Each week here at Anvil, we get together on Wednesday afternoon to go over the big news around the world of search, social & mobile.  Moving forward, these nuggets of online wisdom will likely be split up into separate posts by category so you can read only what’s relevant to you, but for this initial week, here loyal readers, is the complete Big Picture.

We already forward this to clients each week, but if you’d like to be included in our newsletter, feel free to drop us a line.

PPC & Paid Search

• Big Changes: Adcenter Trademark Policy Updated – Microsoft adCenter will begin allowing bidding on trademarked/competitor keywords as of March 3, moving closer to Google AdWords’s longtime policy.  So get out in front of the competition, before they get out in front of you!

• AdWords Advertisers Can Now Optimize by Conversions – Google now allows you to optimize your ads by conversions, in addition to clickthrough rate.  You must have conversion tracking enabled, and if there is not enough conversion data, AdWords will default to CTR.

SEO & Organic Search

• Top Takeaways from Searchfest 2011 – Last week marked the 5th annual Portland search marketing conference put on by SEMpdx. Here are some of Anvil’s key takeaways.
• How To: Track Keyword Categories – Move away from tracking just individual keyword rankings to start getting a picture of how categories of keywords are contributing to your traffic.
• Google Trying to Minimize Collateral Damage from “Farmer” Update – Shortly after the update that was supposed to impact poor quality sites, while we haven’t seen any direct evidence among our clients, a few good quality sites have been burned.

Analytics

• 4 Metrics for Social Media Measurement – Awareness, Sentiment, Response & Value. Primarily a discussion on these elements, not the secret of how to measure each of those metrics.
• Tracking Click to Call Mobile Ad Campaigns – What you can measure (headline clicks, sitelink clicks, phone number clicks & actual calls – use Google Call tracking). Take a look at the available reports in both AdWords and Google Analytics.

Link Development

• 9 Ways Of Being a Link Magnet – Learn about ways to get inbound links, using tactics like controversy posts and humor to your advantage.
• A Linkbuilding Blueprint: Utility Linking – Help insulate your site from Google’s constant algorithm changes using utility linking tactics.

Social Media

• How Brands Are Using Instagram to Reach New Audiences – How to use apps to reach audiences. Example https://briskpic.com/
• Is Quora the Next Big Social Media Site? – Maybe not, and here’s why.
• Facebook Recently Announced the Release of their Commenting System for Bloggers – What this means for marketers.

Local Search Engine Optimization

• Google Places Mobile Option to Only Show Open Businesses – Google is now providing the option to just see open businesses on your mobile phone.
• A Local Search Marketing Tactic That’s One For The Books – Want to get citations? Write a book!

Landing Page Testing

• 2 Nuggets from the Which Test Won webinar:
  • eCommerce sites using dropdown menus to select payment type (Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, etc) should test using radio buttons instead – tests have shown a significant lift in purchases.
  • Lead generation sites should test placing the actual contact form directly on the home page, instead of just a button with a link to the Contact Us page to boost form submissions.

B2C

• Redesign in Phases and Budget the Same Way – Case study from NutraOrgins about setting specific goals for site redesign and breaking redesign into multiple phases to maximize budget.

B2B

• Social Media for B2B: When creating your strategy, don’t get caught up in specific tactics before you outline your target audience and a content strategy for that audience. Once those are identified, the rest falls into place easier than if you try to identify tactics first.

Web Design & Development

• Speed Rankings and SEO – Your website’s load speed can play an integral role in your search rankings, which in turn can effect your company’s profits.

Mobile

• Mobile Content Is Twice as Difficult – When reading from an iPhone-sized screen, comprehension scores for complex Web content were 48% of desktop monitor scores. Bottom line: make mobile friendly versions of your website simple and easy to read.
• AT&T Rolls Out Location-Based Ad Messages – AT&T launches a new service (ShopAlert) that shoots you special offers over your mobile phone when you’re near a participating store or brand. The service is opt-in for now.