If search engine optimization (SEO) is already part of your digital marketing mix or you are thinking about adding it, then you are likely familiar with the concept of a backlinking strategy. That is, what is the overall long-term plan to increase the number of other websites on the Internet that reference and link to your website? This is a “backlink” and search engines view a backlink as an indication of relevance. But are backlinking strategies starting to take a back seat to social signals as they relate to SEO? Is your time better spent investing in a “social signals strategy”? In this blog post discover: How Google’s algorithm changes impact both backlinking and social signaling. How to build an SEO social signals strategy. How your SEO backlinking and social signals strategies come together in your content strategy. How to measure it all. Google’s Recent Algorithm Changes Impact both Backlinking and Social Signaling First off, yes backlinking is still important and yes you still need to build backlinks. Remember a backlink works similar to an academic citation. In academia, the more frequently a piece of work is cited, the more relevant it must be. Apply this to the web – the more frequently your website is linked to... Read more

Google Drive finally made its debut -- and it was followed by plenty of software companies hoping to jump on the buzzing cloud-based bandwagon.

Google Drive is the long-awaited cloud-based service that lets you create, share, collaborate and otherwise store all your digital stuff. You can upload and access all your files, including videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs and beyond. With Google Docs built into Google Drive, you can work on documents in real-time.

What impact will it have on the competition, like Dropbox and Box? It's too soon to tell, but one thing is certain: Smaller players don't plan to go down without a fight -- and they are using the "P" word in their first line of attack. Indeed, while some cloud-based storage firms are keeping quiet, others are launching privacy missives at the search-engine giant.

Driving the Bandwagon

Based on the response from software vendors trying to get in on the Google Drive hype, competitors like Dropbox may need to start worrying. Gantter just announced the integration between Gantter and Drive. Gantter.com is a free enterprise Web 2.0 project-scheduling application.

DocuSign also integrated with Google Drive. DocuSign hopes to help Google Drive users eliminate the hassles, costs, and lack of security in printing, faxing, scanning, and overnighting documents to collect information and get signatures.

Meanwhile, nivio launched a nivio for Google Drive app. The app allows users to open and edit Microsoft Office files in their Google Drive with full access to Microsoft Office 2010 applications in any HTML5 browser, on any connected device. None of these firms seem too concerned about privacy, but some of Google's smaller competitors are sounding the alarm.

Privacy Punches

We caught up with Ethan Oberman, CEO of SpiderOak, a cloud storage company with a Zero Knowledge Privacy Standard, to get this thoughts on how smaller competitors will fare...

Most people are pretty happy when they take a look at their web site traffic and see a large share of traffic coming to their site from the search engines. The natural reaction to these numbers are "Isn't this great? Look at all these new prospects who are finding me on the web!" But in many cases, these assumptions about who's finding your site via search may be completely wrong. But, before I go into ideas about how you can improve your search results, let's take a look at how people use search today. How do people search? It all begins with a need or interest. Something inspires a person to search for a certain topic. So let's use a hypothetical example of person considering buying a new camera. Typically when you start searching you begin with a pretty broad search...type "camera" into Google (65.9% of searches happen on Google according to ComScore, Dec 2011).  And the results page brings up a bunch of links for places where you can buy cameras, some photos of cameras, links to manufacturer's sites, etc. Great...but you're not even sure what you're looking for yet. So you go back to the top of the page and start adding... Read more

Apple's iOS operating system is outpacing the competition and remains by far the top choice for business users in both smartphones and tablets, a new survey reports.

The survey by Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Good Technology, which provides mobile solutions for businesses and government agencies, found that Apple outpaced Google's Android, the leading OS in the U.S. market, by an 80 percent-20 percent margin in activations among Good's enterprise customers in the first quarter.

A Galaxy Apart

iPhones made up 73.9 percent of smartphone activations, compared with 26.1 percent for phones powered by Android. The tablet figures are more striking, a 97.3 percent blowout versus 2.7 percent for Android tablets. Android tablets include Samsung's Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom and the Asus Transformer.

The release of Apple's third iPad did not have a substantial impact on the results because it came in March. And the iPad was most popular in the Financial Services, Business/Professional Services and Life Sciences industries, with the latter category showing a disproportionately higher share of iPad activations.

Apple devices made up the top six of the 10 most popular mobile devices in activations recorded by Good Technology. They are, in descending order: The iPhone 4S, iPad 2, iPhone 4, new iPad, iPad, iPhone 3GS, Motorola Droid, Samsung Galaxy S II, Google Nexus and Sprint Evo 4G.

"Apple seems to have cornered the tablet market in 2011 and Q1 2012," the report said. "However, the arrival of the first Windows 8 tablets later this year should have an effect on tablet activation numbers. But for now, the iPad remains the de facto enterprise tablet standard."

Microsoft's next Windows operating system, Windows 8, is expected in October and will power PCs, laptops and tablets. Apple CEO Tim Cook, in a conference call with reporters, stood by Apple's model of separate operating systems for tablets and computers,...

What do businesses and brands have to learn from the Santorum/Savage “Google Problem”? Unwanted search results will always be alive online, and it takes an active approach to keep them managed as much as possible. With the right tactics, it’s possible to minimize reputational threats, but simply complaining about them will not find a resolution. (Author’s note, this post is not meant to advocate for one political party or any single politician vs. another.) Without getting into the frothy details (which you can find out about through the article links that follow in this post), Rick Santorum has become a high profile example of a common problem for many brands, businesses, and business leaders dealing with unfavorable search results that stray WAY off-message. Essentially, the candidate is dealing with a competitive attack page aimed at undermining his campaign and throwing a wrench in his own messaging. What Santorum has NOT been doing over the past 8 years of the existence of columnist Dan Savage’s rogue page, is deal with it by creating more relevant content and employing even basic SEO tactics. Instead he has protested to Google (no word if he has also complained to Bing) to remove the page in question from its search rankings. ... Read more

Let the cloud wars begin. Following the launch of Google Drive on Tuesday and expanded offerings on Microsoft's SkyDrive on Monday, business-cloud platform and storage provider Box is releasing version 2 of its platform API, and unveiling new application and technology partners.

Fifteen more companies are now application partners for Box's OneCloud, and two entrepreneur support centers in New York City, General Assembly and TechStars, are joining up as well. Box has more than 10 million individual users worldwide, plus more than 120,000 businesses -- including 82 percent of the Fortune 500.

'A Radical Shift'

Box is emphasizing that it is focused on enterprises, while the new Google Drive is oriented toward consumers. Its OneCloud provides a suite of productivity apps, enabling content to be accessed, edited and shared securely from smartphones, tablets and other devices.

Box CEO Aaron Levie said in a statement that "the enterprise technology landscape is experiencing a radical shift toward universal, mobile information access and content sharing." He added that Box's OneCloud platform "sits at the center of this revolution," and has been widely adopted by third-party developers "who are building the next generation of enterprise software."

The new OneCloud API includes streamlined documentation and easier integration through RESTful standards. There's also an Instant Mode feature, making it easier for developers to seamlessly connect their apps to Box's services. Using Instant Mode, access to Box will be available by simply typing in an email address. The company said this means that LinkedIn, for instance, could offer Box storage, even if a given LinkedIn user has not joined Box.

Additionally, the new Box OneCloud App-to-App Framework offers documentation and user interface guidelines.

The new application partners are CloudOn, Breezy, Explain Everything, BlueBeamVu, Handshake, iAnnotate, iDesk, iDocShelf, InBound, LincDoc, Mockups.me, Notability, Producteev, ScrumPad Pro and The Vault. Among other things, the app partners work...

Technology, innovation and adoption are happening faster than ever before. A trip to the mall is a good reminder of how quickly iPods and MP3 players eliminated the CD and stores like Sam Goody. Tablets are the next big technology trend and will likely eliminate personal computers sooner rather than later. The iPad adoption rate was the fastest in history; quickly surpassing the time it took us to move from VHS to DVD. But new technologies are becoming so much more than just digital trends; they’re lifestyle trends that have merged with our everyday existence at a fast speed. I learned as a little girl that having good manners meant always sharing my toys, but Facebook, Twitter and all things social have revolutionized our thoughts on sharing. Instead of sharing toys or devices, we now share all the details of our lives. Posts on Twitter, an entire timeline on Facebook, circles of random acquaintances on Google+, all of our eclectic music choices broadcasted by Spotify--you name it, we are sharing it. The proof is in social aggregators like Hootsuite that let you monitor your entire digital persona in a single dashboard. And it’s not just the details of our personal lives... Read more

Facebook appears ready to delay its initial public offering. CNBC first reported that the social media giant was pondering moving the big event to June.

Facebook representatives could not immediately be reached for comment about the status of its IPO. The company was expected to begin its IPO road show in two weeks in anticipation of a May public offering, according to news reports.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been busy spending cash, though, and that may be spurring delays. Facebook just snapped up Instagram, a popular photo app. And the company also spent $550 million on patents from Microsoft in a move to beef up its IP protection in the lawsuits with Yahoo and any other attacks patent trolls may launch against it once it collects what could be a $100 billion IPO.

Social Media Ups and Downs

In November, Groupon posted the largest initial public offering since Google by raising $700 million. Then, in December, Zynga one-upped the social couponing site with an IPO of its own by raising $1 billion in its IPO. Zynga then boasted the biggest IPO since Google raised $1.9 billion in 2004. Facebook could dwarf them all when it goes public.

Many industry watchers expect Facebook's valuation to range between $75 billion and $100 billion. Facebook wants to raise up to $10 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. Facebook posted a $1 billion profit in 2011 on $3.71 billion in revenues.

Beyond the recent acquisitions, Facebook is also under heavy government scrutiny. Every two years for the next 20 years, Facebook is required to have independent, third-party audits certifying that it has a privacy program in place that meets or exceeds the requirements of a Federal Trade Commission order, and to ensure that the privacy of consumers' information is protected.

Facebook's Rare Moves

We caught up with Jake Wengroff, global...

Identifying topical influencers has been a key to driving awareness and activation for many socially progressive brands over the past few years. One of the measurement variables many brands have come to rely on is Klout. Much has been written about Klout since it's founding in 2008. Some praise & swear by the service, others question the validity of the score and ability to "game" the system. Regardless, users work each day to increase their Klout score and brands are eager to reward those indiviuduals. At it's core, Klout provides social media analytics to measure a user's influence across their social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Linkedin, Foursquare, and many more and assigns a score to the user. This daily score is meant to reflect the influence that individual has to drive action in social networks. Currently, Klout boasts over 100 million profiles, 2.7 billion+ pieces of content & connections analyzed daily and 5,000+ partners & developers with over 45 billion+ API calls. From a brand perspective, there are multiple ways to leverage this data and audience to drive action. From the Klout Perks program, to leveraging Klout's API to the upcoming Klout brand pages. Klout Perks - The most visible brand programs associated... Read more

After months of consultations with Israeli security officials, Google has launched its popular Street View service in the country's three largest cities.

The new Street View provides images of ordinary life, contested areas and religious sites in the Holy Land. Due to security issues, areas around several sensitive sites, such as the military headquarters in Tel Aviv and the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem, are blurred out.

Google Street View is available in more than 30 countries. It was held up in Israel by concerns that images of its streets could be used by terrorists. The Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza, for instance, has boasted that it used Google Earth, which gives birds-eye views and some street-level pictures of sites around the world, to aim rockets at Israel.

Last August, after a panel of government ministers met for six months to draft security guidelines, Israel announced it had reached an agreement with Google.

The service was quietly launched late last week and officially unveiled Sunday. The images are obtained by specialized cameras mounted on vehicles.

Israel is the first Middle Eastern nation to display its cities and streets online. Iraq's National Museum is also available on Street View.

Pictures online Sunday showed typical street scenes -- bicycles chained to the gates of apartment gardens in Tel Aviv, tourists sunbathing on Haifa's beaches, and the crowded cobblestone Via Dolorosa, the path that Jesus is said to have walked before his crucifixion in Jerusalem's Old City.

Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai brushed off security concerns about Tel Aviv, a city that was hit hard by suicide bombings on buses and in restaurants during the Palestinian uprising a decade ago.

He said militants know the city well enough without the Google service. "Tel Aviv-Jaffa is a target anyway," Huldai said Sunday.

He noted that other urban military installations, like the Pentagon...

Whether marketing a website through search engine optimization (“SEO”), local services through direct mail or even your own talents through a resume and networking, good marketing principles are somewhat universal.  Those developing Internet marketing solutions that have to be “sold” to senior executives should be open to learning new tactics from other channels but they should also learn to communicate the value of search marketing in ways that are more personal and accessible to their audience.  That includes both proof of value presentations by outside agencies and internal stakeholders like Directors of eCommerce or Chief Marketing Officers.  Enter football coach Marty Shottenheimer. While watching Sportscenter last weekend, the discussion turned to prospective NFL coaches and the argument for each team to consider the major candidates.  Former San Diego Chargers coach Marty Shottenheimer was featured as a good choice for a certain team, but the reason for suggesting him was particularly interesting.   It wasn’t for his strong coaching resume or his impressive list of Coach of the Year awards… it wasn’t even his win/loss record.  Schottenheimer's positive impact on ticket sales & attendance was one of ESPN’s statistical reasons for why an Owner or General Manager should choose Shottenheimer to lead their... Read more

The Google Drive rumors are a reality. Google just rolled out its cloud-based service that lets you create, share, collaborate and otherwise store all your digital stuff.

Google Drive is a direct competitor to Dropbox. You can upload and access all your files, including videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs and beyond. With Google Docs built into Google Drive, you can work on documents in real-time.

Google Drive is also pushing search features. You can search by keyword and filter by file type, owner and other designations. There's even Optical Character Recognition, or OCR, technology.

"Let's say you upload a scanned image of an old newspaper clipping. You can search for a word from the text of the actual article," explained Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome & Apps, in a blog post. "We also use image recognition so that if you drag and drop photos from your Grand Canyon trip into Drive, you can later search for [grand canyon] and photos of its gorges should pop up."

Is Cloud Backup Secure?

We caught up with Tom Gelson, a cloud strategist at Imation Scalable Storage, to get his thoughts on the potential impact of Google Drive. He told us interest in Google Drive reinforces growing demand for online or cloud backup.

"While Drive is primarily targeted at consumers, some companies will consider the solution for backup, and IT departments will have to contend with employees using Drive on their own for corporate data storage," Gelson said. "Cloud backup is certainly a practical and cost-effective storage tier, but security of data stored in Google Drive -- or any other cloud -- is essential.

To address cloud backup security, Gelson said IT departments should carefully evaluate vendors' data encryption strategy. As he sees it, an ideal security policy would dictate that data is encrypted on-premise at...

Google first introduced its social network, Google+, in June 2011. Just six months later it reportedly had 62 million users and is on track for 400 million users by the end of 2012. That will be half of Facebook’s total current user base in a fraction of the time, and double Twitter’s! Just recently, Google announced Search, plus Your World, which is Google+ content appearing with traditional organic search results. This is proof that the lines between social networking, social media and SEO are indeed thinning and that social networking and social signals are becoming more important to the practice of SEO. Google+ is a social networking force to be reckoned with and it is forcing marketers’ hands. I guarantee you that Google+ is not a fad. It is here to stay. So why is it important to incorporate Google+ into your web presence, how do you do it, and how will it positively impact your organic search strategy? With the introduction of Search, plus Your World, when your prospects search in Google for the keywords you want to be found for, relevant results will be returned in that searcher’s “Personal Results” from their “Google+ Circles”, as well as related “People and Pages from... Read more

Citing "multiple sources close to the company," a popular technology blog has reported that Facebook Inc. officials have chosen May 17 as the date to launch their eagerly awaited initial public offering.

But a source told the San Jose Mercury News that the actual date is not set in stone and could be a few days earlier.

The social network's IPO is easily the most-anticipated tech stock debut in a decade. The company, founded in 2004 in a Harvard University dorm room, is looking to raise $5 billion in the offering. That easily outpoints the $1.9 billion Google raked in through its 2004 IPO -- the largest to date for an Internet company.

A Facebook spokesman declined to comment to the Mercury News on the TechCrunch report about the IPO date. As is typical when companies are in the pre-IPO "quiet period" mandated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Facebook has generally declined to answer any questions related to the stock offering.

A person close to the company, however, told the Mercury News that while May 17 falls within the general range Facebook has been targeting for its Wall Street debut, "nobody really knows what the date is. It's going to depend on the SEC."

If the IPO is indeed set for the third week of May, Facebook likely would begin its two-week "road show," during which it would tout the stock to institutional investors, the week of April 30.

Sam Hamadeh, a New York analyst who has been closely following the Facebook IPO, said people close to the deal have told him the stock launch actually may come a day or two before TechCrunch's target.

"We've verified that the road show is targeted to begin by April 30 and wrap by May 11," said Hamadeh, a former investment banker who is now CEO of PrivCo....