Official session description: Your boss or client may think top rankings are gold, but veteran SEOs know those stats are so 20th-century they’re virtually irrelevant. So how do you measure – and more importantly, prove – the value of your SEO activities, especially in the age of personalized, unique search results? Speakers in this session have promised to "open up their kimonos" and reveal the really useful, measurable techniques they use to demonstrate the value of their work. Presented with: Rob Bucci, Owner of STAT Search Analytics, Jon Henshaw, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Raven Internet Marketing Tools, and Will Scott, President of Search Influence

1. How to Groove to the Google
Dance (Yes, It’s Back)
SMX West 2013
@Rhea | @outspokenmedia

2. We’re going to answer:
• What is a Google Dance?
• What is a Google Dance in today’s world?
• How do you avoid getting hit by a Google
Dance?
http://marketingland.com/the-return-of-the-google-dance-22206

3. HISTORICAL CONTEXT

4. http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/

5. http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/explaining-algorithm-updates-and-data-refreshes/

8. Updates Were Major Events
• seomoz.org/google-algorithm-change
• bruceclay.com/blog/2010/12/google-
updates-a-history-of-seo-from-2000-2010/
• seroundtable.com/google-updates-
13861.html
• sistrix.de/google-updates/

9. Most Notable Updates
Florida
November 2003

10. How do we track these new
updates?

13. How do you know if you’ve been
caught in a Google Dance?
Stay tuned:
Mitul’s got this!

14. How do you get out of a
Google Dance?
First, know the difference
between:

15. MANUAL PENALTY
• Fix things.
• Grovel.
http://outspokenmedia.com/seo/reconsideration-requests-the-true-turtle-dove/

16. ALGORITHMIC UPDATE
• Fix things.
• Wait.

17. Doing nothing gets
you nothing!

18. Doing too much could
also make matters worse.

19. How do you prevent getting
caught in a Google Dance in
the first place?

20. Don’t wait for something
to happen!

21. Audit your SEO!
http://outspokenmedia.com/seo/does-your-board-of-directors-get-seo/

22. Ensure SEO supports
business objectives.
Growth is important, but
not harming the business
is 1 st priority!

23. Be aware.
Google updates
happening today:

24. Panda
Amit Singhal on
“More Guidance on
Building High-Quality
Sites”
googlewebmastercentr
al.blogspot.com/2011/
05/more-guidance-on-
building-high-
quality.html

25. Penguin

26. Exact-Match Domain

27. “Top Heavy”
http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/01/page-layout-algorithm-improvement.html

28. Onto how to avoid
getting slapped by these
updates…
…aka a GIANT list of
shady things to avoid!

30. Correlation isn’t causation, but…

31. dashes-in-domains-yay.com
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-exact-match-domain-playbook-a-guide-and-best-practices-for-emds

32. Dashes in domains (esp
multiple)

33. Keywordstuffdomains.com
Domainswithmanykeywords.com
Keywordrichdomain.org
Gotmykeyworddomain.info

34. Keyword-stuffed domains

35. Ads above the fold!
ADS ON ALL THE THINGS!!!

36. Tons of ads above the fold

37. Lots of duplicate content

38. http://www.useoursite.info | http://www.useoursite.com | http://www.usersguide.biz
http://www.userguidesite.biz

39. Scraping content

41. Low-quality and/or
quantity content

43. Heavy exact-match link building
NOT NATURAL!

44. Low-quality link building

47. Link building footprints

48. Link building footprints

49. Posting a lot of content
just for the sake of “fresh”
content

51. Sometimes, Google
won’t make you wait
for a Dance…

52. Live Spam
http://www.google.com/insidesearch/howsearchworks/fighting-spam.html

53. Cloaking
http://abercrombienfitchsuk.com/ - http://www.myhollisteronsale.com/
Cloaked Site User Site

54. You can still
eat. Just
don’t be a
buzzkill.

55. Now you know:
• What a Google Dance is (now and then)
• How to avoid a Google Dance
Let’s talk about how to track/recover!
Take it away Marcus and Mitul. 

56. Get the deck:
http://www.slideshare.net/rdrysdale
Say hello!
rhea@outspokenmedia.com
t: @Rhea | @outspokenmedia