When it comes to SEO, creating different types of link strategies is important. Some can be aimed directly at search engines, others can be designed to appeal to a specific demographic with the hope that they will click through –guest blogging on a popular related site is one example.

Link marketing, has evolved into more of a PR function rather than a traditional SEO function. We’re moving away from creating links to manipulate rank and pursuing an unnatural strategy will ultimately leave your site in a bad place.

The devaluation of links isn’t something new, it began years ago as the popularity of SEO grew, and over time things that used to work now don’t. More recently, what was once a highly effective link building strategy – creating blog networks – has been eliminated by Google Panda. For further details, check out some of the background over here.

When developing your strategy, look at what search engines consider to be violations of quality within their guidelines. A lot of these may not be considered ‘illegal’, however they can also negatively impact your overall strategy and have the potential to bring great success or failure to your business. Keep your eyes open.

Disposable Links

People and companies have adopted an SEO strategy where they launch a site, pay a hell of a lot of cash for link building tactics (both clean and dirty), and as long as the site would remain competitive in the rankings and as more venue was being generated from the site than the operational expenses, most people didn’t really care what sort of links were in place to affect Google search results.

Obviously this is a flawed approach and it’s certainly a gamble. Over time, websites would rank higher, eventually get killed off by Google and disappear, then people would simply create a new site and begin the process again.

The logic was that if you spend $25k to develop a website, build links and rank to where it would generate $40k in business revenue before the site was hit, then it made sense that this was a good business decision. Whenever something was killed off the process could begin again.

1) Create the site

2) Spam the site with links until top ranking was achieved

3) Make money from rankings until Google caught on

4) Repeat the process again

This can be difficult to argue, especially if a client has seen good financial success. There isn’t a single solution for every site, and an SEO and link building strategy will vary from large to smaller clients, but it’s all about identifying what the site needs and how you can achieve it. We’re at a point where a lot of sites are getting blown up by Panda updates, so “doing it right”, diversifying and leaning toward more natural link building is now more important than ever.

Organic and paid search are an important part of any Internet marketing strategy, however Google’s research on how the two work together has been questionable. In fact, Google has claimed that ceasing a paid search campaign would result in an 89% decline in clicks. It’s interesting that such a figure can be so significant, after all, what if a site is top ranking for a specific keyword? As you can imagine, a lot of questions were asked and Google’s most recent study presents new results that further explain the interaction between organic and paid search.

The majority of the time, for most sites, there are no organic results on page one. The 89% decrease in clicks makes a lot more sense given that 81% of paid search ads are displayed without an accompanying organic result, as an average. In fact, a search ad is only paired with a top ranking organic result 9% of the time. Organic results appear in positions 2 and 4 only 5% of the time, and rankings below 5 appear 4% of the time.

The researchers didn’t dig into keywords in much depth, analyzing branded vs. generic terms, however branded terms are likely to appear higher, which isn’t surprising.

So what if you’re already in a #1 organic position. Why the hell do you need to spend more money? Isn’t it a waste? You may be surprised to know that even if a brand is ranked in a #1 position, if a paid search ad is present, the site will receive 50% more clicks, on average. It may be hard to believe, but the data speaks for itself.

The study also showed that 82% of ad clicks are incremental if a site’s organic result is positioned between 2 and 4. Clicks are 96% incremental should a brand’s organic rank be 5 or below.

When looking at averages and considering the complexities of campaigns, there will be a far amount of variability within the data from keyword to keyword and advertiser to advertiser, which is why it’s important to do your own testing and measurement. Also of importance, the study used clicks for measurement, not tracking conversions, so we are unable to feel out what incremental clicks followed through to a defined conversion.

Is paid search a part of your Internet marketing stategy? If so, how are you using it? If not, does it interest you? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Just when you thought Google’s Panda was taking a rest, Google announced that there have been recent updates to the algorithm that targets low-quality web content.

Interestingly, Google has chosen to use Twitter for the latest announcement:

As mentioned in the tweet above, Google has estimated that roughly 1.6% of search queries will be affected by the latest Panda update.

While it’s unclear just how substantial the latest update really is, discussions within the Internet Marketing community have highlighted a big impact on interlinked blog networks in the early days.

If you’re unfamiliar with Panda, check out the infographic below, originally posted on Search Engine Land.

Has Panda had a negative impact on your SEO strategy? What are your plans for adaptation? Let us know in the comment section below!

Wordstream, a firm specializing in PPC services and SEM software, has concluded that the top industries contributing most significantly to Google’s $37.9 billion in revenue over 2011 were Finanace & Insurance, Travel & Tourism, and Retails & General Merchandise.

Google’s 2011 earnings were a disappointment to investors as projected revenue fell $300 million short of expectations. Even with profit growth improving from $2.52 to $2.71 billion in Q4 2011, stocks dropped 10% overnight.

As much as 96% of Google’s $37.9 billion in annual revenue was the result of advertising. Wordstream began an initiative to report on the industries that have contributed to Google’s $37.9 billion in 2011 revenue. Below is an infographic that shows the results of their research, but the full report may be of interest, as well.

Wordstream also offered estimated data across keywords and costs-per-click, using their keyword database that runs trillions deep, Google’s Keyword Tool searching for the 10 million most popular keywords in 2011, and the average cost-per-click (CPC) data by keyword.

2011’s Top 5 Industries With The Largest Google Ad Spend

• Finance & Insurance: $4.0 billion
• Retailers & General Merchandise: $2.8 billion
• Travel & Tourism: $2.4 billion
• Jobs & Education: $2.2 billion
• Home & Garden: $2.1 billion

According to Wordstream, the top 10 ad spending industries accounted for 60% of Google’s annual advertising revenue.

The highest spending advertiser on Google in 2011 was Lowe’s, spending $59.1 million for the year. Amazon was a near second, spending an estimated $55.2 million with Google. Home Depot made it into the top 3, spending $50.3 million on Google advertising.

Google doesn’t share company and industry advertising revenue or performance data with the public, which leaves analysts to make projections and estimates through available information. We may not know the exact performance numbers and the level of accuracy, but it’s certainly fun to look at!

Facebook remains a dominant force when it comes to social media marketing, but Twitter is closing the gap, according to a recent return-on-investment survey. Using over 700 marketers, the survey was conducted by Wildfire Interactive, a social media management platform.

Facebook lead the pack with 94% of respondents using the network for their social media marketing strategies, however Twitter wasn’t far behind at 74%. There were other options available, but the results didn’t come close to the two power social networks.

The other choices for marketing were as follows:

• Blogs & Content: 41%
• LinkedIn: 32%
• YouTube: 30%
• Other: 6%

Wildfire has also reported that nearly 70% of marketers found Facebook fans to be more valuable than non-fans, the top three reasons being:

• New customer recruitment: 44%
• Higher conversion rates: 18%
• More frequent purchases: 18%

Can Twitter ever close the gap on Facebook to take the crown as the social media marketing network of choice?

Enter the connected consumer. This person more than likely owns a tablet and a smartphone and thanks to Facebook, is constantly connected to friends. One in three consumers is projected to buy a tablet by 2014. Today, over 60% of people 25-34 years of age own a smartphone. We are becoming more connected. A survey by Zmags takes a look at the connected consumer and how they spend their time in the digital world.

As mobile continues to advance, so do web applications and mobile versions of websites. It’s interesting to note that only 4% of these consumers download and use branded applications. In fact, 87% prefer to use mobile and regular websites. This is fantastic news for the “tablet commerce revolution”, which suggests that tablet users are also using tablet-optimized websites such as Amazon.com. These connected consumers are not a Gen-Y, however. She is a 40-something year old woman.

The survey also looks at Facebook and labels it as an untapped opportunity. Even though many connected consumers are also connected on Facebook, more than 75%, Facebook is and won’t become a mall. While shopping on an eCommerce site, 50% of consumers are also logged into Facebook, and 40% engage with brands’ fan pages, however this doesn’t imply that they’ll turn to Facebook for online purchases.

The survey found that most consumers preferred to shop using a smartphone or via a tablet from the comfort of their couch. 87% of consumers are also using PCs and laptops to browse, research and purchase.

The survey also took a look at connected consumer demographics, 52% of which are women with an average age of 40 and an approximate annual income of $63,000. More than 16% of connected consumers own a tablet, and 43% own smartphones. For eCommerce the connected consumer prefers to use a PC/laptop to visit a website to shop, not a smartphone app.

The Zmags survey was done with a relatively small sample of people, 1500 in the US. There is no mention of location, race, gender, or age.

Do you want a job that’s in high demand and will likely stay that way for the next 5 years? You may not have considered becoming a Data Scientist before now, but the conclusion of IT service company EMC’s recent survey is showing that this position is in very high demand.

According to 63% data scientists, it’s projected that the profession will be undermanned within the foreseeable future – half of that group viewing it as a serious shortage. As the “physical Internet” continues to expand, there has been explosive growth of the use of sensors, which will provide companies with an extraordinary wealth of data.

Gathering data is the easy part, the difficulty lies with transforming that raw data into something useful. In fact, only 1/3 participants in the study were confident that their company has the ability to make strategic business decisions based on new data.

“Data is the new oil,” said Andrea Weigend, Stanford’s Head of the Social Data Lab, also the former Chief Scientist at Amazon. Unfortunately for the majority of companies, technology is evolving faster than the workforce’s ability and skills to make sense of it, and organizations across all sectors need to adapt quickly to the new reality or perish.

The explosion in digital data, bandwidth and processing power – combined with new tools for analyzing the data – has sparked massive interest in the emerging field of data science. Organizations of all sizes are turning to people who are capable of translating this trove of data – created by mobile sensors, social media, surveillance, medical imaging, smart grids and the like – into predictive insights that lead to business value. Despite the growing opportunity, demand for data scientists has outpaced supply of talent, and will for the next five years.

Who are data science practitioners, what skills do they need, and why are they so different?

The rest of the survey data is in the infographic below. Are you in the Web or IT industry? Is this a career you can see yourself pursuing?

The Zen of Steve Jobs is a comic book that follows the life of Steve Jobs during the time he was fired from Apple, revolving around his friendship with Kobun Chino, a Japanese Buddhist monk who was also Steve’s spiritual guru.

The Zen of Steve Jobs is an 80-page comic book containing a mixture of both fact and fiction, unlike the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.

The project was created by Jesse Thomas, JESS3 CEO and Founder. When Jesse was young he had an idea of making a comic book with a technology-theme, Steve Jobs being an obvious protagonist. In 2011, Jesse pitched his idea to Bruce Upbin, Forbes Managing Editor, who immediately had an appreciation for Jesse’s vision. Shortly afterwards production began as a collaboration between JESS3 and Forbes.

The comic is available on Amazon in paperback form; however the digital edition is only available for the Kindle Fire.

Check out the video below for a closer look behind the project. Images below that will give you a glimpse into the comic itself.

Daily deals site TIPPR has created an infographic summarizing the activity of consumers on the daily deal space during the 2011 holiday season. The past season people certainly took online shopping more seriously, not only for the convenience, but for the online deals.

Projections for activity in the daily deal space over the holidays were anywhere from $80-100 million between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 90% of holiday shoppers had said they were likely to purchase a daily deal over the time period, and 87% said they were more likely to purchase when recommended by a friend.

TIPPR put together the inforgraphic below using data from their network containing more than 1,000 affiliate deal sites, including stocking stuffers, most popular categories, and shopping trends to illustrate how consumers shopped.

Some stats worth mentioning:

• 90% of shoppers had the intention of giving a deal as a gift in the 2011 season.
• 29% of TIPPR users shared a deal with friends on Facebook.
• As an average, consumers frequented daily deals sites 10 times per month, checking email offers 17 times per month.

There’s always a lot of talk about the war between Google and Apple from a technology perspective, but there is a very powerful third competitor that can’t be overlooked: Amazon. The infographic below illustrates the large part that Amazon plays in the technology wars.

Forget about Google vs. Apple or Google vs. Bing, even Microsoft vs. Apple. There are a lot of big players, especially when it comes to tech, and each have the big names like Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google.

You may have forgotten about Amazon, they don’t receive a lot of media attention compared to more popular companies listed above, but Amazon is one of the few companies that have the ability to compete with Google’s massive computing power. In reality, Amazon is presently competing with Apple, Google and many well known tech companies in many key areas of online media. While Google has their Google Docs for storage and Apple has iCloud, Amazon has developed the Cloud Drive. While Google created Android tablets and Apple created the iPad, Amazon created the Kindle Fire. When it comes to Amazon vs. Google, the tech list goes on: Google Music is a direct competitor to Amazon MP3, Google Checkout is up against Amazon Checkout, and YouTube is within the same territory as Amazon Unbox.

CPC Strategy has created an infographic that looks at the markets Amazon is competing in with Apple, Google, and many other technology companies. They’ve also included a brief analysis of how Amazon could potentially win.

Do you think Amazon has a chance of remaining a competitor? Are they trying to extend their reach too far, resulting in an ambitious, broad approach? Do they have a chance of competing with Microsoft, Google, and Apple in additional territories by creating leverage through their current resources? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!