Today’s guest post is written by John Trader.

The race to the top of search result pages is getting more fierce as search engines drive more and more traffic and revenue to businesses.

Last June, Google, Yahoo, and Bing announced a new initiative called Schema.org  to create and support a common vocabulary for structured data markup on web pages.

The goal was to allow webmasters and SEO experts to improve how their websites appear in search engine result pages (SERP), increase click through rates (CTR) for higher visibility, and drive more relevant web traffic.

Creating this common vocabulary was seen as an immediate boon for site owners who previously had to struggle with adding HTML markup to their pages in different formats according to which search engine they were targeting. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Adam Justice.

SEO has a few basic principles that will never change, but search engines routinely refine their algorithms in ways that usually make any fringe efforts worthless.

Every few months there is a new set of best practices, and another group of web properties are adversely affected by changes.

This year, in particular, has been especially harsh on websites that focused a lot of their attention on SEO.

It’s also the year Google search began to lose some of its power as gatekeeper of unique hits, but gained some of it back with Google+. Continue Reading »

You know what next week is? A short week! Oh. Wait. I guess the short week really isn’t until the following week. But most of us will leave early next Friday. Right? Right.

So sorry to rub that in the faces of my friends not in the U.S. We’ll be thinking of you as we sit outside sweltering in the heat.

Until then, though, there is plenty of work to do. Including reading/watching these five pieces I’ve pulled together for you. Some will inspire the heck out of you, while others will have you nearly peeing your pants from laughing so hard (cough, sheep expert, cough).

Without further ado, this week’s Gin and Topics. Continue Reading »

Brian Meeks returns! Brian has delusions of novelist, which he feeds by writing the Henry Wood Detective series (Available soon and on his blahg).

Search engine optimization is all the rage these days. In fact, if you don’t practice SEO, you obviously don’t ‘GET IT’ and might have poor personal hygiene.

There are two common reasons cited for avoiding SEO; both completely unacceptable:

1. What the hell is SEO, anyway? This is not an acceptable answer because 23 percent of all tweets and Facebook posts are related SEO, according to a number I randomly selected while typing this sentence. Therefore, everyone should know what it means by now. Plus, it was in the first sentence. So this excuse, much like Latin, is a dead issue. Let’s move on.

2. I am too lazy. This is the excuse I often use, and by often, I mean every single day of my life as I write my blog posts, without thinking about how I can drive traffic to my steaming pile of drivel. I prefer to worry about the quality of the content. This is wrong of me. Continue Reading »

Sean McGinnis consults with small to mid-size customers about DCAL – Digital Customer Acquisition and Loyalty. He blogs about SEO, Internet marketing, social  media, leadership and a variety of other topics at 312 Digital.

At face value, the new Google +1 seems like their latest foray into the world of “social” but it’s really much more than that.

The +1 button is an incredibly important play for Google, one that will help build the future of their algorithm if widely adopted by Internet users.

Let’s step back for a minute and then I’ll explain.

Search Engine Progress

Search engines got their start by returning the most relevant documents to a search query. But relevance is a very easy thing to spoof, and search engine spam became rampant. So, search engines developed a method of calculating authority by looking at the number and quality of inbound links to your site. Today, essentially search engines return sites that are both relevant and authoritative. But authority can be manipulated and gamed too, so spam continues to be a problem for search engines. Continue Reading »

You know how, when you set out using the social tools, you really have no idea what you’re doing, let alone what kind of brand you’re going to build? What? That was just me? Oh.

Well, Lisa Drubec had it all figured out when she named her blog The Friendly Blogger.

Not only is she friendly, she’s hysterical. And we all know I love anyone with a great sense of humor who can also portray that online. Continue Reading »

Ahhh. I’m back from vacation. Nine days (including the weekends) of pretty much doing what I want. I read five books. I rode 200 miles. I went to functional training twice. I cooked every day. I planted fall flowers. I raked the leaves and put away the furniture for winter. I got out my winter clothes. I slept in. I wrote when I wanted, what I wanted. I had a glass of wine every night. I spent time with old and dear friends I hadn’t seen in a few years. I watched the Bears lose not once, but twice. And now I’m ready to get back at it…a force to be reckoned with so beware!

Because I don’t have much on the brain right now, besides getting through my inbox (which I am dreading), I leave you with the top 10 blog posts I read during vacation. Not my summer vacation, but a book report, nonetheless! Continue Reading »

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to use Twitter, not as an engagement tool, but as an SEO tool for some of our clients. And then, one of my favorite Canadians, Danny Brown, blogged about using social media in a way that’s right for you. And, just like he always does, he pulled the rug right out from under me! Okay, not really, but it is true that I think through something only in my head and he writes it before I have the chance to say it out loud. Now if I could just figure out how to switch that around! Continue Reading »

A few of you have been dying for today to arrive (cough, Courtney Dial and Valerie Simon, cough) and it’s finally here! Spin Sucks relaunches with a new design, look, and feel! But that’s not all…check out what’s to come!

As a recap, what you can expect to see every day:

* More content under communication, advertising, marketing, social media, SEO, and business growth

* Guest bloggers every day

* Expert Q&As

* Industry innovations

* Comment of the week

* Giveaways and contest

All of this will remain free, but be watching later this year for a subscription-based, behind-the-scenes Spin Sucks that will garner you access to more content, discussion groups, brainstorming, and access to experts.

Tell us what you think, what you’d like to see more (or less) of, if you know experts you’d like to see interviewed, if you’d like to guest blog, and if you’ve seen an industry innovation you’d like to see highlighted. This blog is evolving to help you do your jobs in the above six categories so tell us what you need from us.

And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter…we’re Spin Sucks!

Out of all the speakers I’ve seen this week, Gini is definitely at the top.  (And I’m only half saying that because she is my boss and I’m sucking up.)

Quote of the day: “You only have the perception of control.

YAY! She talked about our response campaign!  Be out there. Be commenting on articles, regardless if you are in them.  You can now do your own media relations.

Social media gives you a seat at the proverbial table.  You can now track PR and you can tell your bosses what kind of effect your work has on sales. Continue Reading »