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Search Engine Weekly Roundup #21

The Search Engine Weekly Roundup is where I give you a list of the finest blogs from the week, revolving around SEO, Social Media, CRO, Marketing, et al. This week looks at building Google+ authority, social media strategies, link building and seasonal campaigns.

Being an Authority on Google+ Directly Impacts Search Results
Jeff Sauer
Follow @jeffsauer
Starting things off this week, Jeff Sauer has constructed a case study based on the importance of Google+ to SEO (spoiler: it’s rather important). Jeff’s study is the culmination of a 3 week test, where he looked at the impact of Google+ on a set of new websites, by isolating it from all other factors, by only using Google+ promotion. The post details the entire process of what he did and what happened, and is all wrapped up with 8 key points to take away from the whole situation. Essentially, the crux of the matter is: Google+ can have a huge effect, and can help a site rank quickly and indeed help retain those rankings.
Tweet Jeff’s blog: Tweet

How to Research Your Competitor’s Social Media Strategy
Kristi Hines
Follow @kikolani
Everybody knows just how key a properly implemented social media strategy can be to a business, though it can certainly be a problem area, as this post states. This in mind, you can establish an idea of how to establish a social media presence by looking at what your competitors are doing.
Kristi Hines’ post on the Rival IQ blog has a look at how you can research the tactics of your rivals in a plethora of different areas. Such as analysing their profiles/content, which images they use, taking a look at their user engagement, as well as generally monitoring them.
Tweet Kristi’s blog: Tweet

8 Ways to Build Links When Guest Blogging isn’t Possible
Jayson DeMers
Follow @jaysondemers
Over the past year or so, guest blogging has blown up in terms of importance and frequency, with most SEO folk getting involved. This post by Jayson DeMers looks at link building strategies you can implement if guest blogging just doesn’t work for you, for whatever reason. There are 8 strategies you can implement in this post, including:
Repurposing Content – Turn past posts into videos/infographics, survey your content, etc.
Host Contests – Hosting contests gives users a chance to interact with the brand, and giving the winner a badge to place on their website, resulting in a link.
Get Listed in Directories – One of the older methods out there; will help with links/local listings.
Sponsor Events – Sponsor an event to both gain links and raise your profile.#
Tweet Jayson’s blog: Tweet

The Skyrocket Guide to Seasonal Link Building Campaigns
James Agate
Follow @jamesagate
Keeping things relevant and topical can be a huge boon when it comes to SEO. Focusing on seasonal periods can be a huge source of traffic, and this post from James Agate goes in to depth on how Skyrocket utilise this. For an example of gaining exposure from relevance, in a recent roundup, I included a post about how somebody got a large amount of social interaction and traffic from something mocked up in 15 minutes after the Pope’s resignation.
Back to the post itself, which details Skyrocket’s 5-step “SEOsonal Process”:
1: Campaign Kickoff
2: Closer Proximity to Event
3: Seasonal Event
4: Post-event
5: Post-campaign
James’ post covers everything from targeting pages to pushing your campaign, culminating in a review of your campaign, and is certainly worth a read.
Tweet Jayson’s blog: Tweet

That wraps up this week’s roundup; I thoroughly hope that you enjoyed the work of the creators of the content who have been mentioned. Feel free to leave your opinions in the comment section, and if you’ve enjoyed the work which has been cited, you can share it via the corresponding Tweet button.