Dan Zarrella is well known for his research on viral marketing and information search behavior on social media. He supports all of his conclusions with databases containing thousands of data points.
In this post, we present the questions answered in his book The Science of New Marketing in SEO. In the book, each answer is accompanied by one or more graphs supporting the findings, which we summarize here.
Search Engine Positioning
1. What is SEO?
There is On-Page SEO, the technical side based on measuring keyword density, use of tags, etc., and Off-Page SEO, which focuses on generating links from other websites.
2. How Do You Do SEO?
It is based on creating and promoting interesting content that will naturally attract traffic and links. Your SEO will improve by increasing both the quality and quantity of your content.
3. What Channels Do People Use to Make Purchase Decisions?
Primarily search engine traffic. They ask Google.
4. Is There a Relationship Between Link Building (SEO) and Social Media Sharing?
Yes, because social media allows you to connect with “linkerati” — people such as journalists and bloggers who seek interesting content to enrich their websites.
5. Which Social Network Shows the Highest Correlation Between Content Sharing and Link Generation?
LinkedIn. On this platform, content is shared less frequently, but it has a higher probability of generating backlinks.
Opportunity: LinkedIn is not the most popular network for sharing content, so there may be less competition when promoting valuable content in a business environment.
6. How Much Trust Do Top Google Positions Generate?
Half of users trust the top results more — but specifically the non-paid results.
Once again, this supports the importance of content creation.
7. Do Paid Traffic and Email Marketing Campaigns Increase Organic Traffic?
Yes. They help position your brand among the first that comes to mind for potential visitors (getting onto their “short list”), which increases the likelihood of clicks on your company’s search engine results.
8. What Do Users Trust Most in Google Results: URL, Title, or Description?
The description. It’s no longer just about keywords — there are no shortcuts. Content must be high quality.
9. What Words Generate More Links?
General terms like “news” and “sports.”
The power of “free.”
Immediacy, such as “breaking news.”
The power of multimedia — “photo” and “video” — which are preferred content types for the “linkerati.”
