The biggest companies have the biggest budgets and the biggest teams. You might not have the same resources as they do, but you can still learn from what they're doing on their websites and "steal" their best ideas! You'll be able to drive your SEO, search advertising, content and CRO initiatives higher and faster than ever before by leveraging what your biggest competitors are doing to their websites.

1. STEALING THE BEST
CONTENT, SEO & CRO
IDEAS FROM THE
BIG DOGS
DANIEL RUSSELL @dnlRussell

2. @dnlRussell
!

3. @dnlRussell
!

4. @dnlRussell
!

5. @dnlRussell
!

6. @dnlRussell
!

7. IN THE BUSINESS
WORLD, BIG DOGS
HAVE…
@dnlRussell
!

8. BIGGEST
BUDGETS
@dnlRussell

9. BIGGEST
TEAMS
@dnlRussell

10. MOST
TO LOSE
@dnlRussell

11. SOME PROVISOS
@dnlRussell

12. HAVING WORKED
WITH SOME BIG
DOGS…
@dnlRussell
!

13. THEY DON’T
ALWAYS KNOW
WHAT THEY’RE
DOING
@dnlRussell

14. SOMETIMES
THEY’RE NOT
PAYING ATTENTION
@dnlRussell

15. SOMETIMES
WHOEVER SETS
BUDGETS DOESN’T
CARE ABOUT
MARKETING
@dnlRussell

16. @dnlRussell
!
SEARCHER INTENT

17. NAVIGATIONAL
@dnlRussell
INFORMATIONAL
TRANSACTIONAL

18. NAVIGATIONAL
GO
@dnlRussell

19. INFORMATIONAL
WHAT WHY WHO
@dnlRussell

20. TRANSACTIONAL
DO
@dnlRussell

21. @dnlRussell
!

22. @dnlRussell
!

23. @dnlRussell
!
GOOGLE’S OWN ACTIONS

24. GOOGLE TESTED 41
SHADES OF BLUE
FOR ITS LINKS
@dnlRussell
!

25. @dnlRussell
!

26. IMAGINE WHERE WE’D BE
IF GOOGLE DIDN’T GO
DOWN THIS PATH
@dnlRussell

27. @dnlRussell

28. @dnlRussell
!

29. No
“Top Stories”
No social
integration
No Knowledge
Graph results
No featured
snippets
@dnlRussell

30. PAUL HAAHR
PRINCIPAL RANKING ENGINEER

31. @dnlRussell
!
“Ranking Engineers … either
look for new signals or combine
old signals in new ways”
SMX West 2016

32. @dnlRussell
!
“Where do our metrics come
from? … live experiments and
human rater experiments”

33. @dnlRussell
!
“It’s rare that you do a search
on Google and you’re not in at
least one experiment”

34. SEARCHER
INTENT
MATCH
CONTENT
ENGAGING
INTERFACE
@dnlRussell

35. @dnlRussell
!

36. @dnlRussell
!
FEDEX

37. @dnlRussell
!

38. @dnlRussell
!

39. @dnlRussell
!

40. @dnlRussell
!

41. @dnlRussell
!

42. @dnlRussell
!

43. @dnlRussell
!

44. @dnlRussell
!

45. @dnlRussell
!
AMAZON

46. @dnlRussell
!
1995

47. 2004
@dnlRussell
!

48. 2011
@dnlRussell
!

49. @dnlRussell
!

50. @dnlRussell
!
WAIT, I HAVE A
PROBLEM

51. MY TEAM IS TOO SMALL
TO MAKE REGULAR
WEBSITE CHANGES
@dnlRussell

52. NOT ENOUGH VISITORS
COME TO MY WEBSITE
TO MAKE A SIGNIFICANT
SAMPLE SIZE
@dnlRussell

53. I DON’T HAVE A MONTH
TO A/B TEST
@dnlRussell

54. @dnlRussell
!
HERE COME THE
BIG DOGS

55. MASSIVE SPEND
@dnlRussell
!
Source: S&P Global

56. ALLSTATE
@dnlRussell
!

57. FEATURE FIGHTS
@dnlRussell
!

58. @dnlRussell
!
VS

59. @dnlRussell
!
WINNER

60. @dnlRussell
!
VS

61. @dnlRussell
!
WINNER

62. ALLSTATE AUTO

63. @dnlRussell
!
VS

64. @dnlRussell
!
WINNER

65. ESURANCE
@dnlRussell
!

66. @dnlRussell
!
VS VS

67. @dnlRussell
!
VS

68. @dnlRussell
!
WINNER

69. PROGRESSIVE
@dnlRussell
!

70. VS.
@dnlRussell
!

71. @dnlRussell
!
LIBERTY MUTUAL

72. @dnlRussell
!
VS

73. @dnlRussell
!
WINNER

74. @dnlRussell
!
VS

75. @dnlRussell
!
WINNER

76. VS
@dnlRussell
!

77. @dnlRussell
!
WINNER

78. VS
@dnlRussell
!

79. @dnlRussell
!
WINNER

80. @dnlRussell
!
UHAUL

81. VS
@dnlRussell
!

82. @dnlRussell
!
WINNER

83. @dnlRussell
!
FREQUENTLY ASKED
QUESTIONS

84. HOW CAN I GET MY
HANDS ON THAT
SITE TRACKING TOOL?
@dnlRussell

85. IT’S NOT PUBLICLY
AVAILABLE (YET)
@dnlRussell

86. WANT TO TRACK A
COMPETITOR?
@dnlRussell
linkedin.com/dnlrussell

87. OK I GET THE “BIG” DOGS,
BUT WHAT ABOUT
SMALL BUSINESSES?
@dnlRussell

88. @dnlRussell
!
DATAWATCH?

89. ALL ABOUT THAT
COMPETITOR
RESEARCH
@dnlRussell

90. BIG DOGS AREN’T ALWAYS RIGHT
HOW DO WE KNOW WHEN THEY
ARE?
@dnlRussell

91. HOW CAN WE TELL THE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
A/B TESTS AND UNTESTED
UPDATES?
@dnlRussell

92. DATA AND
BEHAVIOR
@dnlRussell

93. ASSESS BIG DOG OR COMPETITOR’S
RANKINGS OVER TRACKED TIMEFRAME
1 IDENTIFY IF BEHAVIOR IS DELIBERATE
OR RANDOM – OCCAM’S RAZOR
(OPTIONAL) RUN THE SAME TEST ON
YOUR OWN SITE
2
3
@dnlRussell

94. @dnlRussell
!
CONTENT ONLY: TARGET

95. @dnlRussell
!
NOT TESTED: HOME DEPOT

96. @dnlRussell
!
NOT INTENTIONAL: CUBESMART

97. @dnlRussell
!
WHAT HAVE WE
SEEN?

98. @dnlRussell
NOT EVERYONE ALLOWS
CREATIVITY

99. BIG DOGS MAKE
CHANGES EVERY 3-4 DAYS
@dnlRussell

100. CELEBRITY SEEMS TO
HAVE CRO VALUE
@dnlRussell

101. NO STATIC ICONS ABOVE FOLD,
KEEP THEM SELECTABLE
@dnlRussell

102. SPECIFICITY WITHOUT
WORDINESS
@dnlRussell

103. @dnlRussell
!
PROCTER &
GAMBLE

104. @dnlRussell
!
CONTENT LESSONS
FROM PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT

105. WHAT PROBLEM DOES YOUR
PRODUCT SOLVE?
PAGE
@dnlRussell

106. WHAT PROBLEM DOES
YOUR PRODUCT SOLVE?
WHAT QUERY DOES YOUR
PAGE SOLVE?
@dnlRussell

107. DEFINE THE PROBLEM
DEFINE THE QUERY
@dnlRussell

108. HOW WELL IS THE
PROBLEM ALREADY
ADDRESSED? BY WHOM?
WHO ELSE RANKS FOR THIS
QUERY AND HOW WELL ARE
THEY DOING IT?
@dnlRussell

109. HOW WILL YOUR SOLUTION
BE BETTER?
HOW WILL YOUR PAGE BE
BETTER?
@dnlRussell

110. WHO’S YOUR TARGET
CUSTOMER AND HOW WILL
THEY BENEFIT
@dnlRussell

111. WHO’S YOUR TARGET
CUSTOMER AND HOW WILL
THEY BENEFIT
@dnlRussell

112. WHO HAS ANSWERED IT?
1 DEFINE THE QUERY
HOW WILL YOUR CONTENT BE
BETTER?
2
HOW WILL YOUR TARGET
CUSTOMER BENEFIT?
3
4
@dnlRussell

113. CREATE
PERSONAS
@dnlRussell
COMMON SOLUTIONS
USER
TESTING
GO THROUGH THE
CUSTOMER JOURNEY
YOURSELF
1 2 3

114. @dnlRussell
WAYBACK
MACHINE
PAY FOR USER
TESTING ON
COMPETITORS SITES
COMPARE POSITION
1-3 CONTENT TO 4-10
CONTENT
1 2 3
LESS COMMON SOLUTIONS

115. IN CONCLUSION
@dnlRussell
!

116. TREAT PAGE CONTENT
LIKE P&G APPROACHES
PRODUCTS
@dnlRussell
!

117. BUT YOU CAN USUALLY
TELL WHO DOES
@dnlRussell
!
NOT ALL BIG DOGS KNOW
WHAT THEY’RE DOING

118. BIG COMPANIES
HAVE MORE RESOURCES…
@dnlRussell
!
AND YOU CAN USE THEM

119. daniel@gofishdigital.com
@dnlRussell
Thank You