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01WORLD IA DAY 2016 PRESENTATION TITLE HERE
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, USA
JACKIE BURHANS
DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH & MARKETING
The most important thing I do at my agency is educate my clients about their visitors and help them
understand how user experience (UX) and content architecture is connected to conversions
EmpathyIn my 11 year career I have attempted to understand
my audience and engage them. The key has been empathy.
There are several tips here to apply this concept but what I hope you leave here inspired with a new
perspective on how to approach digital content.
The web is a utopia of information and ideas. I like to direct the infrastructure of that information. I like
getting people from point A (a search query) to point B (information). That’s possible today more than ever
That hasn’t always been the case.
I got into the industry in 2004.Much of the internet’s organization was figured out.
The internet used to be a mess.
The internet is like a library with no catalog where all the books get up and move themselves every night
Search engines made content accessible and organized. Google quickly became an industry leader,
dictating more so than anything else how content should be structured on the internet. This was
massively based on matching keywords in queries to keywords in content.
Businesses strategically researched keywords that their target audiences were searching on and placing
them into their websites in an effort to rank on search engines and drive traffic to their site.
• Don’t be evil
Google made sure businesses didn’t deceive search engines or users. If you played nice you could rank.
Content consumers demanded content creation and the internet saw an influx of content.
Blogging became a way for businesses to put out more content about more keywords and drove a lot of
traffic to their sites.
But the internet grew quickly and it got more and more difficult to find the information you were
looking for.
90% of the data in the world today has been created in the
last two years alone.There was a lot of noise. Search results were less and
less relevant as content exploded. Google wrote algorithms to identify content that was spammy to
find the most relevant content.
Google has made literally hundreds of updates to their algorithm every year in an effort to keep search
results relevant and useful to searchers.
QUALITY CONTENT
The most significant algorithm update for content architecture became known as Google Panda which weeded out low quality sites. As content architects we had to start being deliberate in the content we
created focusing on quality and uniqueness.
Several things happened• The amount of content on the internet skyrocketed
This worked for a long time. Marketers and copywriters could research keyword opportunities
and write copy that their audience was searching on. It was very straightforward.
But then, several things happened.
An explosion of connectivity
• More ways to connect to the internetThere were more ways to connect to the internet
Mobile searches skyrocketed
MOBILE searches skyrocketed• Mobile stats here
Subsequently, mobile searches skyrocketed and last year mobile searches surpassed desktop searches.
Time spent on social media increased greatly
Social media • New ay to consume media
As users were more connected to information, there was a demand to be
more connected to each other
User Generated Content
This led to an influx of user generated content. Users were contributing product information and driving the
conversation
Voice Search
Voice search• Natural language
Voice search introduced searches based on natural language. We speak differently than we type. So this
changed the game.
• We need to accommodate them.
Attention spans are dropping- if we don’t architect content how users want to consume it, they will move on.
So what does all this mean?
When the world became constantly connected to each other and to real time information, users
demanded a new way to access information (and even new information to access)
This shook up marketers. No one knew the future of SEO and success had been redefined. Everything we
knew about ranking was no longer accurate. Conferences are filled with marketers threatening
“SEO is dead”. I think in a sense that is correct.
Instead of optimizing for search engines, the power has shifted from content
creators, to content consumers. Accepting this is
the difference between surviving this industry shift
and not. This image is a great example of what is
happening. Previously we could pave the path for
users- pave it, make it wide enough for 2-way traffic, light it. But users are now
savvy enough and empowered enough to
create their own path. They will take the path they want. We need to accommodate them if we want to remain
relevant.
A complete algorithm refresh I said Google was leading the charge so let’s look at
how they responded. The “Hummingbird” algorithm update was a complete overhaul. Other changes were tweaking the algorithm. This one completely changed the game to accommodate natural language search.
Natural language searches are constructed differently.
Google Hummingbird knew how to understand search context. Let’s say you want to go to brunch
with your friends. If you sat down at your desktop and opened Google, you might type “best brunch
restaurant”. That’s a great keyword. Google can understand all of those words and as a marketer I can even create content about “best brunch restaurant”.
But when you ask “OK Google” or “Siri” you might say “where’s the best place to get brunch?” Google now
needed to understand that “place” means restaurant. Google can also understand where you are to provide geographically relevant results. And Google will scrape
review websites to find the best places rated for brunch. And, they’ll give you wait times.
This sums it up well (from Search Engine Land). Google is looking less at queries and more at understanding the context of search. From a
business’s standpoint and as a marketer, if you want to drive traffic, you need to change your approach.
This approach is also how Google populates the Knowledge graph.
• Knowledge graph
The knowledge graph contains snippets of information scrapped from the most reliable sources. This area was created for mobile users. The idea is to
provide mobile users with answers to their natural language searches without needing to navigate to a webpage. Often, this information takes up 100% or more of a mobile user’s screen. Organic results are
less relevant.
Much of this information is provided with mark up language that you can identify in the code of your
webpage. Schema.org is the resource for understanding this markup.
Search engines are getting better at identifying this information without markup so providing accurate,
valuable content is the best way to get into the knowledge graph.
So understanding the information your users want to access is key.
Empathy.
So, there is still a keyword component, we want to know the terminology our audience is using but its more about understanding
their behaviors. How they access information, from
what devices, where they are located, how much time do they
have to consume your information, what other information are they
exposed to, can they access the info you offer somewhere else more
conveniently? (because they will)
We must create value.
"Subscribers, fans, followers, leads and customers choose when and where to interact with your brand. They do not
differentiate between marketing departments and channels.”
-pr2020.com
So how do we structure information when Google keeps changing their algorithm and users keep consuming content differently but we still have
content we want exposure to?
Be thought leaders
It’s a played out buzz word, but we need to be thought leaders. The only brands that
will survive are the thought leaders. According to Google Panda we must be
relevant & valuable.
Make content Accessible
Make it responsive.Mobile accessibility is a
ranking factor along with engagement statistics like bounce rate. Google won’t
send users to a site with poor experience.
Marketers should always work with UX professionals
because our goals are aligned.
Design for mobile first and it will force you to ask tough
questions about what content is valuable.
Design it for them
Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course if you dig deeper, its really how it works.
“”
Design for your users. If you are creating web experiences and don’t have a ux professional
Don’t expect marketing conversions A good UX professional knows design and knows
marketing and knows your users. Tie user behavior to your aesthetics.
Provide the content they ask for
Hairstyle.com discovered that their users searched for and “pinned” on Pinterest things like “date hair” or
“wedding hair” so they created an entire new website around these content demands. They created
valuable content from user research as opposed to simply filling their site with these keywords.
Determine the data your audience needs on demand
Search engines are providing on demand information at the top of search results. Use
markup to communicate important on-demand information to search engines like product photos,
prices, reviews, author information etc. (schema.org)
Be where your audience is
Be on social media, Yelp, blogs. Not a single organic result for “best headphones” was a brand website. Its “pcmag” “tech radar” and “digital trends”. You will not
beat these sites organically so provide valuable content on your site for them to scrape and link to.
This includes any industry niche sites or publications that may be relevant to your brand.
Make it easily sharable
Your users want to share. Make it easy. Let them be your brand ambassadors.
Let’s Meet Diane
Let’s get in our audience’s shoes:Diane wants to cook dinner for her
family. She will have many digital touch points to do so.
Diane might Google recipes. In this example you see markup on the
recipes – the cook times, the reviews, the photos, the yield information is all markup. This provides dynamic search results with higher click through rates (schema.org)
She might use voice search to find a grocery store. She might ask Google to “Navigate to natural grocery
store”. To be relevant to this search your physical address must be up to date on your Google page, on
your website, on review sites like Yelp.
Diane might price check on her phone at the store. This means being where your audience wants you to
be. If she is price checking on an app, your brand information better be accessible and correct on the app. Check apps and industry tools for your brand.
Diane might user her iPad while cooking. If you want her to use your site for her recipe, you must
understand her limited ability to interact with your site while she cooks. It should be responsive. It should be easy to navigate from one step to the
next while she cooks. She may be flustered or multi-tasking. Make it easy for her. Consider what
she is doing when she is accessing content. Empathy.
Diane may review the products she buys based on her family’s reaction to her meal. If she can do that directly on your site, you can own that content and that conversation and provide support wither responses or additional content on your site. If
she can’t do it on your site, she will go elsewhere to do it and you won’t have control, but Google will index that content with your brand name so searchers will find it.
Its important to provide methods for user generated content.Don’t let others dictate your brands conversation.
She might want to talk about it on social media. Let her. Make it easy. Let her be your brand ambassador.
Digital content is now a part of every aspect of our audience’s
lives so anything irrelevant won’t be tolerated
Unsolicited pushed messages are just noise on the vast open air of
the internet
We aren’t simply selling brands. We’re architecting the internet of information, cultivating thought,
catalyzing ideas. We have a responsibility to provide value.
And Google will make sure you do.
If you forget everything I said
The internet isn’t just a marketplace. Its communities, its connections.
Empathy
Understand your user.