Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz | @randfish | rand@moz.com

Cracking the SEO Code for 2015: Tactics to Love vs. Leave

(advanced edition)

This Presentation Is Online

Here:bit.ly/seocode2014

A brief look at how SEO has evolved over the past five years.

What Changed?

Searchers (and engines) are demanding more from results than ever before

#1

Page Speed Expectations

Via http://www.relentlesstechnology.com/insights/page-speed.html

Design & UX Expectations

Via The Rise of Customer Expectations Around User Experience

Content Quality Expectations

Via http://www.searchmetrics.com/en/knowledge-base/ranking-factors/

Employing User & Usage Data

Leaning More Heavily on Human Quality Raters

Via http://www.thesempost.com/google-rewrites-quality-rating-guide-seos-need-know/

Past SEO Success May Not Be Indicative of the Future

The move from keyword matching to topic association

#2

1998-2008 Keyword Matching

2009-2012 Keyword Matching

2013+ Keyword Matching

2013+ Keyword Matching

2013+ Keyword Matching

2013+ Keyword Matching

Google’s Upgraded Their Understanding

Have We Upgraded Our Content?

Domain-level keyword connections are on the rise

#3

Google’s Algorithm Used to Be Very Page-Level Biased

This page has the most relevance and links.

This one has the 2nd most.

In the Past Few Years, They’ve Become More Inclusive of Domain-Level Signals

We’ve seen a lot of searchers around this type of topic get positive results from this site. Let’s see if we can find a relevant result from it.

Don’t Have a Domain-Level Content Strategy?

You May Lose to Less SEO-Sophisticated,More Brand-Focused Competitors

Google’s crackdown on spam is basically a crackdown on ranking without a brand

#4

Manipulating Google? You’d Better Be a Brand.

Via http://marketingland.com/10-big-brands-that-were-penalized-by-google-69646

Ranking Well,But Not a Brand?Google’s Gonna Reclassify Those

Tactics.

Via http://www.seobook.com/learn-seo/infographics/brand-branding-brands.php

Critical SEO data still flows for the 1%, but is unavailable to the 99%

#5

~10% of Referral Data Still Available

Via www.notprovidedcount.com/

AdWords’ [Exact Match]

No Longer Exact

Via http://adwords.blogspot.com/2014/08/close-variant-matching-for-all-exact.html

Via http://moz.com/blog/keyword-research-and-targeting-without-exact-match-whiteboard-friday

But If You’re a Big Advertiser, that Keyword Data Still Flows Through Your Reports

GA Sampling is Pervasive Unless You Pay…

Via https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2601061?hl=en

This Inequity Might Feel Familiar

Over time, behaviors of brands, searchers, & algorithmshave combined to create something similar in SEO

Processes and practices to change in the year ahead tostay a step ahead

Tactics

Research & TargetingKeyword

Classic Keyword Process

BrainstormCollect InputGenerate an Ideation List

Use KW Research Tools to Expand

Group Keywords by Targeting & Ranking Ability

Produce List of Pages to Create Based on KWs

Don’t KW Cannibalize – Consolidate if Need Be

What’s Broken?

BrainstormCollect InputGenerate an Ideation List

Use KW Research Tools to Expand

Group Keywords by Targeting & Ranking Ability

Produce List of Pages to Create Based on KWs

Don’t KW Cannibalize – Consolidate if Need Be

Use KW Research Tools to Expand

Instead of This:

Do This:

1) Search the web, news, images, YouTube, & Buzzsumo using your list

2) Collect the concepts, topics, intents, related searches, & popular content you find

3) Aggregate into a new keyword list for refinement via volume estimate/expansion tools

Group Keywords by Targeting & Ranking Ability

Instead of This:

Do This:

1) Group keywords by overlap in searcher intent

2) Break into buckets of 1-5+ terms/phrases that all serve those same intents. Worry less about precise KW match targeting in the title/URL/headline.

Produce List of Pages to Create Based on KWs

Instead of This:

Do This:

1) Produce a list of searcher intents w/ 1-5 KWs each.

2) Create pages to target each intent, and plan ongoing content efforts w/ more competitive & temporally demanding KWs

Don’t KW Cannibalize; Consolidate if Need Be

Instead of This:

Do This:

1) If you have multiple pages already targeting the same KW intent(s), consider consolidation (especially if they don’t rank well).

2) Anticipate creating fresh content that may repeatedly target the same KWs based on temporal changes, new intents, & the goal of connecting your domain w/ those terms in the engine.

A simplistic example to help illustrate:

Keyword Brainstorm List

Evil Mustache Wax

Mustache Products for Baddies

Evil-Doers Facial Grooming

Bad Guy Moustaches

Criminal Mustaches

Villainous Men’s Grooming

“Infamous!” “Sinister!” I’m already getting expansion terms from searching

People are clearly curious about what signals mustaches send! A perfect topic for my content.

Johnny Depp & Lyft… Potential partners in moustachio’d crime?

Google clearly has search volume and data for terms like this, but they won’t show them in Adwords

Using the data I received from my searches, however, gives me some new opportunities (w/ very light competition)

Group keywords by intent, not matchingVillainous Mustaches

Bad Mustache

Evil Mustache

Villain Mustache

Monster Mustache

Criminal Mustaches

Vile Mustaches Styles

Evil Mustache Styles

Sinister Mustache Products

Unsavory, Moustachio’d Characters

Sacrilegious Mustaches

Loathesome Mustache Wax

Detestable Stache Products

Vampiric Mustache Grooming Goods

Famous Villain Mustaches

Movie Badguy Mustaches

Searchers looking for any of these keyword phrases likely have the same, shared intent/goal

Make Pages that Focus on

Intent

Content that engages people AND fits with topic modeling algos

Build Up Your Site’s Association with a Topic

(or set of topics)

Beardbrand’s constant presence across the web (in social, video, news, blogs, etc) means Google associates mustache product searches with their site.

Building EarningLink

We Sometimes Have Blinders On In Link Building Mode…

Instead of This:

Must. Get. Followed Link with Anchor Text.

Do This.

Build. Relationship.

Social Media Can Build Relationships

Comments Can Build Relationships

A Friendly Email Builds a Relationship

Even when the email is simply through a form, a note of thanks/compliment goes a long way.

Advertising is a Relationship

The goal isn’t links. The goal is to grow the quantity of interactions to the point where the relationship is real.

Links are just a great side effect of the relationships

(BTW - that’s exactly the type of link Google wants to count)

Pro Tip #1: These are terrible targets:

Sites #1-10 get all the attention, and likely experience online interaction fatigue very fast

These are ideal targets:

Sites #12+ are far more likely to be flattered by/interested in online interactions, and have far fewer pre-existing, web-based relationships

Likewise, these are probably terrible targets:

Folks with heavy Twitter followings often get bombarded with offers

While these are likely excellent targets:

A high social authority means lots of RTs per tweet, but probably not nearly as much attention as the vanity metric owners

Pro Tip #2: Need a warm intro? GoConspire

I can find anyone at a given company and/or any specific person and how we’re connected.Whoa.

Pro Tip #3: Correlation Exists Between Advertisers on Small-Medium Sites & Links

There’s a strong probability that at some point, the blogger/site owner will editorially link to these folks, simply because they’re top of mind.

Pro Tip #4: Brand Mentions Near Keywords May Have Link-Like Effects

This page isn’t even a great match, but Google’s associations of MarthaStewart.com w/ terms like “house” and “home organization” and “checklist” likely play into the ranking

CreationContent

Content Marketing May Be CreatingFalse Expectations & Bad Practices

Me. Must. Get. Viral. Hit.

Me. Must. Publish. Every. Day.

Me. Must. Write. Good. Unique. Content.

Me. Must. Make. Content. Convert.

Why. Me. No. Get. Results.?

Criteria for Modern Content Investments:

One-of-a-Kind – appears nowhere else on the web

Relevant – contains content engines can interpret as on-topic

Helpful – resolves the searcher’s query in a useful, efficient manner

Uniquely Valuable – provides information that’s unavailable elsewhere

Great UX– is easy & pleasurable to consume on any device

Likely to Spread– convincingly answers the question:“Who will amplify this content and why?”

Pro Tip #1:Imitate What

Works!

e.g. Buzzsumo can tell you the content that’s performed best for any given keyword, timeframe, platform, author, or website

Pro Tip #2: In General: Text < Visuals < Interactive

This planner from DefensiveDriving.com made Reddit’s homepage , in part thanks to interactivity

Pro Tip #3: Even great content benefits from paid amplification

Check out Quicksprout’s Guide to Content Syndication Networks

InvestChoosing Where To

Measurability is Often Inversely Correlated w/ Opportunity

More: Manufacturing Serendipity & WB Friday on Serendipitous Marketing

Serendipity is Powerful Because It’s Hard to Track, and Almost Never Competitive

Attend a conference in Portland

Meet a woman through a mutual friend who invites you to participate in a webinar

Webinar attendee is impressed, invites you to speak at an event in San Jose

San Jose event leads to $1mm in new business

How do you attribute/measure the value of going to conferences in Portland?

Only by increasing the vectors of exposure to potentially powerful events can you scale ROI

My Advice:

Overinvest in your unique strengths.

Blogging

Video

Photography

Presentations

In-Person Relationship

Building

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Research

Illustration

Illustration

Offline Advertising

Display Ads

Social Ads

Google+

Podcasts

Whitepapers

Email

Networking

LinkedIn PinterestSEO

PPC

Interviews

SEO is getting harder

But, that high barrier to entry means greater opportunity for those who succeed.

Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz | @randfish | rand@moz.com

bit.ly/seocode2014