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Similar to brightonSEO April 2025: How to not embarrass yourself when discussing SEO Data
brightonSEO April 2025: How to not embarrass yourself when discussing SEO Data
- 2. People that workin SEO
- 3. People that workin SEO People that regularly embarrass themselves
- 4. People that work inSEO People that regularly embarrass themselves
- 5. People that work inSEO People that regularly embarrass themselves LinkedIn
- 6. People that work inSEO People that regularly embarrass themselves The Reports Day Cringe Zone
- 7. People that work inSEO People that regularly embarrass themselves Me Since 2015
- 8. People that work inSEO People that regularly embarrass themselves You in 20 minutes’ time?
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- 11. Who am I? •OliverBrett
- 12. Who am I? •OliverBrett •Head of Strategy
- 13. Who am I? •OliverBrett •Head of Strategy •10 Years at Screaming Frog
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- 18. We are an agency too! The Spider Devs aretoo cool for strategy day!
- 19. Who am I? •OliverBrett •Head of Strategy •10 Years at Screaming Frog •Just got back from Paris
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- 21. Paris? How romantic?! •Yes,but… •Discovered I was speaking here last Monday
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- 25. Paris? How romantic?! •DidI Propose?
- 26. Paris? How romantic?! •DidI Propose? •Yes
- 27. Paris? How romantic?! •DidI Propose? •Yes •I proposed lots of ideas for these slides
- 31. Talk Outline: •Part 1:SEO Jargon Hunter
- 32. Talk Outline: •Part 1:SEO Jargon Hunter •Part 2: The limits of SEO tools or How I learned to stop worrying and love GA4
- 33. Talk Outline: •Part 1:SEO Jargon Hunter •Part 2: The limits of SEO tools or How I learned to stop worrying and love GA4 •Part 3: Explain like they’re five
- 34. Main lesson fortoday: •Correlation =/=Causation
- 35. Main lesson fortoday: •Correlation =/=Causation •But that’s okay if you say it right
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- 45. Everything is bias Power is knowledge Theauthor is dead
- 46. Everything is bias Power is knowledge Theauthor is dead Objective proof is impossible
- 47. Starting in SEO •Let’s🚀 get it
- 48. 10 years later •Isanything real?
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- 51. Page views vs sessions vsusers vs clicks
- 52. (Don’t mix theseup) Page views vs sessions vs users vs clicks
- 53. (Don’t mix theseup) Page views vs sessions vs users vs clicks Explain what you’re using. Especially if you talk about more than one in the same email.
- 54. Search Console Clicks aren’timpacted by cookies or bad GA4 tracking
- 55. GA4 is Event-Based UGA(RIP) was Session- Based
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- 58. Stacked segmented traffic Feb-23Mar-23Apr-23May-23Jun-23 Jul-23 Aug-23Sep-23 Oct-23 Nov-23Dec-23 Jan-24 Feb-24Mar-24Apr-24May-24 Jun-24 Jul-24 Aug-24Sep-24 Oct-24 Nov-24Dec-24 Jan-25 Feb-25Mar-25
- 59. Stacked segmented traffic Feb-23Mar-23Apr-23May-23Jun-23 Jul-23 Aug-23Sep-23 Oct-23 Nov-23Dec-23 Jan-24 Feb-24Mar-24Apr-24May-24 Jun-24 Jul-24 Aug-24Sep-24 Oct-24 Nov-24Dec-24 Jan-25 Feb-25Mar-25 Blog got smaller not commercial bits
- 60. Est. Traffic Isn’tReliable
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- 64. Different types of‘average’
- 65. The average isrelative to the timeframe you’re assessing
- 66. The average isrelative to the timeframe you’re assessing
- 67. If comparing theaverage rank of a group of keywords- understand the limits of this group!
- 68. Rank vs ‘BaseRank’- do you count SERP features?
- 69. (respect ma) Aulthority (Orhow to wind up the PR team) Authorit y
- 70. (respect ma) Aulthority (Orhow to wind up the PR team) How to be a smart arse in front of the PR Team
- 71. Domain Authority isnot a ranking factor!!
- 72. (But it isstill useful!)
- 73. DA vs DRvs AS- all 100 point scales, but all use different methods •screamingfrog.co.uk: •DR 87 •DA 62 •AS 51
- 74. Don’t track DA/DRover time
- 75. As a snapshot,useful to assess competition backlinks in different DA buckets:
- 76. You can remove‘Under 30 DA Linkz’ or assess the % they represent:
- 77. You can remove‘Under 30 DA Linkz’ or assess the % they represent: List of websites goes here
- 78. EEAT – alsonot a ranking factor, but good sites are better than bad sites, duh.
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- 80. Causation =/= Causation Rankings/Traffic/Authoritymight cause improvements to sales. But don’t say they have directly impacted things.
- 81. Part 2: Thelimits of SEO tools or How I learned to stop worrying and love GA4
- 82. People to annoyat brightonSEO: •Link Tools •Ranking Tools •Anyone with an API •Google
- 83. Link Tools don’thave all the links
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- 89. Link graph goesup- PR Team woke up or database improvement?
- 90. Link Data Freshness: Areall your links live?
- 91. Rank Tracking Tools Whereare they tracking from?
- 92. Rank Tracking Tools Whereare they tracking from? Did you decide the list of keywords or is it based off everything they have?
- 93. Rank Tracking Tools Whereare they tracking from? Did you decide the list of keywords or is it based off everything they have? How often do they update?
- 94. Rank Tracking Tools Whereare they tracking from? Did you decide the list of keywords or is it based off everything they have? How often do they update? Which device(s)?
- 95. Rank Tracking Tools Whereare they tracking from? Did you decide the list of keywords or is it based off everything they have? How often do they update? Which device(s)? Are ‘naughty’ keyword search volumes hidden?
- 96. If you knowwhat (not provided) is… you are old!
- 97. There is stilla lot of filtering involved in most rank tracking tools to protect user privacy etc.
- 98. There is stilla lot of filtering involved in most rank tracking tools to protect user privacy etc.
- 99. Very hard tosee all the keywords: Contains Brand:
- 100. Very hard tosee all the keywords: Contains Brand: Does Not Contain Brand:
- 101. Very hard tosee all the keywords: Contains Brand: Does Not Contain Brand: Unfiltered Total:
- 102. Very hard tosee all the keywords Contains Brand: Does Not Contain Brand: Unfiltered Total:
- 103. Very hard tosee all the keywords Contains Brand: Does Not Contain Brand: Unfiltered Total:
- 104. Very hard tosee all the keywords Contains Brand: Does Not Contain Brand: Unfiltered Total: 165+47= 212
- 105. Very hard tosee all the keywords Contains Brand: Does Not Contain Brand: Total: 165+47= 212
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- 111. APIs- validate vswhat the tool shows
- 112. APIs- sometimes youget more! Search Console API = More than the 1,000 queries export limit!
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- 116. ‘Internal Traffic’ Filtering: (Butwhat if they WFH?)
- 117. Engaged sessions- thresholdcan be changed
- 118. Have they setup custom channels?
- 119. Have they setup custom channels? What is… Organic?
- 120. Have they setup custom channels? What is… Organic?
- 121. Correlation =/= Causation Toolsare doing their best but can never show you 100% of everything.
- 122. Part 3: Explain likeI’m five
- 123. Write like ajournalist who doesn’t want to be sued
- 124. Write like ajournalist •Allegedly,… •According to… •As far as we know… •Based on… •This is likely to have caused…
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- 130. Feb-23Mar-23Apr-23May-23 Jun-23 Jul-23Aug-23Sep-23 Oct-23 Nov-23Dec-23 Jan-24 Feb-24Mar-24Apr-24May-24 Jun-24 Jul-24 Aug-24Sep-24 Oct-24 Nov-24Dec-24 Jan-25 Feb-25Mar-25 Proportional GSC Clicks Feb ‘23-March '25
- 131. Q2 2023 Q32023 Q4 2023 Q1 2024 Q2 2024 Q3 2024 Q4 2024 Q1 2025 Commercial Content Click Performance
- 132. Tables help summarisedata DR Competito r 2023 Competitor 2025 Differen ce % Differenc e Clien t 2023 Client 2025 Difference % Difference 100-80 12 16 4 33% 3 18 15 500% 79-60 49 76 27 55% 31 71 40 129% 59-40 29 49 20 69% 29 58 29 100% 39-20 43 53 10 23% 34 37 3 9% 19-0 30 42 12 40% 48 89 41 85% Total 163 236 73 45% 145 273 128 88%
- 133.
- 134. Tell Stories •Create avillain – a rival brand or a pesky blog post that you hate but can’t delete
- 135. Tell Stories •Create avillain – a rival brand or a pesky blog post that you hate but can’t delete •Set a goal and comment on progress
- 136. Tell Stories •Create avillain – a rival brand or a pesky blog post that you hate but can’t delete •Set a goal and comment on progress •Ask the client/manager what they want to see, reference it!
- 137. Common Issues withRedirects: Multiple hops in a redirect chain Start Finish
- 141. Adapt the content tothe audience
- 142. Don’t waste thereader’s time, summarise where possible.
- 143. Main lesson fortoday: •Correlation =/= Causation •But that’s okay if you say it right
- 144. People that work inSEO People that regularly embarrass themselves You