searching higher up the funnel
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Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching Higher Up The FunnelJono Alderson, Global Head of Digital @ Linkdex
Jono AldersonHead of Insight @ Linkdex
@jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
I my day job
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
“That sounds really boring, Jono.”- Will Critchlow
Distilled, 2015
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
This sounds familiar...
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Getting stuff done
Marketing in your sleep
Cracking the SEO code of 2015
Behind Your Integrated Marketing Strategy
Existential Crisis Management
And it looks familiar...
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
?
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
28 types!
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Everything we know about SEO is lies-to-children.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
This oversimplification is why we sometimes feel a bit stuck.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
It’s why we’re going through an identity crisis.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
SEO IS DEAD! / LONG LIVE SEO!
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Content Marketing?
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Content MarketingInbound Marketing?
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Content MarketingInbound MarketingSEO?
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Content MarketingInbound MarketingSEOMarketing?
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Content MarketingInbound MarketingSEOMarketingGrowth Hackers?
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Content MarketingInbound MarketingSEOMarketingGrowth Hackers???
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
It’s why we struggle to achieve our ambitions.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
It’s why we’re stuck in-house / in an agency / freelancing
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
It’s why we’re culpable.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
It’s getting harder.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
“Knowing SEO” is no longer enough.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Your success in 2016 and beyond depends on how you think about
(and beyond) SEO.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Today’s mission:1. Share my less simple vision of “the truth”2. Overcome the technical challenges3. Overcome the business challenges4. Overcome the human challenges
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Ready?
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
The first lie...
SEO is tactical.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
> a trillion searches per year
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
34.7%
17.5%
10.3%
6.7%
4.7%
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
“Find the most profitable niche!”
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Keyword Search Volume
Keyword 1 10,000Keyword 2 9,000Keyword 3 8,000Keyword 4 7,000Keyword 5 6,000keyword 6 5,000Keyword 7 4,000Keyword 8 3,000Keyword 9 2,000Keyword 10 1,000Keyword 11 900Keyword 12 800Keyword 13 700Keyword 14 600Keyword 15 500Keyword 16 400Keyword 17 300
Competition
HighHighHighHighHighMediumMediumMediumMediumMediumMediumMediumMediumMediumLowLowLow
Est Traffic/Revenue
2,0001,9801,0009008007006005004003002001009080706050
Group / Page
Landing Page 1Landing Page 1Landing Page 1Landing Page 1HomepageHomepageHomepageHomepageHomepageLanding Page 2Landing Page 2Landing Page 2Landing Page 2Landing Page 2Landing Page 2Landing Page 3Landing page 3
Search volume / projected rank / average CTR= potential traffic / CR * AOV = potential revenue
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
“So, where are my results?”
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
This creates reactive cultures1. Everybody’s chasing rankings for the same keywords, rather than
chasing (or creating) their ideal customer.
2. Teams are KPI’d on the wrong behaviour; bad experiences all round.
3. All strategies, agencies, and priorities are transient and driven by fear.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
The second lie...
SEO is strategic.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
The Zero Moment of Truth
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
This positions content marketing and inbound marketing techniques as
powerful tools
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
The problem is… Not all searches have
obviously valuable outcomes “cheapest panasonic 32 inch tv”
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
The problem is… Not all searches have
obviously valuable outcomes “cheapest panasonic 32 inch tv”
“best new lcd tv”
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
The problem is… Not all searches have
obviously valuable outcomes “cheapest panasonic 32 inch tv”
“best new lcd tv”
“lcd vs plasma tv guide”
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
The problem is… Not all searches have
obviously valuable outcomes “cheapest panasonic 32 inch tv”
“best new lcd tv”
“lcd vs plasma tv guide”
“fuzzy sound on TV”
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
The only brand in the mix!
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Your content marketing isn’t clever, sexy or effective if you manage it like paid search.
You’re missing the point.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
AttributionMarketing by moment
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
As a concept, this feels cheesy right....but how do we make this a useful framework?And if marketing is about Moments, how do I win?
death to the funnel
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
“Moments are behaviours or psychological states exhibited by
consumers as they interact with search engines.”
A better definition?
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Can we infer and classify the moment from keywords/topics?“best lcd tv” vs “compare cheap 32inch tvs”
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Define topic rules“best lcd tvs”
Modifier - Quality
List refinement - Quality Product type refinement - LCD
Plural
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
[A secret shortcut]
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
http://labs.linkdex.com/term-tagger/
Early (discontinued) prototype, but good for proof of concept!
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
“Young Drivers Car Insurance”Keyword
6.6k monthly searches
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
“Young Drivers Car Insurance”Topic / Concept
66k monthly searches
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Define moment rules
Behaviour - Comparing
“best lcd tvs”
Modifier - Quality
List refinement - Quality Product type refinement - LCD
Plural
Evaluating
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
We’ve identified 12+ ‘universal moments’!
...and a bunch of sector-specific ones, too.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Get all of the relevant keywords.
Keywords [1,000’s]Topics [100’s]
Moments [10’s]
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Supplement keywords with ranking & CTR data
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Tiny market share of huge opportunity!
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
To win, you need to engage with (lots of) different keywords
momentsTo be visible, to influence, to win hearts and
minds, at scale
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
● The commercial and resource models don’t allow for this level of research.
● This is high-level strategy; beyond your pay-grade, and the scale of it is terrifying.
● Retailer & brands can’t compete with publishers on research-level content
● Where does responsibility start or stop?
● Success is the totality of the user experience; brand. Product, service, culture, etc
Your SEO team can’t impact performance
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
The third lie...
SEO is integrated digital marketing.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Imagine you’re responsible for SEO at Argos.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
*click*
*click*
*think*
*search*
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
“I’m not the expert”For all considered purchases, manage how the
user becomes an expert.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
You win by managing the ecosystem and the perceptions
which searchers developChange the way you think about SEO
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Let’s get practical.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Imagine you’re responsible for SEO at Samsung.
You’re tasked with selling more televisions
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
The UK TVs Market
● Over 8,600 distinct keywords, which collectively represent ~3.5 million searches per month, with a media value of ~£1 million per month.
● 95 topic groups representing brands, product attributes (e.g., screen size), types of phrasing (e.g. questions) and TV-related concepts.
● Inferred behaviours and psychological states spanning 9 moments.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
“List building” is the most significant Moment in the consumer buying cycle in terms of search volume, across multiple product subcategories.
LED Large TVs Small TVs Smart TVs UHD Total
Broad Search 243,670
Knowledge Acquiring 270 510 4,940 1,570 16,680
List Building 49,650 368,610 48,070 209,270 127,130 1,571,446
Evaluating 2,640 6,840 710 3,930 2,610 133,200
Shopping 650 3,050 10 7,080 3,760 207,560
Cost Reducing 2,770 10,100 70 9,100 3,570 83,680
Monthly Searches by Moment / Topic
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Samsung and its primary competitors attract only ~5% of visits within the market.
Total Monthly Searches:3,487,679
samsung.com, Est. Organic Visits: 71,617 (2%)
lg.com, Est. Organic Visits: 48,335 (1.4%)
sony.co.uk, Est. Organic Visits: 39,873 (1.1%)
philips.co.uk, Est. Organic Visits: 6,746 (0.2%)
The biggest brands’ domains account for very little market.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
{ PAUSE TO REFLECT }
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
39% of total List Building market size
~280,000 monthly visits JUST for List Building
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Top Pages Est. Visits Media Value
Large Screen TVs (32" and over) 102,290 (6.5%) £22,209
Televisions - Smart LED, 4K, OLED TVs & Accessories 54,583 (3.5%) £12,099
TVs, DVD & Blu Ray, Home Cinema & Gaming 28,609 (1.8%) £7,133
Small Screen TVs (up to 32") Deals 14,951 (1.0%) £3,414
Large Screen TVs (32" and over) Deals 10,599 (0.7%) £3,833
4K Ultra HD TVs – Experience 4x Definition 9,097 (0.6%) £1,574
Samsung Smart TV Range 6,623 (0.4%) £81
Samsung U8500 UHD Curved TV 6,495 (0.4%) £592
LG OLED TV – Explore LG LED & OLED TV Range 6,371 (0.4%) £858
Total (282 Pages) 277,942 £171,220
So, which pages are most visible, visited, influential in the purchase decision?
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Top Pages Est. Visits Media Value
4K TV and Ultra HD: Everything you need to know 18,435 (1.2%) £15,298
Best TV 2015: what TV should you buy? 11,676 (0.7%) £7,950
5 best UHD 4K TVs of 2015 11,227 (0.7%) £9,194
Cheap TVs: The best TV deals in June 2015 9,010 (0.6%) £9,059
10 best 60-65-inch TVs in the world today 7,837 (0.5%) £3,641
10 best 50 and 55-inch TVs in the world today 7,312 (0.5%) £4,175
12 best 40 and 42-inch TVs in the world today 5,893 (0.4%) £3,304
4 best Smart TVs in the world 2015 4,576 (0.3%) £3,538
13 best 32-inch TVs in the world today 3,108 (0.2%) £1,624
Total (93 Pages) 88,312 £64,559
And what about pages which are most visible for people who are researching technologies?
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
18k views per month for just one article - and he’s written over 4,000.
Where does all this content come from?
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
“What about me, my site, and directly transactional behaviour?”
The end of the funnel is still important.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
When you understand moments, you can turbo-charge your
content strategies.Here’s the process...
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Example (fake) data for ‘Ford’
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Pro tip: the ‘Query’ function in Google Sheets is awesome.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Waaaaaaaaaaaait.This may be a trap.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
What are we trying to achieve?“Right results, right content, right person, right moment”
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
http://bit.ly/linkdex-pageflow
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
This doesn’t just apply to ‘Enterprise SEO’
Visits don’t occur in isolation. People research.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Turn content marketing into a targeted, Tangible Thing.
This approach enables you to...
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
This approach enables you to...Stop talking and worrying about keyword
rankings, and start thinking about opportunity and market share
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
This approach enables you to...Capture consumers* higher up the funnel,
earlier in the decision-making process
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
This approach enables you to...Tactically use partners & affiliates to be where
you can’t, or use paid media to fill gaps throughout the buying cycle
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
This approach enables you to...Put forecasts and business cases against familiar metrics like ‘visibility’ and ‘share of
market’ in a meaningful way
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
This approach enables you to...Compare apples-with-apples, framed by user
behaviours and needs
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
People don’t do this because... their data is too shallow
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
People don’t do this because... it’s not SEO(?)
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
The Truth?
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
The only thing that matters is that somebody has searched;
what did they see?
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
“Good SEO* is when you manage the experience and the opinions that users form when they search.”
digital marketing / growth hacking / whatever
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
“You enable good SEO by changing the way we think and talk about it, and the way we work with others.”
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
This elevates SEO from a ‘channel’ to a sophisticated marketing &
business intelligence function......which gets budget, buy-in, and success.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Except… Does it?
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Today’s mission:1. Share my less simple vision of “the truth”2. Overcome the technical challenges3. Overcome the business challenges4. Overcome the human challenges
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
The ‘business bit’ is really easyIncrease revenue, decrease costs, increase brand
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Use your data to build an awesome strategy
Don’t underestimate the power of your vision
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Best Strategy != Right StrategyPragmatism > Perfectionism
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Put your awesome, achievable strategy in a measurement
framework(we’re getting off topic)
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
http://bit.ly/kpiframework
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
The ‘people bit’ is harderUnderstand motivations, anticipate objections
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
C-levelBe in control“I can set a binding
vision”
MarketingMinimise risk“I can change our
priorities”
FinanceMinimise cost
“I can agree to spend, to accumulate”
Third parties & other SEOs
Defend themselves“I can challenge the
status quo”
Tech & LegalMaintain status quo
“I can veto anything”
bit.ly/linkdex-videos
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
And what about you?The t-shaped marketer isn’t good enough.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
That’s probably all we have time for.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Some thoughts, to leave you with.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
This kind of thinking is quietly disrupting industries now
Telecoms | Travel | Finance | Insurance | Politics
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
This is a seismic, ideological shift for most organisations.
Take baby steps. Introduce concepts like Moments into things like campaign briefs. Grow it slowly.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
We only work (and are measured) the way we work, because that’s
the way we work.And it only changes if we change it.
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
This is a problem, and an opportunity...
Right?
@jonoaldersonTurbo-charging your WordPress website (bit.ly/turbo-charge-wordpress)
WIN
Searching higher up the funnel @jonoalderson
Jono AldersonGlobal Head of Digital @ Linkdex
@jonoalderson