As Google incorporates more end user signals and data, the safest way to have a natural footprint is to forget shortcuts. Always consider your target audience and focus on creating great content that people will naturally want to share and link to.

It can be easy to overcomplicate content strategy and keyword research. There's lots of great ways you to create a content strategy, but to really make it a success you have to get to know your audience and find out what it is they want to see.

For agile campaigns, you need to be on top of your game, and know what's going on around you. If you're prepared to adapt quickly when that topical story comes along, you're much more likely to reap the rewards.

The digital marketing industry changes fast and with that change comes a call for new nomenclature. But the more things change; the more they stay the same. And then we all argue about whether we need a new name or not. So what's it gonna be?

With authors, it isn't just about the writing skills of an individual - it's also about their social profile. Building a relevant/targeted social audience is a key part of your content marketing strategy - as well as creating great content!

These days, if all you focus on is SEO, you're probably not actually that good at it. Why? Because you need to acquire high-quality, natural links, create a social buzz/awareness, reach a targeted audience, and convert those into customers/leads.

One method of content marketing that everyone might not think of initially is creating a white paper. Publishing a white paper can have huge benefits for a business. The main benefit is that you can use it to capture contact information by asking would-be readers to sign up before receiving a copy. There are significant .

If you can stand out by creating great content and essentially pitch to more than 5 million potential customers with a single online video posted to YouTube, surely that's far more efficient than any other sales activity is likely to be.

If you want to increase your search rankings and organic traffic, it's important that you have a great content strategy in place. Build great online content, promote it, generate attention, and you'll attract high-quality natural links.

Content marketing and link building both have their merits in the realm of search marketing. However, the tale of the tape reveals that content marketing has a distinct advantage over link building for marketers. Here are seven reasons why.

From online vouchers used as link bait for SEO or emailed discount codes used to reward loyal customers, businesses can use discounts to drive their marketing. So how can you use this tactic to increase your website's traffic and what are the pitfalls? Voucher Codes Voucher codes are an easy way to offer discounts in .

Yes, the country's back in recession and we're all doomed to spend the next 10 years wandering through an economic wasteland. Or are we? Now's the time for start-ups with good ideas and great motivation to take advantage of low spending by their bigger rivals. And here's how low-budget SEO can help' SEO is Flexible .

Last week I got the chance to attend the latest BlueGlass conference in LA . I've got to admit, when heading out to the US I had high expectations for this event having heard a lot of buzz around previous conferences they've held and you might have seen my interview with Chris Winfield ahead of the event. But I'd have to say, they exceeded expectations way beyond what I ever expected!

Google authorship and Google+ already influence personalized search results - which can boost the rankings for your social connections. This opens huge opportunities for individuals and means Google may reward you for being an online authority.

I should be presenting at BrightonSEO today on a 20/20 slot )20 slides, 20 seconds each( talking about 20 SEO tools. Unfortunately I can't be there - sadly my dad passed away on Wednesday morning and having battled cancer so bravely for the last year, his health deteriorated very quickly earlier this week. Obviously it puts things in perspective, as these things always do, but I know my dad would have loved me to do this.

The principles guiding search engine optimisation are sound business goals for all areas of a company, including customer service. From showing off how local you are, to putting quality of calls above quantity, here's what your customer services team can learn from SEO' Analytics A good SEO campaign is informed by feedback from your web .

In the last in our series of conference interviews )for now at least(, I'm talking to Chris Winfield ahead of the BlueGlass LA conference later this month. Personally I find it incredibly useful US conferences in order to keep up with how the industry is developing in the States - this has included SMX Advanced in Seattle and Pubcon Las Vegas in the past - and this year I'm heading over to the BlueGlass LA event.

Last week we ran a series of blog interviews for the up-and-coming search conferences and events, including SMX London , International Search Summit , BrightonSEO and ionSearch - today we look at SAScon , with answers from co-organiser Pete Young . SAScon has quickly grown into a key UK industry event - when starting out did you ever see this as the plan? And are there any further plans to expand this moving forward?

When it comes to optimization, links equal power. Some bloggers and businesses don't care how they get these links. But quality content will build long-term SEO success. Here's how to create great content without causing too much controversy.

You pay good money getting visitors to your website. So how can you make sure they buy once they arrive? Are you optimising your website? Not search engine optimisation, conversion optimisation - the art of making sure your visitors buy. Because whether you pay for clicks through advertising or attract customers through your wider marketing .