Rand Fishkin – How to Survive Google's Trojan Horsing of the Web (Turing Fest 2017)

Transcript

1. Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz | @randfish | rand@moz.com How to Survive Google’s Trojan Horsing of the Web
2. What Has Google Been Up To?
3. Breaking Into Job Listings
4. Breaking Into Reservations
5. Breaking Into Cultural Content
6. Disintermediating Lists
7. Penalizing vs. Ignoring Spam
8. Facing their 1st Real Threat in Years
9. Losing their First Big Case vs. the EU
10. Facing Potential Regulation of Results in Canada
11. Paying Professors to Have Their Back
12. But Google is Still the Unquestionable Behemoth
13. Where Do People Search?
14. Breakdown of Searches on Major Web Properties (October 2016)
15. Breakdown of Searches on Major Web Properties (May 2017)
16. Google Core Oct 2016 May 2017 Google Images Yahoo Bing Google Maps Amazon Facebook Gained/Lost 58.9% 27.7% 2.6% 2.3% 2.2% 1.9% 0.7% YouTube 3.8% 64.8% 21.8% 2.4% 2.4% 1.2% 2.3% 1.5% 3.6% +5.9 -5.9 -0.2 +0.1 -1.0 +0.4 +0.8 -0.2
17. Google Core Oct 2016 May 2017 Google Images Yahoo Bing Google Maps Amazon Facebook Gained/Lost 58.9% 27.7% 2.6% 2.3% 2.2% 1.9% 0.7% YouTube 3.8% 64.8% 21.8% 2.4% 2.4% 1.2% 2.3% 1.5% 3.6% +5.9 -5.9 -0.2 +0.1 -1.0 +0.4 +0.8 -0.2 We think this is Halloween
18. Google Core Oct 2016 May 2017 Google Images Yahoo Bing Google Maps Amazon Facebook Gained/Lost 58.9% 27.7% 2.6% 2.3% 2.2% 1.9% 0.7% YouTube 3.8% 64.8% 21.8% 2.4% 2.4% 1.2% 2.3% 1.5% 3.6% +5.9 -5.9 -0.2 +0.1 -1.0 +0.4 +0.8 -0.2 This is compensated for by a rise in web search clicks to local results
19. Google Core Oct 2016 May 2017 Google Images Yahoo Bing Google Maps Amazon Facebook Gained/Lost 58.9% 27.7% 2.6% 2.3% 2.2% 1.9% 0.7% YouTube 3.8% 64.8% 21.8% 2.4% 2.4% 1.2% 2.3% 1.5% 3.6% +5.9 -5.9 -0.2 +0.1 -1.0 +0.4 +0.8 -0.2 I’m keeping an eye on these two
20. Google’s Growth So far, 2017 is trending ~10-15% higher than 2016, not including voice or Apple devices
21. Total Searchers vs. Active Searchers United States Canada United Kingdom Average Searches/ Month % of Searchers w/ 10+ Searches/Month 103-119 120-139 120-135 ~39% ~40% ~41%
22. Google CTR Breakdown Relatively flat excluding seasonality = SEO not being cannibalized by Google’s own results
23. What are the Web’s Top Traffic Referrers?
24. Google.com Oct 2016 May 2017 Facebook.com Reddit.com YouTube.com Imgur.com Bing.com Wikipedia.org Gained/Lost 59.2% 6.5% 5.4% 4.5% 2.2% 2.2% 1.4% Yahoo.com 6.0% 62.6% 5.9% 4.1% 4.7% 1.5% 2.1% 1.4% 5.0% +3.4% -0.6% -1.3% +0.2% -0.6% -0.1% +0% -1.0% Amazon.com 1.3% 1.4% +0.1%
25. Google.com Oct 2016 May 2017 Facebook.com Reddit.com YouTube.com Imgur.com Bing.com Wikipedia.org Gained/Lost 59.2% 6.5% 5.4% 4.5% 2.2% 2.2% 1.4% Yahoo.com 6.0% 62.6% 5.9% 4.1% 4.7% 1.5% 2.1% 1.4% 5.0% +3.4% -0.6% -1.3% +0.2% -0.6% -0.1% +0% -1.0% Amazon.com 1.3% 1.4% +0.1% This is when Reddit stopped using Imgur for all its image hosting
26. Google.com Oct 2016 May 2017 Facebook.com Reddit.com YouTube.com Imgur.com Bing.com Wikipedia.org Gained/Lost 59.2% 6.5% 5.4% 4.5% 2.2% 2.2% 1.4% Yahoo.com 6.0% 62.6% 5.9% 4.1% 4.7% 1.5% 2.1% 1.4% 5.0% +3.4% -0.6% -1.3% +0.2% -0.6% -0.1% +0% -1.0% Amazon.com 1.3% 1.4% +0.1% In 7 months, Google gained more share than all but the top 5 even have ☹
27. Top 10 11-100 101-1K 1K-10K 10K+ Google 22.2% 14.9% 18.0% 18.7% 26.2% Facebook 42.7% 17.7% 15.3% 12.9% 11.3% Yahoo 39.2% 15.8% 15.6% 14.0% 15.4% Reddit 75.2% 11.0% 7.2% 4.4% 2.2% Youtube 80.1% 7.2% 5.4% 4.1% 3.2% Not All Referrers Send Traffic Equally (data below from May 2017)
28. Top 10 11-100 101-1K 1K-10K 10K+ Google 22.2% 14.9% 18.0% 18.7% 26.2% Facebook 42.7% 17.7% 15.3% 12.9% 11.3% Yahoo 39.2% 15.8% 15.6% 14.0% 15.4% Reddit 75.2% 11.0% 7.2% 4.4% 2.2% Youtube 80.1% 7.2% 5.4% 4.1% 3.2% Not All Referrers Send Traffic Equally (data below from May 2017) Google distributes traffic pretty evenly
29. Top 10 11-100 101-1K 1K-10K 10K+ Google 22.2% 14.9% 18.0% 18.7% 26.2% Facebook 42.7% 17.7% 15.3% 12.9% 11.3% Yahoo 39.2% 15.8% 15.6% 14.0% 15.4% Reddit 75.2% 11.0% 7.2% 4.4% 2.2% Youtube 80.1% 7.2% 5.4% 4.1% 3.2% Not All Referrers Send Traffic Equally (data below from May 2017) Facebook is strongly biased to the top
30. Top 10 11-100 101-1K 1K-10K 10K+ Google 22.2% 14.9% 18.0% 18.7% 26.2% Facebook 42.7% 17.7% 15.3% 12.9% 11.3% Yahoo 39.2% 15.8% 15.6% 14.0% 15.4% Reddit 75.2% 11.0% 7.2% 4.4% 2.2% Youtube 80.1% 7.2% 5.4% 4.1% 3.2% Not All Referrers Send Traffic Equally (data below from May 2017) Reddit & YouTube even more so
31. Web Marketers Live in Google’s World…
32. And That’s Becoming More Dangerous
33. This is Celebrity Net Worth’s Story…
35. Via TheOutline
36. DICK MOVE!
37. Here’s Google Trojan Horsing…
38. Local Events Eventbrite and Meetup… Huh. Via TheVerge
39. Job Listings Via Techcrunch Something tells me this will not go well for them…
40. Weather
41. Sports Seems like a fair deal…
42. The Model’s Pretty Consistent
43. Google: “Do a great job answering the searcher’s query & we’ll rank you high*” *Unless we have our own results; then we get to be first.
44. Google: “Structure data like this & we’ll make your listings more visible!” Via Google
45. Google: “These results are best for our users. (They fell for it again!)” NBC has, BTW, put the proper video markup on their pages.
46. Site Operators Face a Prisoner’s Dilemma
47. Give Google Your Content…
48. …and risk Google using your data to build a feature that kills your traffic
49. Or, Hold back your unique value…
50. …And risk a competitor benefiting from Google’s opportunities instead
51. Fear Isn’t the Only Thing Stopping Publishers
52. Some Queries Deserve More than a Simple Answer (even if that’s what searchers want)
53. e.g. Climate change searches Via Quartz
54. e.g. Politically-charged content
55. e.g. Dangerously incomplete answers
56. e.g. Misleading “instant solutions” I do have some feedback; this sucks! It’s incomplete, wrong, & frustratingly reductive.
57. This is what a mortgage calculator should do:
58. What’s the Solution?
59. The 5-Part Path: An SEO strategy that segments searcher intent Content strategy that prioritizes complex tasks Business goals that synch w/ your SEO+content A traffic strategy that diversifies sources Incorporation of Google’s future into your plans 1 2 3 4 5
60. Measured by: Traffic Driven Examples in Action: How some sites avoid the dangerous dance with Google’s devilish proposition
61. Index.co
62. Segmenting Searcher Intent
63. Redfin
64. Prioritizing Complex Tasks
66. Eater
67. Diversifying Traffic Sources
69. Shutterstock
70. Synching Business Goals w/ SEO + Content
71. TheMuse
72. Incorporating Google’s Future In Your Plans
73. 10 Tactical Tips to Thrive in Google’s World
74. #1: Prioritize buckets of KWs w/ complex task completion requirements These are easy to answer. Google could do it with a snippet or a voice answer.
75. #1: Prioritize buckets of KWs w/ complex task completion requirements But underwater zombies? That’s a query that demands more attention.
76. #2: Serve “instant answer” content while simultaneously enticing the click “and heck…” what? I must know!
77. #3: Invest in content Google either can’t show in SERPs or that builds your brand when they do Even if Google launches their own Lyft competitor, being included here builds Lyft’s brands & customers in the meantime.
78. Interactive content is deviously hard to steal in a SERP, & immensely valuable to those who are seeking to solve this problem. Via LetsCrunchIt
79. #4: Make your internal search + nav as good or better than Google’s path
80. This should scare the $#%^ out of Eater
81. Memeorandum offers a navigational UX that Google can’t truly compete against
82. By serving conscious & unconscious needs, Etsy provides a UX that Google can’t compete with
83. #5: Drive visitors to owned, subscription channels For as long as Google offers ways to drive traffic to your site (vs. host content with them), we’ll take it!
84. No matter what channel you use to broadcast or distribute, make sure the traffic always goes back to a domain & UX you own+control
85. #6: Leverage RLSA to outrank Google for the searchers who matter most
86. #7: Bias search suggest in your favor through linguistic branding
87. Hat tip to Gianluca Fiorelli for spotting this campaign & its influence on search suggest + related
88. #8: Use influencer marketing to become the brand searchers recognize
89. Mainstream Foodies Fancy- Pants Types Sous Vide Aficionados Paleo Foodies Relevant Locavores
91. #9: Innovate at the problem-level vs. the solution-level (b/c Google does the reverse) Google solves this query at the solution level
92. You want a high % of visitors to come away from your experience thinking: Why would I ever Google ___________ when ___________ solves this problem so completely and elegantly? search query your site
93. Dribbble solves it at the problem level
94. Before your audience needs a solution, they have a problem. Beat Google to the punch. Be there for the problem’s discovery.
95. Solution Level Problem Level
96. Solution Level Problem Level
97. #10: If Google’s already in your space, find what they fail to deliver & double-down Fine for a quick answer, but lacks depth…
98. What are all those deeper, next questions folks have AFTER they search for weather? Wunderground knows, and nails ‘em.
100. Measured by: Traffic Driven Don’t Just Fight Off the Dragon…
101. Measured by: Traffic Driven Make it bring you to the skies.
102. Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz | @randfish | rand@moz.com You Got This!