3 behaviors that will make you an seo...
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@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO
3 BEHAVIORS THAT WILL MAKE YOU AN SEO SUPERSTAR
Nathan Safran, Director of Research, Conductor
@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO 2
#BestofSEO @Conductor @Nathan_Safran
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THE CONDUCTOR TEAM
WHO WE ARE • Founded in 2006
• Offices in New York and San Francisco
SEO LEADERSHIP • 150+ pieces of SEO thought leadership in 2012
• C3, the largest user conference in enterprise SEO
• Dedicated to raising the profile of search marketers
CONDUCTOR SEARCHLIGHT • Supporting SEO success for over 2500 leading brands
• $4.5B in SEO revenue under management
• 18TB of SEO data collected weekly
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ABOUT ME
• Former Forrester Research
Analyst
• Director of Research for
Conductor
• Search Engine Land/Search
Engine Watch Columnist
• Study the Search/Social Space
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IN THE SEO INDUSTRY, WE ARE SOMETIMES DISPROPORTIONATELY FOCUSED ON THE OUTCOME
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WE NEED TO SPEND MORE TIME UNDERSTANDING HOW THE SUPERSTARS OF OUR INDUSTRY DO WHAT THEY DO
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THE RESEARCH: REACHING FOR SUPERSTARS
The Starting Point:
• Surveyed 380 Enterprise Marketers
• Broad distribution of B2B, B2C, Agencies, Manufacturers, and Publishers
SEO Superstar:
• Self-identified as being particularly effective at search marketing
• 3x more likely to increase search traffic by up to 200% in last 12 months
• 3x more likely to increase conversions by up to 200% in last 12 months
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What makes a
Superstar
SEO?
What are
Superstar SEOs
doing that
makes their
organizations
successful at
SEO?
What steps can
you take to
becoming a
Superstar
SEO?
?
@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO
Budget
Best-in-Class Laggards
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82%
18%
57%
43%
10% or Less 11% or More
% of Organization’s Marketing Budget Allocated to SEO
Laggards Best-in-Class
A lot
…the gap is not as
large as we might
have thought
While a larger %
Superstars have a
greater allocation of
budget than Laggards…
And, plenty of Superstars did
not have the lion’s share of
their orgs. budget
HEADCOUNT & BUDGET MATTER…
ACTUAL PROJECTED
A little
Best-in-Class Laggards
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45%
55%
32%
68%
1 Person 2-4+ People
SEO Team Size
Laggards Best-in-Class
13% difference
between
Superstars and
Laggards
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Having headcount
is no guarantor of
success…
Not having
headcount is no
guarantor of failure
HEADCOUNT & BUDGET MATTER…
Headcount
Best-in-Class Laggards
A lot
PROJECTED
A little
Best-in-Class Laggards
ACTUAL
@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO
SUPERSTAR SEOS CITE 3 CORE AREAS AS CRITICAL TO THEIR NATURAL SEARCH SUCCESS
Content
Reporting
Evangelism
Executive Buy-In
Technology
Business Intelligence
Traffic
Conversions
Headcount
Budget
Technical SEO
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@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO
SUPERSTAR SEOS CITE 3 CORE AREAS AS CRITICAL TO THEIR NATURAL SEARCH SUCCESS
Content
Reporting
Evangelism
Executive Buy-In
Technology
Business Intelligence
Traffic
Conversions
Headcount
Budget
Technical SEO
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IN THE YEAR SINCE, YOU’VE LEARNED THAT EARLY SEO INVOLVEMENT IN CONTENT CREATION IS CRITICAL TO NATURAL SEARCH SUCCESS
of Superstars are
involved with Content
Creation from the
Beginning
66%
of Superstars are
involved with Content
Creation in the Middle
29%
of Superstars are
involved with Content
Creation at the End
9%
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SUPERSTAR SEOS USE SEARCH DATA TO ACTIVELY FEED NEW CONTENT IDEAS
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33%
67%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Poorly Well
Best-in-ClassSEARCH
DATA
CONTENT
IDEAS
72%
28%
Poorly Well
Laggards
How Well Do You Use Search
Data to Feed Content Ideas?
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SO FAR, SUPERSTAR SEOS HAVE TOLD US:
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• “EARLY SEO INVOLVEMENT IN CONTENT
CREATION IS CRITICAL TO NATURAL SEARCH
SUCCESS”
• “LEVERAGE SEARCH DATA TO DRIVE
CONTENT IDEAS”
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“THINGS MAY COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT, BUT ONLY THE THINGS LEFT BY THOSE WHO HUSTLE.”
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-Abraham Lincoln
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IT’S NOT ‘WAIT FOR SOMEONE TO INVOLVE YOU EARLY’
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IT’S ‘GET YOURSELF INVOLVED EARLY’
WHEN SUPERSTAR SEOS TALK ABOUT ‘GETTING INVOLVED EARLY’….
@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO
IF YOU COME BEARING GIFTS, IT WILL BE EASIER TO GET IN THE DOOR
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The latest release of Google
Analytics makes it easy to get
insight about your site audience
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BRING AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHIC INSIGHT TO YOUR CONTENT TEAM
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61%
“I know a key business goal of ours
is to expand beyond the 18-34 year
old demo, but right now 61% of our
site visitors are that demo.
We should figure out what issues
matter to our other key demos and
create content targeted at them”
@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO
GEOGRAPHIC INSIGHT CAN GUIDE CONTENT AND BUSINESS STRATEGY
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69%
19%
11%
Website Geographic Visitor Distribution
North America Europe Asia/Pac
“I know a key
business goal is
expansion into
Asia/PAC, but right
now, barely 1 in 10
site visitors is from
that region…”
Turn this… …into this …to get to this.
Barely 1 in 10 website
visitors is from Asia/PAC
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DIGGING DEEPER…
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“…And, they don’t find our
content particularly
compelling. Their bounce
rates are the highest of any
region and site duration is
the lowest…”
“…If we are serious about
expanding into Asia/PAC,
let’s take a second look at
our content and see if there
are gaps for the local
market, or if regional sites
are needed…”
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CONDUCTOR SEARCHLIGHT’S VISIBILITY EXPLORER
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In striking
distance…
…low
competition AND
“We are on page one/top
of page 2 for these low
competition keywords.
Let’s make some content
and get to the top of page
one!”
@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO 31
LET’S TALK ABOUT HOW SEARCH REPORTING HAS EVOLVED
Basic Rank Tracking (Google & Excel)
Basic Trend Analysis (Rank Tracking Software)
Basic Segmentation,
Some Automation (SMB Software)
Full Segmentation,
Full Automation (Enterprise SEO Platform)
All of the Above (Workflow, Task
Management, Stakeholder
Specific Reporting)
@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO
SEO SUPERSTARS HAVE EVOLVED INTO MAN, WHILE LAGGARDS REMAIN CAVEMEN
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Basic Rank Tracking (Google & Excel)
Basic Trend Analysis (Rank Tracking Software)
Basic Segmentation,
Some Automation (SMB Software)
Full Segmentation,
Full Automation (Enterprise SEO Platform)
All of the Above (Workflow, Task
Management, Stakeholder
Specific Reporting)
LAGGARDS 3X MORE LIKELY TO BE DOING ONLY BASIC REPORTING
Superstars
Laggards
@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO
THERE ARE FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES IN HOW SUPERSTAR SEOS REPORT AND HOW LAGGARDS DO
Superstars:
• “Reporting is the lifeblood of everything we do online”
• There is insight hidden in the data if I look at it from different angles
• If I mashup data (visibility, traffic, conversions etc.)together I will gain significant insight
• Reporting early and often is in my and my companies best interest
• Not everyone in the company has the same reporting needs
• Reporting Automation can free me to focus on other activities
Laggards:
• Basic rank tracking oughta do it
• Frequency of reporting is not that critical
• One-size fits all reporting works fine
• Manual reporting gets the job done
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@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO
LET ME SHOW YOU SOME EXAMPLES OF SUPERSTAR REPORTING….
Superstars:
• “Reporting is the lifeblood of everything we do online”
• There is insight hidden in the data if I look at it from different angles
• If I mashup data (visibility, traffic, conversions etc.)together I will gain significant insight
• Reporting early and often is in my and my companies best interest
• Not everyone in the company has the same reporting needs
• Reporting Automation can free me to focus on other activities
Laggards:
• Basic rank tracking oughta do it
• Frequency of reporting is not that critical
• One-size fits all reporting works fine
• Manual reporting gets the job done
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@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO
SEGMENT KEYWORDS BY BUSINESS LINE AND GROUP BY SEARCH VISIBILITY ZONES TO EXTRICATE HIDDEN, ACTIONABLE INSIGHT
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“There is insight hidden in the data if I look at it from different angles”
STRATEGY: On/off page
tactics to drive
to the top of
page one
STRATEGY: Wipe the
slate clean
and develop
all new
content
@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO
A NON-INTEGRATED KPI VIEW CAN BE ‘SPRAY AND PRAY’
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“If I mashup data together I will gain significant insight”
Hope that
changes
here…
…can somehow
be correlated
here
@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO
AN INTEGRATED KPI VIEW GIVES YOU THE FULL PICTURE AND LEADS TO ACTIONABLE INSIGHT
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If I mashup data together I will gain significant insight
Looking at KPIs
together in one
place tells me:
The Search
Visibility increase
(purple line) was
greater at A than
at B…
…But traffic and
revenue growth was
higher at B than at A
A
B
Further investigation
shows that’s because of
actions that were taken at
‘B’ that resulted in higher
CTR/conversion
That insight only became possible because of the ‘integrated metrics view’
@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO 40
1. Decide what you want
2. Decide whom you want to influence
directly and indirectly.
3. Start in a friendly manner.
…………..
10. Use repetition and redundancy.
‘INFLUENCING PEOPLE’ STUDY
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REPEATED AND PERSUASIVE EXPOSURE TO A CONCEPT IS FUNDAMENTAL TO A ‘BUY-IN’ PROCESS
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SUPERSTARS HAVE AN EVANGELISM MIND SET
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Superstars are 2X more likely to
point to evangelism as critical to
their natural search success
@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO
SUPERSTARS ARE 2X MORE LIKELY TO HAVE EXECUTIVE BUY-IN
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77%
23%
45%
55%
How Bought-In is Your Executive Suite to Search Marketing?
Laggards Best-in-Class
Mostly or Completely
Bought-in
Not Bought-in or
Partially Bought-in
@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO
IT’S NEVER BEEN EASIER TO MAKE THE CASE FOR SEO
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And here are some tools to get you started…
@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO
DATA POINT 1: ORGANIC SEARCH CONTINUES TO BE THE #1 SOURCE OF WEBSITE TRAFFIC
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Source: Shareaholic All Traffic Sources Report
Direct 19%
7%
.8%
.7%
(organic) 50% +
2%
1%
@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO 46
DATA POINT 2: SEO OUT PERFORMS PAID SEARCH BY 2X AND SOCIAL MEDIA BY 4X
Source: Hubspot, State of Inbound Marketing
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TRY OUR STAT PACK & OPPORTUNITY CALCULATOR TO HELP YOU EVANGELIZE SEO
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cdtr.co/awesomestats
@Conductor @Nathan_Safran #BestofSEO
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Superstar SEOs cite 3 Areas as particularly critical to their natural
search Success: Content, Reporting and Evangelism
• Getting Yourself Involved early by bringing directional insight to
the content team will open the door for you to be involved
throughout the content creation/SEO process
• Choose 2-3 areas in your reporting to ‘level-up’ for deeper insight
• Take a close look at whether you are devoting sufficient mind share
to evangelism
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Q&A
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THANK YOU!
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