SEO Masterclass Webit 2010

SEO Masterclass,[object Object],Rand Fishkin, CEO & Co-founder, SEOmoz,[object Object],Webit, Sofia October 2010,[object Object]

Topics for the Masterclass,[object Object],[object Object]

Information architecture & navigation structure

Overcoming Twitter’s cannibalization of the link graph

New Research: Topic Modeling in the Search Results,[object Object]

Correlation ≠ Causation,[object Object],The more I wear suits, the more I speak on panels.,[object Object],Therefore: wearing suits causes me to speak on panels.,[object Object]

Understanding Correlation Significance,[object Object],No Correlation,[object Object],Exact Match Domain,[object Object],Perfect Correlation,[object Object],Most of our data for search rankings falls in this region(which we’d expect given algorithms w/ 200+ ranking factors),[object Object]

Question #1:How to Best “Optimize” a Site for Search Engine Rankings,[object Object]

Methodology,[object Object],[object Object]

1st Page Only (usually ~10 results per page)

Correlations are w/ Higher Position on Page 1

Controlled for SERPs Where All (or None) of the Results Matched the Metric,[object Object]

Contains All Query Terms in Domain Name,[object Object],Exact Match Hyphenated Domain,[object Object],Exact Match Domain,[object Object],Highest Stderr = 0.0241804,[object Object]

Our Interpretation,[object Object],[object Object]

Hyphenated versions are less powerful, though more frequent in Bing (G: 271 vs. B: 890)

Just having keywords in the domain name has substantial positive correlation,[object Object]

Putting KWs in URLs is likely a best practice

Everyone optimizes titles (G: 11,115 vs. B: 11,143). Differentiating here is hard.

(Simplistic) on-page optimization isn’t a huge factor,[object Object]

The .org TLD extension is surprising – do they earn more links? Less spam? More non-commercial?

Don’t forget about branding/user behavior - .com is still probably a very good thing (at least own it),[object Object]

Long domains may not be ideal, but aren’t awful

Raw content length seems marginal in correlation,[object Object]

# of Linking Root Domains to URL,[object Object],# of Links to URL,[object Object],Highest Stderr = 0.00335677,[object Object]

Bing may be slightly more naïve in their usage of link data than Google, but better than before

Diversity of link sources remains more important than raw link quantity,[object Object]

Anchor text links from diverse domains, however, appears highly correlated

Bing and Google are relatively similar in evaluating these metrics,[object Object]

Linking domains are likely a better metric than raw links

Page Authority is reasonably good, but has a way to go,[object Object]

Rankings of individual pages may be more disparate we typical think re: “domain authority”

Overall, we’re still very naïve when it comes to understanding how links influence search rankings,[object Object]

Are Most Users Seeing/Using Google Instant?,[object Object],http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/report_google_search_box_in_firefox_accounts_for_9.php,[object Object]

Methodology: Keyword Referral Search Data,[object Object],[object Object]

Distribute into groups by word-length

Analyze shifts in demand by keywords that brought visits to the site

Compare from period prior to Google Instant and directly after,[object Object]

Via Distilled Consulting (UK),[object Object],11 Sites, Various Sizes (3.5K – 75K weekly visits), 75K+ Keywords,[object Object],http://www.distilled.co.uk/blog/seo/impact-of-google-instant/,[object Object]

Via Conductor,[object Object],Multiple sites, 880K visits, 10Ks of keywords,[object Object],http://blog.conductor.com/2010/09/what%E2%80%99s-been-the-impact-of-google-instant-on-searcher-behavior-so-far-not-much/,[object Object]

Interesting Takeaways,[object Object],[object Object]

Google “suggest” has been out for a long time already; users are likely accustomed to this feature

The “long tail” may get longer/shorter over time, but Instant seems less responsible than other factors,[object Object]

Semantically Logical Structure,[object Object]

Minimize Click-Depth,[object Object]

Maximize Usability of Navigation,[object Object]

Tips for Semantically Useful Navigation,[object Object]

Initially Design without Keyword Research,[object Object]

Add in Keyword Research Based Modifications,[object Object]

Validate Architecture/Path with Non-SEOs,[object Object]

Tips for Minimal Click-Depth,[object Object]

Imitate the Ideal Nav Pyramid,[object Object]

Broad Linking at Top Levels,[object Object]

Editorial Categorization > User-Defined,[object Object]

HACK: Multi-Level HTML Sitemap,[object Object]

Tips for Usable Navigation,[object Object]

Obvious Navigation Elements,[object Object]

Naming Conventions that Match Intent,[object Object]

User & Usability Testing,[object Object]

Avoiding Common “Big Site” Problems,[object Object]

Duplicate Content Issues,[object Object]

Rel Canonical Tags,[object Object]

Google Webmaster Tools,[object Object]

SEOmoz Web App,[object Object]

Scraping & Re-Publishing,[object Object]

Employ Absolute URLs,[object Object],Absolute:<a href=“http://www.seomoz.org/blog”> anchor </a>,[object Object],Relative: <a href=“../blog”> anchor </a> ,[object Object]

C&D vs. Large, Credible Orgs that Scrape,[object Object]

Don’t Go Overboard w/ Bot Blocking,[object Object]

Incomplete Indexation,[object Object]

Track Referrals, not Site: Commands,[object Object]

Check Page “Types” that Don’t Receive Traffic,[object Object]

Content Syndication,[object Object]

Twitter for Indexation,[object Object]

“Search Results” in the SERPs,[object Object]

Create Category “Landing” Pages,[object Object]

Remove Obvious Traces of “Search” on Landing Pages,[object Object]

Thin Content Issues,[object Object]

Bolster w/ UGC,[object Object]

Employ Scalable Content Production,[object Object]

Keep “Thin” Pages Out of the SERPs,[object Object]

Faceted Navigation,[object Object]

Rel Canonical Can Help,[object Object]

Use AJAX to Reload Pages,[object Object]

Watch Out for Google Crawling Javascript,[object Object]

Offer Facets Only to Logged-In / Cookied Users,[object Object],Logged-In = 345 / Googlebot = 141,[object Object]

Overcoming Twitter’s Cannibalization of the Link Graph,[object Object]

Way Back in 2007,[object Object],Interesting content, blog posts & linkbait earned LOTS of links,[object Object]

Fast Forward to 2010,[object Object],Not so many links (in comparison),[object Object]

Fast Forward to 2010,[object Object],But tons of social sharing (and tweets),[object Object]

Are Pages Linking Out Less?,[object Object],Via Linkscape’s web index,[object Object]

How Do We Earn Traditional Web Links (the kind search engines love)?,[object Object]

Tactic #1:Embeddable Content,[object Object]

Infographics,[object Object],+1,085 links from 356 root domains,[object Object],http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/02/24/google-facts-and-figures-massive-infographic/,[object Object]

Badges,[object Object],http://www.zillow.com/webtools/badges/,[object Object]

Value-Add Widgets,[object Object]

Tactic #2:Reference Material,[object Object]

Research & Data,[object Object],http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2014332,00.html,[object Object]

Awards + Rankings,[object Object],http://www.moneycrashers.com/top-personal-finance-blogs/,[object Object]

Citation-Worthy Explanations,[object Object],http://www.seomoz.org/blog/googles-algorithm-pretty-charts-math-stuff,[object Object]

Tactic #3:Syndicated Content,[object Object]

Niches where content is low-supply/high-demand,[object Object],http://perfectmarket.com/vault_index_summer_2010_infographic,[object Object]

ID sites that already syndicate from someone else,[object Object]

Tactic #4:Stick to Niches w/o Twitter Adoption,[object Object]

Find sectors where traditional blogs/forums dominate conversation,[object Object],http://www.eng-tips.com/,[object Object]

Many of these “old-school” sites have followed external links (but don’t abuse these),[object Object],Note the nofollow highlighting,[object Object]

Some “Web 2.0” Ones, Too ,[object Object],Impressive domain and page level metrics,[object Object]

Tactic #5:Friends, Partners, Customers & Vendors,[object Object]

Friends + Family,[object Object]

Customers,[object Object],http://www.seomoz.org/blog/headsmacking-tip-1-link-requests-in-order-confirmation-emails,[object Object]

Vendors,[object Object],http://burton.kontain.com/evogear/,[object Object]

Tactic #6:Twitter May Take Your Tweets, But They’ll Never Take Your Content!,[object Object]

Turn Your Tweets Into Content,[object Object],http://twournal.com/home,[object Object]

Turn Tweets from industry leaders into content, too (this entices them to share),[object Object],http://www.seomoz.org/blog/bing-vs-google-prominence-of-ranking-elements,[object Object]

Tactic #7:Can’t Beat ‘em? Join ‘em!,[object Object]

Twitter is (almost certainly) influencing (at least some) rankings,[object Object],Lots of tweets, virtually no links, but remarkable rankings,[object Object]

Twitter can send lots of direct traffic,[object Object]

You need to target the right Tweeters,[object Object],http://twitaholic.com/top100/followers/,[object Object]

The Ones Who Send Real Traffic,[object Object],http://mashable.com/2009/07/07/twitter-clickthrough-rate/,[object Object]

Not the “Grade”,[object Object],Use the “Rank”,[object Object],http://twittergrader.com,[object Object]

Takeaways,[object Object],[object Object]

Tweeting heavily may not necessarily hurt the attention people pay to your tweets

Klout score probably isn’t great for predicting the reach of an individual’s tweets/messages

TwitterGrader Rank may be useful for predicting the traffic you’d get from a tweeter

Avg. CTR across 254 shared links = 1.17% (don’t feel bad if only 1/100 followers clicks a link),[object Object]

To Make Analytics Actionable Always Ask:,[object Object],#1 - “Why am I measuring this?”,[object Object],#2 – “What would I do if results were different?” ,[object Object]

# of Visits Per Search Engine Over Time,[object Object]

Action: Measure against search engine market shares & volume to determine whether you’re making positive strides,[object Object]

# Pages Getting Search Referrals Over Time,[object Object],Measure this number on a weekly/monthly basis,[object Object]

Action: Discover if indexation is an issue worth effort,[object Object],This number sucks. Learn more about why at:,[object Object],www.seomoz.org/blog/indexation-for-seo-real-numbers-in-5-easy-steps,[object Object]

# of Keywords Sending Traffic from a,[object Object],Search Engine over Time,[object Object]

Action: Determine if content additions are accretive and what drives growth/shrinkage in search traffic,[object Object],Did rankings fall? Or is demand down?,[object Object]

Search Referral Analytics,[object Object]

# of Visits per Keyword,[object Object]

Action: Analyze top traffic drivers from a value perspective, check rankings for potential easy wins & get answers if traffic dips,[object Object],“SEO Tools” is a big win and we could rank higher,[object Object]

First-Time vs. Returning Visits per Keyword,[object Object],The keyword “SEO” leans toward first-time visits,[object Object]

Action: Determine value of reaching new visitors vs. converting branded users (focus efforts on the more valuable one),[object Object],This metric speaks to business strategy about converting existing fans vs. reaching new customer segments,[object Object]

Distribution of Keyword Referrals,[object Object]

Action: Discover strengths vs. opportunities (60-70% of traffic is typically in the long tail and it converts better),[object Object]

Keyword Rankings,[object Object],www.seomoz.org/rank-tracker,[object Object]

Action: Know if traffic spikes/dropoffs are from rankings, indexation or search demand shifts,[object Object],Rankings and Traffic both Dropped,[object Object]

Page Two Rankings,[object Object],Referrals from Page 2,[object Object]

Action: Identify low hanging fruit that can be optimized quickly,[object Object],Could totally 301 this to www.opensiteexplorer.org,[object Object]

Engagement Analytics,[object Object]

Action: Compare to ROI metrics; if they correlate, improve on keywords/landing pages with low time on site,[object Object],Average “upgrade to PRO” visitor spent a whopping 44 minutes on SEOmoz!,[object Object]

# of Page Views,[object Object]

Action: Depending on your metrics, a “sweet spot” of pages browsed often dictates a conversion event – optimize towards it,[object Object],Average “upgrade to PRO” visitor visits 12X the pages of an average visitor,[object Object]

Repeat Visit Ratio,[object Object]

Action: Find what content/activities/referrers send engaged traffic and copy those while improving subpar pages,[object Object]

Sharing/Linking Activity,[object Object],“Sharing Activity” Conversions,[object Object]

Action: Find patterns/sources that predict sharing activities (both content and CTAs) and make them testable conversion events,[object Object],GA allows you to set custom actions as “goals” then filter, monitor and improve on these metrics,[object Object]

Latent Conversion Tracking,[object Object]

SEO Masterclass Webit 2010

SEO Masterclass Webit 2010

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SEO Masterclass Webit 2010