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NHI BUZZ EventSEO & Algorithms

March 21, 2014

Owned & Earned Media

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Jake McCormick

• Search Marketing Manager

• Certified in Google Analytics & BrightEdge

• Experience includes B2B, B2C, eCommerce, lead generation, small business, big business, local SEO & journalism

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Katie Pennell

• Senior Content Specialist

• Certified in Google Analytics, Google Adwords, BrightEdge

• Experience includes education, health care, technology, home improvement, home decor & publishing

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What We’ll Cover Today

• The definition of a search algorithm• Google’s algorithmic evolution• Content-specific ranking factors• Writing for today and future

algorithms and users

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What is a search “algorithm”?

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(We Googled It)

• From Wikipedia:“In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is a step-by-step procedure for calculations. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning.”

• From Google:“Algorithms are computer programs that look for clues to give you back exactly what you want. Today Google’s algorithms rely on more than 200 unique signals or ‘clues’ that make it possible to guess what you might really be looking for.”

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“Guess”

“Know”

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Search Algorithms: A History

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Nine Years Of Algorithm Evolution

• Boston

• Cassandra (Link quality)

• Dominic (Link weight)

• Esmeralda

• Fritz

• Florida (On-page)

• Austin (On-page)

• Brandy (Latent Semantic Indexing)

• Allegra (Links, LSI)

• Bourbon (duplicate content)

• Personalized Search

• Jagger (Link quality)

• Big Daddy (infrastructure)

• Universal (News, Video, Images, Local, etc. vs. 10 blue links)

• Google Suggest

• Vince (Brands)

• Caffeine (Infrastructure)

• May Day (Long Tail)

• Google Instant

• Attribution (Scrapers)

• 3 Page Layouts (Above the Fold Ads)

• Search + Your World (Personalized)

• Venice (Local)

• Knowledge Graph

• Authorship

• One-Box

• 25 Pandas (Content Quality)

• 5 Penguins (Link Quality)

• Hummingbird (Infrastructure)

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Google’s Algo Update Process:

• 2012:– 118,812 search quality evaluations– 10,391 A/B experiments– 7,018 live traffic experiments– 665 official updates

• 2014: –~15 – 70 updates per month

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2005 Moz Ranking Factors:

• Title Tag• Anchor Text of Links • Keyword Use in Document Text• Accessibility of Document• Links to Document from Site-

Internal Pages • Primary Subject Matter of Site • External Links to Linking Pages • Link Popularity of Site in

Topical Community • Global Link Popularity of Site • Keyword Spamming

Great Content

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Google Panda

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25 Panda Updates since Feb. 2011

• After Panda 2.0, more of a filter than update.• Impacts site-wide rankings, not just a single page.• Penalizes:

– Keyword stuffing– Thin content– Hidden content– Duplicate content– Affiliate linking– Exact match anchor text– Slow page load– Low quality content

• Each negative ranking factor is graded on a curve of industry prevalence.– Commonly spammed industries: Pharmaceuticals, Legal,

Finance (Loans), Ecommerce, “Content Farm” sites, Digital Marketing

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If your copy looks like this, you’re doing it wrong:

• “They don want their feathers ruffled. Don get me incorrect, Kris is usually a Fantastic singer, but in no way precisely the same caliber as Adam.”– Cheap newport cigarettes online free shipping

say no to high prices

• “Thanks for еvery othеr informative site. Ԝheгe еlse mɑy јust I ɑm gеtting tҺat type of informаtion written іn ѕuch a perfect mеans?”– Sales Training videos in Hindi

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Moral: Google Loves “Great Content”

• 58 of Matt Cutts’ video questions are content-based (theshortcutts.com).

• He mentions “great content” 2,593 times.*

• $1,000,000 question: What defines “great content”?

*May be a slight exaggeration

Matt Cutts: Head of Google Webspam Team, Official Google Spokesman

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Enter: Google Hummingbird

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What is Hummingbird?

• An algorithm upgrade, not update

• Improved understanding of:– Implicit vs. Explicit Intent– Natural Language Processing– Entity Recognition– Semantic Relevance

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Basically:

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Entity Recognition

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Implicit vs. Explicit Intent

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Natural Language Processing

• Artificial intelligence understands the context and semantics of human language.

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Where did he go to college?

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Where did Aaron Rodgers go to college?

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“Guess”

“Know”

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The Future Of Search

• Algorithms can increasingly comprehend human language and context, making it easier to serve up the best results possible.

• Understanding how search engines read content is the spring board to a sustainable content strategy.

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Search for this…

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Follow up with this…

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Writing for Today’s Google

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Ranked Content: Then

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Ranked Content: Now

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“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

-  Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr

• It all boils down to the basics of good content:– Knowing your goals– Knowing your audience– Knowing your industry

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Goals

• Sell?• Educate?• Thought leadership?• Brand awareness?

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Audience

• Keyword research• Analytics• 3rd party research• Internal qualitative research

Possible Keyword Monthly Search Queries

Foaming bath gel 73

Bubble bath 49,500

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Industry

• Language & terminology• Competitors• Industry updates

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But What About Google?

• Title Tag• Keyword Use in Document

Text• Links to Document from

Site-Internal Pages • Primary Subject Matter of

Site • External Links to Linking

Pages • Link Popularity of Site in

Topical Community • Global Link Popularity of Site

Great Content

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Quality Content Leads To:

• Shares & Evangelism

• Backlinks• Visibility • Achieved Goals

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So What is Quality Content?

“Just because somebody dots every i and crosses every t and gets all their HTML structure right, doesn't mean that it's good content.”

-Matt Cutts

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Key Takeaways• Algorithms evolve, but the definition of “great content”

(in the context of your industry) does not

• Every algorithm progression makes “natural” writing easier

• Examining search results is critical– Clues for content, searcher intent

• Know your goals, industry, and audience before creating content

• Include social sharing widgets & amplify content on social platforms

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Write for people. The robots will follow.

your

^

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Thank youFor more information on how to

improve your content marketing and SEO visibility, visit NinaHale.com.

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