You may or may not be aware of the changes that Google made to their search engine last year introducing Panda and the many Penguin updates. Because of the way these changes are affecting search results, in 2013 SEO will shift from optimizing websites for search engines to optimizing content for users. Some of the traditional marketing tools are no longer of value for search engine optimization purposes and may even effect you site negatively.

Google is trying to improve their search results, and a way to do this is to get rid of the spam sites. Nobody wants to see sites for Viagra when they are looking at buying an airline tickets to Alaska. Google knows this so their way of improving their user experience is to find ways to outsmart the spammers. One way to do this is to change their algorithms, or how their search formula works.

In order to be responsive to Google’s many algorithm changes we recommend the following more ‘agile’ approach for your 2013 Inbound Marketing Plan.

The basic concept would be to create campaigns for the brand that will engage not only customers but others to +share the campaign with others.  You can do this by:

• 1. Responding to change over following a plan
• 2. Testing and data over opinions and conventions
• 3. Numerous small experiments over a few large bets
• 4. Engagement and transparency over official posturing
• 5. Collaboration over silos and hierarchy

“It comes as no surprise that Google is paying more attention to social markets and author reputation for authenticating a brand and its authority in the industry”

One of our approaches to establish better rankings with the search engines is to engage your users by developing campaigns using a number of mediums including Email, Twitter, Facebook, Tumbler, Google+ Infogram, Instagram etc

 The Internet is becoming more social, SEO is no exception. We recommend devising social signals by generating content and campaigns that will build real relationships with influencers through: Blog Marketing, Email Marketing, and Social Marketing & Mobile marketing

4 Quick Changes to Improve your SEO:

1. 1.  You need to be blogging. If you are a brand you start blogging by adding a feature product with descriptions and inbound links each week.
2. 2.  You should be email marketing by putting out more emails and targeting the campaigns lists and target markets including Mobile.
3. 3.  You need to use your  new blog posts and email campaigns together with social outlets ie.; twitter, instagram, facebook, google+.
4. 4. Develop Authorship – Claim Ownership for your content

With agile marketing your highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of marketing that solves problems and creates value.

• 1. You welcome and plan for change. You believe that our ability to quickly respond to change is a source of competitive advantage
• 2. You deliver marketing programs often, from every couple of weeks to every two months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
• 3. Great marketing requires close alignment with the business, sales and development
• 4. Learning, through the build-measure-learn feedback loop, is the primary measure of progress.
• 5. This process is iterative, allowing for short marketing experiments, frequent feedback, and the ability to react to changing market conditions.

*The reason that you need to do responsive is because Google is continuously changing their algorithms. Traditional Marketing plans sticking to waterfall of techniques take to long to react to the changes being made almost monthly. Today’s inbound marketers need to be agile.

“Because Google is focusing so much on user involvement we want to use the social spheres to authenticate the brand. One way to do this is to get people +like +share and talk about your brand”

An example campaign to engage the audience would be to find something of interest, something that people would +like about the brand or something loosely related to the brand.

For a shoe brand the campaign may start with how you feel in the sneakers, or what you wear with your seekers.

For an outdoor snowboarding company it may start with something like snowboarding boots comfort, favorite type of snowboard rails or easy binding systems, etc.

Then develop the concept into an even broader topic that engages the reader through asking a question:

– what do you like about your favorite type of snowboard shape?
a. the way it handles in different conditions.
b. the speed and maneuverability
c. the way it responds during certain tricks

Tell us about our experience:

Other campaigns/examples might be:
– How do you feel when you wear comfortable snowboard boots all day?
– Do good snowboard bindings affect your performance?

You will run the question maybe on its own or maybe with an image through email, twitter, facebook, and other relative social markets. Then you can either develop a whole page around it, or start with a blog post to gain momentum. You build as when you see what topics develop interest. You may start with a specific topic and change it, or get ideas of new topics from user comments.

The idea is that it is OK to be wrong, or develop a question that doesn’t work or gain momentum. We see what is working and build off of that.

This is where the term agile marketing comes in. We work a campaign, test it for two weeks, if it gains momentum we develop the campaign more, put our time and budget into what works – maybe create a video or infogram of the results. If the campaign stays still, we ditch it and move onto the next one.

STAYING IN FRONT OF THE CURVE

It is time to add a Google+ campaign to the scope of work. This is something that we should spend more time on to develop ‘authorship’. You can also connect in any videos from Youtube or other Google products.

Since Google is still in charge when it comes to search engines, it is smart to get involved and develop authorship and a reputation through their Google+ social engine. It doesn’t seem to be going anywhere and more and more marketers are using it.

This could also lead into using their Google Hangout for meetings. It is a pretty cool tool for video meetings. It could even lead into  doing some questions and answer videos with company founders or team players for Video SEO.