Social media is becoming a more powerful force, thanks to a new partnership between Twitter and Google. According to Marketing Land, this latest deal gives Google access to Twitter's full stream of publicly tweeted content, allowing Google to more easily find and display tweets in search engine results. This new Twitter search collaboration is a definite win for marketers, providing amazing opportunities for reaching new audiences.

Publicize Deals and Timely Tweets

Have you ever wished you could change how your business appears on Google's search engine results page to reflect your current campaigns and marketing pushes? Now you can. Since Google will be running recent tweets in its search results, you can get the word out about recent promotions in a way that wasn't possible before. For instance, a local restaurant can send out tweets that include information on a half-price appetizer promotion for Twitter followers. Diners who are searching for this restaurant on Google — perhaps to see menu information, confirm hours or make a reservation — will see that tweet and follow the restaurant on Twitter before they come in to get the deal.

The latest Google algorithm update is a doozy for the mobile landscape: The algorithm will now identify websites as mobile-friendly and use that identification to determine the site's prominence in search results. The move aims to help mobile users find the most relevant search results possible for their specific devices. Search Engine Land reports that Google expects the new tweaks to its current formula to have a "significant impact" on mobile search results.

Moving Toward Mobile

The change doesn't go into effect until April 21, so companies have until then to make the necessary adjustments to their websites to avoid a downgrade in their search prominence.

When you're looking to increase search-driven traffic, it's easy to focus on a single element of your marketing campaign in the hopes of honing your overall strategy. However, by using SEO, SEM and traditional media together, you can organically drive search results and boost traffic, both immediately and over the long term.

Using Traditional Media to Draw Consumers In

Traditional media offers marketers a great way to spark initial consumer interest, which can lead to increased search traffic. Advertising through TV and other traditional media affords marketers the opportunity to pique consumer interest in a way that encourages search activity later on through the use of specific, search-engine-friendly keywords. MediaPost highlights the adults aged 25–54 demographic as one that is particularly inclined to perform searches after seeing an ad on television that contains easily searchable phrases and keywords and cites local news broadcasts as an area where ads looking to drive search results have been very effective. Though you certainly don't want to create ambiguous ads that don't give consumers enough information to care, it's important to craft ads for radio, print and television that invite the consumer to search for additional information in such a way as to lead back to you through a strong SEO and SEM campaign.

There's no magical key to instant success in search engine rankings — but that means nobody else has one, either. Building an effective SEO campaign is all about putting in the work, slowly and steadily, over time. Maybe you've already noticed a drop-off in the effectiveness of a campaign designed to exploit some change in Bing, Yahoo or Google algorithms. Or maybe you want to get optimization right from the start. Either way, SEO should be part of your company's long-term strategy, taking users all the way from click to conversion. Don't focus your questions on search engines, but on how to effectively communicate with your customers so search engines can deliver the optimally qualified results.

These five tips to boost your seo strategy aren't quick fixes, but they will strengthen your search engine game.

Nothing strikes fear into the hearts of content marketers quite like Google algorithm updates. Ever since Panda changed the game back in February 2011, marketers have lived in perpetual fear that the next algorithm update will be the one to kill all their traffic and send their site into obscurity. However, while it's easy to fall into this way of thinking, these updates don't have to be so scary. Here are three essential tips that marketers can use to get through these updates with minimal traffic impact.

1. Get Out of Bad Habits

The biggest things that affect website traffic after Google algorithm updates are what could be considered "spammy" techniques that have historically given sites with poor content an advantage over sites with high-quality content. Because these updates target broad practices such as keyword stuffing and link manipulation, some legitimate sites get lumped in with the poor-quality ones. Perform a self-audit of your current SEO strategies and try to scale down on bad habits regarding linkage and keyword usage that could flag your site during an algorithm update.

Google Maps has updated its mobile app for both the Android and iOS platforms. Though the first thing users will notice is likely to be the app's fresh new look — it incorporates material design, as Search Engine Journal notes — there are plenty of other new features under the hood, including a new live search results feature and instant one-touch reservations. Though these updates certainly make life more convenient for average users, local businesses can really benefit from these additions in some tangible ways.

Helping Users Find You With Up-to-Date Information

One of the best ways that the Google Maps app update helps to bring new customers to your business is discovery through simple browsing. Users looking at a planned route or trying to check out a local area will be able to browse local businesses and get instant information on any selected business with a single tap — no searching required! However, in order to get the most out of this feature, local businesses must ensure that their directory information is correct and easily available. Double-check that sites that list your business have your correct address, phone number and hours and a link to your official website. Also, ensure that your official website is updated with photos, business descriptions and social networking information.

Despite huge strides over the past decade, search engine optimization remains widely misunderstood among businesses. In some cases, leadership still views SEO as a spam-like approach to building Internet traffic — practices that haven't been employed in years. Others may understand conventional approaches to SEO, but fail to see the benefits.

Whatever the reasoning, an unfamiliarity with SEO is a huge disadvantage for businesses. SEO can always help you increase business opportunities, whether you're selling items online or simply driving leads and in-house phone calls from a well-established online presence.

There's no shame in being unfamiliar with SEO, as long as you're willing to learn. First, there are some basic concepts you need to understand.

Several years ago, Google launched its Premier SMB Partner program as an opportunity for small and medium sized businesses to gain better online resources through the search engine giant. Becoming a Premier SMB Partner is no easy feat: the company outlines a number of mandatory qualifications each business must meet in order to join the SMB Partner program. At the top of this list is greater transparency, which allows Google to vet each incoming partner and take an inside look at its operations.

Understandably, Google doesn't want to partner with companies that aren't well-run. The company also doesn't want to refer online consumers to businesses where they may have a bad experience. In order to create incentive for those businesses, Google has outlined a number of valuable services brands can enjoy by becoming a member. This reciprocal relationship is why Cox Media Group became a partner in the program back in 2012.

"The Google AdWords Premier SMB Partner program was created to help small- and medium-sized businesses who don't have the time or resources to manage their advertising campaigns," says Ben Wood, head of Google's Americas channel sales partnerships. "Our PSP partners like Cox Media Group offer expertise, experience, and end-to-end customer service so business owners can focus on running their businesses."

Determining return on investment (ROI) for any marketing campaign can be a bit of a challenge. Marketers have to look at sales, cash flow, impressions and even online traffic to put together the full ROI picture. However, in almost all key metrics, content marketing can provide a better ROI than most other forms of marketing due to several factors.

Scalability: Flexibility When You Need It Most

One of the things that makes content marketing a unique marketing tool is its scalability. Whether you have a small, local business with fewer than ten employees or a huge multinational corporation with thousands of employees working around the globe, there's a strategy out there to fit your needs and your budget. Trying to reach local foodies to market a new restaurant? You can reach members of the community with targeted blog posts, reviews and social networking posts. Want to increase brand awareness among Fortune 500 companies for a multinational tech company? Publishing thought leadership pieces and pushing them through business-friendly channels will make sure your business gets the exposure it needs. Content marketing's elasticity ensures that no matter what your current goals are, a strategy can be shaped to fit your needs — giving it a leg up on other marketing methods in terms of return on investment.

When marketers talk about SEO metrics, there's one overarching goal in mind: gaining a higher page rank for Web content. The process of accomplishing this task is multifaceted and ever-changing. The Huffington Post notes that link building, key topic research, meta-tagging and a host of other variables are used to optimize a website for the search engine algorithms that organize search result orders, and these tasks can be complex and time-consuming.

For organizations primarily focused on driving traffic from search queries, page rank is a critical SEO metric — for many, it is the most important measurement of a campaign's success. However, driving additional website traffic should be the primary focus. High-volume traffic and search exposure aren't the only opportunities provided through SEO, which means other metrics can be useful in evaluating SEO success — particularly if your SEO campaigns have additional goals. Here are three SEO metrics you might want to follow to get a clearer picture of your digital performance.