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Welcome to the Our Kids’ Marke5ng Academy. Today we’ll be discussing Google’s New Algorithm, what it is, how to deal with it, and where SEO is going this year.
The Marke5ng Academy has been developed to provide you with: 5ps, tools, insights and recommenda5ons to help you navigate this new digital marke5ng world. You’ll be able to walk away with ideas you can implement right away.
Many of the camps and programs here today are exis5ng OUR KIDS members and are seeing the benefits of being involved with highly ranked websites like ourkids.net and camps.ca. Leads from OUR KIDS are highly targeted and pre-‐qualified, ready to connect with you and register their kids. If you would like to add your programs to the OUR KIDS ad network and start genera5ng more exposure and leads, please contact us today. A review of our membership package and tes5monials from exis5ng members is available at www.ourkidsmedia.com/adver0se.
My name is Kimberley Fowler, and I’m the content coordinator with Our Kids Media. I have Jus5n and Jordan here with me today, they are our Editorial Assistants and they’ll be helping me answer your ques5ons as well as monitoring TwiSer throughout the presenta5on today.
For those that may be aSending their first webinar, you’ll no5ce the dashboard to the right of your screen has an area where you can ask ques5ons, so at any point, please feel free to jump in with ques5ons or comments and we’ll try our best to answer them. If we don’t get to your ques5on during the webinar we’ll follow up with you via email. The presenta5on will be available on the marke5ng academy website in a few days. If you’re on twiSer, be sure to join the discussion at @mktgacademy or follow the hashtag: #mktgacademy.
Let’s get started!
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If you have a website then you should be considering your Search Engine Op5miza5on (also known as SEO). SEO is a fast paced field – it is constantly changing, which is why it’s important for you to stay on top of Google’s Algorithm changes, which reflect how users are conduc5ng online searches and how Google is ranking websites to appear at the top of a search.
Hummingbird is the most recent Google change. Today we’ll look at:
What is Hummingbird? Your to-‐do list: harnessing Hummingbird Guesses on SEO best prac5ces moving forward Summary Addi5onal Resources
And again, if you have any ques5ons, please type them into the ques5on box and we’ll do our best to answer them.
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So, what is Hummingbird?
Google tradi5onally names algorithm changes a_er animals. Previous changes include Penguin, Panda and now the most recent change -‐ Hummingbird.
The new Hummingbird algorithm has been in development for over 10 years. It launched in August of 2013.
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Hummingbird is a whole new search algorithm that has affected 90% of Google’s search.
The new algorithm favours “long tail” search – sentences rather than just a couple of words.
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Hummingbird works well for voice search and suits users of mobile devices.
It is focused on the intent of a search.
This is a step towards Google providing answers rather than search results.
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Low ranking websites won’t feel much of an effect from Hummingbird.
It is very helpful with quick, informa5ve SERPS (SERP = search engine results page)
This is Google’s biggest update since 2001 because it affects 90% of users
It is the first step in Google’s implementa5on of their knowledge graph – a long term goal for Google to change the way their search works.
It focuses on seman5c (intent) rather than keyword search
Mobile users will appreciate this change the most – it caters to mobile users and mobile searches
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Why the focus on mobile? 63% of adult cell owners now use their phone to go online.
34% of those adults prefer to go online with their phones than with other electronic devices.
Understanding Hummingbird means you need to shi_ your focus from keyword search to a user-‐intent search (what is the user’s end goal?)
Hummingbird responds to quality content, so as this infographic sugges5ons, you want to create helpful content that keeps mobile users in mind, make it easy to find answers to ques5ons and worry less about your links.
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Here is an example of the new Hummingbird algorithm recognizing context rather than simply iden5fying keywords.
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Hummingbird tries to answer your ques5on instead of having you con5nue your search elsewhere.
The panels on the right that display informa5on are part of Google’s new “Knowledge Graph” ini5a5ve, and work hand-‐in-‐hand with Hummingbird to ensure genng informa5on is quicker, easier, and more precise than ever before.
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People are no longer searching with keywords as o_en as they use conversa5onal queries, especially mobile and voice search users. Conversa5onal queries are longer, ques5on-‐type of searches. Examples include “how to”, “where is the nearest”. Google’s algorithm is genng complicated – it can’t simply rely on keywords only to determine the best search results. Now the algorithm is bringing in numerous conversa5onal requests to determine the user’s intent and combining that with general terms it perceives to represent your website. This conversa5onal query is being sorted into three types of queries.
Informa5onal 1. The user wonders “how old is Camp Olympia?” 2. Google determines the user is looking for general informa5on about Camp
Olympia 3. The user will find that informa5on in Camp Olympia’s About Us page
Naviga5onal 1. The user looks for “What is the official website of the OCA” 2. The user wants to get to the OCA website 3. The user needs results for OCA and Ontario Camping Associa5on
Ques5on – why are users asking for something so specific (like “what is the official website of the OCA”), rather than typing in “OCA”?
Answer – because they don’t want to search through so many results, which may include references to OCA (like Our Kids). They know they want to go to that specific website, and so they are indica5ng to Google they are looking for a specific site rather than a term. This is a clue to Google that users are wan5ng faster answers through more specific search results, which is what Hummingbird is trying to accomplish.
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It is also important to use synonyms for the theme of your website as an added cue to Google about what your site is about and the themes covered (horseback riding camp, equestrian camp)
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Some of Google’s recent changes have really affected sites that over-‐use backlinks, or have backlinks that are spammy, commercial and not relevant to the content.
You need to clean this up – do an inventory of your site’s internal and external links and only include links if: 1. The link is useful to the user 2. The link is to a legi5mate site that will help Google understand what your website
is about.
For example, if you are a camp and you link to a report about camp by a university, this is an important link to include, but may confuse Google about what your website is about, even though you are linking to a useful and legi5mate university site. In this example you can s5ll include the link, but make it “no follow”. The “no follow” html code is shown here.
On the other hand, if you are a camp you should link to OurKids as well as your provincial camping associa5on – these are useful links because of the close contextual connec5on and the usefulness to the user. These are legi5mate sites that help Google understand what your website is about (since you are an OURKIDS member, or a camp in your province). In these cases you can include the link as you normally would.
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Op5mize anchor texts for relevant keywords for internal and external links. Internal anchor text links to another page within your site. External anchor text links to another page outside of your site. Use keywords in the anchor texts themselves Surround links with keywords and their synonyms
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Use a variety of anchor text so that Google doesn’t pick up on you trying to op5mize for one specific keyword. It should be natural. Examples include: www.ourkids.net OUR KIDS Click here Camp Guide This website
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Google’s ver5cal search engines are simply other online products and include Google Images, Google News, Google +, Google + Local (reviews), Google Places as well as YouTube and social media channels like Facebook, TwiSer, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, etc... As a way of encouraging people to use Google’s other services they have 5ed the search algorithm to these areas as well as 5ed the search algorithm to social websites because of their popularity, giving an advantage to websites that use these ver5cal engines in their web search.
Universal search gives you the opportunity to: a) Outrank compe5tors when cracking the “organic” top 10 seems really difficult b) Drive more traffic to your site by using addi5onal channels
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Get ac5ve on these other channels Op5mize your images for Google images, Make videos and op5mize them for
YouTube
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Search Engines prefer content rather than link building
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1. Link building is out and content is in. This isn’t exactly a revela5on for most search marketers, but it's a trend that will only grow more important in 2014. Google Hummingbird put the proverbial nail-‐in-‐the-‐coffin for link farms and link networks who once earned high page ranks. A_er a series of updates designed to penalize black hat SEO, Hummingbird is the most sophis5cated yet at detec5ng bad link paSerns and reward authen5c value. In 2014, the most effec5ve way to impress Google is crea5ng original, relevant, quality content. That’s not to say links are en5rely useless. Links from related sites, especially authorita5ve sites, will certainly boost rank. But your compelling, shareable content should be what inspires links. “A good SEO is a non-‐SEO,” Art Enke said, Director of SEO at Ver5cal Measure.
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You want high quality webpages, that provide a good user experience. Your bounce rate is an indicator that your page is not delivering:
“People who’ve been doing things like looking at their bounce rate on a page and trying to match the people who bounced to what they searched are missing the forest for the trees in my opinion,” said Halasz, “It’s not the specific keyword they used, it’s what they were looking for on that page. Did the page deliver? Clearly not since they bounced. So what could be beSer about the page? Or your informa5on architecture overall?”
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Search today is about so much more than ranking keywords. Especially since Google has officially made all of it’s keyword data “(not provided),” a keyword-‐centric SEO strategy won’t cut it. New school SEO is page-‐centric. “Make pages the center of your SEO world,” said Jim Yu of Search Engine Watch. Focus on designing pages for op5mum user experience, including quality content; measure traffic, conversions, and revenue at a page level.
Empty pages – dele5ng old pages with minimal content will strengthen your overall results. If you Google any term, then look at the pages displayed on the last pages of the search, these will be websites and web pages that are of poor quality.
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As we’ve discussed, Google’s algorithm is now equipped to respond conversa5onal queries and understand meaning of search in context.
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Keywords no longer rule SEO and content crea5on, instead the actual everyday language people use to find something on the web is the most important to Google. Cater content and site descrip5on for seman5c search.
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As the mobile market con5nues to grow in 2014, so will the importance of a mobile SEO strategy.
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Mobile use is already huge: 91% of American adults own a mobile phone 56% of American adults own a smart phone 63% of mobile phone owners use their phones to access the Internet Amazon, Wikipedia, and Facebook all see about 20% of mobile traffic 77% of mobile searches take place at home or at work
If brands want people to find them on the growing mobile market, op5mizing websites for mobile and tablets is an absolute must. Going forward, brands need to design their digital offerings for mobile first and the big screen last. Companies are losing poten5al customers if they don’t realize the importance of mobile in mee5ng consumer demand.
Note: Mobile websites can be responsive websites that respond to mobile users, or they can be separate websites that are designed specifically for a mobile user.
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Officially, MaS CuSs heads Google’s web spam figh5ng team. Unofficially, he’s Google’s chief debunker. If someone seems to be talking crazy about Google, MaS may turn up with a polite clarifica5on. When does MaS react? This is a guide from Search Engine Land…
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Any ques5ons? Email me….
Thank you for joining me for this webinar. Remember the slides will be available online at www.ourkidsmedia.com/marke5ng
We also offer a number of other webinars….
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It was great hos5ng you today, and I hope you can join us for our future sessions! Please visit www.ourkidsmedia.com/marke5ng/camp and be sure to sign up for our upcoming webinars.
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