SearchLove Boston 2016 | Marcus Tober | Illuminating Consumer Intent Without Old-Fashioned SEO...

ILLUMINATING CONSUMER INTENT WITHOUT OLD-FASHIONEDSEO TACTICS

MARCUS TOBER

BOSTON, UNITED STATESMAY 3TH, 2016

SearchmetricsMade with love in Berlin

More than 220 passionate people

Innovator in SEO Software since 2005

Marcus ToberFounder and CTO ofSearchmetrics

In love with SEO and SEARCHsince 2001

Study of computer scienceIn Berlin, so I´m the Techie!

Our Secret Sauce is our Software

The Searchmetrics SuiteSearch Experience OptimizationMakes Digital Marketing Better,

Faster and More Profitable.

25.000.000.000.000SOCIAL SIGNALS 120 MILLION

DOMAINS

120 BILLIONLINKS600 MILLION

KEYWORDS

SoAHadoop, Hbase.Elastic Search

API

25 PB

Parstream

1 Keyword = 1 Landing Page

Bad SEO

+ SEO-Checklist

KW in titleKW in descriptionKW in headingKW densityLinkbuildingContent in footerEtc.

✓✓✓✓✓✓✓

1 Topic = 1 Landing Page

Good SEO

+ Content-Checklist

Daten-Driven Content StrategyDaten-Driven Content OptimizationDaten-Driven Content Success MeasurementEtc.

✓✓✓✓

seo tips

5. Be sure you have a unique, keyword focusedTitle tag on every page of your site.7. Be sure links to your site and within your site use your keyword phrase.

16. If your site content doesn’t change often, your site needs a blog because search spiders like e fresh text.

23. The bottom line in SEO is Text, Links, Popularity, and Reputation.

32. Give each page a focus on a single keyword phrase.

Old SEO tacticsKeyword: “SEO tips”

#5

Be sure you have a unique, keyword focusedTitle tag on every page of your site.

Movie where they make fun of Star Wars

Keyword focused Title tag?Example: “Movie where they make fun of

Star Wars”

Example: “Movie with 4 guys in Las Vegas”

Keyword focused Title tag?

Movie where they make fun of Star Wars

Example: “As a cafe owner how can seo help”

Keyword focused Title tag?

#32

Give each page a focus on a single keyword phrase.

Focus on a single keyword phrase?Example: ehow.com

Example: ehow.comFocus on a single keyword phrase?

Example: ehow.com / Last 5 years

SEO Visibilityehow.com

Stock valueDemand Media

-98%

-82%(- 2 Billion $)

Focus on a single keyword phrase?

Noooooooooooo….

#7

Be sure links to your site and within your site use your keyword phrase.

Example: expedia.comHeavy keyword linkbuilding?

• Large number of unusual keyword-rich links pointing to Expedia from blogs & sites.

Example: rapgenius.comHeavy keyword linkbuilding?

• Rap Genius was using link schemes to manipulate Google‘s rankings.

• Google confirmed penalty officially.

#16

If your site content doesn’t change often, your site needs a blog because search spiders like fresh text.

Need a new haircut?

Decision-making byTrust & Popularity

(Quality & User Signals)Want the BEST

hairdresser?

Updating older contentExample: “haircut”

Searchmetrics Suite: Keyword Research

December 16th, 2014

September 18th, 2015

Today

Updating older contentExample: “haircut”

• Marieclaire.com kept the same URL• They update the content slightly to be fresh and follow the user

intention, e.g. just change the title to „… Hair Tips for 2016“ with out new 2016 content

The fall of old SEO tactics…

…the rise of Google’s intelligence

Machine Learning

(ML) ≠ AI

Machine Learning(ML)

Deep Learning Artificial Intelligence

An algorithm that improves over

time

Aims to bridge the gap between ML and AI – solves more complex

problems

Human likeintelligence

Spectrum of Intelligence

• More than 2,500 years old• Played by 40m worldwide• Deemed uncrackable by Machine

Learning/AI (until AlphaGo)

Go – The limits of machine learning

Is Go really that hard?

*Hint: The little number above the 10 is how many 0s you add on the end

(well actually, yes…)

1050 4x1079 – 4x1081

10171

Number of...

in a chess game

in the observable universe

in game of Go

…possible moves

…possible moves

…atoms

Not so simple

That’s…

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

…possible positions!

Deep learning – AlphaGo vs Human

1HumanAlpha Go

4-End result:

5 sets between March 9th and March 15th 2016

“The User Intention you must

think about…”

Search Query & Expectations

???

Example: “costume ideas”

#1 #14

Search Query & Expectations Example: “costume ideas”

http://www.popsugar.com/smart-living/Cheap-Halloween-Group-Costumes-

25300043#photo-25300043

Rank #1

60 part image gallery

Short description

Links to other relevant pagesHigh Social EngagementUser Intention =

Inspiration!

✓

✓

✓

✓

Search Query & Expectations Example: “costume ideas”

https://www.savers.com/halloween/costumes/allRank #14

14 costume suggestions

No product texts

General footer text

User Intention ≠ Shopping!

✗

✗

✗

Search Query & Expectations Example: “costume ideas”

Analysing industry by industry.

With data-driven insights.

Keyword in Title RANKING FACTORS2016

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011121314151617181920212223242526272829300%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%

eCommerce Health

Keyword in Title

T10 Ø: 33%35%

Correlation: -0.04-0.05

RANKING FACTORS2016

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011121314151617181920212223242526272829300%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%

eCommerce Health Finance

Keyword in Title

T10 Ø: 33%35% 10% Correlation: -0.04 -0.05

0.04

RANKING FACTORS2016

Backlinks RANKING FACTORS2016

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 290

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

eCommerce

Referring Domains

T10 Ø: 272,736

Correlation: 0.20

RANKING FACTORS2016

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 290

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

eCommerce HealthT10 Ø: 272,736 99,526

Correlation: 0.20 0.21

Referring Domains RANKING FACTORS2016

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 290

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

eCommerce Health FinanceT10 Ø: 272,736 99,526 38,728Correlation: 0.20 0.21

-0.02

Referring Domains RANKING FACTORS2016

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 290

10,000,00020,000,00030,000,00040,000,00050,000,00060,000,00070,000,00080,000,00090,000,000

100,000,000

eCommerce Health Finance

Total Number of Backlinks

T10 Ø: 69,6 M 24,8 M9,8 M

Correlation: 0.14 0.15-0.03

RANKING FACTORS2016

Will Google eliminate the relevance of backlinks for

rankings in the future?

Cash advance fresno ca

Backlinks & Internal Links

Rank: 5 Rank: 12

17 Referring Domains21 internal links

52,000 Referring Domains443 internal links

Example: “Cash advance fresno ca”

fast cash credit card

Rank: 6 Rank: 17

5,685 Referring DomainsNo KW in Title

59,780 Referring DomainsKW in Title

Backlinks & Keyword in TitleExample: “Fast cash credit card”

Word Count RANKING FACTORS2016

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 291,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

FinanceT10 Ø: 1,575 Correlation: 0.09

Word Count RANKING FACTORS2016

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 291,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

eCommerce Health FinanceT10 Ø: 3,069

2,826 1,575 Correlation: 0.13 0.15

0.09

Word Count RANKING FACTORS2016

natural detox

Rank: 5 Rank 26

Word count = 3,180Internal links count = 375

Interactive elements = 398

Word count = 6,087Internal links count = 395

Interactive elements = 625

Word Count and Interactive ElementsExample: “Natural detox”

Being Relevant

Relevant content:• matches user intention• is logically structured &

comprehensive• offers a good user experience• deals with topics holistically

New Challenge #1

Redundancy

• 2,750,000 results• Only 10 result get traffic

"samsung galaxy s6 edge" price

Redundancy on the web

“Fallout 4 walkthrough”

Redundancy on the web

Galaxy s6

Redundancy on the web

New Challenge #2

Mobile vs Desktop

Mobile Search Query?

A: „Calendar“

B: „Nfl Schedules“

MapsCool Math

Unblocked GamesSolitaireCalendar

MailOffice 365

Nfl ScoresNfl Schedules

Restaurants near meNba ScoresPill identifierMlb Scores

School Closings

Keyword Device SpreadRatio > 70 %

Dating

10 organic results

5 Ads

4 Images

3 News

Translation Widget

Desktop vs MobileExample: “Dating”

4 Ads

6 Apps

3 News

4 Images

2 Organic results!

Example: “Dating”

Desktop vs Mobile

How to stayrelevant?

mortgage

#2

#10

#2

Holistic data-driven Approach

Searchmetrics Suite: Content Optimization

Calculator

Mortgage comparisonRelevant informationHelp section

✓

✓

✓

✓

Holistic data-driven Approach

Calculator

Mortgage comparisonRelevant informationHelp section

✗

✗

✗

✓

Holistic data-driven Approach

Holistic data-driven Approach

Searchmetrics Suite: Content Performance

2009 2012 TODAY

Content Updates – Example bankrate.com

“The content relevanceyou must think about…”

New Ranking Factors 2016

New Ranking Factors 2016

• Relevance Features with a calculated relevance score.

• Specific Ranking Factors for different industries.

• Available for multiple countries.

Data-driven content analysis

Relevant content to fulfil the user‘s intention

Success in search & all other channels

Industry Standard for Understanding Content Performance

Longest running record of Google™ data

LargestData Set

Interpret Customer Intent

Apple

Watch

Historical Data

Most inputs. More that

just SEO

Only platform with transactional search data

MAY THE SUCCESSBE WITH YOU!