1. The Past Present & Future of Personas in Search
(extended version)
Michael King
SEO Manager
Publicis Modem
@ipullrank

2. WE‟RE
DOING IT
WRONG
THERE‟S TOO MUCH
DATA OUT THERE FOR
SEO TO SUCK

3. Search Marketers Need to Grow Up
We are not just Search Marketers
anymore we are full-fledge Digital
Strategists.

4. Search Marketers are Short Sighted
Informational, Navigational, Transactional
classification of keywords is not enough to
truly understand the intent of a user.
Need States
Navigational Business Goals
Informational Navigational
Transactional Informational
Transactional

5. People Search to Fulfill a Need
Keywords must be categorized by the
need states of personas and
messaging must reflect those need
states to improve conversion.

6. Give People What they are Looking For
Does your content fulfill the need
associated with the search intent?
Does it give the person the compelling
experience they are searching for?

7. You‟re Too Late To Be Cutting Edge
If you don‟t already use personas in
your Search efforts you are trying to
strike an invisible moving target while
your competitors are effortlessly hitting
the bullseye.

8. Luckily You Just Met Me…
In the next 30-45 minutes and
counting I will get you up to speed
and take you into the future.

9. THE PAST
PERSONA RESEARCH
AND DEVELOPMENT
USING SOCIAL MEDIA

10. Recipe for Success
Social Listening/
Need State
Push Live /
Determination/ Keyword Mapping
Creative / Copy / Conversion Rate
Persona / Information
Tech Development Optimization /
Development/ Architecture
Measurement
Keyword
Research
SEO Defines SEO Validates SEO Drives
Info Architecture User Experience Measurement

11. Who is Your Target Audience?
Before you do anything you need to
identify who you are trying to talk to.

12. Use Social Media to Your Advantage
Hundreds of
Millions of people
are telling you
their every
mundane thought
everyday; use it!

13. Using Social Media to Define Personas
Use the existing conversation in
social media to identify need states
and inform keyword research to
ultimately define personas.

14. Social Listening Tools
Scout Labs
Alterian SM2
For my shoestring
budget hustlers
Social Mention
Scout Labs, Alterian SM2, Radian6 are extensive and expensive social listening tools
but you can grab a decent data set for free using Social Mention, Amplicate, Topsy

15. Invest in Quantitative Analysis Tools
Invest in sites like ComScore, Compete or Quantcast to identify a demographic
by industry and to get a preview of their search behavior.

16. Develop Personas
Develop Personas to understand your users
and to inform Search and UX.
See Vanessa Fox‟s presentation on Personas for an in-depth how-to:
http://www.slideshare.net/optify/using-personas-to-boost-online-marketing-and-seo

17. Start with the Audience‟s Questions
Identify the questions the audience is asking that apply to your busines
goals. Quora is a great place to start.

18. Identify Need States
Weight Loss Weight Management
The TWTU Supporter The Calorie Tracker
This diet is perfect for anyone who I’m so glad [Yogurt
The Dieter
needs that “umph” to lose those few Brand] is compatible
[Yogurt Brand] helps curb my
pounds, quickly with my points system .
cravings so I can continue on
my path toward losing weight
The Maintainer
The Event Planner I’ve lost a lot of weight, I can’t
I need to lose 5-10 pounds in time TWTU Skeptics afford to cave to temptation
for this event. I need a plan that This diet is unrealistic when I’ve come this far
gets noticeable results and not healthy – too .
extreme
New Mom Steady Achiever
I want a low-calorie way to get I’ve lost a considerable amount
my calcium so I can get the of weight except for these pesky
nutrients we need while losing few pounds. I need to reach my
the rest of this baby weight goal by Thanksgiving.
Distill the conversation in social media down to the need states of the
people talking with regard to business goals.

19. Define Personas
The Connoisseur
Integrity Protectors Super Tasters
Consumed Greek yogurt before it Newer to the product category but
became popular – feels entitled to partial to authentic Greek yogurt
defend „real‟ Greek yogurt against newer because of the taste and texture;
„inferior‟ brands entering the product loyal to brands like Fage , Oikos
category; savvy about ingredients and and Chiobani; appreciates the
passionate about the unique straining authenticity of ingredients; uses
process; tends to be set in her ways in Greek yogurt for cooking and
terms of maintaining a healthy diet; loyal baking; likes to enhance Greek
to original brands like Fage and Oikos yogurt with fruit and other toppings
The Steadfast Seeker
Brand Loyalists Optimists
Wants a more familiar way to enjoy Looks for ways of improving Greek
Greek yogurt; overall, hates the taste yogurt but wishes she had a more
of Greek yogurt; loyal to the [Yogurt accessible way to enjoy it;
brand ]and appreciates the variety of experiments with different brands
flavors that Yoplait offers in their like Yoplait and Dannon to find the
Greek yogurt line; appreciates not best tasting option; sensitive to the
having to enhance the flavor of Greek higher price point of the original
yogurt to make it more enjoyable Greek Yogurt brands
Give your 4 core audience segments a story and personality

20. Identify Keyword Opportunities
The The Steadfast The The Reluctant
Connoisseur Seeker Amateur Partaker
gross taste high protein
loves Greek never/hardly tried
high price choke down
straining process likes blended
too thick smoothies
minimal yogurt
Yoplait toppings
ingredients wants Greek
Dannon too tangy
no preservatives benefits
better tasting weight training
Fage tart taste
options body building
Oikos attracted to variety
health benefits low fat
rich texture no brand loyalty
need more variety physical fitness
Greek-style
toppings recipes
no brand loyalty
Use the conversation to understand what words personas naturally associate with
elements of your product or service and apply those to keyword research
and messaging

21. Create Targeted Messaging
Present optimized messaging that
will resonate with your personas
with of the goal of maximizing
conversion. This is the magic
behind Facebook
Ads

22. Test Everything
Test your messaging in Pay-Per-Click to get a sense of how well they will
perform in Organic Search.

23. Insights from Tests Inform Messaging
Insight 1
Focus on taste is
the key opportunity
Insight 2
Everyday nutrition
done the Yoplait
way will resonate
with consumers
across the board
Insight 3
Nurturing of family
takes precedence
over the target‟s
own well-being
Use insights from testing to understand what resonates with the
personas and then create messaging and user experiences that reflect
these insights

24. Case In Point: Air Travel
1. 2. 3. 4 5. 6. 7.
Motivation Decision-
Research Booking Pre-flight Travel Post-travel
to travel making
How do I crystallize
Need States
I want to collect new What is out there that
Of the options Who’s going to help What do I need to do my travels so that
experience, add to would be fun and Who can I rely on to
available, what is me fine tune and to activate my trip so they are easy to
my personal story, interesting to do help me make the
feasible given time & make the plan that it’s as easy as share, and provide
and create special alone and/or with the most of my trip?
budget constraints? possible? possible? inspiration to me and
memories people I care about? others evermore?
Occasion: Get Ideas: Search for: Search for: Locate: Connect: Organize:
-Season/Holiday From Activity and -Cheapest flight Key trip info: -With local info -Memories/events
-NY‟ eve friends, family,colleag experience options at options based on -Luggage rules -With resources -Evidence you‟ve
-Valentine‟s D ues, extended social different destinations timings -Check in time (guides, gurus) been there/
Memorabilia
Examples of What’s happening
-Honeymoon media - Cheapest flight -Terminal to go to -Activity ideas
-Birthday gift network, bloggers, TV options based on -Currency exchange -New ideas
-Anniversary personalities, movies, Compare: destination (look for -Ways to and from
-Stag do activity groups & Destination options promos and time airport Record:
-Reunion forums based on timings, suggestions) -Travel tips -Experiences Package:
-Accomplishment costs, and ease of -Memories Trip takeouts so as to
-Time off getting there -New extend the benefits
Search for: Compare: Book: ideas, contacts, knowl gained from the trip
Occasion or Time options vs. -Car hire edge
Experience: experience sought on budget across key -Accommodation
-Broaden horizon google, publications, f providers -Airport bus Share:
-Hobby/skill orums, social media To build on and
-Well-being/R&R groups,etc showcase who you
-Adventure Commit: Manage: are
-Landscape To a scenario Info updates, efficient
(sea, mountain, plant) and easy task
-Weather completion
(sun, snow, wind)
Research Commitment Experience
Inspiration
We dove deep into need states to see what questions people wanted
answered.

25. Semantic Grouping
1. 2. 3. 4 5. 6. 7.
Motivation Decision-
Research Booking Pre-flight Travel Post-travel
to travel making
Occasion Activity Destination Offering Simplify Connect Remember
Core Semantic Groups We identified the need
Flights states that matched the
client’s business goals
and mapped them to
semantic groups.
Country/Region Logistics
City/Airport Timing
Cheap Flights

26. Keyword Mapping
We mapped core semantic groups to
keywords informed by social listening.

27. UX that Reflects Needs
Navigation and sub-
navigation reflect
need states
UX and content
developed with the
concerns of our
personas
We built a user experience indicative of
these considerations

28. Performance
Bookings
Organic Traffic
Conversions improved in every need state in concert with improvement of
traffic from Organic Search. It worked.

29. TALK TO THE
RIGHT
PEOPLE
INTRODUCE YOUR CONTENT
TO THE PEOPLE WHO CARE

30. THROW AWAY YOUR FORM LETTERS!
The guy sent a form
letter to Avinash
Kaushik for a link.
Do Not be a Jordan Hogenson; tailor your outreach link building to your audience

31. Social and Search Will Continue to Integrate
There is evidence that Google will use rel-me and rel-author as ways to connect
people to content and apply a sliding scale of value to links based on
algorithmically determined authority of the writer to help solve search
quality issues.
BUILD YOUR NETWORKS NOW.
Read: Google‟s Heading for Life after Link Trust – Here‟s How to Prepare by @simonpenson - http://seogadget.co.uk/life-after-link-trust/

32. Link Building Golden Rule

33. Personas are the Key to Scalability
TARGET INFLUENCERS
Curious George Gamer Film Purist Tech Geek
This group represents people Gamers talk about their 3D This conversation revolves This group talks about the
considering buying a 3D TV gaming experience and the around use of 3D in film. They technical details of their AV
components and games they talk about 3D in a broad way, setup. They treat their TV‟s like
use. and occasionally touch on a racecar driver treats their car.
3DTV specifically.
Personas help you identify how to find your link prospects and how to
start a conversation with them once you do.
Watch: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/scalable-link-building-using-social-media-whiteboard-friday

34. Twitter Before Email
Twitter is made for inane and unsolicited
conversation. Start your outreach link building
there.

35. Use the SEER Method for Link Prospeting
I absolutely love the SEER Interactive method of using Twitter and Open Site
Explorer together to identify link prospects!
Read: http://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/using-twitter-and-backlinks-to-build-links/2011/07/28/

36. BUT!
[I LOVE ADULT SWIM]

37. Issues with the SEER Method
The Simply Measured tool gives you URLs with shorteners and Open Site Explorer
exports only give you up to 10k links.

38. So I made a tool…
Upload your Simply Measured Export and get an SEOmoz Site Intelligence
API and it will exhaustively prepare a link prospect report as an Excel
workbook. I don‟t have a name or UI for this tool.

39. How Does it Work?
All shortened URLs All Root Domains Data is exported to
are expanded are pulled from an Excel Workbook.
Open Site Explorer One sheet of
prospects, one
sheet of people
already linking to
you.

40. Output

41. Have a Persona for Link Building
People will most likely check out your timeline so fill it with
cool relevant content and conversation. Build an authentic
separate persona and use it for your link building.

42. Do Your Research
Create mental models of
your link prospects by
spending 5 minutes to view
their Social Media profiles
ProTip: A lot of people use the same username for many different
social networks. Put it in Knowem and find out what they are about.

43. Use Followerwonk with Scraper
FollowerWonk doesn’t have an export feature so install Scraper for Chrome
and
get your data straight into Google Docs
Read: http://justinbriggs.org/quick-link-prospecting-with-scraper-extension (@justinrbriggs)

44. Link Prospecting by Persona
Keep track of your twitter prospects by persona to measure hit rates and effectiveness
in the context of conversion which further justifies the link building effort.

45. Talk to People Like People
Outreach Link Building should be fun. If you
approach it with a genuine interest in people
you will increase your hit rate and not think of it
as such an fruitless task by having actual
conversations.

46. Make Your Message Stand Out
Use Short Subjects Converse with Context
Use Natural Subjects Do NOT Just Tweet a
Link at a Prospect
Do NOT Use “Link
Request” Escalate Quickly
(“Follow So I can DM”)
Send Emails as an
Actual Person not a Participate in the
Company or Team Subject‟s
Conversation
Include a Natural
Salutation Ride a Relevant
Hashtag

47. Offer Value
Value does not mean always mean incentives.
Show the person that it interacting with you is
valuable by being entertaining or a resource by
sharing other relevant content or information.

48. [PRO TIP]
KNOW
YOUR
INDUSTRY

49. Dangle the Carrot
If you have nothing more to offer or can‟t spend
the time use incentives. Couple incentives with
campaigns to draw links in a one-to-many
fashion.

50. Maintain the Rapport
After you close a link continue to engage with
your link prospects over time on Twitter or G+.
Add them to private Twitter lists and Google
Plus Circles.

51. Real Life Examples
@ipullrank
Follow me on Twitter. I will soon share examples of my outreach conversations on
my blog (http://ipullrank.com)

52. Measurement of Link Efforts
Curious George Gamer Film Purist Tech Geek
This group represents people Gamers talk about their 3D This conversation revolves This group talks about the
considering buying a 3D TV gaming experience and the around use of 3D in film. They technical details of their AV
components and games they talk about 3D in a broad way, setup. They treat their TV‟s like
use. and occasionally touch on a racecar driver treats their car.
3DTV specifically.
Curious George Gamers Film Purists Tech Geek
The ability to track the effectiveness of link building efforts by persona is a
powerful means of understanding which segment of your audience is driving the
most traffic and conversions.

53. THE FUTURE
THE PRESENT
KEYWORD ARBITRAGE:
CAPITALIZING UPON OFFSET IN
KEYWORD-LEVEL DEMOGRAPHICS
LONG TERM KEYWORD VALUE

54. What if I told you….
…there is a free way to find out
exactly who every person is that
comes to your site for per keyword

56. By the way I‟m Michael King
SEO Manager at
Publicis Modem recently
left Razorfish
Studied Computer
Science at Howard
University
Lives in Brooklyn
From Philadelphia
Born August 29th, 1981
Speaks American
English & Pig Latin
Wouldn‟t you want
to have this info for
every person that
comes to your site?

57. The Flux Capacitor
Search Keyword-Level
FB:Admin Demographics
Referrers

58. FB:Admin Code
ProTip: Sessionize the original
referrer when they first get to the
site in case the user opts-in via
Facebook later during their visit.
Clear the session variable if they
come from Search again.
JavaScript does not natively
support Session Variables so
check out SessVars.js by
Thomas Frank -
http://www.thomasfrank.se/session
vars.html
@matclayton’s presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/matclayton/mozcon-seattle-2011-social-design

59. More Code
Function to grab the Search Referrer Function to grab Facebook Data
All code can be found at:
http://www.ipullrank.com/code/keyword-demographics

60. GA Custom Variables Code
_gaq.push(['_setCustomVar',
1, // This custom var is set to slot #1. Required
// parameter. You can do 1 - 5
‘Referrer', // Category for the user activity. Required parameter.
‘Keyword', // Value of the custom variable. Required parameter.
1 // Sets the scope to page-level. Optional parameter.
// 1 – Visitor-Level, 2- Session-Level, 3- Page-Level
]);
Google Analytics function for pushing to Custom Variables
Function for passing data to Custom Variables

61. Magic Data!
Here we are storing 4 pieces of data from Facebook as well as the referrer.
Ideally you would model the persona in the code just push the persona name to
Google Analytics.

62. Data In Context of Keyword
BIRTHDATE KEYWORD
You can view the demographics data in context of any dimension. Here we are
looking at birthdates in context with the referring keyword.

63. Privacy?
If you are concerned with privacy you
can encrypt user IDs using md5 hashes
or model the persona in the code and
only push the persona name to
analytics.
123456 e10adc3949ba59abbe56e057f20f883e
An md5 hash is a 128-bit
encryption of a string. You
can compare users without
saving their user IDs

64. Pzyche
Pzyche allows you to get demographics data on visitors in real-time
requiring no opt-in.* http://www.pzyche.com
*I asked Pzyche where their data comes from they said their sources are “proprietary”

65. Other Data Sources
LinkedIn and Google+ are both options
for data mining the people that come to
your site but keep in mind that with
signed in G+ users you will not get
Search Referrers.
Read: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/making-search-more-secure.html

66. Dynamic Targeting
Using the Facebook data user experiences can be tailored dynamically
to reflect properties of the persona when they visit.
What Normal Users See What Curious George Sees
Curious George
• 18-32
• Male
• Loves indie rock
• Wishes he had a beard

67. Use it! It Works!
MixCloud uses Facebook data to customize
landing pages and has achieved a 55%
reduction in bounce rate for FB users.

69. THE FUTURE
MEASURING ROI:
CAPITALIZING ON OFFSETS IN
LONG TERM KEYWORD VALUE

70. MEASURING
PEOPLE
SHOW WHO IS DOING WHAT
AND HOW TO MAKE THEM DO
IT MORE

71. Measuring People
Using personas allows you step away from
abstracts and identify insights in terms of
people and their needs.
Almost didn‟t look
like a
watermark, right?

72. Keyword Ownership
Once a statistically significant dataset is compiled it can be
determined which demographic and/or persona is more likely to
convert for a given keyword and develop messaging that focuses on
that group.
OWNER
Curious George Gamer Film Purist Tech Geek
• 18-32 • 18-32 • 22-40 • 22-40
• Male • Male • Male • Male
• Loves indie rock • Loves all music • Loves film soundtracks • Loves Techno
• Wishes he had a beard • Wishes he could move • Wishes he could live in • Wishes you would stop
out his mom’s the movie Avatar invading his online
basement privacy
• 5000 Searches Monthly • 600 Searches Monthly • 1000 Searches Monthly • 100 Searches Monthly
• Conversion Rate 5% • Conversion Rate 2% • Conversion Rate 0.5% • Conversion Rate 0.2%

73. Keyword Arbitrage
Initial Conversion Persona Keyword Subsequent Conversion Keyword
Keyword Rate Revenue Keyword Rate Revenue
Sneakers 5% Curious George $50 Sneakers 40% $50
Sneakers 5% Curious George $50 Windbreakers 60% $100
Sneakers 5% Curious George $50 T-Shirts 20% $20
Windbreakers 3% Curious George $100 Sneakers 32% $50
Windbreakers 3% Curious George $100 Windbreakers 5% $100
Windbreakers 3% Curious George $100 T-shirts 80% $20
T-shirts 2% Curious George $20 Sneakers 50% $50
T-shirts 2% Curious George $20 Windbreakers 40% $100
T-shirts 2% Curious George $20 T-shirts 75% $20
Tracking keyword demographics also allows the attribution of future purchases
to the original keyword and will give way to keyword matrices.

74. Subsequent Conversion Prediction
Curious George
60% of these users that
buy sneakers from the
keyword “sneakers” come
back and purchase
windbreakers
These keyword matrices will allow the prediction of what the persona is
likely to buy next so you know which people to aggressively pursue
through retargeting and other channels such as email.

75. Rankings
Push your rankings to your Analytics for viewing in context with
personas, localization and conversion goals to prioritize opportunities
Read and get the code for this: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/gettings-rankings-into-ga-using-custom-variables (@dohertyjf)

76. Annual Keyword Value
Based on how often an initial keyword leads to future conversions of
subsequent keywords businesses will be able to measure the annual
value of a keyword and react accordingly.
Keyword Price per Keyword
Earnings
Ratio Annual Earnings
per initial click
Annual Earnings
Keyword per initial click
Earnings
Yield Price per Keyword

78. Thank You.
Michael King
SEO Manager
www.ipullrank.com
michael.king@publicismodem.com
@iPullRank

79. Appendix
Mat Clayton’s Social Design Presentation:
http://www.slideshare.net/matclayton/mozcon-seattle-2011-social-design
John Doherty’s Notes on Mat Clayton’s Presentation:
http://www.johnfdoherty.com/social-design-how-to-co-mingle-social-features-
earn-traffic-mozcon/
Facebook Open Graph Protocol Reference:
http://developers.facebook.com/docs/opengraph/
Google Analytics Custom Variables:
http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/tracking/gaTrackingCustomVariabl
es.html
My Keyword-Level Demographics Post on SEOmoz:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/keyword-level-demographics
My Code Repository:
http://www.ipullrank.com/code/keyword-demographics
My Whiteboard Friday on Link Building Using Social Media
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/scalable-link-building-using-social-media-
whiteboard-friday