SEMANTIC SEO: THE SHIFT

FROM STRINGS TO THINGS

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Aaron Bradley

InfoMine, Inc.

@Aaranged

#SMX #21C

October 2, 2013

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“Things, not strings”The phrase coined by Google to highlight the shift to real-life things in search

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Semantic search and the SEO strategy gapSo far most semantic SEO work has been carried out in a strategic void

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Different keywords, same entityKeywords are not a reliable way of designating real-life things

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Same keyword, different entitiesKeywords are not a reliable way of designating real-life things

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Same keyword, different entitiesKeywords are not a reliable way of designating real-life things

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Unique identifiersFor a given domain an identifier, not keywords, represents the thing itself

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Triples: subject > predicate > objectSemantic applications use a standard model for describing resources

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Triples in actionschema.org properties express relationships between a subject and an object

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The GDP of France … and a lot moreFrom structured sources, and/or sources Google has parsed and structured

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Related queries: strings vs. thingsSemantic search allows Google to determine the meaning behind queries

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Traditional definition of “SEO”For most of its history SEO has been focused on keywords

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Toward a definition of “semantic SEO”Entities are a necessary component – but only a component – of semantic SEO

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“Semantic SEO”A shift in focus from matching strings to the relationships between things

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STRATEGY: identify and disambiguate entitiesExtraction utilities and APIs can aid in identifying named and topical entities

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Entities: only as many identifiers as necessaryEntity cannibalization is the new keyword cannibalization: just say no

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STRATEGY: identify items and propertiesStructuring your content will help when it comes to structuring it for SEs

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STRATEGY: declare your dataProvide your data in a structured format for machine consumption

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Missing in action … but not necessarily foreverIf a resource is absent in schema.org you can add it as an extension

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No snippet? No problem!Google still wants your data

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STRATEGY: map and declare your relationshipsHyperlink relevant entities and resources, preferably with structured data

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STRATEGY: build trust in your dataTrust by verification: Google+, Google’s social verified identity network

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Avail yourself of all verification methodsVerify identities and data with search engines and social networks

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Building trust with data consistencyThe search engines will trust your data more if it’s consistent across domains

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Building trust in ecommerce environmentsProducts should be uniquely identified, and ecommerce data kept consistent

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Outcomes: increased search visibilityFrom authorship to answer boxes rich snippets are everywhere – even email!

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Measurement woes: it’s still all about keywordsConventional analytics make it difficult to assess semantic SEO success

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Strings and things don’t always mixVisits from semantic search can obscure the original query

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Thanks!Hope you enjoyed the presentation – please say in touch!

Semantic Search Marketing Community on Google+:Lively discussions! Pie! (Okay - actually no pie)

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Twitter: @aaranged

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Web: seoskeptic.com

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