the evolution of seo - 2014 and beyond
DESCRIPTION
The world of SEO as we know it is drastically changing. The rise of content marketing, the new consumer decision journey, and Google's ever-evolving landscape are changing the way we think about search, social, content, and consumers. Check out this look forward into the future of SEO and content marketing.TRANSCRIPT
SEO EVOLUTION 2014 @iacquire
HISTORY: LAST 36-MONTHS Laying the Foundation
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36-Months of History
• Panda & Penguin
• Webmaster Notifications • EMD & QDF Updates
• The Knowledge Graph • Hyper Localization
• Mobile Optimization
• Google Now
• Google+ & +1 • Authorship & In-Depth Articles
• Schema and Rich Snippets • Big Data & Tools
• (not provided) • PageRank Death
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Let’s Talk Business First
THE SEO PROFESSIONAL The Evolving Role of
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4 Types of SEO Professionals
• Local SEO • Mobile SEO • Video SEO • Social SEO
• CMS & Hosting • Page Speed • Asset Optimization (images, videos, code)
• Markup Implementation • Code and Content Implementation
• Content Strategy Full • Content & Meta Management • SEO Copywriting • Content Navigation • Asset Optimization (images, videos, pdf)
• Business Case • Governance • Measurement • Project Management • Content Strategy Lite • Tactical Strategy SEO
Strategist
Content
SEO
SEO
Specialist
Technical
SEO
via iAcquire Research
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4 Types of Business Professionals
• Departmental Individual Contributor
• Vendor Management
• Department Management • Vendor Management • Resources Champion • Communication Champion
• Acquisition & Retention Strategy
• Voice and Tone • Channels & Tactics • Budgeting • In vs. Outsourcing
• Market Share • Acquisition & Retention • Trajectory • Market Perception
Ideal (C-Level & VP)
Strategic (VP & Director)
Tactical (Contributor)
Organ-
izational (Manager)
via iAcquire Research
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Maturity in The Organization
Ideal Strategic Organizational Tactical SEO Strategist 30% 40% 30% Content SEO 10% 30% 20% 40% Technical SEO 50% 50% SEO Specialist 20% 20% 60%
an iAcquire Guideline
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SEO Market Opportunity
Small Biz SME Large Biz Agency Consultant SEO Strategist 2 3 8 9 9 Content SEO 5 7 7 10 9 Technical SEO 1 2 6 8 8 SEO Specialist 5 7 8 6 8
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10
10-Point Scale
an iAcquire Guideline
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Market Selection is Key to Success
ORGANIC SEARCH AS A MARKETING CHANNEL
Organic Search Matures
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The Old Consumer Decision Journey
Elias Lewis (Advertising Agency Hall of Famer) invented this model (AIDA) in 1898.
via Wikipedia
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The New Consumer Decision Journey
via Google ZMOT 2012
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ZMOT Study Says Search Most Pervasive
via Google ZMOT 2012
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Historically Prevalent Thinking:
“SEO Is Something You Do to Your Website After You Build It, or
Redesign it.”
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SEO As a Tactic (Historically)
Engagement (Channels)
Earned Media Paid Media Owned Media
Content Management
Creation Integration
Content Strategy
Voice and Tone Governance Content Plan Measurement Plan
Market Research
Audience Decision Journey Competition
Image by iAcquire
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Current & Future Thinking:
“Organic Search is a Channel That Touches Every Marketing Medium.”
Engagement (Channels)
Earned Media Paid Media Owned Media
Content Management
Creation Integration
Content Strategy
Voice and Tone Governance Content Plan Measurement Plan
Market Research
Audience Decision Journey Competition
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Organic Search As a Channel (Future)
Image by iAcquire
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CMO’s Are Getting Smarter About Channel Integration, But SEO’s Have to Push the Agenda!
RISE OF PEOPLE PAGERANK Are Links The Only Way?
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Read a Quote Time
Within search results, information tied to verified online profiles will be ranked higher than content without such verification, which will result in most users naturally clicking on the top (verified) results. The true cost of remaining anonymous, then, might be irrelevance.
– The New Digital Age by Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google
“ “
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Google AgentRank
http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220110289095%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20110289095&RS=DN/20110289095
Particular embodiments implement techniques for computing agent ranks on the basis of a corpus of content signed by those agents, where the corpus optionally contains explicit links among documents and signed content. The agent ranks can optionally also be calculated relative to search terms or categories of search terms. For example, search terms (or structured collections of search terms, i.e., queries) can be classified into topics, e.g., sports or medical specialties, and an agent can have a different rank with respect to each topic.
“ “
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Google Has The Best Category System
h"ps://developers.google.com/adwords/api/docs/appendix/productsservices
• Over 2,400 categories (5 levels deep)
• Replaces old school systems like SIC/NAICS
• Built for the web
• Future of authorship may align to Google categories
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Google AgentRank
Agent Rank =???
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How Is AgentRank Calculated?
Courtesy of Mike Arnesen
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Matt Cutts Told Us to Expect To See Agent Rank This Year, and Also Reduction of Authors in SERP’s.
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Authorship In Flux
Via Moz Cast data
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Cutts’ IS Following Through
JANUARY 2014 IACQUIRE AUTHORSHIP STUDY
More about AuthoRship
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An iAcquire Study (January 2014)
• Top 70,000 Digital Publications (blogs, magazines, news sites)
• Analysis includes 250-10,000 of last posts (ex: iAcquire Blog ranked 37,651 – we analyzed 250 pages, 8,949 for economist.com)
• Presence of G+ on page
• Presence of Twitter handle on page
• MOZ Domain Authority
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An iAcquire Study (January 2014)
Usage of Google Authorship • Usage (across all sites) = 16.37% • Usage (across top 500) = 37.8% • Usage (across top 2,500) = 24.8%
Posts with Google Authorship Markup • Unweighted average % of posts with markup = 82.31%
Usage of Twitter Handle • Usage (across all sites) = 22.43% • Usage (across top 500) = 50.2% • Usage (across top 2,500) = 37.84%
Domain Authority of Top 500 • Sites Using Authorship = 85.30 • Sites Not Using Authorship = 83.03
Image by iAcquire
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Authenticated Digital Signatures Are Superior To Links. Google is moving from Strings to Things.
THE KNOWLEDGE GRAPH More About Strings to THings
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Current Knowledge Graph • Movies & Shows • People • Places • Answers • Images • Weather • Nutritional Info • Medical Info • Comparisons • Flights • Autos • Census Data
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Future Knowledge Graph? • Recipes
• Mortgage Rates
• Colleges (EDU)
• Computer &
Cell Reviews/Specs * They have experimented with some of these already.
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Affiliates That Rely on Public Data (Like EDU, Auto, Travel, Etc.) Are in Trouble Long Term.
REVIEWS MIGHT FINALLY MATTER Reviews Are Getting Attention
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Reviews Haven’t Mattered Much
10%
via MOZ 2013 Local Ranking Factors
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Google Places (Reviews) – Newly Launched
Yelp Superpages / DEX Urban Spoon Yellow Pages
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Reviews Will Matter More In 2014
30%
MOZ Local Ranking Factors 2014???
MOBILE & THE FUTURE Mobile Changed The World
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Mobile Makes The Google Dream Real
Modality
• Touch
• Voice
• Sight “a par&cular mode in which something exists or is experienced or expressed.”
Context
• Time of Day
• LocaRon
• History
“the circumstances that form the se9ng for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed.”
Intent
• Keyword Intent
• EnRty Type
• Network “the thing that you plan to do or achieve : an aim or purpose.”
Building The Star Trek Computer A favorite line by Amit Singhal, SVP/Google
OTHER PREDICTIONS
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Rapid Fire Stuff
• “Content marketing” titles will be the fastest growing title in digital.
• “Inbound marketing” will lose some steam. Earned media and content marketing will gain nomenclature market share.
• “Audience segmentation” and “content strategy” will be the CMO’s two hottest buzzwords of 2014.
• Google will make Zagat more like Yelp! for deeper restaurant SERP integration. • Broad knowledge will kill cheap/ineffective/dangerous SEO tactics.
THE END Joe Griffin co-CEO iAcquire www.iacquire.com @iacquire @joegriffin