1.
User Behavior and Local Search
Darren Shaw
State of Search 2014
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

2.
Do clicks affect rankings?
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

3.
Let’s test
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4.
Everyone, get out your phone,
disconnect from wifi,
and Google: dallas wedding dresses
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

5.
Scroll down and click on
mockingbirdbridal.com in the
organic results.
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6.
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7.
Now, let’s amplify this via
social media
@DarrenShaw_ AND +DarrenShaw_
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

8.
How I got obsessed with user
behaviors as ranking signals
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9.
bit.ly/11mkCru
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10.
bit.ly/11mkCru
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11.
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12.
bit.ly/1ureMjr
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13.
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14.
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15.
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16.
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17.
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18.
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19.
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bit.ly/1kxP9ar

20.
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21.
slidesha.re/WdbkLK
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22.
Pull out your phones, search for “seattle
wedding dresses”, and click on Belltown Bride
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

23.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Within 10 minutes they had moved up
from the bottom of the page to #2

24.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
They also moved into position B in the local pack,
and they still hold this spot today.

25.
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26.
This demands further testing!
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27.
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28.
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29.
Test 1 – Hammer Time
Low competition market
Click website link 100 times per day
Repeat for 30 days
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30.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Starting position on
October 4th
E in the local pack
Search for “roanoke accountants”
Click on “Stanley G Boatwright”

31.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Checked on November 15th
No change…

32.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Checked from my
hotel room last
night. Again, no
change.

33.
Test 2 – A Softer Approach
Low competition market
Click website link 5 times per day
Repeat for 7 days
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

34.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Starting position on
October 6th
G in the local pack
Search for “wilmington nc accountants ”
Click on “Joseph Guo CPA,PLLC ”

35.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Checked on
November 15th
and look at this!

36.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Checked from my
hotel room last
night…

37.
Test 3 – Click Burst
High competition market
Click website link 50 times per day
repeat for 3 days
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

38.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Search for “los angeles personal injury lawyers”
Click on “The Torkzadeh Law Firm”
Starting position on
October 3rd
C in the local pack

39.
Watch what happens
over the 3 days
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

40.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

41.
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42.
Why did test 3 seem to work, but
the first test didn’t?
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43.
REMINDER
Test 1 – Hammer Time
Low competition market
Click website link 100 times per day
Repeat for 30 days
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

44.
Theory
The first test was way overboard. An
unnatural amount of clicks for that
city and keyword.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

45.
Test 4 – Slow and Steady
High competition market
Click website link 5 times per day
Repeat for 30 days
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

46.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Search for “los angeles moving companies”
Click on “West LA Movers”
Starting position on
October 3rd
G in the local pack

47.
Watch what happens
over the thirty days
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

48.
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49.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
I checked from my
room in Dallas last
night, and still
at position F

50.
Hmm. Inconclusive.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

51.
Test 5 – Clicks on Google+ Link
High competition market
Click “Google+ Page” 50 times per day
Repeat for 3 days
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52.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Search for “miami personal injury lawyer”
Click on the Google+ link for “The Altman Law Firm”
Starting position on
October 3rd
G in the local pack

53.
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Click this link, not the business name.

54.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Over the course of the
3 days, not much changed.
This is the last screenshot
taken by our system

55.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
But I checked in my
browser from Denver
yesterday, and looky
here!

56.
Theory
Like with the test on Linda’s forum,
perhaps it just needed some time to
“simmer” before rankings were
affected.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

57.
Burning Question
Can you do this with Mechanical
Turk?
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

58.
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59.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Search for “plumbers san antonio tx”
Click on “Bryco Plumbing Co”

60.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Starting position on
November 4th
G in the local pack

61.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
November 7th
No change

62.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
November 13th
Moved up one
position…

63.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
November 16th
They’ve now moved
up 2 spots

64.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Search for “plumbers philadelphia”
Click on ORGANIC result “Sam Wexler Plumbing”

65.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Started here on
November 4th

66.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
November 16th
No change
I’ve been checking
regularly, but not
seeing any change

67.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Using your mobile phone and cellular network,
Search for “accountants cincinnati”
Click on “Mellott & Mellott”

68.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
I asked them to complete the task on our website
so I could track their user agent and make sure
they were actually using mobile.

69.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Started here on
November 4th
Position E

70.
A little early, but
possibly trending
towards higher
rankings?

71.
Checking from different
IPs and browsers. Appears
to also be trending towards
improved rankings.

72.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Using your mobile phone and cellular network,
Search for “electricians cincinnati ohio”
Click on “Queen City Electric”

73.
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74.
So far, no ranking changes
with the click-to-call test, but it has
only been running for 6 days.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

75.
Pogo-sticking Test
Can we demote a listing through
automated pogo-sticking signals?
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

76.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
This locksmith spammer has
created a fake listing with
the angieslist category page.
I wonder if we can take
him out with microworker
pogo-sticking…

77.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Search for “cincinnati locksmiths”, click on that
spammy listing, click back, then click on the top
ranked listing.

78.
So far, 166 people have done it, and
no ranking changes, but I sure as
hell hope this doesn’t work.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

79.
Can you imagine?
Pogo-sticking Negative SEO…
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

80.
Why no driving directions test?
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

81.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Google has plenty of data to determine if you
actually drove to the location. Just searching for
directions isn’t a signal they need to use.

82.
Ranking Fluctuations
What is going on?
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

83.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
October 4th
Position E
Remember the first test where we
didn’t see any ranking change?
November 16th
Position E

84.
We captured over 1700 screenshots
from October 3rd through November
15th. There was a ton of variation.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

85.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Oct 24th

86.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Oh, and look here
on Nov 12th

87.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

88.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

89.
What’s causing the variation?
Different browsers?
Different data centers?
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

90.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Notice that there wasn’t nearly as
much variation in the los angeles
personal injury lawyer results.

91.
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92.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Theory
Google deliberately mixes up the
results to test if users like them

93.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Google has much more data on “los
angeles personal injury lawyer” than
“willmington nc accountants” so
they already know the preferred
choices, and there is less variation.

94.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Multi-armed bandits and the epsilon-greedy method
http://bit.ly/11cMyxt

95.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
Multi-armed bandits and the epsilon-greedy method
http://bit.ly/11cMyxt

96.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
http://bit.ly/1ybvkLE

97.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw
http://bit.ly/1wMyoMa

98.
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99.
Let’s check our test…
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100.
Take Aways
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101.
1. Google *is* using click-through
data, and sadly, it *is* easy to
manipulate.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

102.
2. The ranking fluctuations since the
Pigeon update are deliberate
(I think)
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

103.
3. Weekly or monthly rank tracking
data is useless. Need to track at
least daily to measure trends.
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw

104.
Thank you!
Any questions?
@DarrenShaw_ +DarrenShaw