Enterprise SEO and AIHumans Mess Things Up. Bots Can Help.

Presented by:

Experience:

• 10+ Years of Experience in In-House SEO

• Previous Employers: AMD, HomeAway, BDX, SpareFoot, Dell, seoClarity

• Appearances: Pubcon, Clarity, SFIMA, CrossForum, Search Talk Live, SEJ ThinkTank

• Follow: @keithgoode

Name: Keith Goode

Position: SEO Manager, Systems, IBM

Presented by:

CYA:

• I’m not here as a representative of IBM. I’m here as an SEO professional

• I am not revealing any non-public, IBM-specific details in this presentation

Name: Keith Goode

Position: SEO Manager, Systems, IBM

TriviaA Brief History of Humanity’s Boons and Blunders

The Library of Alexandria

• Constructed in the 3rd

Century B.C. under Ptolemy I Soter(successor to Alexander the Great)

• Most important library in the ancient world

• Major center of scholarship

• Existed for over 800 years

The Library of Alexandria

• Burned/Destroyed 4 Times• Julius Caesar (48 B.C.)

• Emperor Aurelian (c. 270 A.D.)

• Coptic Pope Theophilus (391 A.D.)

• Caliph Omar (642 A.D.)

• Sedition or blasphemy were the reasons

Nuclear Fission

• A very dense source of energy

• Millions of times more energy dense than fossil fuels

• Most common type of nuclear reactor

• Discovered by Otto Hahn and his assistant Fritz Strassman

• December 17, 1938

Nuclear Fission

• Nuclear fission became the atom bomb (Manhattan Project)

• Dropped on two Japanese cities

• Hiroshima – August 6, 1945

• Nagasaki – August 9, 1945

• At least 129,000 people killed

Computers

• Powered our space program

• Exponential advances toward greater computational ability

• They’re smaller, faster and sleeker than ever

• They expose us to more and more risk…

Rich Skrenta

• Cofounder of • DMOZ

• Topix LLC

• Blekko

• Invented the first computer virus• Elk Cloner - 1982

• Targeted Apple IIe’s

• First widespread, self-replicating virus

The Internet

• Unlimited access to the world’s information

• Access for all

• No boundaries to knowledge

“limitless information and total connectivity will make us wiser, less bigoted and kinder”

Truth #1: Godwin’s Law

"As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler

approaches 1."

Truth #2: Marketers Ruin Everything

SEO Copywriting

Keywords:

• Fort Lauderdale vacation rentals

• Fort Lauderdale accommodations

• Fort Lauderdale hotels

• Fort Lauderdale condo rentals

• Fort Lauderdale beach house

SEO Copy:

Title:

Keyword 1, Keyword 2 | Sitename

On-page copy:

Fort Lauderdale vacation rentals are the perfect Fort Lauderdale accommodations. Rather than expensive Fort Lauderdale hotels, try one of our Fort Lauderdale condo rentals or Fort Lauderdale beach house rentals instead.

It’s War!The History of Google’s Long War with Spam

Google’s Long History of Algo Changes

The Google Intermediaries

Google’s Frontal Assault

Image credit: Teeraphol Ambhai

Google’s Dilemma

• We cannot write algorithms for each task we want to accomplish separately

• We need to write general algorithms that learnfrom observations

• Enter A.I. – RankBrain and TensorFlow

• Read more from Jeff Dean’s keynote, “Large Scale Deep Learning”

Google’s Rate of Change Accelerating

14

15

16

AI

Robopocalypse!A.I. – Will This Kill SEO … Again?

Self Aware A.I.

• EMH – Emergency Medical Hologram

• Away Mission Team Attacked

• Corporeal Crew Immobilized

• The Doctor Commands Shuttle to Navigate to Voyager at Maximum Impulse

• Technology Commanding Technology

• Star Trek Voyager

• Episode 11, Season 5

• “The Latent Image”

Crewless Ship

• Enterprise is Outfitted with Latest Computer

• Computer can Navigate and Pilot the Ship

• Minimal Crew Necessary

• War Games with Other Ships

• Things Go Wrong

• Many Redshirts Die

• Star Trek TOS

• Episode 24, Season 2

• “The Ultimate Computer”

A.I. Still in Clumsy Toddler Stage

Like a toddler:

• Requires adult (human) supervision

• Relies heavily on teaching (data input)

• Needs adult (human) instruction

• GIGO – Garbage In/Garbage Out

• In the grand scheme of things, it’s amazing

However, unlike a toddler, A.I. has:

• no innate curiosity

• no appreciation of beauty

• no sense of humor

Watson Oncology

Criticisms

• Gives doctors suggestions for

treatments already given by

humans

• Potential to devolve into

“algorithmic bias” based on

geography, race, etc.

• Requires lots of data entry

• Not the “silver bullet” people want

“If you can’t tolerate critics, don’t do

anything new or interesting.”

– Jeff Bezos

Enterprise-D Had a Teenage Driver

Plus, Bots Can’t Connect Emotionally

Engage!How Enterprises Are Working Within the New Paradigm

Enterprises Focused on a Better Roadmap

1. Architecture Issues

2. Indexing Issues

3. Audience and Market Size evaluation (Topic development)

4. Audience segmentation (Topic management)

5. Content Mapping

6. Content Optimization

7. Links (External, Internal & Social)

Usability

Relevance

Authority

A.K.A. “The Three C’s” – Crawlability, Content, Credibility

Rethinking KeywordsS

earc

h V

olu

me

Query Length

Head and Body Terms: Sweet Spot

for Keyword Research

Traditional Long-Tail

Conversational Queries

Head Terms: Laptops

Body Terms: 15 inch

laptops

Long-Tail Terms: 15

inch gaming laptop with

64GB memory

Conversational

Queries: What is the

best gaming laptop for

Modern Warfare?

Now With Voice SearchS

earc

h V

olu

me

Head and Body Terms: Sweet Spot

for Keyword Research

Traditional Long-Tail

Conversational Queries

Head Terms: Who sells

Laptops?

Body Terms: Where

can I buy a 15 inch

laptop?

Long-Tail Terms: 15

inch gaming laptop with

64GB memory

Conversational

Queries: What is the

best gaming laptop for

Modern Warfare?

Query LengthSpecificity

RankBrain Cures Your Keyword Obsession

• You don’t have to obsess over every iteration of a keyword/phrase

• In some cases, you don’t even have to use the exact keyword to be relevant*

• Now you can write like you mean it

*No. Seriously. Use the keyword. Don’t depend on outlier situations.

Focus on Topics, not Keywords

Who Are Your Customers? What is their Journey?S

ea

rch

Vo

lum

e

Specificity

Awareness Consideration DecisionPost-

Purchase

Does Google prefer

articles over

products?

What is this guy

doing well that I

can emulate?

Verbatims and Sales Feedback

Competitive Gap Analyses

Who Competes with You?

• Market competitors may not compete with you in natural search

• Your biggest market competitors may be terrible at SEO

• Your real competition may not even be on your radar

Wisdom of the Crowds

Might be branded

terms that you

can’t possibly

rank for

Very likely that

these are

keywords you

should be

interested in

pursuing

Keywords You

Rank For

Keywords Competitor B Ranks For

Keywords Competitor A Ranks For

The SEO Prime DirectiveEnabling the Humanity of the Internet

Back to the Beginning

Google’s Original Intent

1

4

1

5

1

6

A

I

Google’s Original Intent

“to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful”

Content is King?

• No. The User is King … or Borg Queen

• Content is the Royal Advisor

• IF your products or services align to their needs, your content should align to their search methodology

Shift Your Organization

• Democratize SEO in your Enterprise

• Adopt a User-First Approach to Everything

• Yes: Adopt Best Practices

• No: Don’t Focus on the Latest Tricks

• Focus on the Experience, Not the Engines

Executive Buy-in and Prioritization

SEO is a Symphony of Effort

Thank you!Connect with me at @keithgoode