The 2021 Content Marketing Benchmark

Article first appeared at RainMakerDigital.com

Everyone’s busy at this time of the year, wrapping up Q4 and getting ready for the holiday season. Our final Rainmaker Dispatch of the year includes a couple of pieces looking back at the year we’ve had. The rest of this month’s links look forward to the future. Topics like understanding your older customers and using your backlinks effectively will help you start the new year off with a bang.

The Animalz Content Marketing Benchmark Report 2021
Animalz published its first Content Marketing Benchmark Report last year, and this second edition is packed with useful insights on how consumer behavior has changed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

SEO Never Mattered
Our own David Brandon explains why SEO shouldn’t be the focus of your content. Google is not your audience, and you need to provide value first for people — search engines will follow.

Be So Good That You Don’t Even Have to Think About Algorithms
This Tim Denning piece for Writing Cooperative explains why blaming the algorithm for your lack of social media reach is self-defeating. Quality wins — even when the algorithm doesn’t like you.

Are We There Yet? The State of the Web and Core Web Vitals [Part 1]
Google’s Core Web Vitals debuted with great fanfare, but the launch has proven rockier than expected. Tom Capper explains why for Moz.

How Older Consumers Have Come of Age on Social Media
Shauna Moran digs into the state of older social media consumers for We Are Social. The older demographics tend to be misunderstood and underutilized, and this report brings some clarity.

How Backlinks from Different Page Locations Are Worth More (Or Less): Not All Backlinks Are Created Equal
Every marketing professional understands that backlinks matter for SEO. But Neil Patel digs into some of the nitty-gritty details here to explain where the best backlinks come from.

Need a hand with your marketing efforts? We build full-scale marketing strategies for businesses like yours every day. You don’t have to go it alone; we’re always here for you. Just drop us a line, anytime.

Happy Holidays to you all, and we’ll catch you in the new year. See you next month with the next edition of The Rainmaker Dispatch!

Best Regards,

Ed Bardwell
President
Rainmaker Digital Services