3 BEHAVIORS THAT WILL MAKE YOU AN SEO …ww2.conductor.com/rs/conductor2/images/Conductor-Webinar-SEO... · @Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO 3 BEHAVIORS THAT WILL MAKE YOU AN

@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO

3 BEHAVIORS THAT WILL MAKE YOU AN SEO SUPERSTAR

Nathan Safran, Director of Research, Conductor

@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO 2

#BestofSEO @Conductor @Nathan_Safran

$25 Amazon Gift

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THE CONDUCTOR TEAM

WHO WE ARE • Founded in 2006

• Offices in New York and San Francisco

SEO LEADERSHIP • 150+ pieces of SEO thought leadership in 2012

• C3, the largest user conference in enterprise SEO

• Dedicated to raising the profile of search marketers

CONDUCTOR SEARCHLIGHT • Supporting SEO success for over 2500 leading brands

• $4.5B in SEO revenue under management

• 18TB of SEO data collected weekly

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ABOUT ME

• Former Forrester Research

Analyst

• Director of Research for

Conductor

• Search Engine Land/Search

Engine Watch Columnist

• Study the Search/Social Space


IN THE SEO INDUSTRY, WE ARE SOMETIMES DISPROPORTIONATELY FOCUSED ON THE OUTCOME

5


WE NEED TO SPEND MORE TIME UNDERSTANDING HOW THE SUPERSTARS OF OUR INDUSTRY DO WHAT THEY DO

6




THE RESEARCH: REACHING FOR SUPERSTARS

The Starting Point:

• Surveyed 380 Enterprise Marketers

• Broad distribution of B2B, B2C, Agencies, Manufacturers, and Publishers

SEO Superstar:

• Self-identified as being particularly effective at search marketing

• 3x more likely to increase search traffic by up to 200% in last 12 months

• 3x more likely to increase conversions by up to 200% in last 12 months

9


What makes a

Superstar

SEO?

What are

Superstar SEOs

doing that

makes their

organizations

successful at

SEO?

What steps can

you take to

becoming a

Superstar

SEO?

?


Budget

Best-in-Class Laggards

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82%

18%

57%

43%

10% or Less 11% or More

% of Organization’s Marketing Budget Allocated to SEO

Laggards Best-in-Class

A lot

…the gap is not as

large as we might

have thought

While a larger %

Superstars have a

greater allocation of

budget than Laggards…

And, plenty of Superstars did

not have the lion’s share of

their orgs. budget

HEADCOUNT & BUDGET MATTER…

ACTUAL PROJECTED

A little



45%

55%

32%

68%

1 Person 2-4+ People

SEO Team Size


13% difference

between

Superstars and

Laggards

12

Having headcount

is no guarantor of

success…

Not having

headcount is no

guarantor of failure

HEADCOUNT & BUDGET MATTER…

Headcount


A lot

PROJECTED

A little


ACTUAL



SUPERSTAR SEOS CITE 3 CORE AREAS AS CRITICAL TO THEIR NATURAL SEARCH SUCCESS

Content

Reporting

Evangelism

Executive Buy-In

Technology

Business Intelligence

Traffic

Conversions

Headcount

Budget

Technical SEO

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SUPERSTAR SEOS CITE 3 CORE AREAS AS CRITICAL TO THEIR NATURAL SEARCH SUCCESS

Content

Reporting

Evangelism

Executive Buy-In

Technology

Business Intelligence

Traffic

Conversions

Headcount

Budget

Technical SEO

15


CONTENT


CONTENT DEVELOPMENT WAS YOUR #1 GOAL LAST YEAR


IN THE YEAR SINCE, YOU’VE LEARNED THAT EARLY SEO INVOLVEMENT IN CONTENT CREATION IS CRITICAL TO NATURAL SEARCH SUCCESS

of Superstars are

involved with Content

Creation from the

Beginning

66%

of Superstars are


Creation in the Middle

29%

of Superstars are


Creation at the End

9%



THE CONTENT MONSTER

FEED ME!!


SUPERSTAR SEOS USE SEARCH DATA TO ACTIVELY FEED NEW CONTENT IDEAS

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33%

67%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Poorly Well

Best-in-ClassSEARCH

DATA

CONTENT

IDEAS

72%

28%

Poorly Well

Laggards

How Well Do You Use Search

Data to Feed Content Ideas?


SO FAR, SUPERSTAR SEOS HAVE TOLD US:

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• “EARLY SEO INVOLVEMENT IN CONTENT

CREATION IS CRITICAL TO NATURAL SEARCH

SUCCESS”

• “LEVERAGE SEARCH DATA TO DRIVE

CONTENT IDEAS”


“THINGS MAY COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT, BUT ONLY THE THINGS LEFT BY THOSE WHO HUSTLE.”

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-Abraham Lincoln


IT’S NOT ‘WAIT FOR SOMEONE TO INVOLVE YOU EARLY’

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IT’S ‘GET YOURSELF INVOLVED EARLY’

WHEN SUPERSTAR SEOS TALK ABOUT ‘GETTING INVOLVED EARLY’….


IF YOU COME BEARING GIFTS, IT WILL BE EASIER TO GET IN THE DOOR

25

The latest release of Google

Analytics makes it easy to get

insight about your site audience


BRING AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHIC INSIGHT TO YOUR CONTENT TEAM

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61%

“I know a key business goal of ours

is to expand beyond the 18-34 year

old demo, but right now 61% of our

site visitors are that demo.

We should figure out what issues

matter to our other key demos and

create content targeted at them”


GEOGRAPHIC INSIGHT CAN GUIDE CONTENT AND BUSINESS STRATEGY

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69%

19%

11%

Website Geographic Visitor Distribution

North America Europe Asia/Pac

“I know a key

business goal is

expansion into

Asia/PAC, but right

now, barely 1 in 10

site visitors is from

that region…”

Turn this… …into this …to get to this.

Barely 1 in 10 website

visitors is from Asia/PAC


DIGGING DEEPER…

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“…And, they don’t find our

content particularly

compelling. Their bounce

rates are the highest of any

region and site duration is

the lowest…”

“…If we are serious about

expanding into Asia/PAC,

let’s take a second look at

our content and see if there

are gaps for the local

market, or if regional sites

are needed…”


CONDUCTOR SEARCHLIGHT’S VISIBILITY EXPLORER

29

In striking

distance…

…low

competition AND

“We are on page one/top

of page 2 for these low

competition keywords.

Let’s make some content

and get to the top of page

one!”


REPORTING


LET’S TALK ABOUT HOW SEARCH REPORTING HAS EVOLVED

Basic Rank Tracking (Google & Excel)

Basic Trend Analysis (Rank Tracking Software)

Basic Segmentation,

Some Automation (SMB Software)

Full Segmentation,

Full Automation (Enterprise SEO Platform)

All of the Above (Workflow, Task

Management, Stakeholder

Specific Reporting)


SEO SUPERSTARS HAVE EVOLVED INTO MAN, WHILE LAGGARDS REMAIN CAVEMEN

32

Basic Rank Tracking (Google & Excel)

Basic Trend Analysis (Rank Tracking Software)

Basic Segmentation,

Some Automation (SMB Software)

Full Segmentation,

Full Automation (Enterprise SEO Platform)

All of the Above (Workflow, Task

Management, Stakeholder

Specific Reporting)

LAGGARDS 3X MORE LIKELY TO BE DOING ONLY BASIC REPORTING

Superstars

Laggards


THERE ARE FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES IN HOW SUPERSTAR SEOS REPORT AND HOW LAGGARDS DO

Superstars:

• “Reporting is the lifeblood of everything we do online”

• There is insight hidden in the data if I look at it from different angles

• If I mashup data (visibility, traffic, conversions etc.)together I will gain significant insight

• Reporting early and often is in my and my companies best interest

• Not everyone in the company has the same reporting needs

• Reporting Automation can free me to focus on other activities

Laggards:

• Basic rank tracking oughta do it

• Frequency of reporting is not that critical

• One-size fits all reporting works fine

• Manual reporting gets the job done

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LET ME SHOW YOU SOME EXAMPLES OF SUPERSTAR REPORTING….

Superstars:

• “Reporting is the lifeblood of everything we do online”

• There is insight hidden in the data if I look at it from different angles

• If I mashup data (visibility, traffic, conversions etc.)together I will gain significant insight

• Reporting early and often is in my and my companies best interest

• Not everyone in the company has the same reporting needs

• Reporting Automation can free me to focus on other activities

Laggards:

• Basic rank tracking oughta do it

• Frequency of reporting is not that critical

• One-size fits all reporting works fine

• Manual reporting gets the job done

34


SEGMENT KEYWORDS BY BUSINESS LINE AND GROUP BY SEARCH VISIBILITY ZONES TO EXTRICATE HIDDEN, ACTIONABLE INSIGHT

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“There is insight hidden in the data if I look at it from different angles”

STRATEGY: On/off page

tactics to drive

to the top of

page one

STRATEGY: Wipe the

slate clean

and develop

all new

content


A NON-INTEGRATED KPI VIEW CAN BE ‘SPRAY AND PRAY’

36

“If I mashup data together I will gain significant insight”

Hope that

changes

here…

…can somehow

be correlated

here


AN INTEGRATED KPI VIEW GIVES YOU THE FULL PICTURE AND LEADS TO ACTIONABLE INSIGHT

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If I mashup data together I will gain significant insight

Looking at KPIs

together in one

place tells me:

The Search

Visibility increase

(purple line) was

greater at A than

at B…

…But traffic and

revenue growth was

higher at B than at A

A

B

Further investigation

shows that’s because of

actions that were taken at

‘B’ that resulted in higher

CTR/conversion

That insight only became possible because of the ‘integrated metrics view’


EVANGELISM



1. Decide what you want

2. Decide whom you want to influence

directly and indirectly.

3. Start in a friendly manner.

…………..

10. Use repetition and redundancy.

‘INFLUENCING PEOPLE’ STUDY


REPEATED AND PERSUASIVE EXPOSURE TO A CONCEPT IS FUNDAMENTAL TO A ‘BUY-IN’ PROCESS

41


SUPERSTARS HAVE AN EVANGELISM MIND SET

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Superstars are 2X more likely to

point to evangelism as critical to

their natural search success


SUPERSTARS ARE 2X MORE LIKELY TO HAVE EXECUTIVE BUY-IN

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77%

23%

45%

55%

How Bought-In is Your Executive Suite to Search Marketing?


Mostly or Completely

Bought-in

Not Bought-in or

Partially Bought-in


IT’S NEVER BEEN EASIER TO MAKE THE CASE FOR SEO

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And here are some tools to get you started…


DATA POINT 1: ORGANIC SEARCH CONTINUES TO BE THE #1 SOURCE OF WEBSITE TRAFFIC

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Source: Shareaholic All Traffic Sources Report

Direct 19%

7%

.8%

.7%

(organic) 50% +

2%

1%


DATA POINT 2: SEO OUT PERFORMS PAID SEARCH BY 2X AND SOCIAL MEDIA BY 4X

Source: Hubspot, State of Inbound Marketing


TRY OUR STAT PACK & OPPORTUNITY CALCULATOR TO HELP YOU EVANGELIZE SEO

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cdtr.co/awesomestats

http://cdtr.co/awesomestats



CONDUCTOR SEARCHLIGHT’S BUSINESS CASE BUILDER

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Superstar SEOs cite 3 Areas as particularly critical to their natural

search Success: Content, Reporting and Evangelism

• Getting Yourself Involved early by bringing directional insight to

the content team will open the door for you to be involved

throughout the content creation/SEO process

• Choose 2-3 areas in your reporting to ‘level-up’ for deeper insight

• Take a close look at whether you are devoting sufficient mind share

to evangelism

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Q&A

50

THANK YOU!

Evangelism Package:

cdtr.co/awesomestats

Download the Full Slide Deck:

cdtr.co/3behaviors

Request a Searchlight Demo: cdtr.co/tryademo



http://cdtr.co/3behaviors

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http://cdtr.co/tryademo

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3 BEHAVIORS THAT WILL MAKE YOU AN SEO …ww2.conductor.com/rs/conductor2/images/Conductor-Webinar-SEO... · @Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO 3 BEHAVIORS THAT WILL MAKE YOU AN