1.
How SEO Works in 2020:
An in-depth inquiry into Google’s algorithm
Online Marketing Sydney Conference 2020

2.
http://bit.ly/omsyd-seo
Get your copy and follow along

3.
Bernard Huang
Co-founder at Clearscope
Partner at Mushi Labs
@bernardjhuang
bernard@clearscope.io
Bio

4.
How Google
determines where
your content initially
ranks
A simplified view on Google’s algo (2020)
Relevant backlinks
Subject matter authority
Search Query Deserves X
User engagement signals
How Google decides
whether you rank up
or down
}
{
Technical considerations
{
Helps Google access,
understand, and crawl
content

5.
HelpsGoogleaccesscontent
How Google decides whether
you rank up or down
A simplified view on Google’s algo (2020)
Determines where Google
initially ranks your content
}
}
}

6.
Help Google access,
understand, and crawl
content

7.
Technical considerations

8.
Understand
* <title>, <h*>, alt img, etc.
* schema.org
* hreflang
Crawl
* page-load speed
* site “cleanliness” (broken links,
404s, 500s, everything not 200)
Access
* robots.txt
* sitemap.xml
* internal linking + information
architecture
Other
* mobile friendliness
* secure (https://)
Technical considerations

9.
(+) Positive factors
+ 50 (good click-through-rate)
+ 100 (relevant backlinks)
+ 100 (subject matter expertise)
+ 200 (high user engagement)
(-) Negative factors
- ∞ (can’t crawl/access page)*
- 25 (not secure)
- 50 (slow page load)
- 100 (not mobile friendly)
How to think about technical SEO (example)
+175 total “score”

10.
+ 525 (winner)
How to think about technical SEO (example)
+ 490
+ 465
+ 400
+ 395

11.
HelpsGoogleaccesscontent
How Google decides whether
you rank up or down
A simplified view on Google’s algo (2020)
Determines where Google
initially ranks your content
}
}
}

12.
How Google determines
where your content
initially ranks

13.
Relevant backlinks
WebMD article on [keto diet]
* How “authoritative” is WebMD in general?
Example: 82
* How “authoritative” is WebMD in `health`?
Example: 94
* How “authoritative” is WebMD in `health` >
`ketosis`?
Example: 92
NY Times article on [keto diet]
* How “authoritative” is NY Times in general?
Example: 93
* How “authoritative” is NY Times in `health`?
Example: 72
* How “authoritative” is NY Times in `health` >
`ketosis`?
Example: 54
What about `health` > `ketosis` > `diets`?

14.
Links from pages that perform well in the SERPS = highly relevant links
Backlinks + machine learning (ML) signal

15.
Subject matter authority
https://youtu.be/mmQl6VGvX-c

16.
Subject matter authority (knowledge graph)

17.
Subject matter authority (knowledge graph)

18.
How does your content compare against Google’s knowledge graph?
Subject matter authority (knowledge graph)

19.
How are your other pieces of content around this subject matter performing?
Subject matter authority (your site)

20.
Relevant backlinks + subject matter authority
Improve Google’s willingness to “seed” your content for the range of keywords
it could rank for higher in the SERPs.

21.
What’s the range of keyword permutations you could deserve to rank for?
Subject matter authority (knowledge graph)

22.
Relevant backlinks + subject matter authority
Increase your range of keyword combinations you could rank for within a
piece of content on Google.

23.
Why content pruning?
* say you have 10 pages talking
addressing [XXXX health benefits]
* all 10 pages pull in 10,000 organic
hits per month
* shouldn’t the next page you
publish about [XXXX health
benefits] be worth ~1,000 hits?
Why topic clustering?
* “land and expand”
* prove to Google’s algo that your
content within a subject matter is
engaging and satisfies the searcher
* makes winning another topic
within a similar category much
easier
Subject matter authority (ML signals)

24.
HelpsGoogleaccesscontent
How Google decides whether
you rank up or down
A simplified view on Google’s algo (2020)
}
}
}
Determines where Google
initially ranks your content

25.
[live example]
* example search query from
audience?
* Google + Google Cloud NLU

26.
How Google decides
whether you rank up or
down

27.
Ahrefs keyword explorer for [wine health benefits], what’s happening?
How Google decides whether you rank up

28.
Associations
EAT (quality)
multimedia
recency
locality
trust
ugc (reviews / photos)
+++ lots more +++
Search query deserves X
Content type
article
request a quote
product listing
features page
review / video
catalog / directory
Searcher intent
topics
subtopics

29.
[coronavirus]
Recency & media authority

30.
[how to surf]
Multimedia

31.
[plumbers in sydney]
Locality & reviews

32.
[vacuum cleaners]
Quantity & brand

33.
[wine health benefits]
EAT & content quality

34.
What does your search query deserve?

35.
What does your search query deserve?

36.
What does your search query deserve?

37.
What does your search query deserve?

38.
Why expertise / authority
/ trust (EAT)?
* Your money your life (YMYL)
searches have significant impact on
people’s lives
* Google’s algo looks for higher
signals of “EAT” for certain queries
* search query deserves EAT
Why content refreshes?
* topics change over time
* Google’s algo weights
“fresh/recent” content more for
certain queries
* search query deserves recency
Search query deserves X (ML signals)

39.
Why backlinks?
* search query deserves medical
authority / domain authority
Why PR?
* search query deserves brand
Why UGC?
* search query deserves trust
Why video embeds?
* search query deserves
multimedia
Why local citations?
* search query deserves locality
Why widgets?
* search query deserves tool
Search query deserves X (ML signals)

40.
What does your search query deserve?
“
Serve and optimize for the most
relevant associations that match
what the search query deserves.
”

41.
Concluding the search
journey
* Google is serving a search engine
results page (SERP) that has the
highest likelihood of concluding the
search journey
✅ no additional search on google
✅ no additional click on another
search result
Leading signals
* subject matter authority (other
content you’ve produced)
* domain authority (relevant links)
* click through rate
* avg. time on page
* bounce rate
User engagement signals

42.
User engagement signals (leading)
No clickey? No likey.

43.
+
User engagement signals (conclude journey)

44.
Start search journey
> [how to get rid of pimples]: 40,500
1. How to get rid of pimples ←
2. How to get rid of pimples ←
…
10. How to get rid of pimples
“Not wanted I wanted….”
Conclude search journey
> [how to get rid of pimples fast]: 22,200
1. How to get rid of pimples fast ←
2. How to get rid of pimples fast
…
10. How to get rid of pimples fast
User engagement signals (conclude journey)

45.
User engagement signals (conclude journey)

46.
User engagement signals (conclude journey)

47.
User engagement signals (conclude journey)

48.
Why single target intent
content > topic clusters?
* Topic clusters (eg. Ultimate Guide
to X) are too broad (in most cases).
* If you were searching for [how to
get rid of pimples], clicked on a
topic cluster (“Ultimate Guide to
Getting Rid of Pimples), and got the
first section that said “What is a
Pimple?” -- what would you do?
Why search intent >
keywords?
* Google is understanding searcher
journeys and doing a much better
job serving relevant content
* Search intent with little to no
monthly search volume can and
will rank for head topics
Search query deserves X (ML signals)

49.
User engagement signals
“
Identify and create content around
the searcher intent that users
actually care about for the topics
you’re targeting.
”

50.
[live example]
* example search query from
audience?
* search intent classification
exercise

51.
HelpsGoogleaccesscontent
How Google decides whether
you rank up or down
A simplified view on Google’s algo (2020)
Determines where Google
initially ranks your content
}
}
}

52.
Data-driven SEO (article)
* A step-by-step walkthrough of how
to approach SEO.
Recording of a Clearscope
kickoff call (video)
* My best practices of all the things
to consider in a content workflow
using Clearscope.
Additional resources
Clearscope (SaaS)
* Modern SEO software using NLP to
help content teams create higher
quality content (example analysis).
Programmatic SEO
(presentation)
* Yelp/Zillow SEO takes a different
approach. Best practices on
managing 1M+ URLs.

53.
Questions?
bit.ly/omsyd-seo
bernard@clearscope.io
@bernardjhuang