3 New Techniques for the Modern Age of SEO

TOM ANTHONY
3 New Techniques
for the
Modern Age of SEO
@TomAnthonySEO

I WAS FOLLOWING ‘BEST PRACTICE’ (GOOD MANNERS)

Have you recommended
ALT attributes on images
for SEO reasons?
?

ALT ATTRIBUTES GOOD FOR SEO
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

TEST RESULT: ALT ATTRIBUTES HAD NO IMPACT

SEO Best Practices
are no longer useful.
We need data driven approaches.
!

DECK STRUCTURE
SEO
Split-Testing

SEO
Split-Testing
Machine Learning
vs The Algo
vs
DECK STRUCTURE

SEO
Split-Testing
Machine Learning
vs The Algo
Hub & Spoke
API Based Approach
vs
DECK STRUCTURE

SEO
Split-Testing
Machine Learning
vs The Algo
Hub & Spoke
API Based Approach
vs
1 month 1 year 2 years
DECK STRUCTURE

SEO
Split-Testing
Machine Learning
vs The Algo
Hub & Spoke
API Based Approach
vs
1 month 1 year 2+ years
DECK STRUCTURE
Actionable Thought Provoking

‘TRADITIONAL’ CRO A/B TESTING IS USER ORIENTED
Visitors A & B:
control version
of a page
Visitors C & D:
test version
of the same page

SEO A/B TESTING IS PAGE ORIENTED
Pages 1, 2, 3:
Control Layout
Pages 4, 5, 6:
Test Layout
All users see the
same as each other

SEO A/B TESTING INCLUDES GOOGLEBOT
Googlebot sees
the same as users
Pages 1, 2, 3:
Control Layout
Pages 4, 5, 6:
Test Layout

2009: ALGORITHM IS PRETTY WELL UNDERSTOOD
No Panda
No Penguin
No RankBrain
No Machine Learning
We know what to do.

AMIT SINGHAL - HEAD OF SEARCH, GOOGLE

THE ALGORITHM WAS MOSTLY HANDMADE

EARLY 2016: AMIT SINGHAL RETIRES

JOHN GIANNANDREA TAKES OVER

PREVIOUSLY HEAD OF MACHINE LEARNING

IMPACT OF MACHINE LEARNING

IMPACT OF MACHINE LEARNING
Translate
10 YEARS
RESEARCH
2 MONTHS
MACHINE LEARNING
Imagine the same step change in the search algo!

Are we good at understanding
the ranking algorithm?
?

WE SURVEYED 2000 PEOPLE FOR 10 QUERIES

% OF UK SEARCH RESULT PAIRS PREDICTED CORRECTLY
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Laypeople

30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Laypeople <= 3 yrs SEO

30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Laypeople <= 3 yrs SEO > 3 yrs SEO

30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Laypeople <= 3 yrs SEO > 3 yrs SEO Coin flip

DistilledODN
Your Server Your Home Page
CDN
Distilled ODN
Your Optimized
Home Page

GRAPH: TOTAL ADDITIONAL SESSIONS

SHADED AREA SHOWS CONFIDENCE INTERVAL

TEST IS SIGNIFICANT WHEN THE FAN CROSSES 0

IN THIS CASE IT HAPPENED HERE:

HYPOTHESIS: ALT attributes on images are good for SEO

RESULT: ALT attributes had no effect

HYPOTHESIS: Text content on category pages is sort of good?

RESULT: No real impact when removed

RESULT: A 3.1% improvement in organic performance

Not every site
is the same.
Identical changes can
have different results.
!

HYPOTHESIS: Javascript impacts Google’s crawling / indexation
MAY 2014
“our indexing system has been rendering a substantial number of web pages more like an
average user’s browser with JavaScript turned on.
OCT 2015
“We are generally able to render and understand your web pages like modern browsers.”

Javascript EnabledJavascript Disabled
SITUATION: Javascript needed to render product list

RESULT: CSS fallback led to a 6.2% uplift

TITLES:
HIGHEST SEARCH VOLUME
4

Title tag before: Which TV should I buy? - Argos
Title tag after: Which TV to buy? - Argos
HYPOTHESIS: Title tags should match greatest search volume term

RESULT: Organic sessions decreased by average 8%

STRUCTURED MARKUP
ON CATEGORY PAGES
5

SITUATION: Category pages have lots of images but little text

HYPOTHESIS: Structured Markup per product will help

RESULT: Organic sessions increase by 11%

LEARN HOW TO DO IT: READ THIS
Blog Post

MACHINE LEARNING
VS THE ALGO
vs

You do not need to learn
Machine Learning techniques!
It’s an exercise in PAIN.
!

LEARN TO DRIVE, NOT HOW TO BUILD ENGINES

LEARN CATEGORIES, SO YOU CAN PICK BEST TOOL

OK, but why do we need
Machine Learning at all?
?

SEO REASONS FOR USING MACHINE LEARNING
ML Search Algo: we need ML to unravel it
IPAs, Apps, Smart Watches: too much data
Competitive Advantage: better insights, sooner

The next year will see an
explosion of Machine Learning
powered SEO tools.
!

(SOME) THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH ML
Categorisation

Categorisation
Prediction

Categorisation
Prediction
Clustering

AUTOMATICALLY CATEGORISE UGC CATEGORISATION

AUTOMATED ANALYTICS INSIGHTS PREDICTION

DYNAMIC PERSONAS PREDICTION CLUSTERING

KEYWORD RESEARCH (AT SCALE, PASSIVELY) CLUSTERING

DEEPRANK: SERP ANALYSIS
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
PREDICTION

DEEPRANK: SERP ANALYSIS
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Laypeople <= 3 yrs SEO > 3 yrs SEO Coin flip DeepRank
PREDICTION

FURTHER READING
Machine Learning for SEOs Machine Learning Revolution Machine Doing
Mike King
iPullRank
Eric Enge
Stone Temple
Tom Anthony
Distilled

HUB & SPOKE
API BASED APPROACH

BOLT A MOBILE SITE ON TO THE SIDE

APP CAN BE A FRAME ON THE MOBILE SITE…

UN-GUIDED EVOLUTION CREATES PROBLEMS
Slow uptake of new technologies.
Logging, analytics and BI all over the place.
New channels built from ground up.

SLOW RESPONSE: CREATES COMPETITOR OPPORTUNITIES

GAP BETWEEN CHANNELS - SHORTER & SHORTER

What might this
mean for SEOs?
?

INVEST IN CENTRALISED ANALYTICS
Source Blog Post

INPUTS & OUTPUTS MATRIX

Typed Spoken Touch Visual
Large
Display
Desktop
Website
- Booth -
Touch
Mobile Website 
App
Smart
Watch
Smart
Watch
Smart
Glasses 
(e.g Google Glass)
Static - - - -
Audio -
Ambient IPA
(e.g Amazon Echo)
- -
SEARCH INPUT
SmallDisplay
RESULTPRESENTATION

Typed Spoken Touch Visual
Large
Display
Desktop
Website
- Booth -
Touch
Mobile Website 
App
Smart
Watch
Smart
Watch
Smart
Glasses 
(e.g Google Glass)
Static -
Smart
Mirror
- -
Audio -
Ambient IPA
(e.g Amazon Echo)
- -
SmallDisplay
SEARCH INPUTRESULTPRESENTATION

HUB & SPOKE MODEL

MACHINE LEARNING: LEARN THE CATEGORIES

SPLIT-TESTING IS…
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
NECESSARY ESTABLISHED
CREDIBLE ACCESSIBLE

WWW.DISTILLEDODN.COM
CHECK OUT OUR SEO
A/B TESTING PLATFORM:
@TomAnthonySEO
@Dom_Woodman
@WillCritchlow
DIS.TL/INBOUNDER-LONDON
GET THE DECK:
@jonoalderson

3 New Techniques for the Modern Age of SEO

3 New Techniques for the Modern Age of SEO

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to 3 New Techniques for the Modern Age of SEO

More from Tom Anthony

Recently uploaded

3 New Techniques for the Modern Age of SEO