Brand: The Only Future Ranking Factor - Malcolm Slade speaking at Brighton SEO

Malcolm Slade
EPIPHANY SEARCH
Brand: The Only Future Ranking Factor
@seomalc
http://www.slideshare.net/epiphanysearch

COPYRIGHTJAYWINGPLC2017
@seomalc #brightonSEO
Malcolm Slade
Head of Technical SEO
EpiphanySearch
Think Vis 2012

I helped steer
Epiphany around
Penguin.

I’m helping steer
Epiphany / Jaywing
towards what’s next.

How did I get here?

Notes for reader:
This deck works best in conjunction with Tom
Capper’s deck:
https://www.slideshare.net/THCapper/links-
rankings-the-story-in-the-data-brightonseo-
april-2017

2012: The Rise of
Brands in Search
https://www.slideshare.net/epiphanysearch/the-rise-
of-brands-in-search-11912606

2016: Best Practice Is
Not Enough
https://www.slideshare.net/Branded3/stop-best-
practicing-start-doing-stephen-kenwright-at-
searchleeds-2016

2016: Surviving the
Machine Revolution.
https://prezi.com/klh8pleoiavj/surviving-the-machine-
revolution-how-to-become-the-digital-marketer-of-
the-future/

2017: Links &
Rankings
Tom just gave it.You literallyjust
watched it!

The Elephant in the
room!
Mytalk is similar to Tom’s

A quick recap

Brands seem to get a
significant boost in
SERPs.

Best Practice gets
you to page 2.

Warehousing,
deliveryand RRP all
become standard.

Google has more
data than ever
before!
Android, ISP, Chrome, Free WiFi, GA,
AdWords, Home…

Google is becoming
more Human!
Panda, Penguin, Phantom, HTTPS, UX,
Mobile First

Old ranking signals
seem less valuable!
Keywords, H1 Tags, Anchor Text, Links

I also looked at Brand
Search Volume.
First page only.

I also found it didn’t
correlate very well.
I used Pearson Correlation

All data: 0.11

The End! Thanks for coming.

I then got creative
(random / mental).

What if we segment?

Information: -0.13
Products: -0.44
Head Terms: 0.48

What if we use
humans?

Generate SERP
images.

#brightonSEO

Poll Humans.
Identifyrecognised brands.

Look at Brand and
Brand + Term.

Car Insurance: 0.92

Online Bingo: 0.84

It doesn’t always go
so well.

Holidays
-0.07

TSM
Easyjet
Teletext

0.78
But the data is crap!

What have we learnt
so far?

For head commercial
terms brand traffic
correlates pretty
well.

Brand is massively
important.

I’m not the onlyone /
I have a new friend.

We have much more
data to look at.

The bigger picture.

Brand search volume
is not a ranking
factor.

Brand may represent
the entity type
Google is looking for.

There may be no
“ranking factors” any
more.

Do you fit the traits
of a brand entity?

There will be many
traits.

This can’t be reverse
engineered or gamed.

Brands are onlygoing
to get more
dominant!

All prices are the
same.

Personal assistants
make our decisions.

Whychoose you?

Recognised /
preferred brand.

What are our goals?

Get more people
thinking about us!

Get more people
talking about you!

Get more people
searching for you!

Get more people
searching for you
and what you do!

Get more people
clicking your SERP
listings.

What can we do?

Be memorable.

Online advertising.
PPC, Display, Video, Content…

Offline advertising.
TV, billboards, buses, whatever else is
appropriate.

Drive people to your
site!

Use PR to drive
people to your online
content.

Use TV to get people
searching for you.

Craft good SERP
listings.

SEO is not dead!

A good website is
more important than
ever.

Technicallysound,
audience
appropriate.

Many brands don’t
rank due to this.

This will change.

Does it work?

Case 1: Doing it all

Verycompetitive niche.
All on and offline techniques.
Brand built over time.

Massivelysuccessful.

Case 2: Just Online

Competitive niche.
Online techniques only(PPC, Display,
SEO).
No focus on brand.

Used to dominate the niche.
No investment in brand building.
Bigger brands are nowovertaking.

Case 3: LegacyBrand

Verycompetitive niche.
Minimal to no current activity.
MASSIVE legacybrand.

Massive legacybrand equity.
Head terms are starting to slowlyslip.

What if I can’t do
this?

At the moment,
information and
product is less
impacted.

This will not always
be the case.

You will start having
to do this.

Google doesn’t care
if you can’t.

An AI powered
algorithm cares even
less.

There is always PPC.

The real end!

Brand: The Only Future Ranking Factor - Malcolm Slade speaking at Brighton SEO

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Brand: The Only Future Ranking Factor - Malcolm Slade speaking at Brighton SEO

Similar to Brand: The Only Future Ranking Factor - Malcolm Slade speaking at Brighton SEO (20)

More from Epiphany

More from Epiphany (9)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Brand: The Only Future Ranking Factor - Malcolm Slade speaking at Brighton SEO