch Armstrong and the SEO industry’s own Evan Auerbach is a visual history of the music scene in New York during the 90s.
Auerbach, social media specialist at Dragon Search digital marketing agency, moonlights as a hip hop historian and his first book was named in this year’s top 30 most giftable coffee table books by New York Magazine. $26.25 on Amazon Prime.
11. Red Swingline stapler a la “Office Space”
“Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler.” Pay homage to office culture by gifting your office mate a red Swingline stapler – aka the straw that broke Milton’s back in the cult classic movie “Office Space.” $12.57 on Amazon Prime.
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