Jon Wuebben - Optimizing Content in a World Never Ending Algorithm Changes

Search Love San Diego 2014

Transcript

1. Optimizing Content in a World of Never Ending Algorithm Changes Jon Wuebben, CEO
2. Fundamentals • Google makes over 600 changes to its algorithm in a year ! • Vast majority of these are not announced ! • When Google makes a big change, they give it a name * Panda algorithm * Penguin algorithm * Hummingbird algorithm 2
3. Ensuring Great Rankings • Create content that answers users queries! ! • Don’t just try to rank for a particular keyword. ! • Google's goal: encourage webmasters to publish content that’s best of its kind & to deliver answers to people who are searching. • Lost rank? Google has lost trust in your site's quality, either on-site quality or the legitimacy of backlinks. ! • Fix the quality issues to regain the algorithm's trust and see improvements. 3
4. Checklist for High Quality Content *
 • Would you trust the information presented in this article? ! • Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow? ! • Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations? ! • Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers or does the site generate content by guessing what might rank well in search engines? ! • Does the article provide original content or information, reporting, research, or analysis? 4 (From blog post by Google Employee Amit Singhal)
5. …Continued…. • Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results? ! • Does the article describe both sides of a story? ! • Is the site a recognized authority on its topic? ! • Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites? 5
6. Panda – Launched 2/23/11 • Purpose: try to show high-quality sites higher in search results and demote sites that may be of lower quality. ! • Many called it the "Farmer" update as it seemed to affect content farms *(sites that aggregate information from many sources, often stealing that information from other sites) 6
7. Penguin - Launched 4/24/12 • Goal: Reduce the trust that Google has in sites that have cheated by creating unnatural backlinks in order to gain an advantage in results. ! • Also impacted “Anchor text” (text underlined in a link) ! • SEO’s manipulated the hell out of anchor text 7
8. Anchor Text Example • Landscaping company in Orlando ! • Cheating: Create a bunch of self made links & use anchor text in links that contain phrases like Orlando Landscaping Company, Landscapers in Orlando & Orlando Landscaping. ! • Pre-Penguin: Creating links from low quality sites was effective. (directory listings, self made articles, and links in comments and forum posts) ! • Post-Penguin: Not so much ! • Penguin algorithm is Google putting a "trust factor" on your links. 8
9. Hummingbird – 9/26/13 • Completely different from Penguin or Panda. ! • Was a total overhaul of the entire Google algorithm ! • Panda & Penguin – new engine part (filter or fuel pump) ! • Hummingbird wasn't a new part; it was a completely new engine. ! • Goal: for Google to better understand a user's query. • And for Google's voice search to be more effective. *Typing a search query: "best Seattle SEO company” * Speaking a query: “Which firm in Seattle offers the best SEO services? ! • Point of Hummingbird: better understand what users mean when they have queries like this. 9
10. Content Tactics 10
11. Goal: Start Title With Keyword • Most important on-page SEO factor ! • Moz.com study: pages that started title with a keyword ranked higher than pages with the keyword in the middle or at the end 11
12. Add Search Love Bling with Multimedia • Text can only take your content so far ! • Engaging images, videos & diagrams reduce bounce rate & increase time on site ! • These are 2 user interaction-based Google ranking factors ! • Increases perceived value of your content: people more likely to link to it. 12
13. Add Modifiers To Your Title • Adding modifiers like “2014”, “best”, “guide”, and “review” can help you rank for long tail versions of your target keyword. ! • Great trick to wrangle in those long tail searchers that use 5-9 words per search ! • These modifiers aren’t targeting any particular long tail keyword. 13
14. Post Long Content • Adage “length is strength” supported by a SERPIQ.com industry study ! • Found that longer content ranked significantly higher in Google. ! • Aim for at least 1500 words when targeting competitive keywords. ! • Brings in more long tail traffic 14
15. Sprinkle LSI Keywords (Latent Semantic Indexing) • Synonyms that Google uses to determine a page’s relevancy (and possibly quality) ! • Long content makes it likely that you’ll naturally include LSI keywords in your content ! • Search for your keyword in Google and scroll down to the “Searches Related to…” area at the bottom 15
16. What Quality Content Can Do
 ! • Repeat visitors ! • Chrome bookmarks ! • Time on site ! • “Dwell” time *Measures how long a searcher stays on your page before hitting the back button. ! *Increase dwell time by writing long, engaging content that keeps people reading. ! *Shows Google you gave them something of value while there 16
17. 17 Ranking Factor Weighting
18. What is Your Reward? (From Rand Fishkin) • Have the best opportunity to rank highly in Google and Bing ! • Earn traffic from social networks like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ ! • Be worthy of links & shares from across web ! • Build your brand's perception, trust, and potential to convert visitors 18
19. “Uniquely Valuable” Content (Rand Fishkin) • An optimized page doesn't just provide unique content, but unique value. ! • Unique content: those words don't appear anywhere else on the web. ! • Unique value: usefulness & takeaways derived by visitors to the page. ! • Many pages can be "valuable," but few provide a truly unique kind of value ! • Put yourself in the minds of potential visitors; imagine a page that provides something so different & functional, it rises above everything else in its field. ! • Result? More social shares, links, bigger branding impact, and better ranking signals. 19
20. Examples • “The Baby Name Wizard” ! • “How Much Does a Website Cost” ! • “Scale of the Universe” ! • “The Best Instant Noodles of All Time” ! • “Top Social Networks by Users” 20
22. Other Important To Do’s • Focus each piece of content on 1 keyword phrase. • Include the keyword in the content title. ! • Add the keyword to the content’s URL ! • Use your keyword in first 50 words • Link to credible outside sources • Create your content for human beings ! • Optimize images & video ! • Eliminate duplicate content 22
23. Prepare 12–Month Content Plan • Creating content on a whim when inspired is not viable for the long term. ! • 12-month content calendar allows for planning content around: *Holidays & Company milestones & Events *Variations in team workload and resource availability ! • Can include information needed for proper content optimization: *Ideas for SEO-friendly titles *Suggested links *Blog category and tags *Meta keywords and meta descriptions *Sample social media posts ! •Becomes much easier to publish content successfully, on time, and with appropriate optimization. 23
24. Questions? 24
25. Contact Me • (909) 437-7015 mobile ! • jon@contentlaunch.com ! • Twitter: @jonwuebben 25