I learned at a very young age that it is possible for me to look great if I simply stand on the shoulders of those who are great.  Fortunately for us here at Stone Creek, we have had the opportunity to be in league with some of the great thinkers of our day regarding internet marketing consulting; and SEO, in particular.

Last week we took advantage of one of HubSpot’s great webinars in their “Science of . . . ” series.  This one focused on The Science of SEO and, as usual, Dan Zarrella (author of The Heirarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design, and Engineering of Contagious Ideas as well as being known as the “Social Media Scientist”) was phenomenal.

So for those of you who want it broken down into bite-sized pieces, here are the 16 take-aways.  I strongly advise you, in your internet marketing practices, to pay close attention to these points.  They can make a huge difference in your success.

1.  Search is not dead, but it’s not the only game in town.

2.  Before they buy, they Google.

3.  Social takes a back seat to search when buying.

4.  Ranking well can make you seem more trustworthy.

5.  Most people don’t trust PPC ads.

6.  People don’t admit to clicking PPC ads.

7.  Search traffic is just one cog in the machine.

8.  Write for humans, not just spiders.

9.  Your site is listed next to spam.  Be distinguishable.

10. Search engine spiders work nights and weekends.

11. Experiment with media.  There’s more than one kind of search.

12. Online conversation isn’t going to make you rank.

13. The linkerati works early in the day.

14. Post on your blog more than you are right now.

15. Buzzwords and boring.  Give them timeliness.

16. Keep blog titles between 40 and 80 characters.