SearchInfluence

1. Dusting The Website For Spring: Optimization and SEO Cleaning – SEOmoz

1. HTML5: An Essential Weapon for SEOs – Search Engine Journal

The new HTML5 is set to receive a major upgrade and there are 5 key SEO innovations coming :

1. Nofollow’s little brothers and sisters
2. Alt-text gets some much needed support
3. Identifying the most important links on your page
4. No more Flash for videos
5. AJAX gets search engine friendly

2. Which Finds the First-Ever Website Better, Google or Bing? – Search Engine Land

1. Bing Places For Business replaces Bing Business Portal - Small Business Search Marketing

Bing has made some significant changes in its local business listing management platform. Bing Places will replace the old Bing Business Portal, and along with the name change comes a simpler system that strips away much of the non-local search functionality that previously existed. Learn more about the update and decide whether you think this is a good move for Bing.

2. 10 Inbound Discoveries That Will Disrupt Marketing Forever - HubSpot

1. Back to Basics: Meta Descriptions 101 - Search Engine Journal
If you haven’t looked at your meta descriptions in over a year or 6 months, it may be time to refresh your meta data. Meta descriptions are the ones that will show up in search results, so they should sound coherent to humans. Read this refresher on meta tags.

2. Thinking about adding 10,000 pages to your site at once? Take caution. - Search Engine Land
If you are adding a large number of pages to your site, it is better to do so in stages according to Google’s Matt Cutts. Adding them in batches may be better. Releasing thousands of pages at once may cause Google to manually review your site for any suspicious behavior.

The Holy Grail Of Internet Marketing: Owning The Whole SERP — Search Engine Land

Search Influence’s very own Will Scott gives a brief how-to on the essential methods of owning your search engine results page. The main points he hits in the post are the importance of branded SERP ownership, branded  AdWords campaigns, branded organic results, Google+ and local optimization. But the “real win” of owning the whole SERP is obviously taking over your non-branded ranking page. One of the more surprising tidbits for PPC naysayers is “It may seem crazy to pay for clicks to your site, especially if your site shows up in the first position organically, but the data shows that having both the first and “zeroth” positions increases clicks by up to 89%.” Now, that’s a big increase!

The Marketing Value of YouTube - SEO MOZ

The author here discusses the impacts YouTube can have for your product. YouTube is a great resource if you are looking to build your brand. It is important that you put up quality videos over the quantity of videos. Check out the article for some great information if you are looking to build a presence on YouTube.

Google Places Is Being Updated To Google + Local - Search Engine Journal

This talks about the transition from Google Places to Google + Local.  The post describes how this should make the process easier to use, faster updates, and integration with Adwords (Express) and G +.

1. Who is Winning the Apple vs. Google iPhone Driving Directions Battle? Too Close to Call – Mike Blumenthal

Even if you don’t keep up with the war between Apple and Google, you’re probably familiar with Apple Maps and it’s not-so-impressive emergence last fall. Well, since then, the app’s gotten its ducks in a row, and I know quite a few people that use it as their primary navigation tool. But how does it compare to Google Maps? Mike Blumenthal decided to find out. Check out this blog post to see how the two compare now that Apple Maps has matured a bit. I assumed that Google Maps was still the outright leader and was surprised by the results. Who knows, maybe I need to switch over to Apple Maps!

1. Top 4 Strategic SEO Trends to Watch for in 2013 - Search Engine Journal

Don’t get lost in the mix! Take a broad look at your organization to make sure you’re producing top quality content, including social media, making your site mobile friendly, and understanding the knowledge graph.

2. Google Announces Retirement of RSS Reader – The Content Standard 

Google has just announced that on July 1, 2013 Google Reader will retire. This is part of Google’s plan to remove irrelevant and no longer useful services. If most of your audience is using this to get your updates, now is the time to transition them to a new service.

1. The High Cost of Missing Listings: $10 Billion (or More) - Screenwerk

Have you ever wondered about the real cost of erroneous or missing business contact information for local businesses on the web? A research firm has studied the issue, and you might be surprised how big the numbers are. An estimated 43 percent of listings have some kind of error — often in the business name, phone number, or address — and it’s having a big effect on commerce.

2. How Ads Look in the New News Feed Layout - Inside Facebook

1. How does social media affect your SEO? – Search Engine Journal

Does Google really pay attention to social signals? As more and more users share content through social networks, Google is taking note to what gets shared and has even trying to capitalize on that by starting Google+. Some users may use social media to see what is newsworthy, but you definitely have to watch how your company manages its social presence. How are you taking advantage of social media for your business?