Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz | @randfish | rand@moz.com

The SEO RevolutionWill Not Be Televised

Be Kindly Advised:This presentation features an

above-average quantity of Rand’s personal opinion &

perception

Major Shifts in SEO(of which most folks are aware)

5

1) Far More Diversity of Result Types

2) Cannibalization of Traffic-Referring Queries

3) Google’s Backtracking on Transparency Under the Guise of

Privacy

Via Not Provided Count

4) Google+’s Overwhelming Influence

5) The Long Awaited Dominance & Bias of Search Results Toward

Brands is Here

Via Mozcast and Techcrunch

Growth of ~27% over the last 2

years

Subtle Changes to SEO(that not everyone might know)

4

“Custom content spending on production and distribution rose to 43.9 billion in 2013…

…New results on “social content” and “SEO content” formats shows 81% of respondents are creating content explicitly for use in social media.”

- Content Council Survey 2013

2013 actually had 11 months of YoY growth vs.

2012(though none of these were higher than

+12%)

1) Content Growth Exceeding Query Growth

Search stats via Comscore and AJ Kohn on G+; Content stats via Content Council; Ad cycle & content graphic via Rand’s Blog

2) On-Page’s Impact Growing After Years of Shrinking

Instead of carefully keyword-matched content from sites like eHow & Journeymart, Hummingbird has helped Google “intent-match” and return more valuable (though less classically “SEO’d”) pages

3) A New Philosophy/PR Approach to Spam

1997-2011: Spam is our problem

2012-2014: Spam is your problem

4) Introduction & Acceptance of Machine Learning to Search Quality

Algorithms

Search quality filters

Sites G don’t like

Any & every signal

New Algo

Signals that

correlate w/ bad sites

Quora thread with Edmond Lau’s response here

Ways the Industry is Taking These Changes

3

Anger, Distrust, Resentment, & Retaliation

Young fools. Only now do you see the folly of retweeting

“sick burns” on Matt Cutts as your

primary mode of defense.

Modification of Strategic Approaches

Many of Dr. Pete’s weekends were burned to bring us this information.

Reject and (or) Ignore

Hey, if I want to buy some links,

your job is to shut up and sell me

some $%&# links.

Remarkable Changes in SEO from 1997-2014

2

The Evolution of Technical SEOWhat’s insane is that this same pattern holds true for every facet of SEO, not just the technical

side.

Whoa.

LinkedIn Members w/ “SEO” in their Job Title

LinkedIn Members w/ “SEO” in their Job

Description

1997-2010: “I’m an SEO”2011-Present: “SEO is a part of my job.”

Via LinkedIn and Moz’s 2013 Industry Survey

Quiet Revolution1

Increasing Complexity+

Perception of Accessibility

=Continued Lack of Respect, Influence, and Resources

Search Growth Leveling Off+

Google Taking Many Queries for Themselves

+Increasing Competition

=A Need to Find New / More

Creative Opportunities

New Spam Tactics+

Brand Biasing+

Broader Algorithms

=Decline of Classic SEO(aka keywords & links)

3 of My Big Takeaways

We Need to Create Better Expectations

(or our teams/clients will continue to demand the impossible)

#1

Early Adopters of New Channels or Tactics Will Earn Outsize

Returns(more than ever, it’s paying off to be on the bleeding edge)

#2

Those Who Aren’t Building Brands Will Struggle Mightily in the Years

Ahead(The “find & abuse exploits” era of SEO is ending. The only logical strategy today is to be so good that Google looks bad taking you

out)

#3

The SEO RevolutionWill Not Be Televised

Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz | @randfish | rand@moz.com