Your SEO Experience Is Holding You Back - DeepCrawl Webinar - May 2020

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Your SEO Experience is
Holding You Back
Emily Potter
@e_mpotter

?
Where we get our data &
some SEO A/B Testing 101

Meta-CMS function to make on-the-fly changes

We split large groups of pages into two groups
CatsH1
Intro copy
Featured image
BearsH1
Featured video
Control template Va...

Positive test result - organic traﬀic increases
Control template Variant template
Organic traﬀic changeCats Bears

Negative test result - organic traﬀic drops
Control template Variant template
Organic traﬀic changeCats Bears

Inconclusive test result - no measurable impact
Control template Variant template
Organic traﬀic changeCats Bears

Here’s a selection of things our platform accounts for:
● Seasonality

Here’s a selection of things our platform accounts for:
● Seasonality
● Unanticipated spikes in demand

Here’s a selection of things our platform accounts for:
● Seasonality
● Unanticipated spikes in demand
● Algorithm updates

Here’s a selection of things our platform accounts for:
● Seasonality
● Unanticipated spikes in demand
● Algorithm updates...

Here’s a selection of things our platform accounts for:
● Seasonality
● Unanticipated spikes in demand
● Algorithm updates...

Tom Anthony
● Created SearchPilot platform

Dominic Woodman
● First SearchPilot consultant

● 35% conclusive
● 65% inconclusive
Test result breakdown before 2019

Emily Potter
● Joined as consultant February 2019

Test result breakdown after 2019
● 43% conclusive
● 57% inconclusive

?
Why did this happen?

Year entered the SEO industry:
2013 2005 2018

And if you want to learn more...
Follow us @SearchPilot
Sign up at bit.ly/sp-email-list for our latest case studies
Visit ...

Is “best practice” best?1.
Ranking factors need not apply2.
...but some things don’t change3.
Takeaways and Q&A4.

Is “best practice” best?1.

Most “best practice”
SEO tactics fail
@e_mpotter

The Meta Description

SEO Technical Audit
How often have you recommended this?

How often have you recommended this?
SEO Technical Audit
[Opener] + [Description with primary and
secondary keywords] + [C...

91% of meta description
changes had no
detectable impact

Meta tag
Google generated
Meta tag
Google generated
Google generated
Google generated
We’re seeing
this more and
more

Why don’t we just
remove them?

Removing meta descriptions on pharmacy store website
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client ...

Removing meta descriptions on pharmacy store website
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client ...

Result
POSITIVE
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy

Old school
Writing an enticing meta
description will drive more
clicks to your website

Satisfying user intent will drive
more traﬀic to your website
New school

Swap “best practice”
for a user approach

Except users are really
hard to predict

What if we used
FAQ schema
instead?

FAQ schema

What if some SEO at IMDb wanted to do this?
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy

You can only have 1:
Rating/Price or FAQ
@e_mpotter

What if some SEO at IMDb wanted to do this?
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy

Results
NEGATIVE
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy

Results
NEGATIVE
POSITIVE
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy

Be sure to test which
schema is most valuable
for your site

What if IMDb did this and hadn’t tested?
NEGATIVE
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client pri...

Big brands win by not
making mistakes

Fixing broken breadcrumb schema
https://www.searchpilot.com/people/e-potter
Add schema for
breadcrumbs

Fixing broken breadcrumb schema
https://www.searchpilot.com > About > People
Add schema for
breadcrumbs

Fixing broken breadcrumb schema
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy

Fixing broken breadcrumb schema
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy

Fixing broken breadcrumb schema
NEGATIVE
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy

Even previously beneficial
changes can turn bad

So what the f*** happened?

Before After
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy

Before After
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy

Competitors had it
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy

Old school
Adding breadcrumb schema
improves organic CTRs

Users may think this link won’t
take them to a swimwear page
New school

Before After
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy

Takeaway
Don’t blindly follow “best
practice” approaches
@e_mpotter

Takeaway
Implement a user centric
approach instead
@e_mpotter

Is “best practice” best?1.
Ranking factors need not apply2.

“For high volume queries,
traditional ranking factors
matter less in top 5 results
”
-Tom Capper

In other words…

For top ranking brands,
we don’t know what a
ranking factor is anymore

Implementing new product page template
$60
Shop our over 600 diﬀerent styles of women’s shoes to complete your
wardrobe. W...

React is a JavaScript
framework that is
popular with developers

It can create beautiful user experiences

But it can also go wrong...

For this test, nothing visible on the page changed
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client pr...

Just some parts of the the page now utilised React
Now loads
in React
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed t...

Just some parts of the the page now utilised React
Now loads
in React
POSITIVE
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been ...

Two important points

First, the page was server side rendered
Now loads
in React
POSITIVE
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to...

*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy
First, the page was server side rendered
Now ...

Second, the JavaScript made the page load faster
Now loads
in React
POSITIVE
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been ch...

Takeaway
JavaScript changes made
with both users and SEO
in mind can be winners
@e_mpotter

Takeaway
Testing allows you to work
with, instead of against,
product teams
@e_mpotter

Moving the search widget to top of the page
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy

Moving the search widget to top of the page
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy

Moving the search widget to top of the page
NEGATIVE
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client ...

Old school
Changes to content need to be
made to impact rankings

Improved user signals can have
subsequent benefits for SEO
New school

Takeaway
Things that previously used
to not impact SEO, now do
@e_mpotter

Takeaway
Work with your product
teams, to make sure you
both of you don’t screw up
@e_mpotter

Is “best practice” best?1.
Ranking factors need not apply2.
...but some things don’t change3.

Internal linking between main and sub-category pages
Mammals Reptiles AmphibiansBirds
Cats DogsBears Snakes TortoisesLizar...

Typical A/B test, we change the pages that are impacted
CatsH1
Intro copy
Featured image
BearsH1
Featured video
Control te...

Internal linking impacts
changes being linked from
and being linked to

Our example has main categories and subcategories
Mammals Reptiles AmphibiansBirds
Cats DogsBears Snakes TortoisesLizards ...

Our example has main categories and subcategories
Mammals Reptiles AmphibiansBirds
Cats DogsBears Snakes TortoisesLizards ...

But -- this is an A/B test so we can only change half
VariantControl
Mammals Reptiles AmphibiansBirds
Cats DogsBears Snake...

We want to know what happens here
VariantControl
Mammals Reptiles AmphibiansBirds
Cats DogsBears Snakes TortoisesLizards O...

And here...
VariantControl
Mammals Reptiles AmphibiansBirds
Cats DogsBears Snakes TortoisesLizards Owls DucksFinches Frogs...

And the combined eﬀect
VariantControl
Mammals Reptiles AmphibiansBirds
Cats DogsBears Snakes TortoisesLizards Owls DucksFi...

Adding subcategory links to main category pages
VariantControl
Mammals Reptiles AmphibiansBirds
Cats DogsBears Snakes Tort...

Website #1 - Fashion e-commerce
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy

NEGATIVE
POSITIVE
Main categories
Sub categories

Net result
VariantControl
Mammals Reptiles AmphibiansBirds
Cats DogsBears Snakes TortoisesLizards Owls DucksFinches Frogs ...

Website #2 - Online groceries

POSITIVE
Main categories
Sub categories
POSITIVE

Net result
VariantControl
Mammals Reptiles AmphibiansBirds
Cats DogsBears Snakes TortoisesLizards Owls DucksFinches Frogs ...

Website #1 had more links than website #2
+15 links
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client p...

Website #1 had more links than website #2
+6 links

Old school
Link equity!!!!!

Old school
Link equity!!!!!

Some other theories

Website #1 was keyword stuﬀing
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy

Website #2 improved relevancy signals

Website #2 created new pathways for users

Website #1 already had links in faceted navigation
*Disclaimer: Identifying details have been changed to protect client pr...

User signals!!!!!
New school

Takeaway
Internal linking is
complicated, but getting it
right can have big benefits
@e_mpotter

Takeaway
No two websites (or tests)
are the same
@e_mpotter

Final takeaways

Don’t blindly follow
“best practice”
approaches, most fail
Test it.
@e_mpotter

Test it.
Instead, follow a
user-centric approach
to SEO
@e_mpotter

For big brands,
ranking factors need
not apply
Test it.
@e_mpotter

Big brands win by not
making mistakes
Test it.
@e_mpotter

Thank you!
Follow us @SearchPilot
Sign up at bit.ly/sp-email-list for our latest case studies
Visit www.searchpilot.com to...

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