@danielbianchini

DANIEL BIANCHINIDirector of Services

@danielbianchinidaniel@white.net

THE CHANGING WORLD OF SEO& 7 TIPS TO STAY AHEAD

@danielbianchini

SEO IS DEAD

@danielbianchini

THERE ARE MANY ARTICLES STATING THAT

SEO IS DEAD

@danielbianchini

SEO ISN’T DEAD

IT’S EVOLVING

@danielbianchini

IT USED TO BE:

TECHNICAL CONTENT LINKS

@danielbianchini

IT’S NOW A MIX OF:

TECHNICAL CONTENT LINKS

BRANDINGSIGNALS AUTHORITY UX

PLUS

@danielbianchini

THE INFLUENCE OF RANKING FACTORS

Moz asked over 150 experts to rate the influence exerted by broad areas of ranking factors on Google’s core search algorithm.

Each area was rated on a scale of 1 (not influential) to 10 (highly influential).

@danielbianchini

Source: https://moz.com/search-ranking-factors

SEARCH ENGINES CONTINUE TO EVOLVE DAILY GOOGLE MAKES 500+ ALGORITHM TWEAKS A YEAR

@danielbianchini

GOOGLE SEARCH TIMELINE

@danielbianchini

Source: https://d2v4zi8pl64nxt.cloudfront.net/hummingbird-unleashed-21957/5265a5563a22d1.67726566.png

SEARCH ENGINE MARKET SHARE

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

88.9%

6.45%

3.56%

0.32%

0.19%

@danielbianchini

Source: http://www.statista.com/statistics/280269/market-share-held-by-search-engines-in-the-united-kingdom/

MAJOR ALGORITHM UPDATES

2000

@danielbianchini

20022001 2003 20052004 2006 20082007 2009 20112010 2012 201420130

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1 0 1

7

3

9

2 2 24

8

21

33

1715

PANDA

@danielbianchini

First hit: Feb 2011

The Panda algorithm update affected up to 12% of search results. Panda cracked down on websites with thin content, content farms and high ad-to-content ratio.

.co.uk WEBSITE TRAFFIC

@danielbianchini

PANDA ALGORITHM TIMELINE

@danielbianchini

23 FEB1.0

30 MAY2.1

23 JUL2.3

28 SEP2.5

18 NOV3.1

27 FEB3.3

19 APR3.5

8 JUN3.7

24 JUL3.9

18 SEP3.9.2

5 NOV 21 DEC 14 MAR18 JULPANDA

RECOVERY

23 SEP4.1

2011 2012 2013 2014

11 APR2.0

21 JUN2.2

12 AUG2.4

5 OCT‘FLUX’

18 JAN3.2

23 MAR3.4

27 APR3.6

25 JUN3.8

20 AUG3.9.1

27 SEP 21 NOV 22 JAN11 JUNPANDADANCE

20 MAY4.0

Source: http://i0.wp.com/studio5innovation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Latest-Google-Algorithm-Upate-Timeline-Oct2014.jpg

@danielbianchini

PENGUINFirst hit: April 2012

Penguin adjusted a number of spam factors, including keyword stuffing, and impacted an estimated 3.1% of English queries.

PENGUIN ALGORITHM TIMELINE

@danielbianchini

24 APR1.0

25 MAY1.1

05 OCT

2012 2013 2014

22 MAY2.0

04 OCT2.1

17 OCT3.0

Source: http://i0.wp.com/studio5innovation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Latest-Google-Algorithm-Upate-Timeline-Oct2014.jpg

@danielbianchini

HUMMINGBIRDGoogle’s new search platform that focuses on the meaning behind the words.

@danielbianchini

@danielbianchini

PIGEONFocused on more useful, relevant and accurate local search results.

@danielbianchini

MOBILE

THERE ARE

2 BILLION GLOBAL SMARTPHONE USERS

@danielbianchini

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-10-17/smartphones-in-use-surpass-1-billion-will-double-by-2015

AVERAGE USERS INTERACT WITH A SMARTPHONE

221 TIMES A DAY(VERSUS 140 DESKTOP INTERACTIONS)

@danielbianchini

Source: http://www.tecmark.co.uk/smartphone-usage-data-uk-2014/

MOBILE SEARCH UPDATES

@danielbianchini

Source: http://moovweb.com/cnt/uploads/2015/03/Timeline-Graphic_updated.png

@danielbianchini

#MOBILEGEDDON21st April 2015

20/04/1519/04/1518/04/15

MOBILEGEDDON: WHAT WAS THE IMPACT?

@danielbianchini

21/04/15 22/04/15 24/04/1523/04/15 25/04/20 27/04/1526/04/1550%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

% OF MOBILE-FRIENDLY RESULTS

Source: https://moz.com/blog/day-after-mobilegeddon

@danielbianchini

OUR ADVICE FOR WEBMASTERS IS TO FOCUS ON CREATING HIGH QUALITY SITES THAT CREATE A GOOD USER EXPERIENCE AND EMPLOY WHITE HAT SEO METHODS INSTEAD OF ENGAGING IN AGGRESSIVE WEBSPAM TACTICS…

2012

@danielbianchini

7 TIPS TO STAY AHEAD

@danielbianchini

TIP #1Think like a brand

OWN YOUR BRAND

@danielbianchini

Register social media accounts

Look after local search if you have a

physical store

Encourage online reviews

Share achievements through marketing

channels

Dominate page one of the search results

OWN YOUR BRAND

@danielbianchini

BE MORE AGILEHAVE THE ABILITY

TO DISRUPT THE MARKET

POTENTIALLY BE A LITTLE BIT

CONTROVERSIAL

LOOK AT THE MARKET FROM A

DIFFERENT ANGLE

If you are a smaller brand you can:

UNDERSTAND YOUR AU D I E N C E

@danielbianchini

TIP #1 TIP #2Think like a brand Understand your

audience

KEYWORD RESEARCH & SURVEYS

@danielbianchini

SEMRUSHwww.semrush.com

GOOGLE TRENDSwww.google.com/trends

KEYWORD TOOLwww.keywordtool.io

TERM EXPLORERwww.serpiq.com

ADWORDS KEYWORD PLANNERadwords.google.com/keywordplanner

@danielbianchini

PERSONAS & SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS

Source: https://yougov.co.uk/profileslite#/

CREATE CONTENTFOR EACH STAGE OF THE BUYING CYCLE

@danielbianchini

TIP #1 TIP #2 TIP #3Think like a brand Understand your

audienceCreate content

for each stage of the buying cycle

WHAT SEARCHES DO YOUR AUDIENCE MAKE?

@danielbianchini

AWARENESS

UTILISE ALL THE USER JOURNEY STAGES

INFORMATIONAL

ABOUT COMPANY

SUPPLEMENTARY

CONSIDERATION

INFORMATIONAL

INVESTIGATION

SUPPLEMENTARY

PRODUCT

INTENT

TRANSACTIONAL

INVESTIGATION

PRODUCT

INTERACTION

PURCHASE

TRANSACTIONAL

NAVIGATIONAL

PRODUCT

ABOUT COMPANY

INFORMATIONAL

ABOUT COMPANY

SUPPLEMENTARY

INVESTIGATION

PRODUCT

TRANSACTIONAL

INTERACTION

NAVIGATIONAL

Researching non-transactional level of information

The core proposition for most websites

Trust content, often unloved Uncovering a potential supplier

Education / inspiration / guidesAny potential login areaCustomer services / reviews etc.

Starting to understand & discovering options for future transactions

Visiting a pre-determined destination. Sourcing URL.

CREATE USER-LED CONTENT, BASED ON COMMON SEARCH QUERY TOPICS:

WRITE FOR USERS NOT FOR KEYWORDS

@danielbianchini

ENGAGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCETO BUILD AUTHORITY

@danielbianchini

TIP #1 TIP #2 TIP #3 TIP #4Think like a brand Understand your

audienceCreate content

for each stage of the buying cycle

Engage with your audience to build

authority

HOW TO ENGAGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

@danielbianchini

Respond to Journalist’s requests

Answer questions on sites such as

Quora & LinkedIn

Speak at industry events

Contribute & collaborate with industry blogs

Interact with users on social media

T H I N KABOUTMOBILE

@danielbianchini

TIP #1 TIP #2 TIP #3 TIP #5TIP #4Think like a brand Understand your

audienceCreate content

for each stage of the buying cycle

Engage with your audience to build

authority

Think about mobile

DEVICE PREFERENCES THROUGHOUT THE DAY

@danielbianchini

EARLY MORNING

Mobiles brighten the commute

DAYTIME EVENING

PCs dominate working hours Tablets are popular at night

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

@danielbianchini

• Is the text size legible?• How close together are the links?• Is the content wider than the screen?

Tool: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

INVEST IN THE MARKETING MIX

@danielbianchini

NOT JUST SEOTIP #1 TIP #2 TIP #3 TIP #5 TIP #6TIP #4

Think like a brand Understand your audience

Create contentfor each stage of the buying cycle

Engage with your audience to build

authority

Invest in the marketing mix,

not just SEO

Think about mobile

BUILD FOR LONG TERM GROWTH

@danielbianchini

NOT SHORT TERMTIP #1

Think like a brand

TIP #2Understand your

audience

TIP #3Create content

for each stage of the buying cycle

TIP #5Engage with your audience to build

authority

TIP #6Invest in the

marketing mix, not just SEO

TIP #7Think about

mobile

TIP #4Build for long

term growth, not short term

@danielbianchini

DANIEL BIANCHINIDirector of Services

@danielbianchinidaniel@white.net

THANK YOU!