In an article at MarketingProfs, Dan Skeen writes that search-engine optimization provides several return-on-investment measures with a greater potential impact on a company's bottom line than many traditional tactics. However, he notes, because SEO is less tangible than some other areas of marketing investment, it's often harder to clearly show ... more

Mitchell Harper of BigCommerce recently wrote a cool piece on Mashable detailing how companies can use YouTube to boost their brand SEO. Step One? Consider creating a YouTube channel, he advises: "Every video you post to your channel can be tagged and indexed, increasing the odds your brand name will ... more

...will go unnoticed by Google. That's what some search pundits are saying these days: To achieve smooth-and-easy SEO, you need to spell out who you are, plain and simple, for the search engines—even if it means inserting a keyword in your primary domain name. "[C]ore branding principles tell us that ... more

Marketing campaigns that actively engage consumers online for longer periods of time—by enticing them to "Dwell"—are more likely to generate high conversion rates and are three times more effective at driving brand-related Web searches, according to a study by Eyeblaster. more

Mad Men-style advertising, based on interrupting entertainment or news, is still with us—but most marketers recognize that it's unsteady on its feet. The reality is that people are tired of being "targeted" with ads and so are inclined to take evasive action. It's time to dust off the tried-and-true customer ... more

"We are often asked how long it will take before an optimized website will start showing up in the search-engine results," writes Lauren Hobson at Five Sparrows, "but of course that's a difficult question with a complicated answer." (Deep breath, kids.) The truth is, Hobson says, it all depends on ... more

Google continued to dominate search in April, accounting for 71.4% of all US searches conducted in the four weeks ended May 1, 2010, up 2% from March, according to Experian Hitwise data. more

MarketingProfs blogger Helena Bouchez writes the first in a series of posts from the B2B Forum 2010 and discusses SEO marketing. more

Even while more and more consumers are using social media to help them make purchasing decisions, most B2B marketers are not using social networking and digital marketing tools to reach their audiences, according to a study that examines marketing's evolving role in the enterprise. more

When you're marketing to global audiences, your messages must be accurate, concise, and targeted to establish consumer trust and brand loyalty. Satisfied customers often result in repeat purchases and increased return on investment (ROI). That is where translating marketing content comes into play, ensuring that messages are properly conveyed to ... more

"A client called me, concerned because their analytics data showed a drop in pageviews," writes Ian Lurie at Conversation Marketing. "[They] were dropping steeply, even as their rankings and traffic from organic search were going up." The client, who had just re-launched her site, believed negative visitor reaction to the new ... more

"Facebook" was the top search term in the US across three major search engines—Google, Yahoo, and Bing—in the four weeks ended March 27, 2010, according to Experian Hitwise. more

It's no secret that link-building can help boost your bottom line and make your SEO efforts a whole lot easier. So, here's a thought: To help improve your site's organic visibility, why not leverage the power of your entire company and have everyone contribute to active link-building? That's what Mark Thomson ... more

Online research is central to consumer shopping behavior: 50% of online shoppers say they conduct research online for at least one-half of their purchases, and 64% consistently read online reviews prior to making product purchase decisions, according to an e-tailing group and PowerReviews study slated for release in early May. more

Will Google's latest search-engine algorithm update, dubbed "Caffeine," change search as we know it, or is it simply a minor update? more

In a recent post at the Online Marketing Blog, Lee Odden explains how a better understanding of search-engine optimization can help PR and communications professionals boost their results in a digital world by making it easier for various search engines to find, index and rank their content. "If content can ... more

Still wondering how people are really using your website? The answer may be closer than you think, reports Jared Spool in a post at the User Interface Engineering blog. Though the search log may not be a part of a site's regular analytics package, its contents provide a window into ... more

Ask increased its market share for the fourth consecutive month, accounting for 3.44% of US searches in the four weeks ended March 27, 2010, up 21% from February, according to Experian Hitwise data. more

Though US Internet ad revenues were down 3.4% in 2009—to $22.7 billion from $23.4 billion in 2008—there are signs of an emergent recovery, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) reported. more

Do you find the thought of seeking useful information from your analytics package an astronomically daunting one? If so, you're not alone. In a recent post at the Online Marketing Blog, Thomas McMahon notes that small-business owners often can't find the time to make sense of vast reams of analytics ... more

Most marketing executives cite email or search marketing as their company's top-performing advertising channel in 2009—39.4% and 23.6%, respectively—and over nine in ten (93.6%) say they plan to increase their budget allocation to digital marketing in the next five years, according to the Fourth Annual Marketing and Media Survey from ... more

In a recent post at Search Engine People, Stephanie Woods reports there's been chatter lately about Google's making page-load speed an important part of its algorithm. That should come as no surprise, she notes, as usability studies have shown time and again that Web users like speed. According to Woods, here's ... more

Behaviorally targeted (BT) advertising generated on average 2.68 times the revenue per ad as non-targeted run-of-network (RON) advertising in 2009, while average CPMs for behaviorally targeted advertising were over twice (2.08 times) the average of RON CPMs, according to the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI). more

Small business advertisers spent on average $2,149 on search advertising in the fourth quarter of 2009, up 111% from $1,018 spent in the same period a year earlier, and up 30% from the $1,658 spent in the third quarter of 2009, according to a study by WebVisible based on its ... more

When it comes to your search ad's landing page—the page that captures the imagination and clicks of your potential customers—you can't be too careful. So warns Jared Spool in a recent User Interface Engineering post that describes common pitfalls when creating landing experiences. To get the most for your search-advertising dollar, Spool recommends, ... more