luon wassup recap march 2013 - 1. the search landscape

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1. In Pursuit of Google

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Penguin & Panda?

1. In Pursuit of Google

Over the last couple of months, the so-called ‘Panda’ and ‘Penguin’ updates, have stirred up the SEO community.

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Meet Panda

1. In Pursuit of Google

Navneet Panda optimized the machine learning algorithm at Google, making it possible to put it into general use for the Google search engine.

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How Panda works

1. In Pursuit of Google

Unlike the normal Google algorithm which is updated each time Google crawls your page, the Panda algorithm runs in iterative updates when the ‘data is refreshed’.

Quality Raters +

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Machine Learning

(find similarities)

Machine Learning

(find similarities)

usage metrics

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Panda victims

1. In Pursuit of Google

(*) Google Panda affects the ranking of an entire site or a specific section rather than just the individual pages on a site

websites (*)…

offering thin or duplicate content

that are perceived as spammy

with too many ads above the fold

with non-authorative links

with high bounce rates

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Feeding the Panda

1. In Pursuit of Google

Focus on design and user experience don’t put too many ads above the fold, can visitors navigate easily?, … 1 |

With Panda, Google –for the first time- puts the user experience into the SEO equation! “

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Feeding the Panda

1. In Pursuit of Google

2 | Focus on content quality unique, usable content is not enough: users must want to share it and say ‘wow’

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Feeding the Panda

1. In Pursuit of Google

Optimize around user and usage metrics Time on site, bounce rate, browse rate, CTR’s from SERP’s, traffic quality 3 |

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Enter the Penguin

1. In Pursuit of Google

On April 24, Google rolled out the ‘Penguin’ update targeting websites not following Google SEO quality guidelines.

In the pursuit of higher rankings or traffic, a few sites use techniques that don’t benefit users, where the intent is to look for shortcuts or loopholes that would rank pages higher than they deserve to be ranked. We see all sorts of webspam techniques every day, from keyword stuffing to link schemes that attempt to propel sites higher in rankings. - Google

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Penguin victims

1. In Pursuit of Google

example of a site with unusual linking patterns that is affected by the Penguin update.

hosted by The Hosting Company

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1. In Pursuit of Google

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The Exact-Match Domain (EMD) update

1. In Pursuit of Google

On October 2nd, Google changed its algorithm to reduce the impact of exact-match domains on search results.

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2. Towards a Semantic Web

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The big problem

2. Towards a Semantic Web

or or

People are using search engines to find answers to the questions they face on their customer journeys. Relevancy in answer to a query is everything.

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From links to things

2. Towards a Semantic Web

Using schema.org, web publishers can ‘tag’ their content to reflect the object it’s describing, be it a book, a movie, a recipe, an event, a place, ....

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From links to things

2. Towards a Semantic Web

Google uses semantic markup to create ‘rich snippets’ in the search engine result pages.

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From links to things

2. Towards a Semantic Web

Google uses semantic markup to create ‘rich snippets’ in the search engine result pages.

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From links to things

2. Towards a Semantic Web

many companies have

seen a RISE of

20%-40% in click-through

users know

what to expect

before entering the site

+

More qualified visitors who are likely to stay on the site longer

Rich Snippets

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Google launches ‘structured data dashboard’

July 31, 2012

To provide webmasters with greater visibility into the structured data that Google knows about, Google launched the Structured Data Dashboard inside Google Webmaster Tools.

Google Rich Snippets testing tool

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Towards a Unified Search Interface

September 17, 2012

Using semantic markup, Google is able to create either verticals for eg recipes and news, or –as a requested patent indicates- a unified search interface offering filtering options.

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The Google Knowledge Graph

May 16, 2012

The Google Knowledge Graph is about helping users discover new information quickly and easily.

click next for video

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Get ready for AuthorRank

2. Towards a Semantic Web

The idea behind AuthorRank is that your reputation as a content creator will influence the ranking of search results.

There are a lot of stupid people out there … and stupid people shouldn’t write. … There needs to be a better system for tuning down the stupid people and tuning up the smart people. - Jason Calacanis, Internet entrepreneur and blogger

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Get ready for AuthorRank

2. Towards a Semantic Web

At this moment it is still uncertain which signals Google in the end will consider for AuthorRank.

How often is your content shared?

How quickly is your content shared?

Who shared your content? Who commented on your content?

How often is your content endorsed (+1, like)

Where the comments of high-quality?

Who endorsed your content?

How many comments did your content generate?

…

Did those who shared your content have expertise in that topic?

Do the same people always share your content?

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Get ready for AuthorRank: how to

2. Towards a Semantic Web

Identity create a Google+ account, choose a good profile pic 1 |

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Get ready for AuthorRank: how to

2. Towards a Semantic Web

digital signatures Make sure Google knows which content is yours 2 |

Option 1: verified e-mail address Option 2: rel=author markup

Check that you have a email address on

the same domain as your content

Make sure that each article or post you

publish on that domain has a clear byline

identifying you as the author

Visit the Google+ Authorship page and

submit your email address to Google.

https://plus.google.com/authorship

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Create a link to your Google+ profile

from your webpage: <a href=

"[profile_url]?rel=author">my

name</a>

In the ‘Contributor To’ section, add a

reciprocal link back from your profile to

the site(s) you just updated.

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Get ready for AuthorRank: how to

2. Towards a Semantic Web

produce content worth sharing and engage Content quality, activity and engagement will be important factors. 3 |

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Not just Google: Walmart rolls out semantic search

August 2012

Walmart.com has already seen about 10 to 15 percent increase in shoppers that complete a purchase after searching for a product.

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Not just Google: Walmart rolls out semantic search

August 2012

Walmart’s Social Genome project uses public data on the Web, proprietary data, and social media, to identify interesting entities and relationships.

Hanna @hanna

I love salt!

salt condiments

movies Angelina Jolie

Hanna

Juliana

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3. Key Take-Aways

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Key Take-Aways

3. Key Take-Aways

With the Panda updates, Google has found a way to incorporate the user experience into the search result rankings.

1 The Penguin updates focus on fighting webspam such as keyword stuffing (over-optimization) and link schemes.

2 Google is working on better understanding what the user is looking for. It is slowly implementating more and more semantic search features such as rich snippets, the Knowledge Graph and AuthorRank.

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Thank you for listening.

Now let’s talk.

Geert De Laet

Technology evangelist

gdelaet@luon.com

Twitter: @geertdelaet

http://www.luon.com