what every marketer needs to know to future-proof their seo strategy

What Every Marketer Needs To KnowTo Future-Proof Their SEO Strategy

@drelevance | relevance.com

Aaron AdersCo-Founder & Market Research Director

Patrick SpencerVP Business Development


AGENDA

» Future-Proof Link Earning Insights» Short-term & Long-term Returns» How to Scale Link Earning» Real World Example» Questions


Future-Proof Link Earning Insights


From Librarians to Marketers

“A lot of SEO has been focused on technical matters and very highly specific ways to configure your website and stuff like that. There are best practices, and you need to make sure you get the basics right, but it is true that a lot of SEO is now circling back around to good old fashioned marketing.”

- Matt Cutts, Google


SEO Based on Quality Content is Future-Proof

"The philosophy that we’ve always had is if you make something that’s compelling then it would be much easier to get people to write about it and to link to it. And so a lot of people approach it from a direction that’s backwards. They try to get the links first and then they want to be grandfathered in or think they will be a successful website as a result.”

– Matt Cutts



Quality Content is a Pre-Requisite to Earning Valuable Links & Mentions

#futureproofseo


Search Engines Promote Authoritative Brands

“We’re doing a better job of detecting when someone is more of an authority on a specific space. You know, it could be medical. It could be travel. Whatever. And try(ing) to make sure that those rank a little more highly if you’re some sort of authority ... we think might be a little more appropriate for users.”

– Matt Cutts


Earned Signals that can’t be built are key to developing brand authority

#futureproofseo



A variety of quality digital signals is a future-proof SEO strategy

#futureproofseo



You Can’t Buy a Ticket to The Hilltop

“If someone pays for coverage or pays for an ad or something like that, those ads should not flow PageRank ... we’ll be looking at some efforts to be a little bit stronger on our enforcement as far as advertorials that violate our quality guidelines.”

– Matt Cutts


You can’t buy brand authority on search engine algorithms

#futureproofseo



Earned Signals Help Panda Recovery Efforts

“We are looking at Panda and seeing if we can find some additional signals, and we think we’ve got some to help refine things for sites that are kind of in the border zone ... if we can soften the effect a little bit for those sites that we believe have some additional signals of quality, that will help sites that were previous affected ... to some degree.”

– Matt Cutts


Earned links can help websites recover from Google Panda

#futureproofseo



A Variety of Digital Marketing Returns


Visibility & Targeted Traffic• Long-tail search traffic• Diverse & topically relevant keyword portfolio• Links and other digital signals

Search Engine Visibility


Lead List Growth• Leads & prospects from relevant online communities• Long-term due to evergreen content

Lead Generation


Social Mentions• Brand mentions• Relevant follower list growth

Social Media Buzz


Opt-in Email List Growth

Grow Email Lists• Relevant content earns the most attentive email subscribers


Retargeting Acceleration

Enhance Retargeting Audience• Increase Retargeting Audience Size• Increase Network Reach in Editorials Rather Than Ads


Online Community Growth

Enhance Retargeting Audience• Social Network Follower Growth• Blog Subscriber Growth• Fan Page Growth


Online Brand Awareness

Enhance Brand Awareness• Industry Communities• Private & Public Organizations• News Aggregators & Curators• Social Networks• Slideshows• Print Publications


Scale Link Earning Without Scaling Cost


The Earned Media Process


1. Use Big Data to Identify• Valuable Online Personas• Where They Hangout Online• Relevant & Trending

Content/Topics• Content Ideas These Personas

Can’t Resist



Scale Link Earning with Contributions

"I would concentrate on the stuff that people write, the utility that people find in it, and the amount of times that people link to it. All of those are ways that implicitly measure how relevant or important somebody is to someone else.”

Matt Cutts, Google



2. Develop Irresistible Content• Will Educate, Entertain or

Inform a Specific Audience• Professional Design & Layout of

eBooks, Whitepapers, etc.• Branded Content that Solves a

Problem and Adds Value



"The philosophy that we’ve always had is if you make something that’s compelling then it would be much easier to get people to write about it and to link to it. And so a lot of people approach it from a direction that’s backwards. They try to get the links first and then they want to be grandfathered in or think they will be a successful website as a result.”

– Matt Cutts



3. Where the Rubber Meets the Road• Creating “Teaser” Articles

Featuring the Branded Content• Link to the Landing Page• Develop/Pitch Targeted Articles

to Relevant & High-Profile Online Publications



“A guest post is something that a fantastic author has thought deeply about, labored over, polished, put a lot of work into and then publishes on a highly reputable domain name.”

Matt Cutts, Google



“We’re doing a better job of detecting when someone is more of an authority on a specific space. You know, it could be medical. It could be travel. Whatever. And try(ing) to make sure that those rank a little more highly if you’re some sort of authority ... we think might be a little more appropriate for users.”

– Matt Cutts



4. Convert Visitors into Leads• Capturing Leads, Email & IP

Addresses• Increase Conversion Rates, Traffic

& Social Metrics• Dropping Cookies on Browsers


Real-Life Example


The Explorer Traveler Infographic


FINAL TAKEAWAYS»Where you rank doesn’t matter – how many

keywords drive traffic does

» Create LOTS of educational, problem-solving and/or entertaining content

» Publish content frequently

#rethinkSEO


TAKEAWAYS

» Publish content on trusted sources only

»Measure ROI through traffic & leads, not SERPs

» Distribute & promote content via social media

#rethinkSEO


QUESTIONS?

#rethinkSEO