The Top 45 Digital Marketing Articles for 2021

And this is exactly what we did.

We researched some of the best digital marketing and growth hacking blogs from the industry using Ahrefs’ Top Pages. Then, we picked the top 3 articles for every blog, based on their organic traffic.

Finally, we put everything together in this post so you can bookmark it and read the posts at your own pace.

Or -you know- you can read them all at once, if you are that hardcore.

Either way, here are the top digital marketing articles for 2021!

Enjoy.

1. Ahrefs

> Affiliate Marketing For Beginners: What It Is + How to Succeed – By Si Quan Ong

> 10 Free Keyword Research Tools (That Aren’t Google Keyword Planner) – By Joshua Hardwick

> Top Google Searches (2021) – By Tim Soulo

Our list begins with, Ahrefs.  Ahrefs is first and foremost a powerful SEO tool. From keyword research to content explorer, and from site audit to link building, Ahrefs is one of the better SEO tools out there. Whether you use Ahrefs for your needs or not, its blog provides huge value for everyone. Its purpose is to help you get better at SEO and it does so through three main categories: SEO Basics – Link Building – Keyword Research. These categories feature blogs like How to Learn SEO, Complete Link Building Guide, and How to Use Keyword Planner. The article authors are SEO marketing practitioners and industry experts, including Joshua Hardwick (Head of Content), Rebekah Bek & Si Quan Ong (Marketing), and Tim Soulo (Ahrefs CMO).

2. Backlinko

17 Ways to Get More Views on YouTube In 2021 – By Brian Dean

> Roblox Usage and Growth Statistics: How Many People Play Roblox in 2021? –  By Brian Dean

> YouTube SEO: How to Rank YouTube Videos in 2021 – By Brian Dean

Brian Dean needs no introduction to anyone who claims to know anything about SEO. Brian started his blog in 2013 when he wanted to learn more about SEO but wasn’t enough resources to do so. And so, from his Airbnb in Lisbon, he started sharing strategies and tips in the form of SEO articles of high value. After a few months passed and some traction was built, Brian had become a household name in the online marketing communities. Backlinko is nowadays a popular go-to resource for actionable SEO and content marketing advice. More than 3 million visitors every year, trust Backlinko and read Brian’s digital marketing articles. For those who want to grow their organic traffic and rank higher, Backlinko’s blog is what they are looking for.

3. BigCommerce

> Affiliate Marketing in 2021: What It Is and How You Can Get Started – Adam Enfroy

> The Truth About Dropshipping: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – By Brett Regan

>Selling on Online Marketplaces: Best Platforms for Selling Your Products – By Cindy Puryear

Founded in 2009 by two Australians, BigCommerce managed to achieve what the name of the company suggests: to become the biggest source for eCommerce news and know-how. But BigCommerce is not just an eCommerce blog; it’s one of the most popular eCommerce platforms that provides SaaS services to retailers all over the world. Since 2020, the company is publicly traded on Nasdaq – after raising over $200 million while private. Nowadays, BigCommerce employs more than 600 workers and has served 60,000 online stores in 120 countries.

4. BuzzSumo

> 16 Content Creation Tools We’re All Loving Right Now– By Victoria Gray

> Why You Should Tap Into Trending Content Before Your Competitors – By Steve Rayson

> BuzzSumo Alternatives: What You Really Need To Know – Louise Linehan

BuzzSumo is another powerful online marketing tool. Its mission is to help you with one thing: Content. Be it competitor content analysis, content ideas, or finding key influencers to share your content with their audience, BuzzSumo is a popular tool for that. If you are looking to step up your content marketing game, then BuzzSumo is one of the best ways to do this. BuzzSumo’s Blog is about Data-Driven Marketing Insights. BuzzSumo combines content marketing and technology in a unique way and helps you create viral content. Besides content-related marketing, inside the blog, you can find a lot of SEO and social media material from top content experts.

5. Content Marketing Institute

> 5 TikTok Tips to Get More Views – By Kyle Dulay

> 21 YouTube SEO Tools to Boost Your Video Rankings – By Aleh Barysevich

> 9 Ways to Increase Watch Time on Your YouTube Channel – By Anjan Sarkar

Content Marketing is King and Content Marketing Institute knows this well. Founded in 2010, CMI’s mission is to make you a better content marketer, and it’s one of the first blogs with a clear content marketing direction. CMI’S digital marketing articles promise to teach you how to develop a content strategy, how to create valuable content for your audience, and how to measure what’s working (and what’s not), so you can make any appropriate changes. Furthermore, CMI publishes Chief Content Officer, the first publication written by chief content officers for chief content officers. The digital magazine publishes three times a year and you can download all their issues for free.

6. Copyhackers

> I despise cold pitching. Here’s how I made $19,000+ in 46 days from referrals alone… without sending a single cold email – By Scott Sealey

> I am an introvert. Here’s how I went from fearing authority to speaking on stages –  By Patti Haus

> Why I’m quitting traditional buyer personas – By Carolyn Beaudoin

Like the name gives away, Copyhackers is created with one particular breed of marketer in mind: the copywriter. Copyhackers is, as they call themselves, the home of conversion copywriting. At Copyhackers, you are going to find blog posts dedicated to copywriting and content, as well as posts about your freelancing career as a copywriter. Therefore you can read from ‘How to write welcome emails’ and ‘How to write headlines’ to ‘How to write a project proposal’ and ‘How to plan a SaaS onboarding funnel’.

7. GrowthRocks

> GAFAM: The Big Five Tech Companies Facts (FAAMG) – By Nicolas Lekkas

> The 19 Traction Channels for Extraordinary Growth – By Theo Moulos

> Top 15 Growth Hacking Books to Read in 2022 – Βy Nicolas Lekkas

GrowthRocks is a growth hacking agency and a startup marketing agency that helps startups and well-established companies to achieve rapid and sustainable growth. Since 2014 GrowthRocks grows along with its clients around the world, and its blog does as well. The GrowthRocks blog is one of the most preferred digital destinations for those that want to learn more about growth hacking. In the blog, you will find tech-focused articles and step-by-step guides, such as how to install Google scroll tracking event in Analytics, Zapier automations, as well as A/B tests the agency has done – or just a listing of the current growth hacking courses.

8. Hubspot

> The 100 Most Famous Quotes of All Time – By Meredith Hart

> 310 Best Instagram Captions: Good, Cool, Funny, & Cute IG Quotes – By Caroline Forsey

> 60 Small Business Ideas for Anyone Who Wants to Run Their Own Business – By Meg Prater

Hubspot is a developer and marketer of software products for inbound marketing and sales. It’s vastly known for its free CRM tool, used by small businesses. One of Hubspot’s co-founders, Brian Halligan, is also responsible for the term ‘Inbound Marketing’, which he coined. Hubspot is one of the best all-around marketing blogs you can find. Its digital marketing articles expand into four basic categories: Marketing, Sales, Service, and News & Trends. If you want to be up-to-date with the latest marketing, sales, and service tips, Hubspot is an excellent place for that. You can also find Ebooks, guides, research & reports, as well as free courses & certifications.

9. Marketing Tech

> What is a customer data platform or CDP and why are so many marketers talking about them? – By Pamela Parker

> The 8 best digital marketing courses in the US – By Careerplay

> Oracle NetSuite to shutter Bronto – By Kim Davis

MarTech used to be Marketing Land, a well-known publication for covering a wide spectrum of marketing. MarTech organizes its content around six major topics: Transformation, data, operations, experience, performance, and management. All of the content you see on the website will tie back to those areas, whether it is a feature story on fine-tuning your paid social media strategy, a news piece on new customer data platform capabilities, or a research report on the evolving role of marketing operations.

10. Marketing Week

> KFC resurrects ‘finger lickin’ good’ tagline – By Matthew Valentine

> Mars Petcare on taking its support of the LGBT community ‘to the next level’ – By Charlotte Rogers

> ‘Sneaky sexism’ is on the rise in advertising – By Lucy Tesseras

Originally launched in 1978, Marketing Week was first and foremost a business magazine focused on the marketing industry in the UK. Based in London, Marketing Week had become an editorial and commercial success by the 1990s. In the now-digital world, its distribution also happens digitally with free content as well as options for Marketing Week Premium or Marketing Week Ultimate. According to the publisher, Marketing Week is not a slaver to the industry; it highlights the good as well as the bad. What’s more, Marketing Week is home to the ‘marketoonist’, one of the most popular cartoon series in the world of marketing.

11. Moz

> Magento SEO: The Guide to Optimizing Magento Websites –  By Christopher Long

> 21 Smart Google SEO Tips for 2021 – By Cyrus Shepard

> When & How to Disavow Backlinks in 2021 – By Tom Capper

Moz was founded by Rand Fishkin and Gillian Muessig in 2004 – back when it was known as SEOMoz. The two founders believe that there was not enough transparency and knowledge in the SEO world and they wanted that. Enter Moz – a place where information flows freely through its digital marketing articles and anyone who is willing to learn can do so. Since then, Moz has released many SEO tools, some of which are free. After all this time, Moz remains one of the best places where anyone, beginner or not, can find answers for their SEO questions.

12. Neil Patel Digital

> How to Build Better Ads With the Facebook Ads Library –  By Neil Patel

> How to Get on TikTok’s For You Page (FYP) – By Neil Patel

> How to Vlog: A Complete Guide to Start Vlogging in 2021 –  By Neil Patel

Neil Patel is possibly the most recognizable face of digital marketing. He is the co-founder of Crazy Egg, an analytics software, and the founder of Kissmetrics, a product that provides insights about website visitors. Neil is also a NY Times best-selling author, for his book ‘Hustle’. Neil’s blog generates more than 3 million visitors per month. He talks mostly about SEO but he’s not shy with content marketing, eCommerce, or social media. If you are a beginner digital marketer with a focus on SEO, Neil Patel’s blog is probably a place you have already visited. Neil is also very active on YouTube, so if you are more into videos than articles, don’t forget to subscribe to his channel.

13. Search Engine Journal

> 20 Great Search Engines You Can Use Instead of Google – By Chuck Price

> The Top 10 Social Media Sites & Platforms 2021 – By Shelley Walsh

> 7 Urgent Steps to Take When Your Facebook Account Gets Hacked – By Jon Clark

Despite its name, in Search Engine Journal you are going to find a lot more than SEO topics. SEJ attracts more than 900k visitors per month, who want to learn more about SEO, Paid search, content marketing, and social media. SEJ features news, interviews and how-to guides from marketing experts around the world and its mission is to make you “work smarter not harder”. Last but not least, SEJ is an excellent place to find digital marketing resources, such as e-books, podcasts, and webinars, besides well-structured digital marketing articles.

14. Social Media Examiner

> How to Use Facebook Login on Your Website – By Lisa D. Jenkins

> How to Do an Instagram Giveaway: Ideas and Tips –  By Jenn Herman

> How to Use Facebook Business Manager: A Complete Guide – By Kristi Hines

Social Media Examiner provides high-quality social media content and is a familiar place-to-be for many social media experts around the globe. In addition to its blog, Social Media Examiner produces podcasts and hosts conferences, as part of its mission “to help you navigate the constantly changing social media jungle.” Apart from its blog, Social Media Examiner is the host of Social Media Marketing World and one of the biggest US communities which frequently hosts networking events and parties.

15. Social Media Today

> Facebook Announces New Comment Moderation and Support Features, Including Live Chat for Some Account Issues – By Andrew Hutchinson

> Instagram Adds Reels Replies, Providing Another Way to Tap into Short-Form Video – By Andrew Hutchinson

> Instagram Tests New ‘Re-Share’ Sticker for Stories to Encourage More Thoughtful Feed Post Sharing – Andrew Hutchinson

Like the name gives away, Social Media Today is one of the must-read blogs that social marketing adepts and inepts alike visit more often than they will admit. Social Media Today creates and curates conversations around the world’s most innovative business practices with a clear focus on social media. Marketing, social business, communication, customer experience, content marketing, and digital strategy are usually the subjects covered in the many digital marketing articles of the site. In addition to news updates, Social Media Today offers a space to share, learn, and network with other digital marketing professionals from around the world. It is also an excellent source for webinars, where you can find many on-demand videos to hone your social media marketing skills.

The Top Digital Marketing Articles for 2021 – Epilogue

So there are the top digital marketing aricles and growth marketing articles for this year.

Did we miss anything?

Please let us know if there is a must-read article that we missed!