@KerryDean

SEO Success Metrics of the Future!

@KerryDean

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION

“Mama said not to be givin’ presentations to strangers.”

@KerryDean

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME

“I’m Kerry. Kerry Dean. Well, now we ain’t strangers any more.”

@KerryDean

I LOVE THIS STUFF

@KerryDean

RELEVANT

@KerryDean

NOW LET’S TALK SEO SUCCESS METRICS

@KerryDean

IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND, THE FUTURE….

@KerryDean

WE HAVE TO GO BACK, KATE!

@KerryDean

IN THE BEGINNING…

@KerryDean

THERE WERE “HITS”

@KerryDean

AND RANKINGS.

@KerryDean

Today, digital marketers tend to focus on these primary success metrics:

1. Organic Visits (Sessions, New Visits, New Visitors)2. Organic Revenue3. Keyword Rankings

WE’VE COME A LONG WAY!

@KerryDean

4. Transactions (Orders)5. Quantity (Units)6. Average Order Value7. Conversion Rate8. Revenue Per Visitor9. Average Cart Size10. Revenue per Unit Sold

SECONDAY ECOMMERCE KPI’s

@KerryDean

11. Bounce Rate12. Adjusted Bounce Rate13. Time on Site14. Dwell Time15. Return Frequency16. Scrolling17. Pages per Session/Visit18. Events: Form Submissions, Video Plays, etc…19. Social: Likes/Shares/+’s/Tweets/etc…

ENGAGEMENT KPI’s

@KerryDean

20. Total # of Keywords Driving Organic Traffic21. Total # of Keywords Driving Organic Revenue

22. Total # of URLs Driving Organic Traffic23. Total # of URLs Driving Organic Revenue

24. Total # of Search Engines Driving Organic Visits25. Total # of Search Engines Driving Organic revenue

AND DON’T FORGET THESE AWESOME SEO KPI’s!

@KerryDean

20. Total # of Keywords Driving Organic Traffic21. Total # of Keywords Driving Organic Revenue

22. Total # of URLs Driving Organic Traffic23. Total # of URLs Driving Organic Revenue

24. Total # of Search Engines Driving Organic Visits25. Total # of Search Engines Driving Organic revenue

AND DON’T FORGET THESE AWESOME SEO KPI’s!

NOT PROVIDED?! THANKS A LOT, BIN LADEN.

@KerryDean

I NEED ALL THOSE KPI’S SEGMENTED BY:

• Device Typeo Desktopo Mobile Phoneo Tableto “Phablet”

• Oh, and also by:o Operating Systemo Screen Resolutiono Browser

OH…AND ALSO…

Blade… Laser…. and Blaser.

@KerryDean

25 KPI’Sx 3 DEVICE TYPESx 3 OTHER DIMENSIONsx SOME OTHER DIMENSIONS= A LOT OF REPORTS!

HOW MANY KPI’S IS THAT? LET’S DO THE MATH.

“Napoleon, like anyone can even know that.”

@KerryDean

26. # OF PAGES INDEXED27. CTR DATA FROM WMT28. # OF NEW LINKS & HISTORICAL LINKS29. # OF LIKES & FOLLOWERS FOR SOCIAL PROFILES30. CAN WE BUCKET THAT DATA BY PAGE TYPE?31. … BY CATEGORY?32. … BY SUBCATEGORY?33. … BY SUBDOMAIN?34. CAN I SEE THAT FOR EACH PERSONA GROUP?

AHHHHHHHHH!

ONE LAST THING… I PROMISE?

@KerryDean

#SMALLDATA

LET’S GET THIS TRENDING

@KerryDean

“Information is powerful. But it is how we use it that will define us.” - @Avinash

@KerryDean

• DETERMINE WHICH KPI’s MATTER TO YOUR CLIENT.

• DETERMINE WHICH KPI’s ACCURATELY MEASURE THE SUCCESS/FAILURE OF YOUR SEO CAMPAIGN.

• DETERMINE WHICH KPI’s ARE ACTIONABLE.

THE GOALS

@KerryDean

WE NEED THE DATA IN ORDER TO TELL THE STORY.

HOWEVER…

PEOPLE WANT THE STORY. NOT THE DATA.

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED

@KerryDean

SEMRush

@KerryDean

+13 more: CH,DK,FI,HK,IE,IL,MX,NL,NO,PL,SE,SG,TR

@KerryDean

SEMRush Organic Research Positions

1

2 3

@KerryDean

@KerryDean

You can download this data by month going all the way back to Jan-2012.

DO IT!

@KerryDean

Once you have the data, there is only one thing left to do…

PIVOT TABLE!

@KerryDean

First, add a few new columns.

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What can you do with this data?

@KerryDean

1. Ranking Trends for Keywords (Position Groups)

@KerryDean

2. # of Keywords Ranking for a Set of Keywords

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3. # of Keywords Ranking for All URLs

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3. (CONT…) # of Keywords Ranking for All URLs

@KerryDean

4. Keyword Tiers (Y/Y Comparisons)

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5. Trended Keyword Tiers

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6. Plot URL Ranking Data Over Actual Visits Data

@KerryDean

1. Segment groups of URLs by:o Producto Categoryo Sub-Catso Sub-Domains

2. Filter each group by:o Brand vs Non-Brando Search Volume Tiers

The SEMRush Data Allows You To:

@KerryDean

Channel Attribution: Assisted Conversion Data

@KerryDean

ASSISTED CONVERSIONS

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MIND = BLOWN

This is a data goldmine for marketers. More info here.

@KerryDean

IN THE YEAR 2000…

Organic Search KPI’s will help tell the overall story.

@KerryDean

Looking Deeper Into The Present

@KerryDean

First, Let’s Talk About:

@KerryDean

THESE LISTS ARE GOLD, JERRY! GOLD!

@KerryDean

Link Velocity

Backlink growth is consistently positive.

@KerryDean

Rankings

Keyword exposure doubled in last 12 months.

@KerryDean

Buzzfeed create content that appeals to every type of social sharer. We can’t resist reading their content. We can’t resist sharing their content.

Buzzfeed & Human Psychology

@KerryDean

1. Create content that is irresistible.(read: powerful, convincing, tempting)

2. Make it long enough that *Google* will notice people staying on your site forever.

What We Can Learn from Buzzfeed

“Nobody reads something because it is long. They read despite it being long.”

- Ben SmithBuzzfeed Editor in Chief

@KerryDean

• Satisfaction KPI’s1. Time on Site2. Time on Page3. Dwell Time4. Adjusted Bounce Rate5. Site Speed (overall and page level)

• Popularity KPI’s6. External Links (Backlinks, “Social Echo”)7. Social Shares (Likes, Tweets, +’s, Pins, etc…)

ENGAGEMENT / INTERACTION METRICS

@KerryDean

Proving It With Data

Correlating Engagement & Rankings

@KerryDean

One Interesting Correlation

There is a correlation between Average Time On Site and Ranking Position.

@KerryDean

Another Interesting Correlation

No correlation between Bounce Rate and Ranking Position.

@KerryDean

OR IS THERE!???

*Some* sites with lower bounce rates also tend to have better rankings.

@KerryDean

Starting the Conversation

We have reached a point in SEO where we need to start the conversation about building better websites.

Use the two previous graphs to get the conversation started:

1. Comparing Average Time on Site to Ranking Positions2. Comparing Bounce Rates to Ranking Positions

@KerryDean

Looking Into The Future

@KerryDean

Let’s Talk About Apps

@KerryDean

Google is Now Sending Searches to Apps

“Today, we’re expanding it to work for English content worldwide. And we’re including 24 more apps…

– Google Search Blog (Apr. 3, 2014)

@KerryDean

Bing is Doing It To!

@KerryDean

The Path for Organic Searchers is Changing

INITIAL SEARCH

OR

WEBSITEVISIT

APPVISIT

@KerryDean

You may notice a drop in organic traffic to your website as Google and Bing begin to send more organic search to your app instead.

If You Have An App…

AppLaunches

@KerryDean

Be Sure To Get Your App Indexed!

@KerryDean

#SEAPPTIMIZATION

GET READY FOR THIS

@KerryDean

Typical App Engagement Metrics

If organic search begins to drive searchers to your app, you will need to track their behavior in the app.

1. Users2. Session Length3. Session Interval4. Time in App5. Acquisition6. Screen Flow7. Retention8. Lifetime Value9. …and more!

Get ready for App KPI’s. It’s going to get fun.

@KerryDean

THE END