Time to Windex Your Crystal Ball - National Apartment Association · 2018-02-06 · Time to Windex...

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Time to Windex Your Crystal Ball: The Expected Future of Organic Search

Sponsored by

Simon HeseltineVice President of Search

ForRent.com

Meet The Experts

Michael HuerequeVP and PartnerAgency Fifty3

Who am I? Not this guy

Polling Question #1

What’s your SEO knowledge?1. Expert2. Familiar to good3. We have someone to do it4. Sewage Enforcement Officers?

The Agenda

SEO1. Is SEO still a thing?2. Common SEO mistakes3. What are recent changes that may impact us?4. What’s on the horizon from the search engines?5. Wrap up

SEO is Dead

SEO 101 – What is it?• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) = Optimizing for free clicks

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) / Pay Per Click (PPC) = Paying for clicks

• SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, video search, academic search, news search, voice search, and industry-specific verticals

Anatomy of a SERP

SEO

SEO

PPC

Knowledge Panel

Anatomy of a Local SERP

Local Pack SEO

PPC

PPC

PPC

PPC Local SEO is focused on optimizing a business’ site for local intent searches

Matchmaking Service

Click to add textThe Internet

Matchmaking Service

Click to add textThe Internet

Source: Zillow

Preliminary Advice• Audit your existing website – Keyword Planner Tool

• Find out what your users want

• User Behavior Flow or Site Content in GA

• Search Term Report in AdWords

• Social Media Accounts

• Build scalable websites that are mobile-friendly

SEO in 2000

SEO in 2018

Polling Question #2

How many algorithm updates a year does Google do?1. About 502. About 2003. About 5004. About 1,000

What does a modern SEO team do?• Audits

• Trouble shooting

• Keyword research

• Analytics / Reporting

• Search Engine Algorithm Update monitoring

• Informs teams on the latest changes in the search engines (Pandas, Penguins, Freds, PPC updates etc.)

• Training

• General evangelism

• Vendor / Tools management

• Content strategy

• Strategic planning

• Relationship building

• Migration assistance / Site Launches

• Conversion Rate Optimization

SEO Goals

Attract

Goal: Targeting renters w/o a particular brand search in mind

Engage

Goal: We’ve got the prospect interested in our brand, now get them to more content that will answer their questions and provide them the best fit apartments

Convert

Goal: As the prospect digs deeper, present them with the opportunity to convert to whatever action we want

SEO is Not…

A One Off Feature

SEO is Not…

A ProjectThat Begins

and Ends

SEO is Not…

Magic

SEO can be…

Complex

Simple

SEO can be…

SEO is…

Personalized

SEO is…

SEO

Social Media

Paid Search

Localization

Analytics

PDF Assets & Collateral

UserExperience

DemandGenerationCampaigns

Web Strategy & Production

PR/Press Releases

SEO has…

ConstantChange

SEO is…

SEO is?

SEO is…

“The goal of SEO is not to put wings on a pig, but to genetically reengineer the pig into an eagle.”

Bruce Clay

SEO is…

SEO – How many clicks?

SEO is Dead

What is SEO?

SEO is Dead

“Content is a top 2 ranking factor” – Andrey Lipattsev, Google 2016

Content Quality

Content QualityWhat Questions are people asking?

- Cost of living- Culture- Jobs & employment- Sports- Universities- Things to see and do- Neighborhood information- Local cities

Content Quality

Polling Question #3

Do you use voice search? (OK Google, Alexa, Cortana, Siri, etc)

1. Yes, we have conversations all the time2. Yes, but not that often3. No

SEO BasicsHeadApartments

MediumApartments in Orlando

Long TailPet friendly 2 bedroom apartments for rent in Orlando, FL

SEO Basics

Title

Description

SEO Basics – Title Tags

SEO Basics – Title Tags

SEO Basics – Title Tags

Should be ~55 characters

Should contain the main entities (Community name, location, etc)

Should be unique

Are used by Google most of the time

SEO Basics – Description Tags

SEO Basics – Description Tags

The description should be between 160 – 300 characters

Sentence Structure, and unique

Search engines may use a snippet from the page or mix and match that with the description.

If there’s no description, then they will take it from the page

The description is not part of the algorithm, but it is a call to action

SEO BasicsJust like each apartment community, content should be unique

Going in and updating the content to freshen it up / as things change is encouraged

Get the main entities (keywords) in the right / prominent places

Think about how people actually search and provide that content

SEO & Links

SEO & Links

ReviewEasy backlink checklist:

• Player Notoriety = Link Quality• Passing = Frequency• Team Reputation = Google's Dedication to Integrity

Case Study

NB: Google has recently devalued guest blogging from an SEO perspective, but it can still be useful

Case Study

NB: Must be relevant, editorially reviewed directories to have SEO benefit

Case Study

Case Study

Case Study

Case Study

Share Your Thoughts on This Session

How are we doing?

Mobile SEO

Late 2017 Google started moving to a “Mobile First” index.

Sites that excel at mobile will be those that prosper.

Mobile SEO

https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly

Mobile SEO

Mobile SEO

2/3OF THE ORGANIC TRAFFIC

TO <a certain website I work for> IS FROM

MOBILE DEVICES

Mobile SEO

Mobile SEO

Mobile SEO

2017 SEO Challenges

The Future of SEO

The Future of SEO

Image: seroundtable.com

The Future of SEO

https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights

The Future of SEO

https://www.webpagetest.org/

The Future of SEO

The Future of SEO

30% of web browsing sessions will be done without a screenGartner

50% of all searches will be voice searchesComscore

2020

The Future of SEO

The Future of SEO

Image: StoneTemple.com

The Future of SEO

Image: StoneTemple.com

Interest Graph – Hyper Personalization

The Future of SEO – AI

Closing Advice

• Write shareable, inclusive, unique content

• Build scalable, crawlable websites that are mobile-friendly

• Keep testing, keep researching, keep on top of changes

• Think about where search is going, and how your can site play into it

Simon Heseltine@SimonHeseltine

@AptsForRentSimon.Heseltine@ForRent.com

Contact Information

Michael Huereque@AgencyFifty3

Michael@AgencyFifty3.com