A recent study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project reports that a whopping 39% of the adult population have seen the frequency of their online use grow as their reliance on mobile devices has increased. The report, “The Mobile Difference”, relates this increase in technology usage to be similar to the spike in telephone use that was experienced between 1980 and 1987. The spike in that instance was determined to be caused by the introduction of the answering machine. Once unanswered calls were now being returned, significantly accelerating American’s calling patterns.

The Mobile Difference study links the recent growth of frequency in online use to increasing broadband adoption, and to improving attitudes about how mobile access creates better availability for personal and business purposes. It breaks this group whom it calls “Motivated by Mobility” into several subgroups including: 8% Digital Collaborators, 7% Ambivalent Networkers, 7% Media Movers, 9% Roving Nodes, and 8% Mobile Newbies.

The study notes that 61% of the adult population claim that they do not feel the pull of mobility into the digital world. I certainly don’t fall into this group, as my iPhone and I are inseparable. Those who don’t feel the pull of mobility in the study, which they’ve labeled the “stationary Media Majority”, fit into several subgroups. 13% are Desktop Veterans, there are Drifting Surfers, Information Encumbered individuals, 10% Tech Indifferent, and 14% are lovingly nicknamed "Off the Network". Some feel the off the network folks shy away from “even a little modern gadgetry”. I don’t know about you, but I’m wondering what cave these folks are hiding in?

So what does this information mean to you? Well for starters it means you need to start marketing to the mobile crowd. More and more are feeling the pull, and it goes without saying that your site should be easy to navigate on mobile devices. Optimizing your efforts for mobile search will also prove fruitful due to our growing reliance on mobile devices.

Have you seen your online marketing efforts change due to the pull? Check out the below commercial by Sprint and tell me you can’t feel the pull of mobile search and marketing!

Elise C.

Google is continually changing and editing their algorithms to fit industry and consumer demands. Matt Cutt’s, from Google, updates his blog often and fields some user questions regarding their changes, answering them via video. What a great way to connect with online users, and gives me some ideas about video marketing…..I digress. The video below shows Cutt’s fielding the question: "Has Google changed the relevancy it awards to social media sites in the last six months?". My initial answer would be yes, as I have seen changes myself in SERPs. Cutt’s response might not surprise many of us in the industry, however. 

I found the video quite informational, even if Cutt’s tends to just barely touch the surface of a complete answer. He explains that Google takes into consideration links, and how useful they are on a page. Of course, this applies to social media sites indirectly. Google’s intention on the recent updates has not been to give more weight to social media sites; however a small change was made to the overall weighting for some links and anchors. Cutt’s goes on to explain that this may affect social media, but that’s not what was intended. 

Have you seen changes in your SERPs after the most recent change? Share with us!

Kaila Strong

Kaila is a Sr. Account Manager at Vertical Measures. She works directly with clients to evaluate and analyze their overall Internet Marketing needs, creates sales proposals and recommendations. In addition she regularly reports on client rankings, gives SEO advice to brands in a variety of industries and manages client expectations.

Kaila has a background in social media marketing, link building, SEO and content marketing. She’s an active blogger on SearchEngineWatch.com, and an avid social media user (@cliquekaila on Twitter). She brings her experience to the table with new clients and enjoys writing about her experiences as well here on the VM blog and throughout the web.

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Collaborative post, authors: Kaila S. and Eli

Now that you’ve been introduced to Twitter with one of our previous posts, it’s time to show you how Twitter can literally save your life, enhance your quality of life (well through laughter anyways), or otherwise help you with everyday living.

Kaila Strong

Kaila is a Sr. Account Manager at Vertical Measures. She works directly with clients to evaluate and analyze their overall Internet Marketing needs, creates sales proposals and recommendations. In addition she regularly reports on client rankings, gives SEO advice to brands in a variety of industries and manages client expectations.

Kaila has a background in social media marketing, link building, SEO and content marketing. She’s an active blogger on SearchEngineWatch.com, and an avid social media user (@cliquekaila on Twitter). She brings her experience to the table with new clients and enjoys writing about her experiences as well here on the VM blog and throughout the web.

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I know, you probably are reading this post thinking—what does SEO have to do with Good Friday? Absolutely nothing as a matter of fact, but I figured I’d take advantage of today and write a little ditty about all the good things Friday brings to the world of SEO. If anything, at least you will have some sites to peruse while waiting for your 9-5′er week to end.

Kaila Strong

Kaila is a Sr. Account Manager at Vertical Measures. She works directly with clients to evaluate and analyze their overall Internet Marketing needs, creates sales proposals and recommendations. In addition she regularly reports on client rankings, gives SEO advice to brands in a variety of industries and manages client expectations.

Kaila has a background in social media marketing, link building, SEO and content marketing. She’s an active blogger on SearchEngineWatch.com, and an avid social media user (@cliquekaila on Twitter). She brings her experience to the table with new clients and enjoys writing about her experiences as well here on the VM blog and throughout the web.

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Two of the most talked about internet marketing strategies are search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click advertising.  One of the questions we here at Vertical Measures get asked the most is, "Should I invest in SEO or should I invest in pay per click (PPC) advertising?"  The short answer is "yes".

Everyone is after the same goal:  how to get more people to visit your website.  And how do you do that?  Well, you have to be more visible to those who are looking for what you are selling.  The best way to do that is to get onto page one of Google.  But how?  Is it better to be in the top 10 organic listing or the number one sponsored link position? 

First let’s talk about the different between SEO and PPC.  SEO is all about traffic:  you’re focusing on driving traffic to your site. Offsite SEO, including link building, is meant to get more traffic. We like to say, "PPC is renting and link building is owning the house".  Why do we say that?  Because strategic SEO, including link building, will generate permanent, one-way links from relevant, related websites.  That will help with traffic. That’s a good thing in Google’s eyes.  PPC on the other hand will give you links as long as you’re willing to pay top dollar when bidding for those top search terms.  When you stop paying to be top bidder on the terms, you drop down on the sponsored ads links; stop your pay-per-click campaign altogether and those links go away. No links, no traffic.

Organic search results are considered to be much more reliable than PPC. Roughly 4 out of every 5 internet users will click on natural search results before they click on PPC (sponsored search results). In other words, 80% percent of internet searchers will click on a natural search result prior to or instead of a sponsored listing.

So that means SEO over PPC is the way to go, right?  Not necessarily.  Pay per click does have value when used in conjunction with other SEO tactics.  First of all, the results are much more immediate.  Pay today and see results tomorrow.  Second, you have complete control over which keywords you’re ranking for because you’re bidding on specific keyword phrase.  Third, you can also change your results on the fly:  want to change how your sponsored ad appears?  Log in, change it, and hit save.  The results are immediate.

When it comes to SEO vs. PPC, it’s like anything else in life:  if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.  If your pay per click campaigns are converting into paying clients, why would you shut it down, even if you’re ranked #1 on Google in natural search results?  If your link building and other SEO efforts have gotten you on page one of Google and you’re seeing the increased traffic, why would you stop driving traffic to your site?  Focus on your overall internet marketing strategy, and you’ll see the two tactics can live in harmony.  Sometimes you can rent and own; who says you have to pick just one?

Patty Adams

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