search first content strategy

Copyright© 2011 IBM Corporation and James MathewsonCopyright© 2011 IBM Corporation and James Mathewson

Search-first content strategyFebruary 18, 2011

James Mathewson

Global Search Strategy and Expertise Lead

Co-Author: Audience, Relevance, and Search: Targeting Web Audiences with Relevant Content

Audience

Content Strategy

Taxonomy/tagging strategy

UX design strategy

Architecture strategy

Digital Strategy

Media strategy

Business analytics

Web analytics

Text analytics

Search Strategy

Social strategySocial strategy

Mobile strategy

Media strategy

Constituents prefer a mix of media with a growing preference for video*

Constituents are far more likely to click search results that contain rich media^

Optimizing these experiences for constituents requires an institutional understanding of universal search principles

Constituents prefer a mix of media with a growing preference for video*

Constituents are far more likely to click search results that contain rich media^

Optimizing these experiences for constituents requires an institutional understanding of universal search principles

*Source: TechTarget, 2009*Source: TechTarget, 2009

^Source: Google, 2009^Source: Google, 2009

Mobile strategy

Google estimates that by 2012, more people will access the Web through mobile devices than traditional PCs*

Mobile users are far more likely to use search than traditional PC users*

Mobile apps usage is expected to grow faster than Web usage during this period*

The standard for these experiences is HTML5, which enables constituents to search mobile pages and blended apps

Google estimates that by 2012, more people will access the Web through mobile devices than traditional PCs*

Mobile users are far more likely to use search than traditional PC users*

Mobile apps usage is expected to grow faster than Web usage during this period*

The standard for these experiences is HTML5, which enables constituents to search mobile pages and blended apps

*Source: Google*Source: Google

http://writingfordigital.com/2010/05/01/5-reasons-to-prefer-html5-over-flash/http://writingfordigital.com/2010/05/01/5-reasons-to-prefer-html5-over-flash/

Social strategySocial strategy

The web is a social medium, it is ever more social as new applications such as Facebook “like” help users find more relevant content

External linking depends on robust external social presence

Efforts such as Expertise Locator and Social Aggregator depend on search functions to automate content curation

Semantic Web functionality can further aid with social content strategy

The web is a social medium, it is ever more social as new applications such as Facebook “like” help users find more relevant content

External linking depends on robust external social presence

Efforts such as Expertise Locator and Social Aggregator depend on search functions to automate content curation

Semantic Web functionality can further aid with social content strategy

http://writingfordigital.com/2010/07/20/are-you-prepared-for-the-semantic-web/http://writingfordigital.com/2010/07/20/are-you-prepared-for-the-semantic-web/

Taxonomy/tagging strategy

Keywords and tags function in similar ways in search and social search functions

Tagging is the intersection of search and social content efforts

Most of the optimization errors caught by Covario related to improperly tagged pages

Keywords and tags function in similar ways in search and social search functions

Tagging is the intersection of search and social content efforts

Most of the optimization errors caught by Covario related to improperly tagged pages

Architecture strategy

Architecture can either make it easy or difficult on crawlers and constituents

A search-first architecture will tend to make it easier on both

A search-first architecture emphasizes choosing the navigation words based on keyword research

With proper governance, search-first architecture also enables more elegant user experiences by minimizing apparent duplication and helping content collaborators with gap analysis

Architecture can either make it easy or difficult on crawlers and constituents

A search-first architecture will tend to make it easier on both

A search-first architecture emphasizes choosing the navigation words based on keyword research

With proper governance, search-first architecture also enables more elegant user experiences by minimizing apparent duplication and helping content collaborators with gap analysis

UX design strategy

UX cannot drive content strategy: When it does, we tend to create data-heavy pages that the crawler can’t parse

Some of the most beautiful pages never get found by search engines

The principles of elegant design, driven by W3C standards for searchability and usability must govern UX strategy

UX cannot drive content strategy: When it does, we tend to create data-heavy pages that the crawler can’t parse

Some of the most beautiful pages never get found by search engines

The principles of elegant design, driven by W3C standards for searchability and usability must govern UX strategy

Resource Model

Text analytics

Search Strategy

Audience

Infrastructure

Content Strategy

Digital Strategy

Tooling

Business analytics

Web analytics

Tooling Web Analytics/Business Analytics:We simply can’t know how well we’re doing and what we’re delivering to the business without better analytics

Keyword research for practitioners: It must go beyond Google AdWords to understand how our constituents search and tailoring pages to them

Linking resources for practitioners: Most internal link juice is not captured because nobody knows when a related page is published

Writing, SEO and taxonomy assistance: Needs to be baked into the publishing process

Web Analytics/Business Analytics:We simply can’t know how well we’re doing and what we’re delivering to the business without better analytics

Keyword research for practitioners: It must go beyond Google AdWords to understand how our constituents search and tailoring pages to them

Linking resources for practitioners: Most internal link juice is not captured because nobody knows when a related page is published

Writing, SEO and taxonomy assistance: Needs to be baked into the publishing process

Explore and pilot tooling in emerging technologies such as Semantic Web (automated metadata extraction and other text analytics) and HTML5 authoring

Explore and pilot tooling in emerging technologies such as Semantic Web (automated metadata extraction and other text analytics) and HTML5 authoring

Resource Model

The investment in content human resources tends to be starved for lack of an understanding of the business value of writers and editors

A recent A/B test demonstrated a 30% engagement rate improvement when putting the appropriate level of editing resources into the content process

The investment in content human resources tends to be starved for lack of an understanding of the business value of writers and editors

A recent A/B test demonstrated a 30% engagement rate improvement when putting the appropriate level of editing resources into the content process

Infrastructure

Many URL structures prevent Google from recognizing most of our external link juice

Many internal linking relies on JavaScript, which prevent crawlers from capturing internal link juice

The way country and language are designated on pages prevents Google from recognizing whether an EN page is from AU, US, GB or CA, for example

Social and mobile application infrastructure investment is needed

Many URL structures prevent Google from recognizing most of our external link juice

Many internal linking relies on JavaScript, which prevent crawlers from capturing internal link juice

The way country and language are designated on pages prevents Google from recognizing whether an EN page is from AU, US, GB or CA, for example

Social and mobile application infrastructure investment is needed

search first content strategy

Technology