This presentation is from Performance Marketing Summit San Francisco 2015 (September 15, 2015 in San Francisco, CA). Session description: In 2008, Google’s Eric Schmidt told us that the internet is fast becoming a “cesspool” where false information thrives. Brands are how you sort out the cesspool”. This session will focus on what makes a publisher a brand and how to avoid being pumped out with the garbage.

1. Brand Queries As A
Ranking Signal
#WWGBD
@Jonahstein
ItsTheROI @Jonahstein

2. TL;DR
• Make great content and Google will find
your site and send you traffic.
ItsTheROI @Jonahstein

3. 90 Second Version
• Google is a measurement & data mining
company
• Google’s most trusted signals come from
user behavior on Google.
• Align your performance goals to optimize
for brand engagement & repeat visits
• Move higher in the conversion funnel
• Think like a publisher
ItsTheROI @Jonahstein

4. 2001 -2011 Ranking Factors
• Relevancy
– Backlink anchor text + content
• Trust
– Backlinks
• Authority
– Citations Backlinks
• SEOs successfully gamed signals
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5. Algorithmic Relevancy FAILS
In 2008, Google’s Eric Schmidt told us that
the internet is fast becoming a “cesspool”
where false information thrives. Brands are
how you sort out the cesspool”
ItsTheROI @Jonahstein

6. Big Brand Bailout Feb. 2009
ItsTheROI

7. Google Search Is Broken
ItsTheROI
http://www.techradar.com/us/news/internet/google-search-is-broken-928718
https://moz.com/blog/how-organized-crime-is-taking-control-of-googles-search-
results

8. Google Embarrassed
• “Google has become a jungle: a tropical paradise for spammers and
marketers. Almost every search takes you to websites that want you to click
on links that make them money, or t0 sponsored sites that make Google
money.”
• http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/01/why-we-desperately-need-a-new-and-
better-google-2/
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9. Panda Cracks Down
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10. Guidance On Building High
Quality Sites
• http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-guidance-on-building-high-quality.html
• Advice is all very good
• Advice is essentially useless
• Advice is mostly about “articles” and
PUBLISHER focused.
• Advice never mentions anything important
to the Panda update.
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11. PANDA = Navneet Panda
• Branded Search = Queries for you
company, products or content
• Navigational Search = queries directed to
a specific site
• (branded + navigational searches) /
queries associated with a site= site
quality score
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12. Brand is Numerator
SEO Traffic is Denominator
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13. Data Mining Spots Outliers
• Quality links to low quality links
• Branded anchors to keyword rich anchors
• Externally supported pages to unsupported pages
• Links to branded or navigational searches
• Total search visits to branded or navigational searches
• Traffic from search vs traffic from other channels
• Ratio of new visits to repeat visits
• CTR when your site ranks compared to other sites which
rank at that same position for that keyword
• Search Pogo Stick ratio for the identical query.
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14. Driving Brand Queries
• Content = Assets, not landing pages
– Market your content; owned, earned & paid
– Don’t CRO F*(K Yourself
• Brand your experience & value proposition
• Proprietary metrics
– Rotten Tomatoes
– Moz
• Focus on growing your audience
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15. Driving Brand Queries II
• Video
– Youtube
– Facebook paid
• Offline Advertising with CTA
• Easter Egg Hunts
• Social Media
• Online Advertising
• Barnacle, Guest Post, & Syndication
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16. The Hive Mind
• Make great things for users
• Delight users
• Search Is Very Intimate –
Be Personal

17. Think Like Google
• It’s all about Users
• Knowledge team doesn’t think about
revenue
• Websites are “publishers”
• Amit Singhal
– We test constantly
– Decisions are driven by “what users want”
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18. What Does The Hive Think
• They are building a great PRODUCT
• The mission is “knowledge”, not
search
• The world is changing very fast
– Mobile is the most disruptive thing in Google
history, driving most of the change.
– Threats are from game changers
• They don’t feel our pain!

19. A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

20. How Google Measures User Behavior
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21. Android Army
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22. User Data At Work
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23. So
• If Google is a giant Measuring and Data
Mining company
• If Google is trying to figure out what users
like
• If Google has Petabytes of data about user
behavior
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24. WWGBD
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25. Bee The Hive
• Don’t fly into the wind
• Ride the breeze
• Send signals users like your brand
– Brand search
– Repeat Visitors
– GPS “conversiosn”
– Clickstream evidence of buzz
– Diversify Traffic
ItsTheROI @Jonahstein

26. Content Assets ARE The Strategy
• KW mapped pages are assets, not after
thoughts
• Each visitor is a test you can fail, pass or
ace
• Every user interaction is a branding
opportunity
ItsTheROI @Jonahstein

27. Optimize Content for USERS
1. Optimize user behavior to reduce non-
engagement.
2. Information scent is key to engagement (3-5
seconds)
3. Answer questions & concerns instead of
selling products
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28. Ads Are Headline Laboratories
• Adwords
• Twitter
• Facebook
• StumbleUpon
• Content amplification networks
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29. Market Your Assets
Owned Media
• Content Assets must be promoted across
platforms
– Content Asset on site
– Email to users
– Facebook
– Twitter
JUST LIKE A PUBLISHER
ItsTheROI

30. Market Your Assets
Earned Media
• Outreach to partners
• Twitter
• Facebook
• PR
• Link Building Audience Development
• Co-citation
JUST LIKE A PUBLISHER
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31. Market Your Assets
Paid Media
• Twitter
• Facebook
• PR – Digital marketing hybrid
• PPC
• Remarketing
• Content networks
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32. Email Drives Video Views
Embedded Player
• JUST LIKE A PUBLISHER

33. Paid Builds Brand
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34. PAID DRIVES ORGANIC
Reducing paid traffic reduced organic 40%

35. PAID & SUGGESTED RELATIONSHIP
Promoted Video
Suggested Video
Promoted Video
Mobile and Direct

36. FACEBOOK DRIVING EMBEDDED VIEWS

37. TEXTBOOK PERFECT LAUNCH

38. EARNED MEDIA
MOBILE APPS PICK UP VIDEO

39. YOUTUBE DRIVES GLOBAL
AWARENESS
Started International
Paid Campaign

40. Conclusion
• Act like a publisher
• Make content for users
• Honor their intent
• Live by your analytics
Jonahstein@ItsTheROI.com
ItsTheROI