Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz
| @randfish | rand@moz.com Fight Back Against Back Why the back button has become web marketing’s greatest enemy (and how to defeat it)

Slides online at
bit.ly/backenemy

Let’s Go Back to 2012…

Keywords, content, links, and a
crawlable site could get you here… And keep you there.

Even if the experience users
had wasn’t superb, so long as you could outearn your competitors’ links, you were likely to stay on top

On Facebook, the likes and
shares determined how often you’d be in the news feed of your fans.

On Twitter, visibility was entirely
determined by publication time.

In 2012, we only had
to worry about the path to conversion and CRO on our own sites.

We could let audiences self-select
out of these phases after an initial visit without fear of repercussions

If putting a price here
meant 80% of visitors left, no problem. So long as the more qualified ones (those we really wanted) stayed, we were doing our jobs.

What Happened that Made 2016
so Different?

Google Moved to Learning
Algorithms

Early On, Google Rejected Machine
Learning in the Organic RankingAlgo Via Datawocky, 2008

Amit Singhal Shared Norvig’s ConcernsAbout
ML Via Quora

In 2012, Google Published a
PaperAbout How they Use ML to Predict Ad CTRs: Via Google

2012 “Our SmartASS system is
a machine learning system. It learns whether our users are interested in that ad, and whether users are going to click on them.”

By 2013, It Was Something
Google’s Search Folks Talked About Publicly Via SELand

In October of 2015, they
finally revealed RankBrain, anAI- system input to the search rankings Via Bloomberg Business

As MLTakes Over More of
Google’sAlgo, the Underpinnings of the Rankings Change Via Colossal

Google is PublicAbout How They
Use MLin Image Recognition & Classification Potential ID Factors (e.g. color, shapes, gradients, perspective, interlacing, alt tags, surrounding text, etc) Training Data (i.e. human-labeled images) Learning Process Best Match Algo

Google is PublicAbout How They
Use MLin Image Recognition & Classification Via Jeff Dean’s Slides on Deep Learning; a Must Read for SEOs

Machine Learning in Search Could
Work Like This: Potential Ranking Factors (e.g. PageRank, TF*IDF, Topic Modeling, QDF, Clicks, Entity Association, etc.) Training Data (i.e. good & bad search results) Learning Process Best Fit Algo

Training Data (e.g. good search
results) This is a good SERP – searchers rarely bounce, rarely short-click, and rarely need to enter other queries or go to page 2.

Training Data (e.g. bad search
results!) This is a bad SERP – searchers bounce often, click other results, rarely long-click, and try other queries. They’re definitely not happy.

The Machines Learn to Emulate
the Good Results & Try to Fix orTweak the Bad Results Potential Ranking Factors (e.g. PageRank, TF*IDF, Topic Modeling, QDF, Clicks, Entity Association, etc.) Training Data (i.e. good & bad search results) Learning Process Best Fit Algo

Deep Learning is Even MoreAdvanced:
Dean says by using deep learning, they don’t have to tell the system what a cat is, the machines learn, unsupervised, for themselves…

We’re TalkingAbout Algorithms that Build
Algorithms (without human intervention)

Googlers Don’t Feed in Ranking
Factors… The Machines Determine Those Themselves. Potential Ranking Factors (e.g. PageRank, TF*IDF, Topic Modeling, QDF, Clicks, Entity Association, etc.) Training Data (i.e. good search results) Learning Process Best Fit Algo

Last October, Google Finally Went
Public with Their Use of ML-Based RankBrain Via Bloomberg Business

And RankBrain is Clearly Important:
Via Bloomberg Business

Google Leverages the Outputs from
RankBrain Despite Not Knowing for Sure What It Uses: Via SERoundtable

Google’s AI Just Keeps Growing
in Power… Via The Verge

No wonder these guys are
stressed about Google unleashing the Terminators  Via CNET & Washington Post

But Google Isn’t Alone

Facebook’s Visibility
Algorithms

Via Slate Machine learning based
on engagement determines what appears in our Facebook News Feeds

Twitter’s Emerging Visibility
Plan

Twitter’s new home screen will
work the same way – highlighting the “most important” (aka “most engaged-with”) tweets from accounts you follow Via Mashable

Instagram’s New Algorithmic
Feed

Instagram announced the change March
15th saying they will “take their time to get this right.” Via Mashable

Engagement is Becoming the Web’s
Universal Quality Metric

Google Suggest The order of
suggestions is based on engagement w/ those queries

ChromeAutocomplete Ordered by what I
(and others) have engaged with most that contain these letters

Google Maps & Local Results
Search volume, driving directions, and SERP engagement are all elements of local rankings

Social Networks’“Trending” Content

SuggestedAccounts to Follow

What’s “Important” in Gmail If
lots of folks ignore, delete, or report spam on your emails, you won’t get this label anymore

Sites & Brands Earn an
Engagement Reputation that Determines Visibility

Quantity of Posts/Emails/ Pieces of
Content/ Rankings/etc Quantity of clicks/likes/shares/ reactions/etc Engagement Reputation=

Every Time a Visitor Clicks
that Back Button, It Saps Away at our Reputation

How Do We Fight Back
Against Back?

Understand & Serve All of
Your Visitors’ Intents#1

Don’t JustAsk “Who is My
Customer?” Via Moz

Ask “WhatAreAll the Needs of
These Searchers?” Then ServeAs Many as Possible You might be trying to sell desks, but searchers are seeking answers to all of these

If the Competition Delivers Value
to Searchers Who Aren’t Buyers, But You Don’t…

They’re Likely to Win the
Engagement Battle Via JustStand.org

Outearn Your Ranking’s Avg. Clickthrough
Rate#2

Optimize the Title, Meta Description,
& URL a Little for Keywords, but a Lot for Clicks If you rank #3, but have a higher- than-average CTR for that position, you might get moved up. Via Philip Petrescu on Moz

Every Element Counts Does the
title match what searchers want? Does the URL seem compelling? Do searchers recognize & want to click your domain? Is your result fresh? Do searchers want a newer result? Does the description create curiosity & entice a click? Do you get the brand dropdown?

Given Google Often Tests New
Results Briefly on Page One… ItMayBeWorthRepeatedPublicationonaTopictoEarnthatHighCTR Shoot! My post only made it to #15… Perhaps I’ll try again in a few months.

Driving Up CTR Through Branding
Or Branded Searches May GiveAn Extra Boost

#1 Ad Spender #2 Ad
Spender #4 Ad Spender #3 Ad Spender #5 Ad Spender

With Google Trends’ new, more
accurate, more customizable ranges, you can actually watch the effects of events and ads on search query volume Fitbit was running ads on Sunday NFL games that clearly show in the search trends data.

Optimize Signal:Noise Ratio on Every
Channel#3

Better Content > More Content
A lot of SEO used to be about establishing authority through brute quantity, but Panda, and now Rankbrain, are changing that.

Better Social Shares > More
Social Shares Via Rand’s Facebook Page When I have a successful post on Facebook, it boosts Facebook’s likelihood to show my posts in the future…

Better Social Shares > More
Social Shares High engagement grows my reach potential. Low engagement shrinks my reach potential.

Better Emails > More Emails
Via Pinpointe.com

Better Emails > More Emails
Via CrazyEgg.com

Better Rankings > More Rankings
A brand that consistently gets on page 1 but isn’t holding searchers’ interest or develops a negative brand reputation in SERPs may find those page 1 rankings are hurting their ability to get #1 rankings!

Put User Experience First in
Your Marketing#4

Speed, speed, and more speed
Delivers an easy, enjoyable experience on every device Compels visitors to engage, share, & return Avoids features that dissuade or annoy visitors Authoritative, comprehensive content that’s uniquely valuable vs. what anyone else in your space provides The Marketer’s User Experience Checklist

Uniquely Valuable Content Via R2D3
Lots of articles try to explain machine learning, but this one SHOWS how it works in a way anyone can grasp.

Speed, Speed, and More Speed
Via Moz

Easy, Enjoyable Experience on Every
Device Via CNN

Via CNN Easy, Enjoyable Experience
on Every Device

Engagement, Sharing, & Repeat Visits
Via Meshable.io

Nothing That Dissuades Or Annoys
Visitors Ads, more ads, distractions, and no salary numbers? It’s a miracle they rank at all.

Cyrus May Have Gone a
Little Overboard… Via Cyrus on Twitter

Craft Compelling CTAs at the
Top of the Funnel#5

Top-of-Funnel Content Can’t Be Used
Solely to Filter Out the Non-Customers Trying to rank w/ content that only serves one niche of your search audience may be a recipe for failure

FightingAgainst Back Means Serving a
Broader Audience AngelList’s tool makes salary comparison easy, fast, and serves a huge range of roles, locations, and markets Via AngelList

Or, Getting More Precise with
Your Search Query -> Content Targeting By targeting a less competitive, lower volume query, Compass can reach the audience they’re seeking

Either Way, Engagement Metrics on
Content Must Become KPIs Improving Pages/Session and lowering Bounce Rate should probably play a “link-building- like” role in your SEO arsenal

Our Content CTAs Deserve to
Be Customized, Tested, & Refined (just like conversion-focused landing pages) e.g. I bet I could make a better CTA for the comparison tool than this (which looks far too much like an ad IMO) Via Talkpay (Comparably’s Blog)

Welcome to 2016: A World
of Engagement-Based Reputation

The Machines Are Judging
Us…

Let’s Show ‘Em What We
Got.

Fight Back Against Back.

Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz
| @randfish | rand@moz.com Bit.ly/backenemy