searchlove boston 2016 | rand fishkin | the measure of a marketer's worth
TRANSCRIPT
“A dream is nothing without action. Whether one fails or succeeds is irrelevant; all that matters is that there was motion in life. That alone affects the world.”
Mike Norton, White Mountain
Let’s Watch Some Basketball
2:48 – 5:22
Rand’s Fitbit Story
I Have Degenerative Disc Disease
Three Things Really Help Lessen My Daily Pain
#1: Walking #2: Back Exercises
#3: Losing Weight
I Assumed I Was Already Doing Plenty Of Them
I didn’t realize how much opportunity I had to
improve here and positively impact my health.
My First Few Days with Fitbit,I Realized I Wasn’t Nearly as Active as I Thought
Oh crap...
I Became Obsessed with Hitting My Targets Fast:
That’s better.
Tracking All These Have Made Me:
Healthier
Happier
In Less Pain
I’ve Had These Goals For Years
Tracking WORK, Not Just Progress, Made the Difference
Work
Progress
In Analytics,We Assume…
We Know the Right Inputs
+More Citations
More Links = #1!
We Know What Work Matters vs. Doesn’t
Don’t Bother Do It Every DayBlog Post CreationManual Link Outreach
Tweaking Facebook Ads New Facebook Posts
Asking for Yelp Reviews Follow Instagram Accounts
Focusing on Outcome Metrics vs. Inputs Will Bring Success
This is a great report, but it
tells me nothing about the work that went into
improving rankings.
What If We’re Wrong?
Goals of Analytics3
1) Reporting (aka measuring success & failure)
2) Diagnosing (aka finding what caused change)
3) Generating Targets (aka uncovering whichinputs are required to produce successful outcomes)
Via Moz & Hubspot’s 2015 Publishing Frequency Experiment
We’re good at #1 and #2We rarely talk about #3…
The Challenge With Generating Targets
Uncovering What Works is Hard
These elements might be well correlated with sites that tend to rank well, but that doesn’t mean they’re the best investments your site
can make?
Via Moz’s 2015 Google Ranking Factors
The Process of Experimentation, Failure, & Discovery is Rarely Embraced by Managers or Clients.
Via Rand’s Art of Product Marketing Presentation
We Need to Know What Works to Create Success
Via Groove’s Blog
Rather Than Just Measuringthe Output of Our Various Tasks
Via Moz’s 1Metric Content Tracking System
I think this may be the greatest analytics challenge facing marketers today.
It’s Not Just Software
It’s Not Just Numbers
It’s Not Just About Up-and-to-the-Right Graphs
Via Majestic’s Backlink History
It’s About Finding…the Work that Creates Improvement
It’s About Finding…Effective Targets that Impact
the Right Metrics
The Story of
Ikaria
What’s So SpecialAbout Ikaria?
Via NYTimes Magazine’s Piece on Ikaria
Diet
Exercise
Sleep
Rich Social Lives
The World’s Five Blue Zones Have These in Common:
Via National Geographic
Translating these longevity-promoting activities into measurable targets creates analytics that improve lifespan.
Via Fitbit’s Blog
Resting heart rate is a strong predictor of health & longevity. This is the work that correlates.
Via Cardiogr.am’s Blog
These lines show me the daily goal for WORK, not
just a goal for results.
This is what’s missing from our current approach to marketing analytics.
We ignore the inputs that create those results.
We measure the results.
Our Job:Find the Right Targets
What are the everyday actions that consistently improve your site’s metrics?
Regular Content Creation?
Establish metrics for content cadence, and
you’ll know the benefits of 1X/week vs.
1X/month.
Inconsistent, Higher-Effort Content?
Many times, one piece of extraordinary content every quarter or even
every year can be enough.
Via Rand’s List of 10X Content
Links & the Relationships Forged to Earn Links?
1-2 new relationships w/ influencers each
week might be key to your marketing efforts
New Citations and Brand Mentions?
Many times, a brand mention/citation are
enough (even without the link)
Via Fresh Web Explorer
Social Shares? Or Social Followers?
What actions earn social engagement? Are they worthwhile?
Via Followerwonk
Interacting in Online Communities?
A few replies a week, or each month, may have a
compounding impact
Mainstream or Niche Press Coverage?
Press outreach, or crafting a press-worthy story/event each month could be a worthwhile endeavor
Barnacle SEO?
Getting listed in the sites/pages that
already rank is often a huge needle-mover.
Reputation Management in Branded SERPs?
Searchers often investigate a brand
before making a purchase decision.
Optimizing your SERPs may be as
important (or more) than optimizing
your site.
More Keyword-Focused Pages?
A handful of keyword-focused pages could have a big, long term
impact.
More Broad Topic-Focused Pages?
Broader, topic-focused pages may be less-competitive and
bring positive, 2nd-order impacts.
Fixing Errors in Search Console?
Fixing, redirecting, and/or finding the linking sources to these may drive
additional rankings & traffic.
Optimization of Your Google My Business Page?
Via How to Fix a Google Business Summary by Eric Rohrback
Wrong info, reviews, or summary data might severely
impact your ability to rank in Google
Maps/Local results.
Optimization of Your Google My Business Page?
In fact, that’s happening to Love Mamak right now.
Physical Space Conversion Tests
Via Combine Web & In-Store Analytics for Improved Retail Performance
Inclusion in More Local Listing Sites?
Via Moz Local’s Citation Sources by City and by Category (and Google Search)
Comment Marketing?
See more in this WB Friday on Comment Marketing as an Inbound Tactic
Guest Content Contributions?
Via Time for Guest Blogging with a Purpose from Jen Lopez
Every Tactic Can Be Broken Down Into:The Work The Metrics The Goal(s)
Put up two Facebook
posts/weekFix any broken links
Pitch a guest contribution 1X/month
Participate in three discussion threads/week
FB shares, new page likes, traffic
Traffic increase
Acceptance of post, traffic driven
Traffic from discussion site
Grow reach on & through Facebook
Direct+search bump
Visibility to new audience, traffic
Brand awareness, branded search
The Classic Wayto Do Analytics:
Set Metrics to Monitor
Create Targets
Traffic will go up 30% this year!
Or I will jump on all of you!
Do Work You Think Will Reach Those Goals
OK…. I’ll buy some ads I guess.You guys… blog… or something.
Measure Improvement vs. Loss
Not good enough!
A Different Wayto Do Analytics:
Set Both Work Items & Metrics to Monitor
For the next 12 weeks,2 Facebook posts a week.
Uncover What Work Moves Which Metrics
Crap.That didn’t work. Let’s
try something different.
Measure the work against *work* targets, not just
metrics goals
That’s 177 broken links fixed. Just 81 left. You can do this, Mortimer. Breathe.
Double Down on Work that Improves the MetricsYou Care About Most
Oh damn! Those weekly discussion thread contributions are totally working!
Improve Your*Time to Goal Achievement*
I’m an unstoppable marketing force! Come at me, bro!
Some ToolsCan Help:
Some Alternatives:
Via Slant.co
Moz’s Success Stories
Do More Tweets = More Traffic? Or More Unfollows?
Does More Content = More Traffic?
Moz’s Blog Post | Hubspot’s Blog Post
Let’s Experiment
Let’s Find Our10,000 Steps
Let’s Measure Both Metric Goals and
the Workthat Improves Them.
