Search marketing has morphed and grown in numerous ways throughout 2021. At each of the shifts and changes in the search marketing landscape along the way, we’ve done our best to not only cover each twist and turn thoroughly, but to also offer insight and research-based strategy that will help B2B marketers meet the increasing challenges placed in front of us.
We’re fortunate to have a wealth of talented B2B marketing professionals contributing to the TopRank Marketing blog covering the state of search marketing — which will celebrate its 19th year in 2022.
To help our blog community grow its search marketing knowledge, we’re happy to offer our annual list of the most popular search marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) posts of 2021 we’ve published throughout the year.
Our Most Popular Search Marketing Posts in 2021:
1. 6 Timeless SEO Tips Content Marketers Can Do Now — Lee Odden
How can content marketers improve their search visibility? The best SEO advice isn’t worth much if it’s never implemented.
In our most popular search marketing post of 2021, our CEO Lee Odden shared six timeless SEO tips that you can implement right now, including:
- Avoid overuse of pronouns
- Facts tell, stories sell
- Links are like electricity
- Be the best answer
- Close the gap with an SEO audit
- Always be optimizing
Check out all of Lee’s 2,600+ posts here, and follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.
“Strive to 'be the best answer' for what customers are looking for by creating content that is in-depth, engaging, and inspires deeper click-throughs into your site.” — Lee Odden @LeeOdden Click To Tweet2. SEO Harmony: Why B2B Marketers Need To Integrate Search With Content Strategy — Lane R. Ellis
Why should B2B marketers should turn segmented SEO and content marketing efforts into an integrated strategy?
In the second most popular search marketing post of the year, I shared why uniting the two forms a more powerful and harmonious B2B marketing union, examining:
- SEO Specialists Gain By Reaching Out To Content Teams
- Audience Insights Benefit Both SEO & Content Marketing
- Content Teams Thrive By Making SEO A Fundamental Concern
- United SEO & Content Form A Powerful B2B Marketing Union
You can check out all of my posts here, and follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Marketers need to break free over the next 10 years by radically changing how they work with sales, stopping the baton hand-off model and moving much more of an integrated team. ” — Jon Miller @jonmiller Click To Tweet3. Trust and the Search for Answers: How Influence Optimizes SEO Performance — Lee Odden
How can B2B marketers optimize content for trust?
In the number three spot on our top search marketing posts of 2021 list, Lee shared how trusted content elevates the strength of brand search visibility, and why taking optimization to the next level creates even better customer experiences.
Lee shared fascinating and powerful ways to align your content, SEO and influencer engagement opportunities, including:
- Identify experts creating on-topic content with great search visibility
- Seek influencers with Knowledge Panels in Google
- Evaluate influencer’s link attraction rates when they publish or contribute content
- Provide influencers with SEO audits of their blogs so they can improve their search visibility
4. What 5 Recent Search Marketing Changes Mean For B2B Marketers — Lane R. Ellis
How can B2B marketers adapt to new changes in search engine marketing?
From Google’s “About This Result” and feedback features to its new Display & Video 360 data insights, Google Discover, TensorFlow ranking updates, and Bing search engine result page (SERP) chatbot and related-image features, in our fourth most popular search marketing post of 2021 I shared five recent changes, including:
- Learning More With Google Discover
- Google’s “About This Result” & Feedback Features
- Display & Video 360 Bring New Google Data Insights
- Google TensorFlow Ranking Updates
- Bing’s New Chat & Related Image Features
5. Beyond SEO: B2B Content Optimization for Trust and Customer Experience — Lee Odden
How does B2B content optimization work to build greater trust and better customer experiences?
In the fifth most popular search marketing post of 2021, Lee shared how to take optimization beyond search and into customer experience with a more holistic B2B content strategy, including:
- What Can Be Searched Can Be Optimized
- Optimize For Customers
- Optimize For Experiences
- Great Content isn’t Great Unless it’s Findable and Credible
- Go Holistic with B2B Content or Go Home
6. Content Marketing Optimization Audits – Find Where SEO Can Boost Content Marketing Success — Lee Odden
How do SEO and content marketing strategy interact with one another in a cohesive way?
In our sixth most popular search marketing post of 2021, Lee walked us through the five fundamentals of SEO and audit reports to help you boost your content marketing success, including:
- Keyword Research
- Content Audits
- Technical SEO Audits
- Inbound and Internal Linking Audits
- Social Media Audits
7. 5 Tips for Empowering Enterprise SEO Success — Lee Odden
How can B2B marketers empower enterprise SEO?
From ongoing education and energizing advocates to marketing results and customizing communications, in our seventh most-read search marketing article of the year, Lee shares how, and why even the best SEO advice isn’t so great if it’s never implemented. Learn all five ways to empower SEO at enterprise companies, including:
- Ongoing Education
- Energize Advocates
- Market Results
- Be Available
- Customize Communications for the Enterprise
8. Optimizing Digital Assets: How B2B Marketers Can Combine the Best of External & Internal Search Findability — Lane R. Ellis
How can B2B marketers optimize a digital asset workflow that combines best practices for search findability both externally and within your business?
In our eighth most popular search marketing post of 2021, I shared how to bring it all together with a digital asset management (DAM) solution, including a look at the following key areas:
- What Are Digital Assets In B2B Marketing
- Better Search Findability Externally
- Better Findability For Your Organization
- Bringing It All Together With A Digital Asset Management Solution
9. Autumn of Search: In-Person & Virtual SEO Events for B2B Marketers — Lane R. Ellis
What are the top conferences and events B2B marketers should be considering for hybrid of in-person learning?
In the last decade alone the number of conferences has risen drastically, making it harder than ever to hone in on the ones that can best help build your business, boost your networking opportunities, and offer the most relevant new industry education from top speakers, especially in world of B2B search marketing.
These 19 hybrid and in-person B2B marketing conferences and events will help elevate and inform your search strategy. From #Pubcon & #SearchLove to #MozCon & more, in our ninth most popular search marketing article of 2021, I share them all.
“We’re all the same size rectangle on the Zoom screen.” — Vanessa Colella of @Citi Click To Tweet10. How Influencers & Best Answer Content Help B2B Marketers Dominate in Search — Lee Odden
How can optimized best-answer content help B2B marketers dominate in search?
Rounding out our top ten list of search marketing posts for the year, Lee has shared the SEO value that influencers can bring to content marketing through expertise, authority and trust, including a helpful look at the following advantages B2B influencer marketing offers:
- Industry experts can add credibility to brand content
- Influencers can help lesser known B2B brands build their exposure and credibility in the marketplace more quickly
- Trusted influencers can help B2B brands c0-create more authentic content that resonates with buyers
- Influencer partners can help B2B brands create more content than they could on their own
- Key opinion leaders can drive conversations about topics important to brands and their customers through content
- Influencers can help create and promote brand content to new audiences that ignore traditional tactics like ads
- B2B brands that develop relationships with the experts in the industry that customers listen to can realize important marketing objectives like increased advocacy for the brand and its solutions
Thanks TopRank Marketing Readers
Thanks to each of you, our TopRank Marketing blog readers, for continuing to read and learn from us, including these top 10 search marketing posts of 2021.
We published dozens of posts this year specifically about search marketing, and plan to bring you even more in 2022, so stay tuned for a new year of the latest helpful search industry research and insight.
Please let us know which SEO-related topics and ideas you’d like to see us focus on for 2022 — we’d love to hear your suggestions. Feel free to leave those thoughts in the comments section below.
Many thanks to each of you who read our blog regularly, and to all of you who comment on and share our posts on the TopRank Marketing social media channels at Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
To learn more about the rising power of influence in B2B, watch our CEO Lee Odden in the comprehensive new webinar “How to Accelerate B2B Marketing Results by Working With Influencers,” and learn how to create greater content marketing impact with influence.
