Semantic SearchAugust 19th, 2014

Semantic Technology & Business ConferenceSan Jose Convention Center

Bill SlawskiBarbara Starr

English & Law degrees, former court admin

Web Promotion & SEO since 1996

Director of Search Marketing at Go Fish Digital

Writes about the latest search patents/papers at SEO by the Sea

Twitter: @bill_slawski

Bill Slawski

“Getting Information about Search and SEO Directly from the Search Engines”

We are narratives; stories that we tell ourselves and others…

Manassas Battlefield Park - The tree line hasn’t changed in 150 years at this Virginia Civil War site

Stonewall’s Stand (or Retreat?)

There stands Jackson, like a (damned?) stone wall ~ Brigade General Bee

A nickname was born

…meaning to a big field and a copse of trees, as in the first major battle of the American Civil War, in Manassas, Virginia.

…mystery, as Jackson either stood there like a stonewall not relieving troops, or stood there like a stonewall, unflappable.

He was known as Stonewall Jackson after this battle.

A story can add…

Adding a Semantic Layer to the Web adds to the stories that sites tell, and the experiences that we have with them.

In 2005, the way I was doing SEO changed when I decided to make a page as much about Baltimore as I possibly could…..

SEO with Meaning

<title>Baltimore’s Black History</title> <h1>Black History in Baltimore</h1> Alt=“A Historical Black College in Baltimore” <p>Baltimore has long had a rich

multicultural history.</p>

Previously: SEO with Strings

To help people learn about the City of Baltimore

To attract people to Baltimore, visit hotels and restaurants, and to hold conferences there

To share information about events so people could attend

Site Purpose

An 8’6” tall monument to Billie Holiday (Lafayette and Pennsylvania avenues)

Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church Coppin State University Morgan State University Frederick Douglass Thurgood Marshal Thomas R. Smith

SEO About Things

Baltimore 2014

Site URL Structure Site Information Architecture Use of Keywords on Pages Site Speed Issues Use of Canonical URLs Many More

SEO Audit Parts

In addition to SEO audits for clients, we often do audits for them focusing upon entities that appear on a site or should ideally show up there.

SEO to Entities

We want to know what waits behind the tree line

What Entities Appear on the Site How the site appears in

(Snippet/Sitelinks/Knowledge Panel/OneBox) for company name/domain name

Related Entities Emerging (New) Entities Unrelated Entities (same/similar name) on

the Web Knowledge Base Listings

Entity Audits

What Entities Appear on a Site?

Finding and disambiguating references to entities on web pages (June 10, 2014)

Assigning Types to Entities

Entity type assignment (June 28, 2011)

What Movie does Robert Duvall love the Smell of Napalm in the Morning in?

Actor: Robert DuvallKnown for: “…love the smell of napalm in

the morning”Is A: MovieShow Results from Apocalypse Now

Identifying entities using search results (July 8, 2014)

Entities in Search Results

Entities in Google Searches

Entities in Bing Searches

Entities in Queries – Implied Site Search

Top 4 Results from spaceneedle.com

Query rewriting with entity detection (August 12, 2014)

Entities In Queries

(The first 15 results are from seobythesea.com)

Entities In Knowledge Panels

Google anticipates what otherthings people search for, & mayinclude them in a knowledge panel.

Consider creating pages for those follow-up queries…

“We can use the Knowledge Graph to answer questions you never thought to ask and help you discover more.” ~ http://www.google.com/insidesearch/features/search/knowledge.html

Showing Related Entities

Related Entities (September 12, 2013)

Sentiment in Reviews of Entities

Aspect-based sentiment summarization, August 5, 2014)

Phrases in the reviews that express sentiment about a particular aspect are identified. Reviewable aspects of the entity are also identified.

The reviewable aspects include static aspects that are specific to particular types of entities and dynamic aspects that are extracted from the reviews of a specific entity instance.

Entities Transform

Torpedoes become Art

Check Their References

Emerging Entities

Discovering Emerging Entities with Ambiguous Names (April 2014)

Out of Knowledge Base Entities

Mentions become Entities

Entities may be identified in sources such as news articles, where thoseEntities are new or not well known, and can be added to knowledge bases. Anticipate this discovery.

One way to Anticipate New Entities

Surprise is Sometimes a Strategy

Entity Audit Example

This site is very light on Information about its location.

Find Entities on Site

Find Entity Attributes

Investigate Related Entities

And More Related Entities

And More Related Entities

Use Search Results to Research

Look Up Business/Domain Name

The Business name only returns 2 Sitelinks; the domain nameReturns 6 site links. Do people search for the domain name at all?

Look at Knowledge Panel Results

Investigate Anomalies

Is it an apartment complex or a hotel?

Entity Type Confusion Here

Remove all The “Hotel” Listings?

Focus on the Business Model Better (Apartments or Hotel?)

Aid in Content Creation Aid in Site Organization (Information Architecture

& Navigation) Frequently Asked Questions Topics (Where are

nearby Schools/Daycare?) Understand Other Potential Benefits and Problems

(Transportation and Metro Benefits)

Research Entities

Entity Confusion Resolved – Hotel Listings to be removed.

More Location information to be added (big selling point.)

Metro Elevator makes DC area very accessible – to be shown!

Need a FAQ for things like School and Daycare information

Quiet about Pool & other attributes of the apartments – will be added.

Audit Results