SEO in 2015: How Search Has Changed & How Marketers' Tactics Must Shift

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

SEO for 2015:

How Search Has Changed & How

Marketers’ Tactics Must Shift

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, & algorithms

have combined to create something similar in SEO

Processes and practices to change

in the year ahead to stay a step

ahead

Tactics

Research &

Targeting

Keyword

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 matching

Villainous 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 Earning

Link

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

Creation

Content

Content Marketing May Be Creating

False 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

Invest

Choosing 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

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