Tangential Content Earns More Links and Social Shares in Boring Industries [Article]
This is the second time I have featured Kerry Jones in my weekly SEO and digital marketing roundup, and she writes great stuff. A lot of us SEOs are in industries that are maybe not the sexiest so creating engaging, linkable content about that industry can be difficult. This article argues that we should be using tangential content, which is content that is somewhat related to your industry.
For example, an apartment listing site put together a piece on which states post the nastiest tweets. We can see how that is tangentially related: who wants to get an apartment in a state that is awful? That piece of content got over 620 media pickups. Kerry lists some more examples, and it should be the proof you need to invest in tangential content
Google: The Link Report Is Not A Real Time Monitor Of Links [Article]
This article just serves as a good reminder: don’t rely on just Google Search Console as your main provider of backlink information. John Mueller from Google said, which has already been a stated fact from Google in the past, that Search Console shows a sampling of links. So it’s good to use other tools, my favorite being Ahrefs, to monitor your backlink profile.
What are the best free SEO resources online? [Article]
Who doesn’t love free stuff? And especially free SEO stuff. This Search Engine Watch article lists out some of the best free SEO resources out there right now, including tools, blogs, and Twitter accounts.
SEO Ranking Factors in 2017: What’s Important and What’s Not [Presentation]
At SMX East this year, some panelists got together to talk about what is still important when it comes ranking factors. Some of the obvious ones are listed: backlinks, HTTPS, content, but there were some interesting finds as well. For example, SEMRush found that 35 percent of domains ranking for high-volume keywords don’t have the keyword in the title. That was a bit surprising to me that the number is that high.
Blogging Statistics and Trends: The 2017 Survey of 1000+ Bloggers [Research]
Orbit Media puts together this survey every year to get a pulse of what is happening in the blogging world. There’s a bunch of interesting data that is collected and I recommend you check it out to see if your blog is meeting standards. Here are some findings:
- Publishing frequency for individual bloggers is down. The most common answer is “several per month.” Two years ago it was “2-6 times per week.”
- Daily and monthly are unusual. Most bloggers are somewhere in between.
- Consistency remains steady! Around 85% of bloggers publish regularly.
Random Fun Find:Why You Can’t Think of the Word That’s on the Tip of Your Tongue
I’m sure this has happened to you. You’re talking to a friend and you’re trying to remember a TV show. You know it’s on Thursdays and you know it’s on AMC, but you just can’t remember the damn name. There’s a name for this and researchers call it tip-of-the-tongue state. Now, you just need to remember that.
Bonus Random Fun Find:What did Life Cost in Hawkins, Indiana in 1983 vs Today? [Infographic]
Who else is super excited about Stranger Things coming back? I know I am. I’m on episode six, hoping to finish it all up today! Where I work, a bunch of us were excited about it returning so we created this infographic on how much life cost in 1983 versus what it costs now. Eggos have gotten expensive!
Here’s just a taste of the infographic (and yes I know this is self promotion, but I’m happy with the piece we put together!):
That’s it for this week’s SEO and digital marketing roundup! As always, let me know if you have a content that you think I should include.