SEO-UX Panel at Seattle Interactive Conference (SIC2011)

SEO + UXA Brief Introduction Jonathon Colman In-house SEO at REI about.me/jcolman Twitter @jcolman

Converge SEO UX

Converge Design for people Account for robots

Humansdesignrobots.So there’spart of usinside them.

Speakers John Goad [AddThree] @JohnGoad Mike Pantoliano [Distilled] @MikeCP Michael King [Publicis Modem] @iPullRank Ben Lloyd [Amplify Interactive] @Blizzle

SEO is UX for Robots John Goad SEO @johngoad AddThree.com

Users 5000 Searches Monthly 5000 Searches Monthly Billions of Monthly Conversion Rate 5% Conversion Rate 5% Searches *Conversion Rate Varies*it depends

Humans Humans leverage robots everyday looming for your content. Publisher to Computer to Computer to Human. We’re #1 Know how your humans are using computers and language to find content discovered by robots…. Good

Robots Robots have limitations. Robots don’t read. Robots don’t see. But they have tons of friends and they love to make high quality introductions.

Balance

How Think like a bot …. Some of the same “human” rules apply* on a high level. Be the robot … Humans first… then robots. * not all

ClientWell established internet based insurance provider(that does not want me to use their name). I am in insurance … I need credibility but have fallen off of page 1 to page 6. Last SEO’s IA and content recommendations lost 75% of my organic traffic.

ProblemAt first meeting client stated….“I have a team in India buying links forme is that bad?”UH OH…..Real ProblemClient created over 20,000 pages of 3rdparty veterinarian listings that watereddown the main site content.Lost Authotity

SolutionRe-FocusWith Robot.txt file we excluded the directorythat contained the veterinarian listings.This increased the strength of themain content.

ResultsClient bounced back with better thanoriginal visibility.• Credibility restored …. back on page 1.• Organic traffic back up to pre engagement levels. 75% Total increase in Organic referrals.

WinRobots help you…Make new friends and influencepeople.People find you.People link to you.People talk about #you.Help them help you.

Thanks @johngoadJohn GoadDirector of Free Trafficjohn@addthree.com

Not Just More Traffic, Better Traffic Smart IA and Site NavigationMike Pantoliano This presentation is available here:@MikeCP http://dis.tl/sic-seoDistilled

In An IdealWorld • Clean Slate • Map out sitemap for UX/SEO

IA / SEO Competitiveness Sure, this is nice, but large sites can really struggle

FacetedNavigation TrendToGo.com Amazon.com BestBuy.com

OurExample• Large eComm site• 100,000+ High End StationaryProducts• Faceted Navigation• Great User Experience• Awful for SEO

The BigProblemAJAX does not create new pages!

The BigProblem

ResultMissing out on tons of longer-tail traffic!

Other ProblemsJavaScript isn’t the only potential culprit • Poor IA leading to weak indexation • iFrames • Dropdown Sorting

Solution How to preserve UX but allow crawlability?Fall back to static HTML pages when no JS detected

ResultsOrganic traffic increased 72% SEO Conversions up 76% UX Sales up 136%

Take AwayExport your navigation into Excel Get search volume from GKTBrainstorm/mine for new keywords

Take AwayAre you missing out on organic landing page opportunities?

Thanks! Mike Pantoliano @MikeCP Distilled http://dis.tl/excelninja http://dis.tl/xenu-excel http://dis.tl/faceted-nav

UX + SEO Let’s Be Friends Michael King SEO Manager @ipullrank Publicis ModemDownload these slides http://slidesha.re/uxplusseo

RANTBuilding a user experiencewithout SEO in mind is likebuilding a car with no engine.

RANT I don’t believe in bad user experience for the sake of SEO. Stop making ugly sites and blaming it on the need for SEO

RANTDo Less of this Do More of this Make compelling experiences with utility

RANTAny Creative that thinks SEO willlimit their abilities to deliver aquality product isnt very (ahem)creative. Yeah, it’s an orphan. What you gonna do about it?! SEO is a springboard not an anchor

RANTUser Experience is onlycompromised by SEO when it isretrofitted to the design process Inject SEO into the design process as early as possible

RANTSEO absolutely MUST be an activeconsideration and ideally the driver ofevery step of a site build SEO = DNA

RANTUX is very important to SEO becausethere is evidence that Googlebot andBingbot may be headless webbrowsers. See: http://ipullrank.com/googlebot-is-chrome and http://bit.ly/sT0Vvj Google also just revealed that they can crawl AJAX

RANTMost importantly SEO is abouthelping people find what they wantand presenting it to them in a waythat they expect. Need States Navigational Business Goals Informational Navigational Transactional Informational Transactional The old keyword classes are dead; identify need states

</RANT>I’m done ranting, let’s talk about the mistakes that I’ve learned from

MISTAKE Your development and Creative teams will just do what works. To them building for Search is utterly unnatural. Don‘t let them build anything before you see it. Cheech & Chong’s Magic Brownie Adventure was an awesome campaign developed by my team but the site was built with no SEO considerations at all. Not even a page title. Never leave your Creative or Tech team to their own devices

MISTAKE LG’s site is a nightmare for a variety of reasons but one of my favorite is the 1997 frames-inspired navigation that features over 200 links and is impossible to mouse over properly. Faceted navigation is an option when handled properly

MISTAKE Giant flash videos are cool, right?Sometimes your team or theclient will be so far off the markthat there is nothing you can dobut wait for the redesign. What do you mean navigation should be text? Some battles you cannot win.

SUCCESS Use expandable DIVs to keep large blocks of text from being obtrusive to design The Expandable DIV is your best friend.

SUCCESS Drive the Content Strategy by preparing an SEO Copy Brief that thoroughly outlines the information architecture with regard to target keywords and identify the objectives and target audience. Keyword-relevant information architecture MUST come from SEO

SUCCESS Adding considerations at the wireframe stage allows everyone to be on the same page about how and why SEO is to be accomplished. Apply pressure during the Wireframe phase to ensure success.

SUCCESS RECIPESocial Listening/ Keyword Push Live / Need State Creative / Copy / Mapping / Conversion RateDetermination/ Tech Information Optimization / Keyword Development Architecture Measurement Research SEO Defines SEO Validates SEO Drives Info Architecture User Experience Measurement Get involved throughout the lifecycle from strategy to measurement

SOCIALLISTENING Scout Labs Alterian SM2 Social Mention Mine the conversation in social media for personas and keywords

Show yourWork. Here comes a case study!

CASE STUDY 1. 2. 3. 4 5. 6. 7. Motivation Decision- Research Booking Pre-flight Travel Post-travel to travel making How do I crystallize my Need States What is out there that travels so that they are I want to collect new Of the options available, Who’s going to help me What do I need to do to Who can I rely on to help would be fun and easy to share, and experience, add to my what is feasible given fine tune and make the activate my trip so that me make the most of my interesting to do alone provide inspiration to personal story, and time & budget plan possible? it’s as easy as possible? trip? and/or with the people I me and otherscreate special memories constraints? care about? evermore?Occasion: Get Ideas: Search for: Search for: Locate: Connect: Organize: Examples of What’s happening-Season/Holiday Key trip info: -With local info -Memories/events From friends, family,colleagues, Activity and experience options -Cheapest flight options based-NY’ eve -Luggage rules -With resources (guides, gurus) -Evidence you’ve been there/ extended social media network, at different destinations on timings-Valentine’s D -Check in time -Activity ideas Memorabilia bloggers, TV personalities, - Cheapest flight options based-Honeymoon -Terminal to go to -New ideas movies, activity groups & forums on destination (look for promos-Birthday gift and time suggestions) -Currency exchange-Anniversary Compare: -Ways to and from airport-Stag do Destination options based on -Travel tips Record: Package:-Reunion Search for: timings, costs, and ease of -Experiences-Accomplishment Occasion or experience sought getting there Compare: -Memories Trip takeouts so as to extend the benefits gained from the trip-Time off on google, publications, forums, social media groups,etc Time options vs. budget across key providers Book: -New ideas, contacts, knowledge -Car hire -AccommodationExperience: -Airport bus Share:-Broaden horizon Commit: To build on and showcase who-Hobby/skill To a scenario you are-Well-being/R&R-Adventure Manage:-Landscape (sea, mountain, Info updates, efficient and easyplant) task completion-Weather (sun, snow, wind) Research Commitment Experience Inspiration Discoveries in social listening must dictate the SEO, content strategy and UX We used social listening to identify need states and build personas

CASE STUDY 1. 2. 3. 4 5. 6. 7. Motivation Decision- Research Booking Pre-flight Travel Post-travel to travel making Occasion Activity Destination Offering Simplify Connect RememberCore Semantic Groups We identified the need state Flights matched the client’s business goals and mapped them to semantic groups to dictate the information architecture.Country/Region Logistics Timing City/Airport Cheap Flights Map need states to core semantic groups to develop site maps

CASESTUDY Identify what people want and present it in a way that matches their expectations using the language they expect in order to provide the best user experience to your target audience and improve conversion. We mapped those to our keyword research and developed content

CASESTUDY Navigation and sub-navigation reflect need states UX and content developed with the concerns of our personas We built a user experience indicative of these considerations

CASESTUDY We improved rankings and conversions dramatically by marrying these concepts. Bookings Organic Traffic Turns out we’re pretty good at this.

TheNextLevel So what else can we do?

SOCIAL DESIGN Search Keyword-LevelFB:Admin Demographics Referrers Placing a site on Facebook’s OpenGraph and having a user opt-in allows you to get their FB data whenever they come to your site. Matching that with search referrers gives you demographics at a keyword-level. KLD Source Code: http://ipullrank.com/code/keyword-demographics/

KEYWORDOWNERSHIP OWNER Curious George Gamer Film Purist Tech Geek • 18-32 • 18-32 • 22-40 • 22-40 • Male • Male • Male • Male • Loves indie rock • Loves all music • Loves film soundtracks • Loves Techno • Wishes he had a beard • Wishes he could move out • Wishes he could live in the • Wishes you would stop his mom’s basement movie Avatar invading his online privacy• 5000 Searches Monthly • 600 Searches Monthly • 1000 Searches Monthly • 100 Searches Monthly• Conversion Rate 5% • Conversion Rate 2% • Conversion Rate 0.5% • Conversion Rate 0.2% This data allows you to determine which of your target personas dominates traffic and conversions for a given keyword. For more applications of KLD see: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/keyword-level-demographics

RESPONSIVEDESIGNWhat Normal Users See What Curious George Sees Curious George • 18-32 • Male • Loves indie rock • Wishes he had a beard Using the FB data user experiences can be tailored dynamically to reflect properties of the persona when they visit. Use social data to improve the user experience and conversion

OBLIGATORY CAT PICTUREUX and SEO are good buddiesnow and they are going places! UX SEO

THANKS! Michael King SEO Manager www.ipullrank.com michael.king@publicismodem.com @iPullRank

Navigation, Links & SEOHow Much is Too Much? SEO & User Experience

Quotes“I like having a selection, I just dont likemaking a choice” -Carrie Renee Mathews Jam Study: “The presence of choice might be appealing in theory… in reality, people might find more & more choice debilitating” -Professor Sheena Iyengar, Columbia University

Choices Ever try to pick a paint color? Did you know there were THAT MANY shades of white? How about order from a restaurant menu that’s 5 pages long?

Links•SEO Says: “Too many on-page links”•Designer should hear: “The Navigation is Overwhelming”•Site Owner/Client freaks out about cutting down user options- SEO Benefit: Improved spidering = more pages available for search- Design & U/X Benefit: Contextual navigation = improved usability- Site Benefit: more visitors, better usability = ROI

Case Study

Internal Links1. Major duplicate content issue resolved2. Nav change to news3. Nav change to events4. Nav change to posts5. Minor duplicate content issue resolved

TemplateChanges Example: Simple Template Changes  Sidebar links  Number of posts

DirectoryChanges Example: Simple Template Changes  Cut down on columns  Sidebar links are contextual

PostChanges Example: Post-Level Changes  Keep the links contextual

OrganicSearch URLs Receiving Entrances from Search Q3 2010 Q4 2010 Q1 2011 Q2 2011 Q3 2011

Organic Search1. Major duplicate content issue resolved2. Nav change to news3. Nav change to events4. Nav change to posts5. Minor duplicate content issue resolved

SEO & UX?

SEO-UX Panel at Seattle Interactive Conference (SIC2011)

by Jonathon Colman on Nov 03, 2011

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SEO-UX Panel at Seattle Interactive Conference (SIC2011) — Presentation Transcript

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