The search marketing agency, Covario, has named Matt Kropp senior vice president for global client strategies and project management – a new post at the firm – and taps into his 16 years of experience in digital marketing.

The announcement comes as the agency recently shuffled top management. Jeff Johnson was responsible for Kropp’s new tasks – up until November – when he was promoted to co-CEO of the agency, according to B to B Online. Mike Gullaksen is the other CEO. The agency’s founder, Russ Mann, went from being CEO to chairman.

Kropp was promoted from being vice president, global client strategies. He was in charge of accounts involving search and social media. He also worked on organic search, paid search, local search engine optimization, social media marketing and Web analytics. In his new post based in Chicago, he will manage account directors on enterprise search and content marketing, search engine optimization and social media technology.

"Matt has built a well-earned reputation for creating award-winning client engagements that have helped numerous Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies grow their online business," Johnson said in a statement. "As we look to help our clients grow even more in the years ahead with innovative search, social and content marketing strategies, I expect Matt and his talented team to play a huge role in the mutual success of Covario and our clients going forward."

Earlier, he was a managing director at iCrossing (News - Alert) search agency office in Chicago.

Covario was named by OMMA magazine as ‘Search Agency of the Year’ between 2011 and 2013. Advertising Age (News - Alert) magazine ranked the agency among the Top 10 search agencies this year. It provides clients search engine marketing, search engine optimization, social media and content marketing, the agency explained in a statement. Agency clients are located in some 100 nations and use 12 search engines. The searches often are undertaken in different languages. The agency also provides market research, analytics and project management.

The appointment comes as search engine optimization and online marketing continue to change. For instance, Google (News - Alert) has made between one and two dozen changes to its algorithm in the past year, according to a recent report from Forbes. The Panda algorithm was merged with the main Google algorithm in the past year, too.

“(The) updates actually level the playing field and give web marketers the opportunity to step in and make their sites more competitive in the context of Google’s new rules,” Forbes said in the report.

In addition, another element important to Google is that 20 percent of searches on Google are related to location. Local searches via a browser are important for mobile phone users, as well. Also, the report said businesses need to have optimized business listings for Bing and Google during 2014. It was also suggested by the report that businesses update their profiles, coupons and images. Looking ahead, HTML5 compatibility is expanding to different browsers. Another key trend relates to growth in the number of subscribers to Pinterest. Demographic groups that are of special interest here are white or Hispanic women between 18 and 64 years of age, the report said.

There is one additional tip from Forbes. It relates to “responsive web design,” Google said. It means adjusting the website based on “screen or window size of whatever device or web browser is being used to view it,” Forbes explained.

“If you haven’t already, now is a great time to unite your mobile site and main site’s content through a responsive web design, for both mobile marketing purposes and to strengthen your site’s SEO,” Forbes said.