Google's knowledge graph may be great for users, but it very often hurts sites. This presentation will show the extent of that damage, and how to fight against the knowledge graph, or even use it to your advantage.

1. Google is
Stealing Your
Traffic
Steal it back!
SMX Israel 2014

2. About This Presentation
• What is the Knowledge
Graph?
• How is it affecting you?
• Not all sites are created
equal
• How the Knowledge Graph
can actually help you.

3. About Me
• Eli Feldblum
• CTO & Founder of
RankAbove
• eli@rankabove.com
• @FeldBum
• 050-333-0915 (Israel)
• 201-815-9467 (US)

4. What is the Knowledge Graph?
It’s actually kinda what it
sounds like: a graph of all
the knowledge Google has.
It’s a collection of data that
Google has gathered, and of
the connections between
those bits of data. The
collation of that data is
what is displayed.

5. What is the Knowledge Graph?
It shows up in many forms.
The one we see most often
is this side box or
panel, which we also often
refer to as the ―Knowledge
Graph.‖

6. What is the Knowledge Graph?
It also powers the ―collections‖ we see on searches that
return specific lists of results, like casts of shows or
movies.

7. What is the Knowledge Graph?
And it answers questions.

8. What is the Knowledge Graph?
It even compares things.

9. How Does it Affect Sites?
Usually, it hurts them.
Especially for informational
sites or sites that show up
for informational
queries, like:
• Publishers
• Wikis
• Q&A Sites
• Single-Purpose Data
Sites

10. How Does it Affect Sites?
In a study of eight sites,
20MM impressions and
2MM clicks, when the
Knowledge Graph showed
up, average CTR for sites in
the Top 5 Positions of
Google dropped from 13%
to just 8%.

11. How Does it Affect Sites?
In first position, average
CTR dropped from 22% to
12%.

12. How Does it Affect Sites?
Even sites
referenced in
the Knowledge
Graph lost
traffic. Once it
was
introduced, Wiki
pedia lost more
than 20% of its
US traffic.

13. But!
When used correctly, the
Knowledge Graph actually
showed an overall increase
in traffic for sites, even when
those sites lost traffic on
individual searches.
Answers and panels
(collations) hurt sites; the
carousel and related links
(collections and
connections) can help
sites.

14. Fighting Back
So, how do you fight back
against the Knowledge
Graph? How do you use it to
your advantage?
• Wikipedia
• Freebase
• Collating and Organizing
your own information.

15. Wikipedia
The Knowledge Graph’s
primary source of
textual, descriptive data is
Wikipedia. Luckily, you
can—and should—edit
Wikipedia (I have ~5000
edits). No need to promote
your site (and don’t violate
Wikipedia guidelines), but
make sure that:

16. Wikipedia
• Wikipedia’s information,
especially the top intro
paragraph, are correct.
• Related information in
Wikipedia is correct:
–
–
–
–
Cast lists
Car models
Categories
Etc…

17. Freebase
Freebase is an incredible
database of nearly all the
world’s info—unsurprisingly
purchased by Google—that
you can also edit. It does
exactly what the Knowledge
Graph needs: it shows the
connections between
different pieces of data.

18. Freebase
Make sure those
connections are correct—
and that they include what
you want.
You can even connect data
to a site! A great way to
subtly convince Google to
use your site as a source for
the Knowledge Graph, or
get the info you want in the
Knowledge Graph.

19. Make Your Own Freebase/Wikipedia
If you do connect your
site, you’ll do best in the
Knowledge Graph if Google
likes the site. So:
• Keep it organized
• Show connections and
collections
• Make it highly structured
• Bonus: If you can
maintain it, make it
editable.

20. The Results
When VH1 used the
Knowledge Graph to their
advantage, updating
Wikipedia and Freebase to
ensure all show and product
info was correct, avg. CTR
when the Knowledge Graph
showed up (in all positions)
jumped to 15%!

21. The Results
In fact, by tracking IPs and
visitor sessions, we saw that
users actually browsed
more pages when the
Knowledge Graph showed
up!

22. The Results
For searched that returned
collection results, especially
with visual collections, CTR
jumped to 20% in all
positions!

23. One Last Thing!
The Knowledge Graph also
grabs data from one more
very important source: your
favorite social
network, Google+!
Connect you Google+
page, and Google will
feature your latest G+ post
for free!

24. More Information?
Just contact me:
Eli Feldblum
eli@rankabove.com
201-815-9467
050-333-0915
@FeldBum