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This week we tragically learned that musical legend Whitney Houston passed away, inspiring Jennifer Hudson to perform a beautiful tribute to the late artist at this year’s Grammy awards. Although this year Grammy’s achieved a record high tweets per second, Hudon’s Whitney Houston tribute was so moving that people actually stopped tweeting during her performance, according to AdAge.

In other celebrity related news this week, we learned that Facebook it will roll out verified pages for celebrities. Gizmodo reports that celebrities, like Lady Gaga for example, will be able to register Facebook pages under her stage name, instead of her government name, Stefani Germanotta.

Boston Innovation put out a list of  Boston’s best Twitter accounts, and what they are worth. Twitter accounts for the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald and Boston Phoenix topped the list, followed by a variety of sports figures and Mayor Menino.

Search Engine Watch also put out a similar list this week, they published the top 6 brands on Google+. H&M ranked number one with half a million users who circle their brand on Facebook.

Lastly, we learned that the music industry may sue Google for including pirated music in their search results. According to Gizmodo, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry believes that Google should sensor their search results to include only legal links. What do you think Google should do?

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Both Bing and Yahoo gained market share this month, while Google’s share declined.

• The overall picture and trends remain the same – Google Powered engines (Google and AOL) continue to slowly lose traction monthly; while the Bing Powered engines (Bing and Yahoo!) continue to gain momentum.  Google Powered share declined 1.2ppt, while Bing Powered increased its share by those 1.2pppt’s.
• Google Powered now represents 68.3% of the market and Bing Powered has 32.5% of the market.
• Bing experienced the biggest share increase of 0.7ppt’s to now represent 17% of the US search market.
• Yahoo! witnessed its first share gain in 4 months, currently owns 15.5% of the market.
• Google experienced a decline, and now accounts for 66.7% of the market.
• AOL’s share remained flat.
• The overall search market – as defined by these 4 engines – saw an 4.9% M-O-M increase of total search query activity from December 2011.

Guess which companies are having early success as part of YouTube’s massive 96-channel rollout? The ones that have done it before.

YouTube natives like Maker Studios and Vlogbrothers are off to strong starts since launching new channels backed by Google’s much-hyped $100 million production fund. Conversely, less experienced (and perhaps more substantive) content producers like Slate and The Intelligent Channel are struggling to attract large numbers of subscribers, as least according to the early view numbers they're generating on YouTube. And so far, Madonna’s celebrity, along with her well-received Super Bowl halftime performance, has failed to translate into a mass audience—though it’s still early.

For example, Maker Studios, perhaps best known for nurturing comedic YouTubers like Ray William Johnson and Nice Peter, started off strong with its mothers-oriented channel The Moms' View, which has amassed nearly 60,000 subscribers and 2.1 million views since launching in December; and Tutele, its more narrowly focused Hispanic-themed channel, which claims close to 25,000 subscribers as of Wednesday (Feb. 15).

Similarly, but perhaps more unexpectedly, Vlogbrothers' SciShow, which discusses such topics as lake discoveries in Antarctica and solar storms, has landed about 100,000 subscribers while generating 1.7 million views. Vlogbrothers’ other YouTube channel, Crash Course, has fewer subscribers (113,305) but has exceeded 720,000 views.

Like Maker, Vlogbrothers is a YouTube fixture. The brothers existing channel has over 200 million views, so it arrived at the channel strategy with a running start. That’s not the case with Slate, which has attracted fewer than 8,400 subscribers for Slate News Channel since making its debut Jan. 2. Slate, known for its smart, opinionated editorial, has at least generated plenty of views (34 million). The Intelligent Channel, which features Paul Holdengraber, director of public programs at the New York Public Library, conducting interviews, has proven a tough draw, pulling in just 2,277 subscribers and 16,960 video views.

While egghead interviews may eventually catch on, dance, fitness and parenting would seem to be perfect for YouTube’s niche programming strategy. But so far, big names with little YouTube experience going after such niches have exhibited mixed, if not lousy results. For example, Madonna’s DanceOn has nabbed nearly 35,00 subscribers—fewer people that attend some of her concerts—but has also generated close to 35 million views. To be fair, a rep for DanceOn said that the site's premium video content isn't due to arrive until April. Meanwhile, Lionsgate’s health-oriented BeFit looks like a bust, as the channel has collected just 7,663 subscribers since going live in January, though those folks have amassed 466,137 views.

Surprisingly, the hip, fast-growing parenting site CafeMom has struggled programming to moms while Maker, which previously had little to no mom credibility, has scored. The CafeMom studios channel has just 4,134 subscribers. However, those users are responsible for a ton of volume—1,463,742 views—or 354 views each. It should be noted that you don’t have to be a subscriber to watch videos on any of these channels.

Also having some trouble pulling in subscribers is Deca, the Web distributor behind the popular Momversation blog. Its KinCommunity has 8,807 subscribers and 869,754 views. Several of its clips have been viewed just a few hundred times.

Is it way too early to evaluate a programming lineup that has been live in some cases just five or six weeks, with varying levels of output, frequency and promotional backing? Probably. But in a media landscape that declares million-dollar network TV pilots dead after one viewing, YouTube programmers should expect heavy scrutiny, with their view numbers naked for the world to see.

And to hear most in the industry tell it, programming to a YouTube audience is a very specific skill, one that probably requires much experimentation and recalibration. It seems to help if you’ve done it for a while. Just look at Young Hollywood, another media company with a strong Web heritage. It already claims 37,141 subscribers and an stunning 79 million views.

There are of course, some early exceptions to this rule of thumb. For example, Demand Media, one of the most prolific YouTube programmers, has seen its new channels initially fall flat: eHow Home has just 13,942 subscribers, though it has produced 8.8 million views, while Livestrong Women has just 3,575 subscribers and 72,270 views to date.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal, not exactly known for its viral videos, is off to a strong start, proving that traditional media can do YouTube. Its 12,384 subscribers have already accounted for 12.9 million views.

Alas, not every traditional player can make the same claim. Reuters' original YouTube channel has just 4,591 subscribers and 184,619 views.

Sometimes it can be difficult to consistently come up with great content ideas — both for guest posting but also for on-page optimization. The below process will help you find new ideas — whether you’re new to an industry, or are a veteran — to both get links from guest posts but also create a rich content that can help improve rankings.

We’re going to use Google Suggest, Ubersuggest.org and Tag Crowd to find some excellent content ideas — a technique pioneered by Mr. Wil Reynolds. Like most things in SEO, let’s first start with Google.

Go to Google.com, and use the search query: how to [INSERT TOPIC]. For example, you would use the query: how to travel . This will bring up suggestions people have search for around how to travel.

In this example, we don’t have too much helpful information to start with. “How to travel around the world,” “how to travel abroad for free,” aren’t really groundbreaking. Once we begin finishing out our query with a, b, c, etc, we can see Google suggesting a lot of great content ideas. For instance, “how to travel by train in Europe” could be a great guest blog post on a travel site.

Going through the alphabet (e.g. “how to travel a,” “how to travel b”) in Google Suggest can be daunting and incredibly time consuming. This is where Ubersuggest.org can come in handy. It will use your query and go through the alphabet just like we have been doing in the above and Ubersuggest.org will give all results on one page.

Now begin scrolling down the page and as you can see, there are some really interesting ideas. For instance, “how to travel for free volunteer.” This could be a great blog post or on-page content about how to volunteer and travel abroad for free. Include some programs such as the Peace Corp and you have an excellent, informative post that people are searching for.

Another great example is “how to travel gluten free.” To diversify your backlink profile, you could use this content idea to guest post on food blogs.

Going through all of the ideas can also be daunting. So let’s extract the main themes around how to travel . Select the txt button below the search box on Ubersuggest.org and click the suggest button:

This will download all of the results into a .txt file. Copy the results from the .txt file and go to Tagcrowd.com and paste all of the Google Suggest ideas into text box.

Click “Visualize” and you’ll see all of the most commonly used words:

This will give you some insight into travel trends and what people are searching for around travel. As we can see, “cheap” is very popular. So we can go back to Ubersuggest.org and drill down on what people are searching for around cheap:

What I would encourage you to do is if you’re pursuing a  guest blog post linking strategy or optimizing pages on your site, go through the above process and see what comes up. Again, often times when we have been in an industry for a long time or are new to it, we sometimes have writer’s block.

The above process should help bring some fresh ideas to the surface to help you build out rich on-page content to rank better while also being a resource for guest blog post content.

Hi Kalena

I’ve been slowly teaching myself SEO for about 2 years now and I think I am finally getting quite good at it. The only time I find myself completely out of my depth is when big algorithm changes like Panda hit my client web sites and they lose ranking. Then I find myself clambering to work out what’s happened and how I can fix it.

I can usually claw things back a little bit, but my clients are understandably confused as to why the drops occur and why I wasn’t prepared for them.

Do search engines like Google announce when they are about to make algorithm changes or provide a list of tweaks and fixes like software companies do after a new version is released?

Thanks
Galen

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Hi Galen

It’s not in the interests of search engines like Google to reveal full details of their algorithm adjustments, as this would not only impact the security of their servers, but also affect their shareholder price! Search engines need to keep vital parts of their technical infrastructure private as they form a large chunk of intellectual property. Apart from that, they need to protect the quality of the search results from hackers and black-hat SEO operators who would seek to compromise them for their own benefit.

That said, Google DO provide a monthly blog post on algorithm changes called the Search Quality Highlights Series. The first post in the series was published shortly after the Panda II algorithm tweaks were made last November (which caused a fresh round of frustration and confusion for webmasters). The latest post in the series was made earlier this month and features detail of 17 new quality improvements made to Google’s algorithm in January 2012.

The blog series is part of Google’s ongoing effort to be more transparent about how search works and to share the methodology and process behind their search ranking, evaluation and algorithmic changes.

I’m not sure if other major search engines offer a similar algorithm news service, but if anyone knows of any, please post in the comments.

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Your Complete 2012 Guide for Tackling Important SEO Issues was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Bruce Clay Australia’s SEO Factors and Trends report is out, packed full of information on the key factors in 2011 that impacted search engine optimization, including tips on how to address them, plus a look into 2012 trends and how to prepare. The 25-page report is a handy reference guide for professionals and business owners who want a high-level overview of the issues in search marketing that must be addressed for online success. The report is free and available for download here.

Some of the highlights of the report include:

• A look into the integration of search and social, and how to ensure your business is prepped for the growing popularity and changes in Facebook, the Google+ community and its business pages, and Google’s +1 button.
• Major changes/collaborations of search engines and what they mean to Web marketing, including the development of Schema.org, the completion of Yahoo’s search data transferred to Bing and the end of Yahoo! Site Explorer.
• How to handle the changes Google is making to improve its search results by targeting low-quality sites, paid link schemes, and duplicate content and “freshness” issues.

The report also highlights some trends to keep an eye on in 2012:

• Why Google’s Panda algo update will only continue to be more and more important in SEO.
• What types of content you need to succeed.
• How big brands will fare over other businesses in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
• Why you can’t ignore Google+.
• The long-awaited adoption of HTML5 into Google’s content.
• The layout of the Google SERP and how it’s evolving to show less and less websites above the fold.
• The growth of mobile search and its impact on things like Google Places, vlogging and the need for mobile-ready sites.
• The rise of new on-page factors in SEO that are becoming more important than ever before.

While you may have heard of Brazil’s Carnival (or Carnaval), not everyone will have the chance to fly to Brazil to experience what are arguably the largest annual street festivals (+ music concerts + dance parties + culture fests) in the world.

Every year, Brazilian cities compete to be the country’s top Carnival destination: This year, we’re bringing you the sights, sounds and energy of Brazilian Carnival directly from the streets of Salvador (Brazil’s first capital and one of the oldest cities in the the Americas) through Google+, YouTube and Orkut.

From February 16 to 21—the height of the festival and the peak of Brazil’s summer—you’ll be able to:

• Watch the festivities wherever you are in the world on the Carnival YouTube Channel. Starting Thursday, February 16, you’ll have access to everything from a live transmission of the streetfest to videos of bands who have traveled to Salvador to host the party. You’ll even be able to chat with other YouTube users who are watching the party with you from around the world through a map we’ve integrated just for the occasion.
• Chat with bands and watch live interviews on Google+. Chat with some of the Brazilian bands who have joined the festivities in real time by sending questions via Google+ and Orkut. You’ll also be able to watch celebrity interviews running live throughout the week on the AoVivo (live) Google+ Page and transmitted simultaneously on YouTube and Orkut.

Even if you didn’t have a chance to get a plane ticket to Brazil, there’s no reason not to experience the energy of this year’s 2012 Carnival. Find out more about how you can be part of the party on +AoVivo, Orkut or on our Carnival YouTube Channel.

Posted by Flavia Simon, head of consumer marketing, Brazil

(Cross-posted from the YouTube blog)

Let me preface this by saying that I don’t consider myself to be part of the anti Search Plus Your World crowd. I think it has its pros and cons.

I will say that I don’t like when it leads to Google serving me less relevant results (which I think is happening more as a result of other algorithm tweaks as well). I searched for “mark zuckerberg” and Google returned me his Google+ profile as the very top result. Not his Facebook profile. His Google+ profile.

Any guesses as to how many Google+ updates Zuckerberg has shared publicly? Zero.

Any guesses as to how many Google+ updates Zuckerberg has shared with me personally? Same answer.

So how is Zuck’s Google+ profile supposed to help me as a user for such a general query? I don’t know. Perhaps Google is delivering this result because I do have Zuckerberg in a circle (in case he ever does make an update). I’m not sure, because when I try to test this by taking him out of the circle, Google doesn’t accept the removal. A bug I guess. Either way, if it’s because of the “personal connection” between Mark and myself, does that mean Google’s algorithm isn’t sophisticated enough to realize that there is virtually no content on Zuckerberg’s profile? Isn’t that against the rules of search quality, which Google has driven into the ground since the unleashing of the Panda update in 2011?

Of course it’s sophisticated enough.

Isn’t it also sophisticated enough to see that Mark and I have never actually exchanged a piece of information with one another via Google+?

Probably.

I don’t want to get into all of the talk about Google’s competitive practices here, because that’s not the part that bothers me as a user. It’s the whole making the results less usable thing.

As a Google user, I want integration among the various Google services I use. However, sometimes Search Plus Your World benefits the results, and sometimes it does not.

How Social Media Keeps Leaders Honest

David Jones of Havas and Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore recently sat down to talk about the responsibilities of the leaders of today to respond to social media, and how it holds them accountable.

“Google Clarifies: No, Ads Shouldn’t Help Rankings & No, SEO Isn’t Bad”  Recent comments made by a new Google employee have some SEO’s up in arms.  Apparently his comments included “SEO isn’t good for users” and “It’s a bug that you could rank highly in Google without buying ads.”  Curious to know what else he has to say and what reaction this has caused within the online community?  Via Search Engine Land.

“100 Million Americans Watch Online Video Per Day.  Up 43% Since 2010- comScore”  According to comScore Americans streamed 43.5 billion videos in December 2011 alone.  This is an increase of 44% over the previous year.  With this astronomical jump in online views, is television in trouble?  Via TechCrunch.

“The Next Big Social Network Is You”  Many companies are trying to address the now common social network exhaustion.  Between the constantly shifting policy changes and programming updates many users are getting tired.  This opinion piece shares that in the near future it will be less about your number of followers and more about a smaller group of well-connected individuals.  What do you think?  Via Information Week.

“5 Essential Spreadsheets for Social Media Analytics”  If you are involved in social media, and are a small business this post provides some useful tools for measuring your data.  Want to know the best part?  They’re free, customizable, and easy to use.  Via Mashable.

“Brand Storytelling Lessons You Can Steal from Hollywood”  Innovation, a term we seem to hear quite frequently these days.  As a content marketer innovation is especially important because not only must you attract customers, you must veer them away from your competition.  Paying close attention to Hollywood entertainment and the way that promotion is done in that industry is a great means for discovering new ideas.  Via Content Marketing Institute.

TopRank Team News

Alexis Hall – Report: National Marketers Love Local, Fail At Basic Tactics
This post discusses survey results from late 2011 which revealed that although many marketers have the perception they are highly invested in local advertising, survey results show they are failing when it comes to basic tactics, like management of local directory listings.  Those seemingly small tactics can have a big impact on local results, so if marketers are really invested in their online local presence, they must be diligent when it comes to education on all types of tactics.  Via Search Engine Land.

Ken Horst – Pinterest is quietly generating revenue by modifying user submitted pins
It appears as though Pinterest has found a way to monetize their site, even at this early beta stage.  Most people would say that’s a good thing however the way they are making money has some people crying foul.

Pinterest is using a service called SkimLinks to add an affiliate link wherever there is a link to a product page that has an affiliate program.  It’s not the idea that people are concerned about, it’s the fact that Pinterest is doing this without providing any disclosure to its users.  Via LLsocial.

Brian Larson – Bing Now A Full Point Ahead of Yahoo In Search Share-comScore
According to comScore, Bing is now a full point ahead of Yahoo! in search share. While Google’s search results are highly flavored by Google+, Bing receives streams of information from Facebook and Twitter. With Yahoo! In Bing’s rear view mirror, is Google next?  Via Search Engine Land.

Time to Weigh In:  What do you think of Pinterest’s money making tactics?  Smart move or too far?  With so many American’s consuming video on a daily basis, are you including video in your 2012 online marketing strategy?

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Online Marketing News: Pinterest’s Sneaky Tactics, Keeping Leaders Honest, 100 Million Videos Watched Per Day | http://www.toprankblog.com

This morning we brought you news of Google’s Screenwise program. Participants in Screenwise install an extension in their Google Chrome browser that lets Google monitor their internet activity. Participants are compensated with a $5 gift code to Amazon as soon as they install the browser extension, and another every three months for a year, totally $25 in Amazon credit for participating in the program.

As part of this morning’s story I contacted Google’s PR department about the program. Shortly after the story ran, a Google spokesperson got back to me with the following statement:

Like many other web and media companies, we do panel research to help better serve our users by learning more about people’s media use, on the web and elsewhere. This panel is one such small project that started near the beginning of the year. Of course, this is completely optional to join. People can choose to participate if it’s of interest (or if the gift appeals) and everyone who does participate has complete transparency and control over what Internet use is being included in the panel. People can stay on the panel as long as they’d like, or leave at any time.

So it looks like Screenwise is a fairly ordinary market research panel, just with a browser extension in place of a questionnaire. Participants have a high degree of control over exactly what Google sees and for how long. Google is apparently also shooting for a small focus group-type program. In fact, the Screenwise sign up page no longer has a place to put your email address. Instead visitors to the site are greeted with the message, “We appreciate and are overwhelmed by your interest at the moment. Please come back later for more details.”

What do you think of Screenwise? Did you sign up for the program? Tell us what you think in the comments.