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The History of Content: How SEO Ruined the Internet, and How We Can Save It

Keith L GoodeSEO Manager, IBM

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Introduction to the Session

• Writing content is an art and a science, but not the way you think

• It’s going to take a team effort to succeed• Google is working harder than ever to enforce their

vision

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Introduction to Me

20 years of Online Experience• AMD• HomeAway.com• Builders Digital Experience• SpareFoot.com• Dell• seoClarity

Currently• SEO Manager, Watson Customer

Engagement, IBMwww.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

@keithgoode

Keith L. Goode, SEO Manager

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A Little Self-ProtectionKeith

Is NotIBM

…and neither is Patrick

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Content and SEO

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A History

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Confession: Most of the Internet Sucks Because of SEO

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Crappy Content Won the DayKeywords:• Fort Lauderdale vacation

rentals• Fort Lauderdale

accommodations• Fort Lauderdale hotels• Fort Lauderdale condo rentals• Fort Lauderdale beach house

SEO Copy:Title: Keyword 1, Keyword 2 | Sitename

On-page copy:Fort Lauderdale vacation rentals are the perfect Fort Lauderdale accommodations. Rather than expensive Fort Lauderdale hotels, try one of our Fort Lauderdale condo rentals or Fort Lauderdale beach house rentals instead.

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It sucked! … But it worked, and it worked well.

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This was due to Google’s technical inability to enforce its vision

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SEOs had to manipulate content in order to rank, and we broke the Web

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Algorithm Changes to Get to Better

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Panda, which is now fully integrated into the algorithm, will eat your lunch if you try to write like this now

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RankBrain, Hummingbird and TensorFlow

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RankBrain, Hummingbird and TensorFlow

• Patrick will get into more detail• Allow conversational queries• Follow the logic of successive searches• Uses history and location for context• Adapts to the evolution of language

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Redefining the Long Tail of Search

Sea

rch

Volu

me

Query Length

Head and Body Terms: Sweet Spot for Keyword Research

Traditional Long-Tail

Conversational Queries

Head Terms: Laptops

Body Terms: 15 inch laptops

Long-Tail Terms: 15 inch gaming laptop with 64GB memory

Conversational Queries: What is the best gaming laptop for Modern Warfare?

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Now With Voice SearchS

earc

h Vo

lum

e

Head and Body Terms: Sweet Spot for Keyword Research

Traditional Long-Tail

Conversational Queries

Head Terms: Who sells Laptops?

Body Terms: Where can I buy a 15 inch laptop?

Long-Tail Terms: 15 inch gaming laptop with 64GB memory

Conversational Queries: What is the best gaming laptop for Modern Warfare?

Query Length Specificity

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Stop focusing on keywords and focus on Topics instead

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User Engagement

• Ranking is just the first step• You’re relevant for the

keyword, but are you relevant for the user’s need?

• Dig deeper into your metrics

• Reduced Bounce Rate• Increased Dwell Time• Increased Conversion Rate

• Better engagement can help your rankings

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Alignment with Google’s Vision

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First things first: Reverse the damage of your old content schemes

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Nix Flat Content• Is your existing content

too flat?• Media-heavy?

• Use alt-text• Provide transcripts for

videos• Be willing to cut content

off altogether, using a 301 of course

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For New Content: Get intimate with your users

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Who Are They? What Do They Want?

Sea

rch

Volu

me

Specificity

Awareness Consideration Decision Post-

Purchase

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Content’s Place in the Grand Scheme

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It’s King, but…

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More than ever, requires a solid technical foundation and information architecture

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The Search Experience Framework

Great content on a crappy platform is pointless

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Content Drives More Than Ever

• User Engagement• Social Interaction• Industry Buzz

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The Art of Dating … Your Customers

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Have You Built User Personas and the Customer Journey Models?

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Are You Talking to the Right People?

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Some Questions to Consider• What usually drives a decision?• Who makes the decision to buy?• Who does the initial research?• Who will be using your product/service regularly?• What are their positions?• What types of content speaks to each of their needs?• What steps lead up to the purchase decision?

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Map Out Their Journey

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Then Match Your Content to that Journey

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Competitor Analysis and Reverse Engineering a SERP

Competitive Intelligence

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Wisdom of the Crowds

Keywords You

Rank For

Keywords Competitor B

Ranks For

Keywords Competitor A

Ranks For

Might be branded

terms that you can’t

possibly rank for

Very likely that these are keywords you

should be interested in

pursuing

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Using SERPs to Understand Content Preferences

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Does Google prefer

articles over products?

What is this guy doing well that I

can emulate?

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A/B and Multivariate Testing Model

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Holistic Model• Creating a delightful

experience for the users should be the goal of the whole company

• IT/Dev• UX/UI• Content Strategy• PR/Marketing

Executive Leadership

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Don’t Chase Google; Pursue Your Users

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Conclusion

• Don’t Add Bad• Pursue Approaches that you don’t have to fix later• Act like you care about your customer, because you

should