Nina Hale, Inc.'s Deborah Carver and Katie Pennell presented on how search engines behave like humans in their Confab Central 2015 presentation, Humans Make Search Happen. This presentation covers the following: 1. SEO's Reputation and How Google Works 2. What to Measure & How to Find Metrics 3. Search Metrics in the Real World 4. How to Tell YOUR Data Story Please note: on 5/20/15, Google changed the name of its Webmaster Tools interface to Google Search Console. This deck does NOT reflect this change.

1. Humans Make
Search Happen
USING BEHAVIORAL DATA TO DEBUNK
SEO’S SULLIED REPUTATION
Deborah Carver
Katie Pennell
Nina Hale, Inc.
@fightwithknives
@katiepennell
@ninahale
#HumansContentData

2. Table of Contents
Chapter 1: SEO’s Reputation & How Google Works
Chapter 2: What to Measure & How to Find Metrics
Chapter 3: Search Metrics in the Real World
Chapter 4: How to Tell YOUR Data Story

3. Chapter 1:
I DON’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT MY
BAD REPUTATION.

4. “This data doesn’t fit with our new
creative approach.”
What we hear

5. “But our focus group already showed
us how the audience speaks about
this topic.”
What we hear

6. “This is a whole new content
experience, and we don’t think
we need to rely on what worked
in the past.”
What we hear

7. “We’re developing this content for
humans and not for robots.”
What we hear

8. ComScore, BrightEdge, MOZ
Nearly 12 billion worldwide unique
searches on Google every month.
51% percent of traffic to websites comes
from organic search.
The top 5 spots on Google results get 67%
of all clicks.

9. Humans not Robots

10. The Almighty Google
Google is driven by robots mimicking humans,
not by humans mimicking robot behavior.
OK,
Google…

11. Search Data is
Behavioral Data
FREQUENT: People use Google multiple times
daily.
UNGUIDED: No one tells you what to type into
the search bar.
RELIABLE: Search provides a massive,
repeatable sample size.

12. 1. Click-Through Rate
2. Co-Occurring, Relevant Terms
3. Social Sharing
4. High-Quality Backlinks
Top 4 Organic Ranking Factors
Searchmetrics

13. • Percentage of people who choose your search result after
seeing it.
• Found in Google Webmaster Tools.
Click-Through Rate

14. Co-Occurring, Relevant Terms
• How people use the same words related to your topic without
using the synonyms themselves.
• Google’s authority metric -- TF-IDF –- is not public.

15. • How many people think your content is good enough to share.
• Found in Google Analytics referral traffic and social analytics
tools.
Social Sharing Activity

16. High-Quality Backlinks
• Good backlinks are built on
quality content + relationships.
› News websites
› Influencer links
› Well-known brand links
• Found in Google Analytics
referral traffic and other tools,
like Majestic.

17. YOU CAN UNDERSTAND USER
BEHAVIOR FROM SEARCH DATA.

18. Chapter 2:
KNOW YOUR GOALS.
LOVE YOUR GOALS.

19. 76% of marketers cannot
convert behavioral data into
targeting execution.
Razorfish & Adobe 2014

20. Adobe Analytics  WebTrends  Falcon Social  SpyFu  BrightEdge  Conductor Searchlight
Our Tools
Google Analytics
AdWords
Keyword Planner Webmaster Tools

21. Data Balancing Act
Keyword-Level Metrics
• Webmaster Tools
• AdWords Keyword Planner
Page-Level Metrics
• Google Analytics
• Any Other Website Performance Tools

22. What We Do: Keyword Map
KEYWORD PAGE

23. Our Metrics in People Terms
How are people
finding me?
Average monthly
search volume
Impressions by
keyword
Social impressions
Traffic by channel
Are people
interested enough
to convert?
Email signups
Lead forms
Revenue
Your favorite
conversion metric
Do they think my
content is valuable
and engaging?
Session Duration
Click-through rate
Social Shares

24. CONVERSION:
any action that drives business value
on the page level.
24

25. • Stay on the website awhile
• Return twice a week
• Sign up for an email
• Watch a video
• Create an account
• Complete a lead form
• Email a friend
• View a video
• Read reviews
• RSVP to an event
• Submit content
• Make an appointment
• Download or print
• Make a purchase
• Pin or share an image
Best Practice:
Assign a goal value
to every conversion,
even the ones that
aren’t directly tied
to revenue.

26. Use Content Groups
Or any consistent naming taxonomy that allows you to look at
multiple aspects of content and their measurements simultaneously.
GROUP NAME
PAGE
GROUP
KEYWORD
GROUP
KPIs
GROUP NAME
PAGE
GROUP
KEYWORD
GROUP
CONVERSION
(KPI)

27. BUT WAIT… THERE’S MORE!

28. Introducing the Channels!
Paid!
Paid Search
Paid Social
Owned!
Website
Email
Rented!
Social Profiles
Earned!
Social Shares
Referrals

29. How to Benchmark
Look at data from the past year.
Take seasons & fluke days into account.
Discern a reasonable average.

30. Planning Considerations
Group your content; group your life.
Have some awesome analysts on hand who can set
things up.
Empower yourself – log into your analytics!
Create goals and benchmarks for your content.

31. MEASURE YOUR CONTENT.
YOU CAN DO IT.

32. Chapter 3:
DATA STORIES

33. The Case of the Lone Metric

34. One single metric is out-of-sync.
› Ex: Bounce rates are high.
Other organic metrics are in line
with or better than benchmarked
expectations.
Problem

35. High Bounce Rate
› This page has an introductory purpose in
your content ecosystem.
› Examine several before disregarding
content with a high bounce rate, lower
than average pageviews, etc.
Solved!

36. Don’t make major decisions based on
one metric!
Moral

37. The Case of Unexpected
Interference

38. Organic revenue is down compared
to the benchmark.
Revenue from other channels are on
par with the benchmark or better.
Problem

39. Paid campaigns are influencing organic
revenue.
› Look into any recent changes in paid
campaigns.
› Ensure you’re employing an efficient media
mix (aka the rock band).
Solved!

40. All of your content channels
influence each other.
Moral

41. The Case of the Apples &
Oranges

42. Two separate content groups are
behaving completely differently.
› The product page group has a high
conversion rate.
› The idea page group has high time
on site.
Problem

43. Your content types are producing
different engagement.
› Tweak idea pages to promote more
conversions.
› Link product pages back to your idea
pages clearly.
Solved!

44. Each content type produces unique
combinations of engagement metrics.
Moral

45. The Case of the Star Player

46. Social engagement is significantly up.
Social referral traffic and social
conversions are down.
Problem

47. There aren’t enough backlinks in your
social posts.
› Link to your website in social posts
using keywords.
Solved!

48. Even when your rented channels are
performing well, your owned
channels still matter.
Moral

49. The Case of the New Kid on
the Block

50. Social referral traffic is significantly up.
All other organic metrics are stable.
Problem

51. Something happened in the social realm.
› Determine the source of the spike.
› Either create a profile or optimize
your current profile.
Solved!

52. Your content doesn’t exist in a
vacuum.
Moral

53. DATA STORIES VALIDATE YOUR
CONTENT DECISIONS.

54. Chapter 4:
JUSTIFY YOUR CONTENT WITH
NUMBERS THAT MATTER.

55. Establish your benchmarks.
Start small. Scale up.

56. Consider all the metrics
that lead to conversions.
Set up analytics to help your data stories.

57. Consider how much time
you spend on your content.
The content comes from somewhere,
and that somewhere is your department.

58. Graph it out with
multiple metrics.
The numbers you choose represent PEOPLE’S actions.

59. Tell your data story.
Explain your story in terms of people, not numbers.

60. 1. 1. Search data is behavioral data.
2. 2. Define your goals and benchmarks.
3. 3. Plan to set yourself up for success.
4. Associate your data with people’s actions.
1. 5. Be an empowered content strategist!
Epilogue

61. QUESTIONS?
Deborah Carver
Katie Pennell
Nina Hale, Inc.
@fightwithknives
@katiepennell
@ninahale
STAY IN TOUCH. FIND US AT NINAHALE.COM.
#HumansContentData