The present invention relates generally to digital watermarking. One aspect of the disclosure includes a method comprising: obtaining data representing imagery; using one or more configured processors, analyzing a plurality of portions of the data to detect a watermark orientation component, said analyzing employing a match filter, in which the match filter yields a correlation value for each of the plurality of portions; determining a first portion from the plurality of portions that comprises a correlation value meeting a predetermined value; and directing a watermark decoder at the first portion to decode a plural-bit watermark payload, in which the watermark decoder produces a watermark signature for the first portion, and in which the watermark decoder searches a plurality of areas at or around the first portion to decode the plural-bit watermark payload. Of course, many other aspects and disclosure are provided in this patent document.