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/

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

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

Classic Keyword Process
BrainstormCollect Input
Generate 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 Input
Generate 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 –

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;
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.

We Sometimes Have Blinders On
In Link Building Mode…

Instead of This:
Must. Get. Followed Link
with Anchor Text.

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.

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

Content Marketing May Be Creating
False Expectations & Bad Practices

Me. Must.
Publish.
Every. Day.

Me. Must.
Write. Good.
Unique.
Content.

Me. Must.
Make.
Content.
Convert.

Criteria for Modern Content Investments:
One-of-a-Kind–appearsnowhereelseontheweb
Relevant–containscontentenginescaninterpretason-topic
Helpful–resolvesthesearcher’squeryinauseful,efficientmanner
Uniquely Valuable–providesinformationthat’sunavailable elsewhere
Great UX–iseasy&pleasurabletoconsumeonanydevice
Likely to Spread– convincinglyanswersthequestion:
“Whowillamplifythiscontentandwhy?”

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

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 Pinterest
SEO
PPC
Interviews

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

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

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