No Social, No See?(with apologies to Bob Marley)

Visability – TorontoMay 27, 2010

ANDREW GOODMAN

About Page Zero

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Hype fatigue?

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Moving the Needle with Search: Five Guiding

Principles

User eye patterns: change?

Source: Enquiro Research

1. Where you rank is incredibly important (to getting a website visitor that is)

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2. Search today is blended and personalized. No more “ten blue links.”

3. Free, free, free. Search is your funnel. Give more away, wider funnel.

4. What is more free, and more frightening, than a conversation?

5. Your website doesn’t matter(or at least it matters less than it used to)

Case study: Freshbooks vs. BillMyClients

Search engine ranking factors (200++)

I think it moved!!!

Old term: “link bait”

Is “Attention Bait” a Better Term?

Or maybe it’s just “being remarkable”

Invisible in Search: Here’s How!

1. Brochureware 2.0: Futile attempts at total brand control

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Instead: balancing user needs with architecture to help search spiders – on a home page

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Instead: Demonstrate how you’re active inthe community, then blog, tweet, share.

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2. Hide Stuff and Officially Call Your Pages “Barrier” Pages

3. Buy links from a “link vendor” – because any old link will do

Instead: do real world PR and ask for or incentivize links.

On the other hand, Google relatively forgiving on this – cheating not usually a “minus” but “lack of plus”

4. Centralize editorial. Don’t train your writers in SEO, PR 2.0, social media. (Or, do the opposite…)

5. Obsess about the 10 blue links. Ignore local search, video, etc.

6. Speak at conferences where nobody tweets

At #vsmTO @andrew_goodman says: to be invisible, just

speak at conferences where nobody tweets

Top takeaways

Don’t reduce everything to one or two key factors

Sure, prioritize, but be comprehensive

Develop a full checklist / scorecard

“Google likes links” – yes but now what?

“Keyword research is key” – yes, but how?

Clickstreams & behavior – uptick in importance

Include visibility & user experiences in dialogues

at all levels: IT, editorial, marketing

Quality content in higher volumes +happy, vocal supporters =

success(even in B2B or retail)

You can be visible by appearing on other high-ranking websites

Write articles

Create press releases

Hold events or partner with them

Get mentioned

Be quoted

Sponsor, advertise

Share over social media

You might even get a link back!

Suddenly it’s not all about your website’s

analytics alone…

It’s about total mindshare

Don’t call it linkbait! It’s not a narrow tactic – it’s PR 2.0

Keep thinking: where are we headed?

Why do you suppose Google is doing this? (New search

layouts, and many new ad formats to follow…)

Honesty

Static tweetosphere, or engagement?

What it’s going to take…

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Thanks! @andrew_goodman