2015 Changes for Organic Optimization

1© 2014 MERKLE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CONFIDENTIAL

Presented by:

Lauren Polinsky

Associate Director, Merkle, Inc.

@laurenpolinsky

www.linkedin.com/in/lpolinsky

@merklecrm

www.linkedin.com/company/merkle

2© 2015 MERKLE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

The New SEO “Rule Book”

• Google’s Search Patents

• Rule #1: Learn Your Audience

• Rule #2: Make Content

• Rule #3: Be Mobile Friendly

• Rule #4: Get In On the Conversation

• Rule #5: Earn Citations

FIRST, A LITTLE ABOUT GOOGLE


Google Knows

References

Review Sites

News Outlets

Website Info

OTAs

Patent: Assigning terms of interest to an entity 8,589,399, 3/26/12

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/US8589399.pdf


Google Learns





Google Learns

Google identifies similar terms and related

phrases from sources



Google Learns

Those relevant terms are compiled within

its algorithm




Google Learns

All information gleaned is weighted & organized




Google Learns

Information about the brand is

displayed in the most useful search result type for each query




• SERP layout depends on

unique queries & personal

history

• User actions from SERPs

are analyzed and

incorporated into

positioning

And Google Tests

© 2015 MERKLE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

WHAT DO I NEED

TO DO?


• Content should be created for

your users

• FAQs

• Help/Tutorial Videos

• Infographics

• Tools:

• Google Keyword Planner

• Google Search Console

• Wolfram Alpha

• SEMRush ($)

• Moz ($)

Learn Your Audience: Segmentation



your users

• FAQs


• Infographics

• Tools:



• Wolfram Alpha

• SEMRush ($)

• Moz ($)


MAKE CONTENT


• Educate to purchase

• Detail the products or

services

• Use internal linking

• Describe the non-brand

• Tools:



• Analytics

• Majestic ($)

• Moz ($)

Learn Your Audience: Conversion Funnel

Website navigation

should include links

to pages targeting

the highest search

volume phrases


• Educate to purchase

• Detail products + services

• Provide business history

• Use internal linking

• Tools:



• Analytics

• Majestic ($)

• Moz ($)

Learn Your Audience: Conversion Funnel

Reference Guide: Google Analytics

Use these menus to view how

users arrive and how they

interact with site content

Understand

which channels

& sites are

most valuable

How many

pages viewed?

What pages cause

people to leave?

Does my site

load fast

enough?

After they arrive, what pages

do they click on next?What URLs

bring people to

my site?

What do they type in

the search box?

Find which

social networks

provide most

engagement

Use Advanced Segments for

custom audience groups


Beef Up Site Content

• Identify and fill in gaps in content based upon keyword research

• Incorporate target search terms throughout Information Architecture

• Use hubs of content to organize relevant pages together

Home Page

Hub2

PR

Request

s

ContactNews +

ArticlesAdvice Teenagers

Product

ReviewsAbout

NAV 1 / All

NAV 2/ Filtering

NAV 3

Single Content

Pages

Suggested

Page

Content Hubs

Ask a

Q

Photos Videos News

Photo

Pages

Video

PagesDetail3

News +

Articles

Co

Parentin

g

For

ParentsBooks

Positive

Parenting

TipsTechnique

s

Our

Writers


Utilize Microformats within HTML

• Schema.org

• Invented in 2011 by Google, Bing, Yahoo, & Yandex

• Open Graph

• Used by Facebook to extract additional meaning

• developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/

• JSON

• JavaScript markup

• RDFa

• Markup extension of HTML5

https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/


BE MOBILE FRIENDLY


• 91% of adults own a mobile phone of some sort

• 56% of adults own a smartphone

• 83% of US smartphone owners use their phone in stores

• https://developers.google.com/webmasters/mobile-sites/mobile-seo/?hl=en

Think.Mobile.First.

https://developers.google.com/webmasters/mobile-sites/mobile-seo/?hl=en


• Formerly, Google Webmaster Tools; still trends the last 90 days of data

• Major Changes:

• Search Analytics

• Mobile Friendly Tool

• International Targeting

GSC to Find Current Opportunities


RULE #4

WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET IN, GET IN.


• Claim brand on appropriate networks

• Build conversations on the ones you can manage

• Encourage people to create content for you; you curate it against keyword

research

• UGC content doesn’t have to be on-site

• Pinterest boards

• LinkedIn Groups

• Instagram

Build Relationships With Social Networks


• Facebook is not good for

reaching quantities of people*

*Unless you pay for it.

• Facebook ad builder guides

through targeting options

• Create unique ads to

target unique users

• PR Tip: Target by “job

role” or “company” to

reach journalists

• Use your KWR to find

audience on FB and amplify

your content

Facebook Advertising Tactics


RULE #5

EARN CITATIONS


• Gain citations and links for your business:

• Guest post

• Get quoted

• Hold an event

• Use a variety of sources for citations & links:

• OTAs: Yelp, TripAdvisor

• News Sources: N&R, WS Journal

• Local ‘Zines: Yes!, Rhino Times

• Tools:


• Moz ($)

• Majestic ($)

Build Your Brand Beyond Your Website


• Gain citations and links for your business:

• Guest post

• Get quoted

• Hold an event

• Use a variety of sources for citations & links:

• Yelp, TripAdvisor

• N&R, WS Journal

• Yes!, Rhino Times

• Tools:


• Moz ($)

• Majestic ($)

Build Your Brand Beyond Your Website


• Provides insights into many aspects of any website

• Trust, Authority Metrics

• Backlink Count & Quality

• Social Sharing

• Page Status

• Chrome and Firefox Extensions Available, as well as APIs

Moz & the Moz Bar

34© 2014 MERKLE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CONFIDENTIAL

1. Understand how your audience interacts with you at different times

2. Develop content that solves their problems, easily & quickly

3. Ensure your content can be accessed at any time, on any device

4. Prioritize and build followers on select social networks

5. Earn citations and links back to your site on a variety of phrases

It’s a Two Algorithm World –

Google & the User

Thank you


Lauren Polinsky, Associate Director

2015 Changes for Organic Optimization

Education

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