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SEO in 2013, 2023, and 2033: The more things change… Barry Adams March 2023

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2013

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SEO in 2013 • Post-Panda SEO; ➢ Thin & low quality content wasn’t rewarded ➢ ‘Great content’ started to make sense • Penguin in full swing; ➢ Targeting link schemes & unnatural links ➢ Penalises keyword stuffing & over-optimisation • Hummingbird update confirmed in Sept 2013; ➢ Full query text considered for rankings ➢ From ‘keywords’ to ‘topics’ • Knowledge Graph in its infancy; ➢ Early stages with limited SERP impact

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SEO in 2013 • Post-Panda SEO; ➢ Thin & low quality content wasn’t rewarded ➢ ‘Great content’ started to make sense • Penguin in full swing; ➢ Targeting link schemes & unnatural links ➢ Penalises keyword stuffing & over-optimisation • Hummingbird update confirmed in Sept 2013; ➢ Full query text considered for rankings ➢ From ‘keywords’ to ‘topics’ • Knowledge Graph in its infancy; ➢ Early stages with limited SERP impact Business as usual (more or less)

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2015: RankBrain

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RankBrain • Enables relevant SERPs for unfamiliar queries • First time Google uses Machine Learning in search; ➢ Reluctantly • It opened the door for what came in 2018…

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Amit Singhal

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John Giannandrea Amit Singhal

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2018: The first ‘core algorithm update’?

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2018–now: The era of ‘Core Algorithm Updates’ • Machine Learning is increasingly driving SERP rankings; ➢ Less reliance on manually crafted ranking factors ➢ BERT & MUM are ML systems working on SERPs • Every core update is an improved ML model; ➢ Constant training on feedback provided by human quality raters • ML can do what manual ranking algorithms can’t; ➢ Deal with the insane chaos that is the World Wide Web

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But what about? ✓ Mobile-first Indexing ✓ HTTPS ✓ Core Web Vitals

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But what about? ✓ Mobile-first Indexing ✓ HTTPS ✓ Core Web Vitals Social Engineering Updates Intended to change WWW behaviours Mostly irrelevant to the bigger picture

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Google 2013-2023: Three Key Trends 1. Machine Learning & AI; ➢ Moving away from manual factors

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2023

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Ads Local pack People also ask Organic results Related searches Knowledge graph Related entities

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SERP Features

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Google 2013-2023: Three Key Trends 1. Machine Learning & AI; ➢ Moving away from manual factors 2. SERP Features; ➢ Increased diversity in ranking types

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SERP Features & Knowledge Graph

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Knowledge Graph Arnold Schwarzenegger Bodybuilding Terminator films Governor of California Maria Shriver Ronnie Coleman

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Knowledge Graph

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Knowledge Graph • Topical Authority • Authorship • E-E-A-T Expressions of the Knowledge Graph

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Knowledge Graph • Underpins most Google SERP features • Enables Google to understand entities & relationships • Empowered by Structured Data • Critical aspect of Google search quality

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Google 2013-2023: Three Key Trends 1. Machine Learning & AI; ➢ Moving away from manual factors 2. SERP Features; ➢ Increased diversity in ranking types 3. Knowledge Graph; ➢ Not keywords, but entities & relationships

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Generative AI

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ChatGPT / Bard = LLM • Large Language Models • Basically predictive text on steroids

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LLM’s key problem

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LLM’s key problem Industrial Grade Bullshit Generators

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The solution..?

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The solution

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Knowledge Graph The solution

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Search in 2033..? 1. Machine Learning & AI; ➢ Black box systems 2. SERP Features; ➢ Powered by AI and KG 3. Knowledge Graph; ➢ Entities & relationships, accuracy

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2013

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2023

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2033?

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Insane* Predictions • Conversational search; ➢ Not queries, but conversations • Predictive search; ➢ Your device will give you the answer before you ask • Headless websites; ➢ No front-end, just data for search engines *Probably, maybe

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Thank You [email protected] @badams /in/barryadams/