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
SEO
But, SEO Also Blinded Me.
I Used to Believe…
#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
Step 1:Get Here
Step 2:
€ € € €!!
I Used to Believe…
Most users see these same results in the same order.
Reality: The days of standard SERPs are over
I Used to Believe…
#1 and #2; I’m winning!
Reality: Rel=author + great
branding means Aaron’s probably
winning
I Used to Believe…
>
I Used to Believe…
If a source doesn’t send converting
visits, it’s useless.
Reality: Visitors usually have lots of ways to get to your site before
they convert.
Hey Look! A Tree!
Oh… This is a forest.
Thankfully, SEO Evolved
No More 10 Blue Links
Today…
Snippets are Surprisingly Sophisticated
Visuals Can Dominate the
SERPs
Advertising Occasionally Overwhelms Organic
More and More, Google’s Putting Themselves in the Results
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
Today…
Searches are Suggested
Or Presumed
And Influence-able
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
Today…
Many Searches Bias to Established Brands
Others Suggest the Brands Directly
Brands Receive Preferential Treatment
Penalties and Filters are Designed to Target
Unbranded Sites
No More Manipulative Link Behavior That Lasts at Scale
Today…
Big, Famous Link Networks Get Hit
Small, Single Sites Get Hit
Blog Networks are Being
Shut Down
Directories Get Devalued
Google Will Lift Your Penalty Faster If You Tell Them How You
Got Those Links
No More Search without Social
Today…
Google’s Social Graph is Far Larger Than Most Believe
The Hardest Page to Find in Your Google Account Powers
Social Results Beyond Google+
http://www.google.com/s2/u/0/search/social
Email is Now a Social Influence on Search
Google Will Go to Great Lengths to Favor G+
As SEO Evolved, It Forced
Me to Evolve With It
Today…
SEO is a Tactic
Inbound Marketing is a Strategy
BecauseLower COCA = Competitive Advantage
This Process Is Simple to
Understand, Yet Hard to Execute
ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY
DO INBOUND MARKETING
Step #1:
Know Today’s Customers
Step #2:
Know Your Future Customers
Step #3:
Create the Content Both Desire
Step #4:Spread Via Every Available Channel
Step #5:Measure, Optimize & Improve
SEO is Just Content, Keywords, Links & Rankings.
SEO is deeply connected to
broader marketing practices, and
it’s just one tactic amongst many.
SEO. But, no strategy.
Strategy, but no SEO.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI
Rand Fishkin | CEO
http://bit.ly/mozblindedbyseo
@randfish
www.seomoz.org/blog
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