figaro digital search seminar 2014, martin dinham barracuda digital
TRANSCRIPT
Figaro Digital Search Seminar,
Dec 2014
“Now and then” –
Google & SEO over
the past 10 years
(plus a bit…)
Who Are Barracuda ?
London based Search Marketing Agency
Since 2000
28 strong team
Recognised by our peers for expertise and
innovation within SEO
Huge cross sector experience, both B2B and B2C
Blend of best in class and proprietary technology,
including our own Panguin Algorithm analysis tool
http://www.barracuda-digital.co.uk/panguin-tool/
Easy analysis of impact of algorithm updates on YOUR site
Linked to your Google Analytics
Free, and doesn’t collect any data
Panguin Tool
Some trends as to the direction of travel for SEO
Based on agency and personal experience
Now and then – Google 10 years on
1995 – Larry Page and Sergey Brin meet on Stanford Computer Science
PHD
1996 Invent “Back Rub”, later renamed Google
First, some history…
Named after Larry Page
Still the underpinning principle of the algorithm, despite subsequent
evolution
• Based on the academic “citation” principle
We assume page A has pages T1...Tn which point to it (i.e., are citations). The parameter d is a damping factor which can be set between 0 and 1. We usually set d to 0.85. There are more details about d in the next section. Also C(A) is defined as the number of links going out of page A. The PageRank of a page A is given as follows:
PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + ... + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))
Note that the PageRanks form a probability distribution over web pages, so the sum of all web pages' PageRanks will be one.
PageRank or PR(A) can be calculated using a simple iterative algorithm, and corresponds to the principal eigenvector of the normalized link matrix of the web.
Page Rank
The fundamental principle of Page Rank still exists
But the details of this have changed hugely….
So, what about SEO…?
Buying links
Sitewide links
Anchor text rich links
Text links embedded in widgets
Things everyone was doing
There’s just some history…
So, a thorough backlink audit should be the starting point of any SEO
campaign
Supported by technology, but you can’t get away from manual review
Regular update of a disavow file
Actually it means
If you have site level issues, address them
It really is about content
But, even the best content doesn’t outreach itself….
What didn’t exist in 2004 ?
- Mobile (well, kind of….)
- Personalisation
- Mark ups
So, what’s the takeaway from all that ?
Paying proper attention to site level SEO
Measuring success through means other than rankings
Proper, editorially driven link acquisition
The dreaded C word…
What should we be doing…?
Our 4 rules for content
On Brand Evergreen
Outreachable to multiple sectors
Best In Class
4 rules of content
http://www.musement.com/en/s/map-out-your-favourite-films
Be pragmatic about the past – if the site / domain has some age, its
almost going to have some history. Especially if they were employing an
SEO agency in 2004…
The basic principles behind Google are still very similar
But the details and the execution are very different
Review and disavow. With technology, but also with people….
So, what does this mean
www.barracuda-digital.co.uk
0207 593 2980
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/martindinham
Thankyou !