3. QUICK ANNOUNCEMENT
I HAVE RECENTLY
MOVED ON FROM
IACQUIRE. RIGHT
NOW I’M WORKING
AS AN
INDEPENDENT
CONSULTANT &
TRAINER.
@ipullrank
4. What’s this not provided thing all about?
HISTORY OF KEYWORD DATA
@iPullRank
5. Keyword referrers
IPULLRANK.COM
When a user searches the keyword is passed from Google in a the referral string in the q= variable to the website and
the site’s analytics strips this query and tracks it.
@ipullrank
6. In October 2011 Google Announced a move to secure Search
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
Using the Secure (HTTPS) protocol no referrer is passed. Head of WebSpam Matt Cutts said that there would only be a
single digit percentage of searches that would be affected.
@ipullrank
7. Immediately seos knew what they should expect
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
The single digit promise of not provided was a joke and we all knew it.
@ipullrank
8. Google says it’s due to
privacy. Really it’s to
protect their monopoly.
They are really obscuring keyword referrers to make Adwords more valuable from
both an explicit intent standpoint and to make it so no other service provider can
provide their Search Remarketing product. Seriously, if it’s an invasion of privacy
for Organic than it’s an invasion of privacy in Paid as well.
@iPullRank
9. 3/2012 FIREFOX
WENT SECURE
SEARCH
The view of the Earth from the Moon fascinated me—a small disk,
240,000 miles away. It was hard to think that that little thing held
so many problems, so many frustrations. Raging nationalistic
interests, famines, wars, pestilence don't show from that distance.
@iPullRank
10. Googlers were incentivized to encourage more logins into Google+
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
It’s part of people’s job description to keep users logged in to Google. http://searchengineland.com/google-is-hiringsomeone-to-find-ways-to-make-you-want-to-search-while-signed-in-144523
@ipullrank
11. 1/2013 CHROME
WENT SECURE
SEARCH
The view of the Earth from the Moon fascinated me—a small disk,
240,000 miles away. It was hard to think that that little thing held
so many problems, so many frustrations. Raging nationalistic
interests, famines, wars, pestilence don't show from that distance.
@iPullRank
12. September 2013 Google moved to secure Search for all users
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
Citing “privacy” in the wake of the NSA scandal Google announced a move to Secure Search for all users whether they
are logged in or not. Meanwhile Adwords advertisers still get keyword referrer data. http://iacq.co/19I0u15
@ipullrank
22. REASON #1: KEYWORDS
WERE ALWAYS
JUST A PROXY
Granted they were an awesome proxy, but you could still be the wrong piece of content for that user.
Consider the keyword “subway,” the search means something completely different to a 25 year old in new
york city than it does to 40 year old in topeka, kansas. Just knowing the keyword you searched for does
not necessarily tell me what you want. Knowing who you are helps a lot more.
@iPullRank
23. …And I have looked to understand the people behind the search (reason #2)
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
We leverage market segmentation from Experian and Nielsen in context with Social PPC APIs to build robust personas
with user stories, demographics, psychographics and engagement insights to drive our SEO programs.
@ipullrank
24. …and google is making it easier (Affinity segments)
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
Google also jumped on the segmentation train a few months back offering what they are calling “affinity segments” where
they have identified 80 different personas for targeting in Display channels. http://iacq.co/1aoVg9k
@ipullrank
25. Reason #3: my keyword research methods are persona based
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
Rather than just putting together a list of keywords and search volumes we run surveys to understand where users are at
in the Consumer Decision Journey with their search. http://iacq.co/16a34zJ
@ipullrank
26. Persona keyword surveys
Set Demographics
IPULLRANK.COM
Layout Questions with Interest-based Skip-Logic
You will have to pre-determine your audience with your persona research and then ask them specific questions about
your keyword selections with in-depth Skip Logic so each persona only responds about relevant searches.
@ipullrank
27. The keyword portfolio
Keyword
N-Gram Count
Avg. Monthly Broad Match Search Volume
Avg. Monthly Exact Match Search Volume
Mobile Broad Match Search Volume
Mobile Exact Match Search Volume
Previous Period Traffic
Previous Period Share of Voice
Previous Period Conversion Rate
IPULLRANK.COM
Current Google Ranking
Target Persona(s)
Need State(s)
Keyword Category
Keyword Sub-Category
Current Landing Page
Target Landing Page
Conversion Rate
Rank Zone
We pull all of these data points into our keyword research to have a very robust understanding of the users behind the
searches. This influences our content strategy and ultimately measurement planning.
@ipullrank
28. Reason #4: my content strategy is kpi-driven
IPULLRANK.COM
Certain content types work better for meeting certain business objectives and targeting certain types of users. We’re
already creating the right things to meet what makes sense in the given stage of the consumer decision journey.
@ipullrank
29. Reason #5: Our Messaging resonates with the audience and need state
Awareness Message
Loyalty Message
Consideration Message
IPULLRANK.COM
Our content strategy includes messaging that is focused on the needs of the people and messaging is optimized for the
given need state to encourage conversion.
@ipullrank
30. Reason #6: I’ve already developed methods for measuring people
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
I developed a methodology called Keyword-Level Demographics that leveraged keyword referrers in context of
demographic and psychographic data from Facebook to measure and validate personas http://iacq.co/11EED4u
@ipullrank
31. Leverage user profiles for measuring segments
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
When sites have user profiles we can leverage them in context with analytics to understand which segments are
performing best and why.
@ipullrank
32. I wrote about this on moz
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
I wrote an in-depth post about the insights that can be gained from user profiles and how they can be leveraged for
cohort analysis at Moz. http://iacq.co/1fLvCUj
@ipullrank
33. Reason #7: I can already get plenty of data on the user
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
If you can get an email address or social login you can build a complete profile of a user using FullContact or RapLeaf.
Knowing what type of user goes you’re dealing with allows you to have the right messaging
@ipullrank
34. Reason #7: We can already do awesome stuff.
Predictive Modeling
Dynamic Targeting
Keyword Arbitrage
IPULLRANK.COM
We can already do a lot of great things with all this data about our users even though Google is killing the ability to do
keyword arbitrage through Organic Search.
@ipullrank
35. IN OTHER WORDS… I AM
ALREADY DOING MARKETING.
And that’s what google is forcing everyone to do now.
iacquire.com
@iPullRank
36. How to do content strategy for several cohorts
CONTENT STRATEGY FOR MULTIPLE
PERSONAS
@iPullRank
37. Not provided has effectively set us free
IPULLRANK.COM
Google has essentially killed all awards for publishing awful content. Now with keyword-level measurement dead we have
more opportunities to create things people actually want to read. http://www.iacquire.com/blog/not-provided-sets-you-free/
@ipullrank
38. What are cohorts?
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
Cohorts are the same as personas, but it’s generally the terminology used when applied to statistics and refer to people
that have experienced the same behavior or event during a given timespan.
@ipullrank
39. Create content specifically with personas/cohorts in mind
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
Each piece of content for iAcquire was presented and reviewed with regard to which of our personas we were targeting.
If the content did not meet one of those personas it was often denied or re-tooled.
@ipullrank
40. When we don’t focus on the user…
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
When we only go after keywords based on search volumes we often get very unqualified traffic as seen here.
@ipullrank
41. When we do focus on the user we got results
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
Focusing in on personas allowed us a 65% improvement in conversions YoY.
@ipullrank
42. Oh yeah we g0t traffic too
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
At iAcquire from employing this process we’ve seen growth in Organic Search alone of over 1300% YoY.
@ipullrank
43. New Data means new ways to measure users
GOOGLE GIVETH MORE THAN IT
TAKETH AWAY
@iPullRank
44. This is the strategy most seos are using
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
Most smart SEOs have moved to landing page level reporting. Looking at traffic to the site, the ranking keywords, their
position and search volume to reverse engineer the performing keywords. http://www.searchmetrics.com/en/url-traffic/
@ipullrank
45. i believe that’s shortsighted
Google has given us a lot more data to get more in-depth
understanding of users coming to our site via Organic Search. Why
are trying to use muddy data to meet and old way of thinking?
iacquire.com
@iPullRank
46. Cohorts in Google Analytics
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
Recently Google gave marketers the ability to set up cohorts in Google Analytics and therefore let us measure types of
people far more specifically. http://iacq.co/GR0S4u
@ipullrank
47. Demographic data and affinity segments in google analytics!!!
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
Google also rolled out the ability to measure against affinity segments. Google Analytics now has the ability to track
demographic data (Age, Gender, etc) and Affinity Segment type. http://online-behavior.com/analytics/demographics
@ipullrank
48. IMPLEMENT
THIS CODE
TO GET THE
MOST DATA
http://www.analyticsresult
s.com/2013/03/doubleclickremarketing-and-adblockour.html
<script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq
|| []; _gaq.push( ['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXXX1'],['_trackPageview'] ); (function() { var ga =
document.createElement('script'); ga.type =
'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src =
('https:' == document.location.protocol ?
'https://' : 'http://') +
'stats.g.doubleclick.net/dc.js'; var s =
document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();
window.onload = function() {
if(_gaq.I==undefined){ _gaq.push(['_trackEvent',
'tracking_script', 'loaded', 'ga.js', ,true]);
ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type =
'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src =
('https:' == document.location.protocol ?
'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.googleanalytics.com/ga.js'; s =
document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
gaScript = s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); }
else { _gaq.push(['_trackEvent',
'tracking_script', 'loaded', 'dc.js', ,true]); }
}; </script>
49. IMPLEMENT
THIS CODE
TO GET THE
MOST DATA
http://www.analyticsresult
s.com/2013/03/doubleclickremarketing-and-adblockour.html
<script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq
|| []; _gaq.push( ['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXXX1'],['_trackPageview'] ); (function() { var ga =
document.createElement('script'); ga.type =
'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src =
('https:' == document.location.protocol ?
'https://' : 'http://') +
'stats.g.doubleclick.net/dc.js'; var s =
document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();
window.onload = function() {
if(_gaq.I==undefined){ _gaq.push(['_trackEvent',
'tracking_script', 'loaded', 'ga.js', ,true]);
ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type =
'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src =
('https:' == document.location.protocol ?
'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.googleanalytics.com/ga.js'; s =
document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
gaScript = s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); }
else { _gaq.push(['_trackEvent',
'tracking_script', 'loaded', 'dc.js', ,true]); }
}; </script>
50. Google+ as an identity platform suddenly makes sense
IPULLRANK.COM
I predict that Google will supplant many market research providers such as Nielsen, ComScore and Experian by
providing robust end to end market research, targeting and measurement built on the back of Google+.
@ipullrank
51. Cohorts based on demographics & affinity segment
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
Now you can track and analyze personas/cohorts directly in Google Analytics WITHOUT any other data sources.
@ipullrank
52. It’s time to move from explicit
intent to implicit intent
You still know the page the user has landed on, you now know what type of user it
is, you know which keywords rank for your landing page so now the real question
is “does my message and content fulfill a need that resonates with my target?”
Understand what makes your audience tick and determine the best way to
convince them your product or service is right for them. Conversion is still the
best measure of that.
@iPullRank
53. Implicit intent vs. explicit intent
Explicit Intent Scenario
Implicit Intent Scenario
Users Lands on the “men’s reading
glasses” landing from Organic search
on the keyword [reading glasses]
Time On Site: 00:01
Bounce Rate: 100%
Cohort Lands on the “men’s reading
glasses” landing page from Organic
Search
Age: 25 – 34
Gender: Female
Location: Reading, Pennsylvania
As Segment: Do It Yourselfers
Affinity with many features and products Google has
Timerolled out over the years adoption is the main
On Site: 00:31
barrier toVisits Souvenir Reading
Site Action: usage.
Glasses for Women page
Bounce Rate: 50%
This doesn’t tell me much about the user except
that they were looking for “reading glasses,” but if
we’re based in Reading, Pennsylvania that could be
ambiguous.
IPULLRANK.COM
This tells me that I need a better title and meta
description to tell female users this is not right choice
for them and some users are looking for souvenirs for
Reading, Pennsylvania not eyeglasses for reading.
Explicit intent tells you specifically what someone is looking for, but it does not give you content around that user. Having
more complete context around actual visitors gives you better insights into how to tailor your messaging
@ipullrank
54. The view of the earth from the moon!
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO RIGHT NOW
@iPullRank
55. Understand and segment your audience
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
Build personas and use the affinity segments as your base and then set up filters and segments in GA so you can track
accordingly. Enable the code to get the demographic data into your analytics.
@ipullrank
56. Use the keyword planner to discover what google thinks
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
Dropping your landing page into the keyword planner quickly tells you what keywords Google would consider for pages.
@ipullrank
57. Track internal search
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
On site search becomes your hyper-relevant source for long tail keywords in context with your audience where you can
determine what opportunities your missing out on.
@ipullrank
58. Infer search intent from site actions
IPULLRANK.COM
Track the user’s first action in context with the channel they came from to infer intent. Carmen Mardiros wrote an
excellent post on this subject http://www.clearclues.com/not-provided-behavioural-analytics/
@ipullrank
59. Measure Organic search as a channel
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
Organic Search is one channel of many. You should be reporting it as such, but in context of the audience searching and
their rate of conversion. Optimizations should be made based on landing page performance.
@ipullrank
60. Track your rankings and search volumes
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
STAT is my favorite rankings tool due to accuracy, search volume data and ability to tag keywords with the segmentation
we’ve developed in our keyword portfolio. http://www.getstat.com
@ipullrank
61. Leverage google webmaster tools data
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
While its precision is questionable Google Webmaster Tools’ search queries section is a good way to get a sense of what
keywords are landing where if you still want to leverage explicit intent for optimization.
@ipullrank
62. Understand your landing page conversion rates from Organic Search
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
Look at the conversion rates of your landing pages for traffic coming from Organic Search (Non-paid Search segment
and google filter) in context of your cohorts. This tells you where to A/B test your messaging.
@ipullrank
63. Optimize against implicit intent and cohorts
As with many features and products Google has
rolled out over the years adoption is the main
barrier to usage.
IPULLRANK.COM
There’s a tool called Nudgespot which allows you to easily setup dynamic targeting for different segments. A/B test to
improve conversion from Organic Search http://www.nudgespot.com
@ipullrank
64. www.ipullrank.com
Thank you / Q&A
Michael King
marketing consultant & trainer
@iPullRank
Download this deck
http://slidesha.re/solve-not-provided