aimClear Search Marketing Blog

If your site is under performing in the organic (free) search engine results pages, you probably already know it. Traffic, sales and engagement have dropped giving way to rising concern. What’s wrong? The site used to work just fine!

Sadly, now searches (with personalized search disabled) reveal keyword rankings on Google’s “average front page” have plummeted or disappeared. Competition is overtaking your pages.

Perhaps your business’s PPC budget has been creeping higher or, more likely, rocketing skyward to compensate for lost organic revenue. You’re not alone, invisible webmaster. We rarely see new client-sites where SEO is not messed up, at least to some degree.

With over a trillion unique URLs, search engines have had to become much more stringent to prevent spam and provide relevant results for users. Though most SEO basics still apply, other previously acceptable optimization techniques are now considered sloppy, perceived as spam and rarely perform. Get ready to identify and button down any loose technical or semantic attributes.

This post is a guerrilla guide for webmasters, either undertaking a self-audit or engaging a professional SEO company to assist. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: EraPhernalia Vintage

Rebroadcast is the new black. Retweets and Facebook-shares are the ultimate friend-sends, essential like her black pumps, Coach clutch, velvet gloves and grandmother’s vintage pearls…same as it ever was.

The future of the filter is insight by crowdsourcing conversations, literally anywhere humans congregate and chatter. Plug into new the new demographic research riddle to choose colorful buzz pockets, to mine relevant conversations on 3-keyword grids. Read the rest of this entry »

Search Engine Land Executive Editor Chris Sherman (on right) has been active professionally in educating us since the industry was nascent. A generation of serious social media practitioners and demographic research artists cut teeth, tweak skills and stay current by attending Chris Sherman-designed conference sessions.

Count on tracks he sequences to be measured,  informed by bleeding edge data,  stocked with cool speakers, accompanied  by healthy sides of value-added perspective and measured cynicism. I count him as one of my important influences academically and as a writer because his work has almost anthropological overtones, all the while rooted in simplicity. Chris was one of the first to speak of “advising” or  “informing” processes and about algorithmic/human mashups, long before such theories were the rage.

Recently I had the pleasure interviewing him in straight ahead of SMX Advanced Seattle 2009, upcoming June 2,3.  We touched on the upcoming conference (one of my faves),  social search, the global industry landscape,  Internet evolution and his family’s rich Minnesota history. Read the rest of this entry »

The social Internet is about conversations that propagate virulently and index at various speeds.  Twitter, the fastest feed community of all,  can be easily leveraged to “proof” marketing concepts for slower social channels the same way SEOs use PPC (pay per click) to prove organic landing pages.

Read on for a tactical starting point to use Twitter’s flashpoint sharing environment to test your linkbait, promotional messages, calls to action, friend-making and branding. Read the rest of this entry »

For search marketing industry veterans, SearchEngineLand Editor-in-Chief Danny Sullivan needs no introduction. If you’re among the veritable legions of marketing professionals joining our ranks from traditional advertising trades, soon enough you’ll know his impeccable journalism and commitment to community.

Considered a founding “search engine guru,” Danny has been demystifying search engines for marketers, webmasters and users for well over a decade. His insight and expertise are regularly sought by mainstream media outlets including USA Today, The New Yorker, Forbes, The Wall St. Journal, The Los Angeles Times, ABC’s Nightline, Newsweek.

He’s Partner and Chief Content Officer for  Third Door Media, which also operates the highly regarded global  search marketing conference series SMX,  Search Marketing Now educational webcasts and  Sphinn.com, SEM mainstay social community.

Recently I had the opportunity to pose questions regarding  SMX Advanced, a brilliant 2 day SEM event he (and industry luminary Chris Sherman) sequence annually in Seattle.  ‘Advanced sold out in 2007, 2008 and is on track to do so again this year. Earlybird rates expire May 2 so register now to guarantee your attendance June 2 & 3, 2009.

We also discussed Danny’s passion for search, suggestions for Twitter, “tough love” for Microsoft Search and his recent move back to the United States after living in England. Read the rest of this entry »

Jeff Quipp is the quintessential multifaceted search marketing agency owner. Located in Ajax Ontario, his company SearchEnginePeople is known for staffing true next-gen Internet marketing thought-leaders.

Jeff is well regarded internationally as a conference speaker and sought after consultant for paid, natural search and social channels.  I had an opportunity to Interview him regarding his upcoming appearances at SearchEngineStrategies Toronto. Read the rest of this entry »

All over the world, SEM industry bellwether Twitter’s rocking with chatter surrounding the long awaited public beta release of the Google Analytics API. That’s not surprising given implications for the search industry.

Classically associated with paid search (PPC) applications and keyword research, get ready for more mainstream search marketing API tools to impact methodology and applications by which we publish content and measure organic SERPs (SEO). Read the rest of this entry »

Go ahead, ignore case studies regarding various Google map spam vectors. I can tell you it’s devastating to see a friend’s GoogleMaps listing wrong. If the map has not been hijacked, then Google sucks. Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Qi Lu, president of Microsoft Online Services Division, and Matt Cutts, head of Google’s spam team will keynote Search Marketing Expo – SMX Advanced June 2-3 in Seattle, WA. It’s your chance to tell Google (to their face) exactly where you want them to go next. Read the rest of this entry »

aimClear is approached by traditional advertising agencies, often with rich history and too-often in stagnation or slight decline, seeking advice for growing online reputation as experts. Whether marketing regionally or nationally, it’s seriously powerful stuff to be perceived as an expert. Read the rest of this entry »