How SEO Blinded Me, Then Opened My Eyes

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How SEO Blinded Me, Then Opened My Eyes A story about the seductive power of search, and the truth about marketing channels & why people buy Rand Fishkin | CEO http:// bit.ly/mozblindedbyseo

description

Rand Fishkin's keynote presentation from SMX Munich 2012.

Transcript of How SEO Blinded Me, Then Opened My Eyes

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How SEO Blinded Me, Then Opened My Eyes

A story about the seductive power of search, and the

truth about marketing channels & why people buy

Rand Fishkin | CEO

http://bit.ly/mozblindedbyseo

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SEO

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But, SEO Also Blinded Me.

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I Used to Believe…

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#1: Gets 30% of traffic and sales

#2: Gets 12% of traffic and sales

#3: Gets 7% of traffic and sales

#4: Gets 5% of traffic and sales

#5: Gets 4% of traffic and sales

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Step 1:Get Here

Step 2:

€ € € €!!

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I Used to Believe…

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Most users see these same results in the same order.

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Reality: The days of standard SERPs are over

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I Used to Believe…

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#1 and #2; I’m winning!

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Reality: Rel=author + great

branding means Aaron’s probably

winning

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I Used to Believe…

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>

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I Used to Believe…

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If a source doesn’t send converting

visits, it’s useless.

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Reality: Visitors usually have lots of ways to get to your site before

they convert.

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Hey Look! A Tree!

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Oh… This is a forest.

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Thankfully, SEO Evolved

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No More 10 Blue Links

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Today…

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Snippets are Surprisingly Sophisticated

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Visuals Can Dominate the

SERPs

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Advertising Occasionally Overwhelms Organic

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More and More, Google’s Putting Themselves in the Results

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No More Lengthening of the Long Tail

“20 to 25% of the queries we see

today, we have never seen before”

– Udi Manber, June 2007

15% of the searches we see everyday we’ve never seen before.- Google Facts, March 2012

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Today…

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Searches are Suggested

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Or Presumed

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And Influence-able

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No More Domination

without a Brand

"Brands are the solution, not the

problem," Mr. Schmidt said. "Brands

are how you sort out the cesspool.“

- Eric Schmidt, October, 2008

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Today…

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Many Searches Bias to Established Brands

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Others Suggest the Brands Directly

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Brands Receive Preferential Treatment

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Penalties and Filters are Designed to Target

Unbranded Sites

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No More Manipulative Link Behavior That Lasts at Scale

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Today…

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Big, Famous Link Networks Get Hit

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Small, Single Sites Get Hit

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Blog Networks are Being

Shut Down

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Directories Get Devalued

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Google Will Lift Your Penalty Faster If You Tell Them How You

Got Those Links

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No More Search without Social

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Today…

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Google’s Social Graph is Far Larger Than Most Believe

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The Hardest Page to Find in Your Google Account Powers

Social Results Beyond Google+

http://www.google.com/s2/u/0/search/social

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Email is Now a Social Influence on Search

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Google Will Go to Great Lengths to Favor G+

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As SEO Evolved, It Forced

Me to Evolve With It

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Today…

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SEO is a Tactic

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Inbound Marketing is a Strategy

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BecauseLower COCA = Competitive Advantage

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This Process Is Simple to

Understand, Yet Hard to Execute

ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY

DO INBOUND MARKETING

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Step #1:

Know Today’s Customers

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Step #2:

Know Your Future Customers

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Step #3:

Create the Content Both Desire

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Step #4:Spread Via Every Available Channel

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Step #5:Measure, Optimize & Improve

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SEO is Just Content, Keywords, Links & Rankings.

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SEO is deeply connected to

broader marketing practices, and

it’s just one tactic amongst many.

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SEO. But, no strategy.

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Strategy, but no SEO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI

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Rand Fishkin | CEO

http://bit.ly/mozblindedbyseo

@randfish

www.seomoz.org/blog

[email protected]