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Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz | @randfish | [email protected]
Why SEO That Used to Work FailsHow shifts in the search landscape, marketing channels, & user
behavior mean what used to work in SEO, doesn’t anymore.
bit.ly/whyseofails
Get the presentation:
#1Tactical SEO fails. Strategic
SEO works.
SEO as a Tactic:
Example: Rand’s new site offering dating advice to Jewish guys
I went on dates with four
different people from
1995-2001 (then I met
Geraldine).
I must be qualified!
I want to rank for
these keywords.
SEO as a Tactic:
Controlling
your nebbishy
nature
How to say no
to Mom’s
setup
attempts
What is this
‘sports’ thing?
How schlubby
is too
schlubby?
Keywords for Menschify.com
I want to grow our search
traffic by 33% this year.
SEO as a Tactic:
Why Doesn’t This Work? What
Changed?
The Ranking Algo Used to Feel Like This:
Keyword
Matching
Domain
Authority
Link
SignalsQDF Ranking+ + + =
Great. Just do that stuff on the
pages I told you to rank.
Now It Feels More Like This:
Keyword
Matching
Domain
Authority
Link
Signals
QDF
(& QDD)
Ranking
+ + + +
Uhhh…OK. So just do all that now, right?
Intent
Matching
Topical
Authority
Usage
Signals
User
Experience+ + + =
HTTPS,
Mobile,
+
We Used to Run Marketing
Channels as Distinct, Separate Silos
Organic
Search
Social
Media
Paid
SearchEmail
Brand
Marketing
Offline &
WoM
Onpage ChannelsQuality
Score
List Size &
QualitySentiment Virality
Offpage Following SpendOpen &
Click RateReach Distri-bution
Each Channel Contributed
Individually to the Whole
3XOrganic
Search
Social
Media
Paid
Search+ + =
Then, Some Marketers Realized the Benefits of
Channel Integration
6X=
Organic
Search
Social
Media
Paid
Search
This Integration Benefits from Two Trends
Search Social Offline Email Content WoM
#1: More web users consuming more of these in tandem:
#2: Many of these channels
directly & indirectly influencing
each other:
So What Does Strategic
SEO Look Like?
SEO As a Strategy:
Audience
Amplification
Funnel
We need to answer questions
about each of these to form a
coherent SEO strategy
Who is my target customer? And who will
eventually become a target customer?
Who/what influences my target customers?
Audience
What channels can I use to reach these
three audiences?
Funnel
Which parts of our marketing
funnel are right for SEO?
What problems, questions, or topics
do people have that align w/ our
goals?
How will we earn the visibility signals
necessary to compete?
Amplification
Why will those who see our work amplify us
rather than our competition?
SEO As a Strategy:
Audience
Amplification
Funnel
Once you nail these, the
tactical to-do list is much
easier to create (and much
more effective)
#2Building a well-SEO’d site may be
less valuable than building a
powerful brand.
2011:
I think that’s the only
one I’ve heard of…
2015:
Hmm… Pretty sure that’s 5 of
the 7 largest, best-known auto
insurers in the US?
2011:
I know Sunset, but none
of these others.
2015:
This is the only brand on
page one I don’t know.
Why? What Changed?
#1: Brands Got Serious About Investing in SEO
In years past, big brands
didn’t have in-house SEO
teams. Today, it’s a
standard.
#2: Brands Benefitted from Shifts in Google’s Algo
More Links = Higher
Rankings
Better Links =
Higher Rankings
Brand familiarity & UX
barely influence SEO
Usage signals mean brand & UX
are powerful influencers
Naïve KW matching
rewards KW-centric SEO
Topic & intent-matching reward
more holistic content
2015:2011:
These brand info drop-
downs suggest to me
Google’s deeply
interested in
highlighting brands in
their SERPs.
In many results, there’s
an eerie correlation
between high rankings
and sites that have the
brand drop-down.
Building a well-known brand may
soon be a prerequisite for ranking in
Google.
#3Choosing the right keywords is
much more complex than in the
past.
Old Keyword Prioritization Methodology
Term/Phrase Est. Volume Biz Value
What’s a Mensch
What to wear on a
first date
Sarmassophobia
Kosher date ideas
100/month
1,000/month
20/month
30/month
Low
Medium
Medium
High
Pri
2
1
5
3
Fear of dating 50/month Medium 4
Why doesn’t this work anymore?
What changed?
Even ranking #1 probably won’t
get the site many visits.
This SERP has a bias to
fresh content and an
image block that
probably gets a lot of the
traffic
It probably makes no sense to
target these queries separately
Opportunity seems higher and
competition lower than the
others keywords…
What Should Keyword Evaluation
Look Like in 2015?
New Keyword Prioritization Methodology
KW Volume Value
What’s a Mensch
What to wear on a
first date
Sarmassophobia
Kosher date ideas
100/mth
1,000/mth
20/mth
30/mth
Medium
Low
High
High
Pri
4
3
1
2
Fear of dating 50/mth High 1
Oppty FeaturesDiff
54%
47%
17%
50%
41%
Low
Medium
High
High
High
KG
Images
None
Forum Sitelinks
None
54%
47%
17%
50%
41%
New Keyword Prioritization Methodology
KW Volume Value
What’s a Mensch
What to wear on a
first date
Sarmassophobia
Kosher date ideas
100/mth
1,000/mth
20/mth
30/mth
Medium
Low
High
High
Pri
Fear of dating 50/mth High
Oppty FeaturesDiff
Low
Medium
High
High
High
KG
Images
None
Forum Sitelinks
None
These two should be targeted by
a single piece of content
4
3
1
2
1
4
3
1
2
1
54%
47%
17%
50%
41%
New Keyword Prioritization Methodology
KW Volume Value
What’s a Mensch
What to wear on a
first date
Sarmassophobia
Kosher date ideas
100/mth
1,000/mth
20/mth
30/mth
Medium
Low
High
High
Pri
Fear of dating 50/mth High
Oppty FeaturesDiff
Low
Medium
High
High
High
KG
Images
None
Forum Sitelinks
None
This may not even be a target at all given
the low opportunity for traffic
4
3
1
2
1
54%
47%
17%
50%
41%
New Keyword Prioritization Methodology
KW Volume Value
What’s a Mensch
What to wear on a
first date
Sarmassophobia
Kosher date ideas
100/mth
1,000/mth
20/mth
30/mth
Medium
Low
High
High
Pri
Fear of dating 50/mth High
Oppty FeaturesDiff
Low
Medium
High
High
High
KG
Images
None
Forum Sitelinks
None
The image block may be an easier target
for this query
Keyword Evaluation in 2015
Has to Be Broader to Be
Successful
Potential Reach
(volume)Intent Overlap
Opportunity
Business
Value
Verticals/
Features
Content
Requirements
Audience
Targeting
#4Earn links like a publicist, not
like a link builder.
Irony: If Anyone Can Get the Link,
No One Should
Google should really have
an answer box here
warning searchers
against using any of
these results
Same story here – chase links like this and
Google will make your life rough.
BTW – if you ever want to get around these annoying things, just use
Google’s “cache:url” command and hit “Text only”
Every One of These is Dangerous:
Article Marketing
Private Blog Networks
Article Directories
Link Directories
Web 2.0 Links
Article Spinners
Xrumer blasts
Link Wheels
Press Release Submissions
Link Pyramids Social Bookmark Links
Dofollow Comments
SENuke
Open Edu/Gov Links
Redirection links
When it comes to links, stay away from these
verbs and adjectives:
Manual High PR
BuySpin
Dofollow
Submit Blast
Multi-tier
Expired Domain
Inject
Separate C-block Private
It’s not just manipulative links – manual link
acquisition in general sucks
I’ve spent months
mastering link building, and
can get 2-3 good
links/day… why can’t I beat
the competition?!
Manual links can’t compete against a scalable flywheel
Do Amazing Stuff (content, product, press, events, etc)
Get attention from those
who can amplify to a
bigger audience
Grow your amplification abilities(social, blog, RSS, PR, authority from links, etc)
Earn more attention,
amplification, and growth
next time
Manual links can’t compete against a scalable flywheel
Do Amazing Stuff (content, product, press, events, etc)
Get attention from those
who can amplify to a
bigger audience
Grow your amplification abilities(social, blog, RSS, PR, authority from links, etc)
Earn more attention,
amplification, and growth
next time
So that’s
why…
Why can’t we “acquire” links? What
changed?
1997-2011: Link Spam was Google’s Problem
Via the Moz Blog
2012-Present: Link Spam is Our Problem
Via Marie Haynes
What kinds of links still work?
Link from a guest post by
Geraldine on MarieClaire.
The Ones You Earn
Link from an interview by
Mashable.
The Ones You Earn
Granted, the anchor text is a little
weird, but it’s still a great link!
The Ones You Earn
This Will Get You in Trouble:Crappy Links
Seek out
links to rank
better
Acquire
them
manually
Submit,
pay, beg,
trade, etc.+ + = Low Scalability
Risk of Penalties
This Will Get You the Right Links:
Do stuff
worthy of
attention
Earn
amplifi-
cation
Links come
in naturally+ + =
Traffic
Branding
Rankings
#5Nailing SEO might not produce
results w/o accompanying user &
usage signals.
Say you make some
great content, get some
great links, and rank
here.
But, the piece doesn’t engage
visitors (or it loads slow, or
doesn’t look right on their device).
They click “back” and choose a
different result.
Unbelievably, eHarmony ranks w/ this awful
page (10 signs? They only list 1!!)
But, searchers who click this
one engage with it, browse
more pages on the site, and
don’t repeat the query.
All that effort probably won’t help
you maintain those rankings (and
having a poor user experience
could hurt your whole site in the
engines’ eyes)
Why won’t I keep my rankings?
What changed?
Search engines call the click-back-
and-choose-a-different-result
behavior “pogo-sticking,” and they
use it in evaluating rankings.
Read more about
Yahoo!’s Patent Application here.
Read more about
Google’s patent application on usage data here.
Engines probably also use data
related to the visit frequency of
pages/sites, so getting traffic from
other sources and satisfying those
visitors might help your SEO, too.
Perfect
Keyword
Targeting
Domain
Authority
Loads of
LinksAnchor Text+ + + +
Great
Content
Excellent
UX
Lots of
Traffic
High
Engagement+ + +
Schema
Markup
Might Be Worse Than:
Perfect
Keyword
Targeting
Domain
Authority
Loads of
LinksAnchor Text+ + + +
Great
Content
Excellent
UX
Lots of
Traffic
High
Engagement+ + +
Schema
Markup
Might Be Worse Than:Smart players will invest in all of these.
#6SEO might no longer be a great way
to get early traction.
Bad biscuits make the
baker broke, bro.
Great Biscuits A Brand People Know,
Love, & ShareGreat Rankings
Great Biscuits A Brand People Know,
Love, & ShareGreat Rankings
The era of this formula being
reversible is disappearing fast.
