SEO Roundup: November 21, 2013

Updated: October 27, 2015

In the midst of reading and gathering articles for this week’s roundup I ran across a case of plagiarism. I’m not talking about the obvious kind, like the scraping that one marketer recently discovered. This was a more insidious kind – the kind that won’t be caught by software, and the kind that some marketers seem able and willing to justify.

One marketer had written an original piece, while another blogger had published a blog post several days later that was simply a thinner, rephrased version of the first post. Blog #1 is a major industry player and a trusted source of SEO news and information. Blog #2 is nowhere near that league, but it is connected to a business that sells content marketing services, which is pretty scary if you’re a client, especially considering the original blogger wrote a compelling article that the second blogger removed all the flavor from.

So how is a client supposed to know whether the content marketers they hire are providing original content? Google Authorship – or the ethical online marketer’s new best friend. As Nathan explained here on the blog last week, Google Authorship is a powerful tool for online marketers, and though not everyone uses it yet, most have jumped on board enthusiastically. Blogger #1 in my above example is listed as the author of that piece on her Google+ page. Blog #2 does not even list bylines for their authors at all. That’s possibly because, as this article discusses, authorship is not good news for plagiarists.

Now for this week’s great original content from the online marketing world . . .

Content Marketing:

• Is no one reading your blog? This might help you understand why.
• As hard as it is to believe, some companies are still trying to market online without a content strategy. Here are some excuses they use, and why those excuses really don’t cut it.

ECommerce:

• Ecommerce sites with numerous pages can make A/B testing seem a little daunting, but these suggestions might help you better apply your efforts.

General SEO and Online Marketing:

• Before you file that reconsideration request, make sure to read this list and increase your chances of success.
• What does Google mean when it says “your money or your life?” Get some excellent analysis here.
• And finally, in the video below, Google’s Matt Cutts explains the right ways and the wrong ways to leave links in comments on blogs.

We’ll see you next week!