Where should I be focusing my SEO strategy for the next year? What emerging factors will help me get ahead of my competition? What threats could hinder my success? Knowing the answer to questions like these is the difference between growing your business and going out of business. You need reliable research and data to inform those decisions. That's why we released our first State of SEO Report - and you can get a front row seat as we break down our industry SWOT analysis based on 2,800+ responses from SEO professionals worldwide. Watch this special Search Engine Journal webinar to learn how SEO changes over the past year can guide strategy and what opportunities and threats you need to know about. You’ll walk away with ideas on: Where to focus your efforts right now based on the most successful areas of digital marketing. How to navigate the two biggest threats to SEO. Ways to outpace your competitors using successful emerging factors. Bonus: We’ll take a super quick look at client budgets for all our agencies out there. Join Shelley Walsh, Special Projects Editor at Search Engine Journal, as she walks you through ways to spot new opportunities, stay ahead of your competition, and grow your business.

2. 25 years creative & business experience.
11 years online marketing experience.
5 decades of life experience.
@theshelleywalsh

3. @theshelleywalsh
In May 2021, we surveyed
2,830 SEO professionals:
1,233 B2B SEO
951 B2C SEO
875 Agency
872 In-house brand
465 Their own
website
366 Freelance
@theshelleywalsh

4. @theshelleywalsh
We are going to look at:
What you should already be doing
What you should start doing

5. @theshelleywalsh
POLL:
What data you would like to see in a survey?
Local SEO
Ecommerce SEO
Marketplace SEO
Paid search

6. @theshelleywalsh
First, the
good news

7. @theshelleywalsh
In spite of pandemic uncertainty, client budgets have increased
Increased a lot
Increased a
little
Stayed the same
Decreased a little
Decreased a lot
Was cut completely
11.6%
38.9%
23.8%
10.3%
5.5%
3.8%

8. @theshelleywalsh
Clients finally get that SEO is essential to their success
It’s an essential part of marketing
Everyone does it, so we have to do it
It’s unnecessary, but we have budget to
We don’t see the value, but convince us
Don’t know
38.6%
27.7%
12.1%
15.1%
3.7%

9. @theshelleywalsh
In the face of world chaos and the collapse of civilization,
results from SEO are more successful
A lot more successful
More successful
About the same
Less successful
17.9%
46.6%
22.3%
7.3%
3.6% A lot less successful

10. @theshelleywalsh
What you should
be doing

11. @theshelleywalsh
From the last 12 months,
what do you think had the
most impact for ranking?
On-page elements
Organic user behavior
Depth & accuracy of content
Structured data
Content freshness
Mobile friendly
Brand awareness
Topic relevance
Links
Site speed
Internal linking
Domain authority
Site security
E-A-T
Social Signals
32.8%
30.9%
24.6%
21.1%
19.0%
17.9%
17.8%
17.5%
17.4%
13.8%
13.7%
12.4%
11.9%
9.4%
7.1%
Q

12. @theshelleywalsh
Ensure your basics are in perfect order:
On-page meta data is fully optimized
Content answers the user intent
Link out to credible sources (if necessary)
Site pages load quickly
Build your brand online
Site is optimized for mobile
Optimize internal linking

13. @theshelleywalsh
Google zero click pages
38.7%
Google updates
35.1%
Machine learning
28.4%
Third-party cookies
22.9%
Messaging platforms
21.3%
Offline brand awareness
17.8%
Government regulation
16.7%
GPT-3
16.1%
Apps
14.1%
Site security
13.7%
Email marketing
12.7%
Don’t think there are any
4.9%
In the next two years, what
will be the biggest threat
to SEO?
Q

14. @theshelleywalsh
73.8%
Think Google is a threat
Just under three-quarters
Source: SparkToro
38.7% Google zero click SERP
35.1% Google updates
@theshelleywalsh

15. @theshelleywalsh
Think like Google
No: How can I game the system?
Yes: How can I best help my audience?

16. @theshelleywalsh
Volatile,
Tulip Mania
Berkshire Hathaway
or Sustainable?

17. @theshelleywalsh
Summary
Apply best practices on all the top ranking factors
- it’s a sum of many parts
Work with Google, not against them - it’s a
symbiotic relationship of mutual benefit
Leverage zero click SERPs by claiming featured
snippets and rich results

18. @theshelleywalsh
What you should
start doing

19. @theshelleywalsh
POLL
What do you think is the most important emergent factors?
Core web vitals
Structured data
E-A-T
Machine learning

20. @theshelleywalsh
Core Web Vitals
36.6%
Structured data
25.4%
E-A-T
24.9%
Machine learning
23.9%
Voice Search
22.8%
Mobile SEO
Site security
SERP features
Video search
Google passages
Don’t think there will be any
1.8%
13.2%
13.2%
13.9%
14.6%
14.8%
20.9%
19.1%
18.2%
Google Discover
Automation (tools)
Knowledge graph
In the next two years, what
will be the most important
emergent factors in SEO?
Q

21. @theshelleywalsh
36.5%
Core Web Vitals
Over a third
@theshelleywalsh

22. @theshelleywalsh
Google confirmed Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor
“It is a ranking factor, and it’s more than a tie-breaker, but it
also doesn’t replace relevance … As an SEO, a part of your role
is to take all of the possible optimizations and figure out which
ones are worth spending time on.”
John Mu

23. @theshelleywalsh
Core Web Vitals underlines what
Google wants to achieve...
User Experience
Source: Peter Morville
@theshelleywalsh

24. @theshelleywalsh
Get your Core Web Vitals in perfect technical order
Meet the following needs on the page:
Desirable
Credible
Accessible
Findable
Usable
Useful
Chase the user and not the algorithm.

25. @theshelleywalsh
“Google increasingly uses structured
data to understand a site’s content and
present better web results to users.”
Google Chrome Developers
25.4%
Structured data
A quarter
@theshelleywalsh

26. @theshelleywalsh
Stand Out on Google
Search Using Structured
Data and Search Analytics
35%
The Food Network
Increase of
@theshelleywalsh

27. @theshelleywalsh
“A knowledge graph is a cross between
an encyclopedia and a database. Each
article is called an “Entity” ... or a “Topic”.
Dixon Jones Source: Bill Slawski
14.6%
Knowledge graph
Only
@theshelleywalsh

28. @theshelleywalsh
2012
2021

29. @theshelleywalsh
Summary
Use structured data on pages, in the correct form
Check the schema validates.
Find a full list of markups at Schema.org

30. @theshelleywalsh
“The perfect search engine
would be like the mind of God.”
Sergey Brin, 2005
23.9%
Machine learning
Just under a quarter
Source: Dave Davies
@theshelleywalsh

31. @theshelleywalsh

32. @theshelleywalsh
Summary
Move towards natural queries
Be more fluid with keyword phrases
Move away from ‘fixed’ keywords
Surround your core topic with related queries/topics

33. @theshelleywalsh
24.9%
Expertise
Authority
Trustworthiness
A quarter
@theshelleywalsh

34. @theshelleywalsh
Google is focused on stopping the spread of misinformation
“We have an important responsibility to our users and to the societies in
which we operate to curb the efforts of those who aim to propagate
false information on our platforms. “
Google, 2019

35. @theshelleywalsh
2012 2021

36. @theshelleywalsh
E-A-T is critical for YMYL content
“It probably makes sense for you to find experts to write or review what
you wrote so that the content is "correct and it's trustworthy." He
added it is content you want to feel comfortable that your friends can
share with other friends.”
John Mu, Google

37. @theshelleywalsh
Left: Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Right: Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
Authors footprints from punctuation
Images by Adam J Calhoun

38. @theshelleywalsh
Summary
Niche expert writers become increasingly valuable
Pay attention to the footprint of your writers
Use in-house writers with authority and create author pages
Ghost write volume content

39. @theshelleywalsh
Always Be Learning
1.8%
No emergent factor
Who are these people?

40. @theshelleywalsh
Deep dive into these areas to take SEO to the next level:
How to apply user experience
How to achieve E-A-T on content
What types of structured data you can apply
What feeds the knowledge graph
How Hummingbird, RankBrain & MUM work

41. @theshelleywalsh
"Good SEO is not about learning what Google does,
but why it does it."
Pedro Dias, ex Google

42. @theshelleywalsh