THE STATE OF SEO 2017

MARCH 2017

ABOUT NETELIXIR

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Our  Team:  110+  fana)cally  analy)cal  search  marketers,  opera)ng  in  three  countries.  

Our  Partnerships:    We  are  a  Preferred  Partner  of  both  Google  and  Bing  .  

Our  Value:    We  combine  our  exper)se  and   our   proprietary   technology   to  help   businesses   get   found,   convert  visitors   to   customers   and   acquire  game-­‐changing  consumer  insights.  

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ABOUT HALA ALI

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SEO Manager at NetElixir Hala Ali has been in the digital marketing field for more than a decade and specializes in SEO with a focus on mid-sized retailers. Prior to joining NetElixir, Hala worked with leading pharmaceutical firms and sites like Club Wyndham.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/halaali

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

13 YEARS OLD

Four Interactive Sessions (2pm ET, every day) Tuesday 3/14: The 2017 State of SEO Wednesday 3/15: Adopting a Mobile-First SEO Philosophy Thursday 3/16: The Role of User Experience and Web Development in SEO Friday 3/17: Building a Winning Retail SEO Strategy

•  www.netelixir.com/audit/

FREE MINI-SEO AUDIT

WHO ARE OUR VIEWERS?

Before we start the webinar, we would like to know who our audience is to provide a better perspective of the SEO information. Poll: •  SEO Analysts •  Graphic Designers •  Business Owners •  Developers •  Others __________

WHAT IS SEO?

•  SEO: Search Engine Optimization. •  What does SEO mean?

•  It means giving the searcher "the right value proposition." •  If you focus on your assumptions about your consumer

and what they’re searching for, you will not always satisfy that consumer’s need.

•  The Right Value Proposition satisfies the consumer’s needs.

WHAT IS THE SEO REALITY?

•  The reality of SEO can be explained by a metaphor from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass.

•  Alice keeps running a race against the Red Queen, yet, gets nowhere.

•  Leigh Van Valen explained the Red Queen Hypothesis in 1973 and it fits the 2017 digital landscape:

•  The hypothesis presents that competing organisms must

continually adapt to the changing ecosystem in order to survive.

SEO IN 2017

Using the Red Queen hypothesis, we see that algorithm updates and indexing have led to a changing web ecosystem. Two years ago, we saw Google as the monopoly. Today, Google has to compete with social media search optimization in the form of platforms like Facebook. Social media is now the primitive competitor to web search and plays an essential role in the purchase decisions for consumers. Enter, mobile technologies. The SEO landscape in 2017 is a complex ecosystem that embraces multiple platforms and technologies.

TOP ALGORITHM UPDATES SEO 2016

Courtesy Moz.com

Penguin 4.0, Phase 2 — October 6, 2016 •  The second phase of Penguin 4.0 was the reversal of all

previous Penguin penalties. Penguin 4.0, Phase 1 — September 27, 2016 •  The first phase of Penguin 4.0, which probably launched

around September 22-23, was the rollout of the new, "gentler" Penguin algorithm, which devalues bad links instead of penalizing sites.

Possum — September 1, 2016 •  The local SEO community noted a major shake-up in pack

results. Data suggests this update (or a simultaneous update) also heavily impacted organic results.

TOP ALGORITHM UPDATES SEO 2016

Courtesy Moz.com

AdWords Shake-Up — February 23, 2016 •  Google made major changes to AdWords, removing right-

hand column ads entirely and rolling out four-ad top blocks on many commercial searches. While this was a paid search update, it had significant implications for CTR for both paid and organic results, especially on competitive keywords.

Mobile-Friendly 2 — May 12, 2016 •  Just more than a year after the original "mobile-friendly"

update, Google rolled out another ranking signal boost to benefit mobile-friendly sites on mobile search. Since the majority of sites we track are already mobile-friendly, it's likely the impact of the latest update was small.

•  Google’s mobile-friendly algorithm boost has rolled out (SEL)

•  Continuing to make the web more mobile-friendly (Google)

•  Four Ad Pack: Landscape of the digital search engine changed and created more competitive branded and top of the funnel searches.

–  Organic Impact: Organic searches have moved toward a less competitive inverted funnel search in terms of search volume.

•  Mobile-Friendly/Mobile-First: Google pushes for mobile-friendly web

design and finally, mobile-first web design. –  Organic Impact: The takeaway is redesign your website for

mobile and then desktop and organically go into semantic searches or RankBrain focused content.

•  Penguin: Spam & toxic link checks have become granular & real time.

–  Organic Impact: Organic search impact is doing a backlink audit once or twice a month.

MEASURES OF ANALYSIS: IMPACT OF ALGORITHM UPDATES

•  One of the major impacts of the four ad pack in Google SERP is that organic results are pushed to the second fold.

FOUR AD PACK ALGORITHM IMPACT ON SEO RESULTS

AD PACK AND MOBILE-FRIENDLY

ANALYSIS

So how does this data impact organic search results? •  You need first page placement

for the best CTR. •  E-commerce firms will be

competing with the bigger players in the industry and even marketplaces like Amazon.com

ORGANIC SEO MOVES FORWARD

•  The only way to be successful in SEO is to focus on the long-tail queries that may be less competitive but have a higher conversion rate.

•  For example if the head term is “lighting” a long-tail derivative can be “lighting products.”

•  This helps push the organic result up, as there is low competition on long-tail keywords.

PENGUIN UPDATE: SEO IMPACT

The purpose was to focus on creating a form of ranking that helped the user and create quality associations between digital businesses.

PENGUIN UPDATE: SEO IMPACT

SO HOW DOES THIS DATA IMPACT SEO? SEO agencies and individuals should be conducting a frequent backlink analysis and focusing on creating strategic linking patterns that increase the domain authority through a good citation flow.

End of 2016, we saw the Mobile-First roll out and even before we welcomed in 2017, Google algorithm changes had become obvious. January and February saw a roll out of: •  Google Mobile Intrusive Interstitial Penalty: Targeting

interstitial ads in the first fold of the website on mobile devices. •  Penguin Tweak: A new algorithm update targeted PBNs

(Private Blog Networks). •  SEO Forums continue to thrive on conversation of other core

changes causing ranking fluctuations.

ALGORITHM UPDATES 2017

SO WHAT IS SEO IN 2017?

UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE. IT IS NO LONGER MOBILE-FRIENDLY, IT IS MOBILE-FIRST.

WHAT ARE THE TECHNICAL

IMPLICATIONS OF MOBILE-FIRST SEO?

So what are some of the new facets of SEO? •  Responsive web design •  Use of knowledge graph •  Optimized schema data •  Faster load time •  Image optimization •  Semantic content optimization

(RankBrain)

How to create the mobile-first experience •  Have a comprehensive SEO strategy. •  Conduct a digital competitive analysis. •  Perform a UX audit on your website. •  Use data analytics for further insights. •  Use PPC to complement SEO. Utilize your insights: •  Redesign your website for mobile-first. •  Ensure a SEO Safe Migration to the new website. •  Create a wholesome content strategy. •  Give some love to social media - a lot of love.

CREATING THE MOBILE-FIRST EXPERIENCE

LANDSCAPE OF SEO IN 2017

Clients always ask us: So what do we do to improve SEO in 2017? Our answer, that is the NetElixir answer is: “Forget SEO and focus on the user.” Does that mean no more metadata and keyword stuffing?

SEO AGENCIES AND SEO SUCCESS

What is the #1 complaint E-commerce owners have for SEO Agencies? Organic search results are down - did you do your job? Challenge #1: Google gives precedence to big brands. The SEO landscape has changed. 55% of searches for shopping online now begin with Amazon.com. Google first position results are now dominated by Amazon.com Challenge #2: Increasing Marketing Budgets A robust digital strategy is needed where E-commerce retailers have bigger budgets. The PPC needs to focus on head terms, organic on long-tail searches, and social media on content. Challenge #3: Having Flexible Budgets SEO is explained as a complex multidimensional system that is in a consistent state of evolution. If your budget cannot keep up with the change, your organic sessions decline.

•  Google controls the SEO; SEO Agencies implement best practices.

•  Businesses need to control the speed with which changes are implemented on your storefront.

ALGORITHM VS DIGITAL BUSINESS CHANGE

Algorithm Change Digital Business Change

4 Ad Pack Introduced Increased CPC with high volume keywords.

RankBrain Content Strategy Change to Semantic.

Mobile First Redesign website with new UX.

Hummingbird Brand based Content.

HOW FAST THE ALGORITHM IMPACT HAS AN EFFECT

AUDIENCE QUESTION: MOBILE-FIRST WEBSITE

•  How many of our viewers have a mobile-friendly website?

•  How many intend to redesign

their website to make it mobile-first?

5 SOLID FACTORS TO MOVE TOWARDS SEO

SUCCESS IN 2017

•  Redesign Your website to be Mobile-First

•  Get a UX Audit done •  Alter your Content for

RankBrain (Semantic Content) •  Add Structured Data •  Focus on Analytics

•  Mobile-first does not mean Mobile Only. •  It should be responsive and work on multiple devices.

A Mobile-First Design...

•  Maps the ideal customer path for multiple devices. •  Is created after a professional audience research. •  Follows the ideal funnel path. •  Fixes the pain points for breaks in the customer path. •  Understands user behavior. •  Adapts semantic content.

MOBILE-FIRST DESIGN

•  You have 3 seconds to capture the attention of your audience.

•  Your website needs to understand more than your brand - it needs to understand the customer journey or path.

•  Even beyond the design, navigation, and architecture - you must understand the business impact.

The best UX audit will: 1.  Help increase sales and leads. 2.  Improve user experience. 3.  Allow information to be accessed faster. 4.  Create a faster funnel path to sales. 5.  Brand satisfaction.

UX AUDIT

•  Voice Search is the future of SEO. •  Artificial learning methods in SEO are the only way to

improve in SERPS and SEO. •  RankBrain automatically learns and makes connections from

your content, backlinks, and presence online. It’s actually a combination of Panda, Penguin, and Pigeon.

•  Merely having keywords no longer works. You need to make connections within your content (content strategy). Have that content connect your business to the industry (social media), create your brand authority (backlinks), and then continue SEO and PPC.

RANKBRAIN (SEMANTIC CONTENT)

Since Google is now focusing on Artificial Intelligence, websites must add structured data to their HTML. Structured data is microdata that’s an offset of metadata and creates the skeleton of the website in the backend to create the “content” for search engine spiders.

Google’s Gary Illyes recently stated his predictions for search in 2017. “Well I guess you can guess that we are going to focus more and more on machine learning...and you can expect more launches around that. Structure data, again this is getting picked up more and more by the leads. So that would be another thing.”

STRUCTURED DATA

•  The evolution of SEO in just the past year has opened a whole new landscape where data becomes imperative for success.

•  Data can sometimes be frustrating as understanding the connections, outcomes, and then creating the reports and inferences can make or break a business.

•  To have the most success in SEO, you must have someone on the team who understand data. Stats to pay attention to:

–  Google trends –  Referral Traffic –  Bounce Rate –  Page Views

Even beyond the basics, look deeper in:

•  Industry benchmarks •  Landing page and keyword segmentations •  Funnel path •  Exit and entry points •  Pain points for break in funnel •  Mapping the customer journey

ANALYTICS

•  www.netelixir.com/audit/

FREE MINI-SEO AUDIT

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