The Search Is Over: Marketing Land’s Top 10 Search Marketing Columns Of 2015

From veteran search marketers to those simply looking for ways to integrate search into their overall marketing plan, readers have been well served by our Search Marketing Column this past year. Our expert search marketing columnists shared their thoughts and insights into many areas of this complex and dynamic field.

Many search marketers directed their focus towards mobile this year, and with good reason. In late 2015, mobile officially surpassed desktop in terms of searches performed on Google worldwide. Clearly anticipating this shift, Google launched its mobile-friendly algorithm update in April, which gave a rankings boost to mobile-friendly pages in its mobile search results. In light of these developments, readers were particularly interested in how to do mobile right.

The Ashley Madison leak over the summer sparked a renewed interest among the general public in online reputation management. This incident served as a cautionary tale that privacy is never guaranteed, and any mistake can impact how you appear in search results.

The integration of search with other digital marketing disciplines (particularly social media) was also a hot topic this year. As marketing departments continue to shift from a “siloed” model towards a more holistic marketing approach, readers are becoming more interested in how these separate channels can work together to amplify and support each other’s efforts.

And finally, search marketers showed an interest in Google — its products, services and overall direction as a company. This comes as no surprise, as the search engine giant continues to dominate the US search engine market.

And now, without further ado, here are the top 10 Search Marketing Columns on Marketing Land for 2015:

1. The Google Trends Data Goldmine by Benjamin Spiegel, published on 2/10/15. Social activity: Facebook 250, Google+ 0, LinkedIn 225

2. For Ashley Madison Users, What’s Next? Reputation Apocalypse, Phase 2 by Chris Silver Smith, published on 9/9/15. Social activity: Facebook 88, Google+ 17, LinkedIn 53

3. Google’s Project Brillo Signals End of Web & Beginning of Apps Everywhere by Daniel Cristo, published on 6/23/15. Social activity: Facebook 827, Google+ 0, LinkedIn 479

4. Does My Business Really Need A Mobile App? by Daniel Cristo, published on 3/3/15. Social activity: Facebook 364, Google+ 0, LinkedIn 373

5. How to Leverage Social Media for SEO: Link Building by Paul Shapiro, published on 8/21/15. Social activity: Facebook 472, Google+ 290, LinkedIn 471

6. 5 Trends That Signal The Extinction Of Organic Search Results by Daniel Cristo, published on 5/26/15. Social activity: Facebook 236, Google+ 0, LinkedIn 391

7. 9 Key Points for Cleaning Up Your Online Reputation Nightmare Via SEO by Chris Silver Smith, published on 3/23/15. Social activity: Facebook 172, Google+ 90, LinkedIn 105

8. Creating Synergy Between Social Media And Search by Paul Shapiro, published on 9/17/15. Social activity: Facebook 402, Google+ 204, LinkedIn 369

9. The Mobilegeddon That Wasn’t. What Happened? by Mark Munroe, published on 5/20/15. Social activity: Facebook 185, Google+ 112, LinkedIn 182

10. Google Glass: Thank You For Exploring With Us by Daniel Cristo, published on 2/3/15. Social activity: Facebook 74, Google+ 0, LinkedIn 29

Methodology: Columns published in 2015 are ranked in order of page views measured by Google Analytics. Data includes all columns published through November 30, 2015. Social data provided by SharedCount.