How and why to use SERP data for more than just SEO

A presentation I gave at the Tokyo Digital Marketers Event on April 11, 2024.

Transcript

1. Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
2. The basics of SEO and SERP data Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
3. Search as the largest traffic source Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber >60% 80-90% Majority of web traffic comes from search Majority of search traffic comes from Google
4. Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber Rapid growth in SEO investment https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/product/seo-search-engine-optimization-market/
5. Keywords Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber 15% Of searches are new queries Informational Commercial Navigational Transactional
6. Search Volume is demand data Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber “How many people search for a keyword in a month”
7. Search Volume data sources Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber Google Keyword Planner Clickstream
8. SERPs Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
9. Old School SERPs (“Ten blue links”) Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
10. Modern SERPs Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
12. Daily layout changes on Google SERPs Paid Content • Position (order of items) • Product Name • Price • URL • Pixel Data Organic Results • Organic Position • Visual Position • Title • Meta Description • Product URL • Pixel Data Popular Products • Position (order of items) • Product Name • Price • URL • Pixel Data
13. Google Search Console Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
14. GSC metrics show a basic view of the “search funnel” Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber Avg. Position (Max traffic potential) Impressions (depends on Avg. Pos.) Clicks CTR (clicks / impressions)
15. CTR Data Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
16. Planning search traffic Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber Basic formula: Keyword SV * CTR at rank = Predicted traffic from search
17. Rank tracking Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber Why track rankings? • GSC data is limited • Competitive views • Third-party confirmation • Keyword research • Market research • Reporting
18. Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber Up Down 23 12 Rank tracking vs. SERP monitoring
19. Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber Rank tracking vs. SERP monitoring
20. What vs. why KPIs Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber What? • Impressions • Clicks • CTR • Rank • Organic Traffic Why? • Pixel depth • Visual rank • Zero-click • Layout change • Visual SoV • SERP Features
21. Impacts: • Fold visibility • CTR • Clicks / Sessions • Conversions • Revenue 600+ distinct elements across the SERPs Paid Content • Pixel depth: 120px • Pixel height: 320px • Visual position: 1 • Nested position: 2 Organic Result • Pixel depth: 440px • Pixel height: 330px • Visual position: 3 • Title changed
22. Search is a behavior primitive Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
23. SEO is more than just SEO Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
24. Analytics is getting much harder Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber • GA4: 󰗭 • Third-party cookies: 󰗞 • Ad blockers: 🔥(~40% of US users) [1] • Very few companies have good analytics set up due to complexity [1]:https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/subscription-creep-costs-us-consumers-more-th an-1000-a-year-cnet-survey-finds/
25. Pre- vs. Post- click analytics Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber Pre-click (SERP data) • Pixel depth • Rank • Visual rank • Market landscape • SERP Features • Competitors (Easy) Post-click (website data) • Cookie settings • Ad blockers & privacy laws • GA4… • Tag issues • ERP integration • CRM integration (Hard)
26. User search behavior is evolving quickly (especially in younger generations) Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
27. “Alphabet’s disappointing ad revenue numbers suggest that corporations worldwide are still uncertain about the pace of interest rate cuts from global central banks.” - Thomas Monteiro, analyst, Investing.com (January 30, 2024) https:/ /www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/googleparent-alphabet-reports-quarterly-revenue-above-estimates-3287428 Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber Google is having a hard time
28. Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber “Edge of indexing”: Google wants to crawl less https://www.demandsphere.com/blog/the-impact-of -compute-on-content-and-seo-in-both-directions/
29. Turning data into intelligence Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
30. Most “BI” is NOT intelligence Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
31. Intelligence has a lifecycle and includes action Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
32. Intelligence lifecycles Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber Review and plan Allow for some time after the campaign to ensure that data is vetted. Review successes and failures, establish regression baselines, and plan next phase. Execute campaign Create new content, optimize existing content, work on digital PR, etc. This execution phase should be tied to achieving strategic and operational goals Define monitoring Hone research data set into campaign and group-focused segments, which can be prioritized for action Define strategic goals Intelligence lifecycles are derived from strategic vision and initiatives Research opportunities Initial SERP and search volume focused analysis of competitive and market landscape 01 05 04 03 02
33. Intelligence requires action Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
34. Most SEO problems are corporate strategy problems Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
35. Increasing adoption of SEO data across disciplines Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber Complexity increases Developer • APIs • Data lakes SEO Analyst • SERP data • Crawl data • GSC • GA • Exploration Content Team • Content & topics • Content performance • Visibility trends Product • Technical • SERP rankings • Indexation • PAA + Knowledge Graph Executive / Reporting • Permissions • Dashboards • Speed of answers • Forecasting • Predictive Performance Team • Ad data • Hotel Ads • Shopping • Google for Jobs • etc.
36. Focus on data-driven operations Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
37. AI is changing everything Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
38. Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber AI content explosion + technical issues affecting crawls https://www.demandsphere.com/blog/the-impact-of -compute-on-content-and-seo-in-both-directions/
39. Prepare for SGE: Scraper Analysis 81% 44% SGE appearance SGE auto-expand 83% Links included 82% Follow-up prompts 679 Avg. pixel height (Desktop) 211 Min pixel height (Desktop) 2,090 Max pixel height (Desktop) 23% Google “content marketing” Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
40. Adapt to increasing Zero-Click landscape Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber
41. AI content strategy will require unique data and human review Custom Knowledge Graph Prompt Engineering Retrieval Augmented Generation (ProseVector Engine) Content Publishing
42. Thank you! Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber Follow us at x.com/demandsphere Connect with me at linkedin.com/in/raygrieselhuber ray@demandsphere.com