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5 Trends Defining Google SEO in 2020
Who is Cyrus Shepard?
• SEO Consultant since 2010
• Currently with
• Develops Software at Cyrus ShepardSEO Consultant
@cyrusshepard
• Tweets at @cyrusshepard
Zero Click
Searches
1
Google Images is the
world's 2nd largest search
engine.
YouTube is #3
2004: Google Co-founder Larry Page
"We want you to come to Google and quickly find
what you want... We want to get you out of Google
and to the right place as fast as possible."
For the first time in Google's history, more searches result in zero clicks
than searches that produce a website visit.
No need to click,
and none of these
results link to a
website
This will earn
many clicks, but
clicking isn't
necessary.
DOUBLE featured
snippets reduce
clicks even more.
#1
#2
Searches with clicks down 16% since 2016
Desktop searches still result in a majority of clicks
On mobile, the situation is reversed, with no-click searches
far outpacing website visits
Notice the trend with mobile ad clicks. Up over 300%!
2015
Clear Ad +
Organic
2019
All Ads
The result is less overall browser traffic sent by Google
(mobile apps likely compensate)
https://searchengineland.com/google-ad-revenue-growth-popped-back-in-q2-319960
What hasn't decreased?
Google Ad Revenue
What This Means to Marketers?• Publishers competing for Visibility > Clicks
• More Transactions / Brand Marketing Moving to Google
• "Traffic" may not be your best success metric
Regulation
2
2012Google escapes US
Government Action
Does Google unfairly
preference it's own
properties?
Back to Google
Properties
Google uses your
content to link to other
Google results
12% of all clicks (6% of
searches) lead back to
a Google-owned
property
Google News
Google Maps
Gmail
YouTube
Google Images
Does Google fairly cite
sources?
Does Google unfairly
use Android + Chrome
to keep out
competitors?
https://www.ovrdrv.com/google-world-infographic/
New US Regulatory
Actions Taking Place
The 2020 Presidential
Election Could Have
Major Implications
What This Means to Marketers?• Google could be broken up
• More credit to publishers
• Google may be forced to reveal information on its algorithm
Facts As A Ranking Factor
3
Google has a trust
problem
Lots of work on
algorithms that bias
towards "Scientific
Truth"
Dr. Mercola once ranked for millions of keywords, but now is only
visible if you search for it by name.
The domain is now effectively invisible in Google
Google using "Consensus" algorithms to evaluate trustworthiness
of fact-based information
What This Means to Marketers?• YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) queries receive extra scrutiny
• Sites that deviate from expert consensus may rank lower
• Trusted "seed" sites may carry more authority in consensus algorithms
Paid Links 2.0
4
2012: Google "solved" paid links with Penguin
2019: Most SEOs believe Google has lost the war
Marketplaces
Paid link marketplaces
are ubiquitous and
growing
Even well-known "brand" websites face little risk in buying
massive amounts of links
Google's disavow tool
provides an immediate safety
net for any site caught
https://twitter.com/Marie_Haynes/status/1186629570499416068
Lots of evidence that
Google's Disavow Tool may
benefit even when no manual
action applied.
What This Means to Marketers?• Paid link opportunities continue to grow
• Experimentation with Google's Disavow Tool is justified
• Risk: Google could take away the Disavow Tool (or change the rules)
at anytime - paid links are still risky!!!
Schema Explosion
5
On the surface, this looks like a terrific keyword
Even ranking #3 is no
guarantee of traffic
Traditionally, SEOs looked at volume, but low click-through
rates (CTR) make this a less-than-useful metric.
We need to move shift
away from rank
optimization and fully
embrace SERP
optimization
Nearly 600 words of content using
FAQ Schema!
https://saijogeorge.com/json-ld-schema-generator/faq/
Only use FAQPage if your page has a list of
questions with answers.
https://twitter.com/lilyraynyc/status/1139173634638045184/photo/1
Can cause changes in impressions/clicks
SEO Tactics + Tools to Try Now
Bonus Tools
Problem: Slow Speed
Edgemesh.com
Free for 100,000
hits/month
Automatic Image
Classification
What is this?
https://cloud.google.com/vision/
Google Vision API
It can read text (which means we know Google can read it too)
On-Page Optimization
Inlinks.net
Identifies topic pages on your site, and automatically
creates links from the most relevant pages
Automatically applies relevant schema to each page.
Link Building
Opportunities
Link Intersect - https://analytics.moz.com/pro/link-
explorer/link-intersect
Finds specific pages that link to my competitors,
but not to me
Link Building Outreach
https://ftf.agency/tools/linkbuildr/
More favorite free SEO tools here:
https://moz.com/blog/best-free-seo-tools
LET’S DO THIS
Thanks
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