Over the past few years, Google has made so many changes and updates it can be difficult for webmasters and SEO experts to keep up.

The thing is, though, it is important to keep up. Every change provides a new opportunity or a new risk, and it’s important for digital marketers to know what these are as they happen.

To help with this, we’ve put together a list of the news sources that we find most useful in this fast-paced world.

How did we decide?

Every Friday the team submit the news story we feel is the most important of the week. We all scour and submit a number of different blogs and websites for the winning article, but there are a handful of sources that pop up again and again.

The list that follows includes the best of these.

AllTop

Focus:

This site is the ultimate cheat-sheet to SEO articles and news. It sucks all the top SEO-related stories from around the web and presents you with the top headlines and links. If you hover over the headline, it’ll provide you with a brief blurb to help you decide if you want to click through.

It’s the ultimate content round-up.

Good For:

Saving time! Here you see only the best SEO stories from around the web and only click into the ones you know will interest you.

Not Great For:

Pure news. Because it pulls all the top stories from around the web, some of these will be blog articles and how-tos, not just news.

This is great if you’re looking to learn something, but not if you’re only on the looking for straight up news.

 

Media Post:

Focus:

Online advertising, media news and digital marketing. They cover a broad range of topics and stories. If it’s got anything to do with digital media, it’ll be on here.

Good For:

The media post is great for breaking news. They’ve also got quite a broad focus, which means you’ll find articles you wouldn’t see on the pure SEO/PPC news sites.

Not Great For:

Saving time. Not because the articles are too long, but because there are so many stories covering so many topics you’ll lose yourself down the rabbit hole if you’re not careful.

 

The SEM Post

Focus:

News and developments from the front lines of search engine marketing. Particular focus is placed on SEO, PPC and news about changes on Google. Some social media news is thrown in too.

Good For:

Staying up-to-date with the latest developments and hot-off-the-presses search marketing news.

They post multiple posts a day and their articles are generally well researched and backed-up. Another big plus is that they’re very transparent about news/developments that have not yet been confirmed. Crucial in this industry.

Not Great For:

They’re very US focused and don’t have much in the way of much global news or reports and examples pertaining to other countries. That being said, if it’s big enough news they will report on it.

They also don’t always offer insight or expert opinion on the story, preferring just report the facts.  

 

Search Engine Land

Focus:

All things search-marketing, including SEO, PPC, Mobile, Social Media, Google and Bing. They post news and updates as well as reports, recaps and advice articles.

Good For:

Authoritative information and news on a massive variety of topics. A one-stop-shop when it comes to anything and everything SEM.

Not Great For:

They post a mix of news and advice articles, so it can be difficult to wade through all the content to find the news most relevant to your business.

 

Google Blogs

https://webmasters.googleblog.com/

https://adwords.googleblog.com/

https://analytics.googleblog.com/

Focus:

All things Google, obviously. Here you’ll find official announcements and posts that will be of particular interest to webmasters and digital marketers.

Good For:

News straight from the horse’s mouth and clarity of murky subjects.

The blog is aimed at helping SEOs, PPC experts and webmasters improve their sites in, and posts are generally written by the top-dogs themselves.

Not Great For:

This is not really the place for breaking news. Google will generally only post about something once it’s confirmed, official and already rolling out.

As you might expect, it’s not really the place for insider hints or controversial reporting either. The content you’ll find on here is pretty vanilla, but it’s a great source for getting all the facts and in-depth information.  

 

The SEO Round Table

Focus:

Search Engine Roundtable delivers breaking news and reports on relevant discussions taking place on various SEM forums.

Good For:

Discovering news before it becomes a story. You’ll often find something mentioned on here long before it reaches other news channels or is officially announced.   

Not Great For:

Much of the news they report is unconfirmed and based on forum chatter and anecdotal evidence, so accuracy can be an issue.

This site is best used as an early warning system.

 

Search Engine Journal

Focus:

SEO and digital marketing news and advice articles.

Good For:

Variety and expert advice. While most news sites focus very heavily on Google, SEJ make an effort to include more news on other search platforms (such as Bing and social media). Their posts also generally offer some additional insight to supplement the facts.

Not Great For:

Small stories. These guys generally only report on the biggest news in search marketing, so you’re not likely to find the more obscure news here.

 

Google Webmaster Hangouts

Focus:

Google Webmaster Hangouts provide a chance for webmasters to chat directly with Google. Top Google personnel make announcements, answer questions and talk about a variety of relevant topics with webmasters present.

The English one is hosted by John Mueller, but there are many different ones hosted by various Google top-dogs in a variety of different languages.

Good For:

Asking your own questions, getting clarification and hearing official news.

Mueller often breaks new news during these hangouts, and also provides answers to webmasters’ previously unanswered questions.

It’s rare that a hangout goes by without SEM news sites finding something new to report on.

Not Great For:

Getting the highlights. Each of these hangouts is over an hour long, and not all of the content will be of interest to you.

If you’re pressed for time, we recommend watching the youtube recap rather than attending the live event. That way you can skip to the juicy bits.

 

Facebook, Pinterest & Twitter Blogs

Focus:

News and events relevant to each platform.

Good For:

Insights, news and announcements about changes and updates on the platform.

Social media is often under-represented on the big SEM news sites, so if you have a particular interest in social, it’s often best to go straight to the source.

They also often post interesting insights on top-performing content that you wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else.

Not Great For:

Small stories or breaking news. These blogs are best used for the bigger stories and news that’s already been made official or is already rolling out.

If you’re interested in keeping up with all things SEM, these sources are pretty much all you’ll need, even if you just pick 2 or 3 of them.

If it seems like a lot – don’t worry – we’ll do the hard part for you. Our 1 Thing blog posts pick the single biggest and most important news story each week, and deliver it to your inbox.

You can click here to subscribe.

Tags: digital marketing