In this issue we focus primarily on SEO. We curated articles and videos that cover the basics, answer frequently asked questions and shed some light on what's next in Search engine evolution. We hope this issue will arm you with the knowledge to rank on page 1 in 2018.
SEO
Topic Clusters: The Next Evolution of SEO
The way people use the internet is continuously evolving and so do search engines.
Topic clustering is a new SEO strategy that emerged to address the changes in how search engines are changing, and it has a potential to boost search rankings for early adopters.
This in-depth research from HubSpot sheds light on what topic clustering is and how to optimize your website for best results using this new approach.
On the other hand, if you just want a high level overview of topic clusters, here's a short explainer video introducing the concept:
Read the full article on research.hubspot.com
How long does it take to rank in Google?
We are being asked this question quite frequently and the answer always depends on the specific use case.
That being said, there are some general rules that apply in most cases and can help marketers to approximate their search rankings over time.
This study by ahrefs is full of useful charts that help to understand Google rankings and set realistic expectations.
Only 5.7% of all newly published pages will get to Google Top 10 within a year.
Read the full article on ahrefs.com
16 FAQs Help You Better Understand SEO [Infographic]
As everything SEO, this infographic isn't giving definitive answers (we're not even sure that Google could), but it does provide a good overview of the basic concepts and offers interesting metrics about search engines.
If you’re patient and consistently producing high-quality content, you’ll have a better chance of your content being ranked sooner by Google.
Read the full article on impactbnd.com
SEO Metrics 101: How to Measure Your Search Engine Optimization Efforts
One of the harder aspects of SEO is not understanding the concepts or implementing a coherent strategy (it's still hard though), but to measure your results and iteratively improve your tactics.
To get the right context SEO metrics need to be collected from various sources and in this video, Neil Patel covers the basics you need to measure and the tools you can use.
Social Media
10 Social Media Branding Strategies Every Business Should Follow
Competition for visibility on social networks is intensifying and it's getting increasingly harder for brands to get their voices heard.
To stand out and be memorable in 2018, companies will have to make sure that Social Media Branding is clearly defined and is customized across all social assets.
This branding guide from SproutSocial covers all the necessary aspects to consider when crafting your branding strategy in a noisy social landscape.
Visuals play an important part in social media branding. If each of your profiles looks like they’re owned by a different company, it creates a disconnect for your users.
Read the full article on sproutsocial.com
Content Marketing
How to Audit Your Marketing Content for 2018 [Video]
It's the end of the year, time to review your marketing strategies and plan for 2018.
In this issue we so far we covered SEO but, in any circumstances, content is going to be your main driving engine for ranking in search results. So it's time to revisit your content marketing and understand what to write more of, where to distribute it and what to try.
In this webinar recording you can learn to identify your most engaging content, best audience, and effective marketing channels. We also link to this slide deck if you just want to quickly skim through the concepts:
