BrightonSEO - SearchPilot - Will Critchlow - When what’s good for users isn’t good for Google

When what’s good for
users isn’t good for Google
slideshare.net/willcritchlow
@willcritchlow
Will Critchlow | SearchPilot

This was a WINNING conversion rate test

In the olden days:
“Can you just SEO this page?”

UX is a ranking
factor
Our call to adventure:

UX is a ranking
factor
How users see
your site

UX is a ranking
factor
Aﬀects organic
search performance

CTR for algorithm
evaluation
This has been
conﬁrmed
repeatedly.

“I’ve talked explicitly about using
clickthrough rate for experiments”
Paul Haahr - @haahr

https:/
/youtu.be/eGSGZMI4Z_I?t=979

Human UX
ratings
Qualitative ratings
of pages that rank:
used to evaluate
algorithms

“... make this page a frustratingly poor
user experience”
-- reason for poor page quality rating
Search quality rater guidelines [PDF]

ML models
trained on ratings
E.g. Panda -
trained to like the
things humans
like

Back in 2011, I was suggesting we run our own
Panda-like quality surveys (WBF here, instructions here)

Sidenote: totally worth running
these surveys for executive buy-in
Since Panda went real-time, quality issues don’t necessarily cause
obvious drops correlated with algorithm history dates

Client site 1 Client site 2
Would you trust information from this website? 72% 64%

Client site 1 Client site 2 Key competitor
Would you trust information from this website? 72% 64% 81%

Is this website written by experts? 50% 46% 65%

Would you give this site your credit card details? 29% 21% 43%

Are there any noticeable errors on this page? 6% 4% 1%

Does this page provide original content or info? 76% 72% 85%

Would you recognize this site as an authority? 44% 33% 58%

Does this website contain insightful analysis? 72% 62% 81%

Would you consider bookmarking pages on this site? 44% 38% 56%

Are there excessive adverts on this website? 2% 2% 8%

Are there excessive adverts on this website? 2% 2% 8%
Could pages from this site appear in print? 54% 54% 59%

Site speed
measured
directly
Real User Metrics
including site
speed from
Chrome

https:/
/moz.com/blog/google-chrome-usage-data-measure-site-speed

https:/
/moz.com/blog/google-chrome-usage-data-measure-site-speed
First announced by SearchPilot CTO, Tom
Anthony

CTR as a direct
ranking factor
This has been
explicitly denied
by Google reps.

Some kind of
SERP interaction
aﬀecting results
we see
My theory.

We sell custom cigar humidors. Our custom cigar
humidors are handmade. If youʼre thinking of
buying a custom cigar humidor, please contact
our custom cigar humidor specialists at
custom.cigar.humidors@example.com
Keyword stuﬃng: Doesn’t mean keyword density is the correct metric

Most organisations refuse to accept they overlap
SEO CRO
Search Engine
Optimisation
Conversion Rate
Optimisation

But in truth there is a lot of overlap
SEO CRO

While some SEO changes donʼt impact CRO
SEO
Meta info - invisible
to UX CRO

And some CRO changes donʼt impact SEO
SEO Non-indexed pages
CRO

An awful lot of changes aﬀect both

Crossing the threshold:
Weʼre not in
Kansas anymore

We should be building SEO
hypotheses from UX fundamentals

Tweet me: @willcritchlow #BrightonSEO
We publish winning and losing tests at searchpilot.com
We publish our case study email newsletter because itʼs the resource we wish existed

Conversion rate
optimisation focuses
on converting more
of your existing traﬃc
(bottom of the
funnel)
Conversion Rate
Optimisation

Search engine
optimisation focuses
on getting additional
traﬃc to your
website (top of
funnel)
Conversion Rate
Optimisation
Search Engine
Optimisation

Elixir:
Full funnel testing
combines these
approaches to do
both at the same
time
Full Funnel Testing

How do SEO and
product teams work
together well?
Supreme ordeal:

Green
Totally safe:
Not in scope for
CRO testing

Amber
Needs care:
Potential for
impact, but not
overlapping

Red
Direct overlap:
Overlapping
changes or
hypotheses

We then use a flow
chart for amber tests
Road back:

1.
Are there
conversion rate
tests running or
planned on this
site section?

2.
Do the
hypotheses aﬀect
the same part of
the page?

3.
Do the tests target
the same user
behaviour levers?

We use a RACI matrix to keep the right people in the loop
Test Type SEO Teams
Product
Teams
Broader
Marketing
Engineering Ad Teams Leadership
Green Tests Accountable Informed Informed Informed Informed Informed

Test Type SEO Teams
Product
Teams
Broader
Marketing
Amber Tests Responsible Accountable Informed Consulted Informed Informed

Test Type SEO Teams
Product
Teams
Broader
Marketing
Red Tests Responsible Accountable Informed Consulted Informed Informed

Not everyone agrees
Controversial Accepted

We just need to know that UX is aligned with Google’s goals
But we don’t need the futurist
perspectives or the tinfoil hat conspiracy
theories for my purposes here

We just need to know that UX is aligned with Google’s goals
1. Panda (ML-trained on UX signals)
2. Quant and qual measurement of algo
changes using UX metrics

To know that we should be building
SEO hypotheses from UX
fundamentals

BUT: then we aﬀect users and search

So: we need to play nicely together
Test Type SEO Teams
Product
Teams
Broader
Marketing
Red Tests Responsible Accountable Informed Consulted Informed Informed

And ideally, test
both the SEO and
CRO impact of our
ideas
Full Funnel Testing

Lessons from
100s of SEO
tests
The restaurant
4.10pm

Image credits
● Hornet
● Beach
● Paul Haahr
● Google
● Smile
● Pug
● Chrome
● Tinfoil hat
● Broken plate
● Confused monkey
● Unicyclist
● Horse
● Phone
● Devil cat
● Coloured smoke
● Kansas
● Brighton
● On stage in San Diego

BrightonSEO - SearchPilot - Will Critchlow - When what’s good for users isn’t good for Google

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