Build Great Backlinks has posted a new item, 'Link Building Survey 2013 - The
Results [INFOGRAPHIC]'
Posted by jamesagate
This post was originally in YouMoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it
provides great value and interest to our community. The author's views are
entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of Moz, Inc.
Many of us faced a challenging 2012 and 2013 has been no different. Rankings
were won and lost, a lot of bad links were removed and quite frankly a lot of
businesses and departments had to be re-designed. We all know itâs a
pretty âinterestingâ time to be in the link-building and SEO space.
Since we are now over half way through 2013 we decided it was time to gain a
better understanding of how this year is going for those in the industry. The
purpose of the survey was to really capture the current market sentiment and
better understand how industry peers are faring.
We produced an infographic from the results (embedded in its full form at the
end of this post) but I also wanted to write up an analysis here just for Moz
readers simply because I feel there are quite a few interesting bits of data
that are well worth discussing.
Before we get into it, a quick disclaimer:
This post is for information purposes only. These results are not intended to
steer you towards specific linking tactics. Surveys have certain inherent flaws
and in a market like ours where perception and reality can sometimes become
disconnected the data certainly isnât going to be perfect.
You should make business decisions based on your own experiences and data or
hire a professional who is able to assist in doing so.
Adding a disclaimer might seem a little officious, but I do see it as my
responsibility to add some fair warnings in here. People coming back to me in 6
month's time saying âYour survey said paid links were widely usedâ
why donât I rank anymore?!ââ canât say they were not
warned.
This is not a black hat vs. grey hat vs. white hat thing by the way;
weâre all pretty much in the same boat floating on an ocean owned by
someone else [Google]. My point is there are too many individuals in my opinion
being given access to large audiences online who go on to author arguably
flippant remarks and tenuous âfactsâ that get passed off as gospel.
This kind of behavior likely sets many beginners or even intermediate SEOs down
the wrong path or one they really donât understand.
Now thatâs out of the way, letâs get startedâ
Who took the survey?
I found this information interesting, not just because it helps us better
understand some of the answers given later on in the survey, but because we get
the chance to see how people really âlabelâ themselves in the
industry.
In our industry I guess we do spend quite a bit of time labeling ourselves or
attempting to define our role within a business, but the real aim here was to
see how many people called themselves a link builder with a view to observing
any declines in future surveys of this kind.
As was noted in the infographic, it is great we got such a good spread of
individuals answering questions as it helps to give perspective from across the
organisation.
How much does your business or agency spend on link building on a monthly basis?
I was personally really looking forward to seeing the results of this
particular question because I think it acts as a better barometer than most
things, as to the effectiveness of link building.
By and large, people wonât continue to pour money into something that
isnât working. Businesses often vote with their wallet so to speak.
Granted, money related questions in surveys arenât without bias because
certain individuals will almost certainly inflate their figures almost
instinctively.
You will note that nearly 39% of those who responded work within an
organisation that spends between $5-50k+ a month on linking initiatives.
Thatâs a decent sized budget and while obviously there will be respondents
who work at an agency where this is distributed across a number of client
projects, it does mean there are a number of businesses out there spending big
bucks in an attempt to proactively and passively acquire links. Which as I said,
means not only does that demonstrate the continued effectiveness of links as
part of SEO but that the budget is justified, i.e. they can see an ROI.
The expression goes that a fool and his money are easily parted and frankly
any business that can afford say $30k to invest into link building programmes is
unlikely to be a fool. They are going to be seeing a return. Say what you want
about other things, but links are still the dominant signal to Google and that
doesnât really look set to change.
What are some of the biggest challenges that you face in link building?
Based on the results of this question we found the five biggest challenges
that anyone who does link building faces.
Here Iâd like to offer up some actionable advice for each specific
challenge, looking at some of the ways we internally overcome these challenges
and linking out to some great resources that are out there.
Finding link prospects
I dive a bit deeper into this particular challenge in this post here.
Further reading:
Link building using Google Search
Find blogs that link to your competitors
Link opportunities for B2B companies
Creating efficient processes
As I mentioned earlier in this post; many businesses and departments have been
forced into almost entirely re-inventing themselves and their internal
processes, so understandably this is one of the key challenges faced currently.
This is really a blog post all in itself, but here are a few resources that
you may find useful...
Using Google Docs to manage your digital projects
How to systemise your link building process without compromising on quality
The secrets of scalable content production
Using Trello to manage SEO projects
Scaling outreach without looking like an idiot
Getting link prospects to respond
Never an easy thing. As the link building market swells and as
outreach-dependent linking continues to surge in popularity there are naturally
going to be more people out there playing the field, which can mean that certain
sites are:
Propositioning - think about why these people want to link to you. Iâm
not going to go all âcreate great contentâ on your ass, but you are
essentially making a sale here so if youâre not floating their boat you
need to rethink your approach.
Diving deeper - this may sound like a prospecting tip, but if you can seek
out sites which arenât getting hit with hundreds if not thousands of
emails daily, you stand a much better shot of getting a response.
Getting better at outreach - whether you improve your email writing or
leverage a bit of psychology by learning to build links and get traffic like
Derek Halpern, there is no doubt that outreach standards do matter a lot.
Determining anchor text strategy
I am a firm believer that there is no set one-size-fits-all approach to anchor
text ratios. What works for some sites and in some verticals would get your
burned before the week is out in other markets.
So my takeaway for this would be to talk in terms that are relative to your
market and the type of project you are working on.
If you are looking for a walkthrough then have a read of this.
Knowing which links are helpful and/or harmful
There are some great services/tools out there that can help you to audit your
backlinks and proactively manage the risk of future linking campaigns. This
information is just a few mouse clicks away and whilst you probably
shouldnât rely solely on the judgment of a tool, it can cut down
tremendously on the legwork and even guesswork that goes into determining which
links are helpful and which are harmful in your profile.
A tool like LinkRisk allows you to spot the harmful links but also help you
identify the really strong ones as a result of your link prospecting efforts.
What are the most common forms of link building?
I have to say that this one didnât really deliver too many surprises.
2012/2013 has seen a meteoric increase in guest blogging activities which tells
you a few things really; they are effective when done well and you almost
certainly need to be diversifying your stable of tactics, because if weâve
all noticed an increase in guest posts I think it will be safe to say Google has
as well.
5% of respondents admitted to participating in paid linking. I was quite
surprised that even this many people admitted to it and I congratulate their
honesty, because I guarantee that the number is higher than this :-) .
What are the 5 most effective link building tactics?
We asked respondents to rate a wide range of linking tactics on a scale of
1-5. 1 being potentially damaging all the way through to 5 being extremely
effective. We then organised these into a top 5 of tactics based on the average
rating that these received:
Author bio vs. in-content?
A common question we come up against relates to the effectiveness of guest
posts where the link is in the author bio vs. placed within the body of the
content.
We have seen no evidence to suggest one is more effective than the other and
we recommend a combination of the two simply because placing a strict
restriction, like in-content, only can limit some strong publishers for example.
Here is how our respondents feel about this subject:
Infographic directory vs. targeted blog?
Similarly we wanted to get a feel for the general market consensus as to the
effectiveness of gaining a placement of an infographic on a blog versus getting
loads of placements on infographic galleries/directories.
We have found placements of infographics on targeted, top-tier publishers to
be a highly effective method for enhancing search engine visibility I would also
argue that some of the better quality infographic galleries are a worthwhile
link to secure.
I am talking about the ones that maintain some kind of editorial review
process. We have seen on numerous occasions, an infographic being picked up by
other sites as a result of the seed placement on one of the higher end
infographic galleries.
Hereâs what our respondents thought...
What are the 5 least effective link building tactics?
As you might expect we then rounded up the data from the previous question to
give us the ârelegation zoneâ in the league table of linking or the
tactics that were considered least effective by our respondents based on their
average rating.
I wonât comment on the effectiveness of any individual tactics
personally here, but I will say that in certain markets and with certain types
of sites these tactics are still working. While we should strive to do better
forms of link building undoubtedly (if we want to mature as an industry and get
a seat at the big table), we do have to be mindful of what is actively working
and look at how we can learn from that.
Which tactics do link builders consider dangerous?
I have to say there are probably other linking tactics that I would consider
dangerous and perhaps even more dangerous... but here is how our respondents
answered this question:
My immediate reaction to these results was that there was likely a little bit
of confirmation bias going on. You are likely to have seen the fairly recent
events involving a UK florist and their insatiable appetite for advertorials
(whether it was advertorials that caused the spanking or not, this was inferred
as the cause everywhere) as well as Googleâs relatively public smashing of
some blog networks. It isnât beyond the realms of possibility to argue
that some respondents will have taken on board these big industry events and
even if just subconsciously they will be finding evidence in their day to day
work that these tactics are indeed dangerous.
In reality, it really does come down to how you execute. Any kind of linking
tactic comes with risk when not done well.
Fear, uncertainty and doubt are growing problems for link builders
11% said that they werenât sure which links were going to harm or help
them which would corroborate the notion that this is one of the biggest
challenges faced by link builders presently but the data from the survey would
suggest that for some, the last 12 months has driven them to analysis-paralysis.
So much uncertainty, fear and doubt that close to 5% arenât planning on
doing any link building at all.
As Iâve said before, weâre all trying to make our way in
Googleâs ocean and if youâre not rowing, but your competitors are...
standing still starts to look just as risky as being proactive.
What about the next 12 months?
It is clear that the outreach-dependent forms of link building are going to be
taking priority for the next 12 months and beyond with respondents planning to
focus investment in tactics including guest blogging, digital PR, infographics
and building relationships with webmasters.
I find that last one particularly interesting because I think many of us are
waking up to the idea that links (certainly some of your links anyway) can drive
a good amount of traffic on an ongoing basis. If there is a website that already
has an audience (and the trust of that audience) why wouldnât you explore
ways of working with them and developing that relationship? Thatâs a
ready-made set of prospective customers...
And here it is in full format:
I welcome your thoughts and feedback on the data - I will try to respond to
all comments promptly.
Please also feel free to suggest questions for inclusion in next yearâs
survey.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten
hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think
of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but
want to read!
You may view the latest post at
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/b0teXYPqJEs/link-building-survey-2013-the-results-infographic
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Build Great Backlinks
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
[Build Great Backlinks] TITLE
Build Great Backlinks has posted a new item, 'How Failure Can Make You a Better
SEO'
Posted by HappyBrooke
This post was originally in YouMoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it
provides great value and interest to our community. The author's views are
entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of Moz, Inc.
Itâs been three months since the good Mozzers allowed my SEO from a
Newbâs Perspective to see the light of day, and Iâm back for another
round. Except now HappyBrooke has had a dose of reality.
Thatâs right â Iâve hit some potholes. And I found out that
Brooke's list of essential qualities SEO pros need (which I listed in the last
post), though it didn't claim to be comprehensive, lacked one: the ability to be
resilient. Props to Heather Baker for noting this in the comments. In this post,
Iâll share my fledgling thoughts on how to cultivate resilience in the
face of failure. As Heather pointed out, if you want to do SEO well, you've
gotta be resilient.
My friends who are, like me, "newbs" to SEO will probably find my epiphanies
more helpful than those of you who are old hat. But no doubt veterans have
developed strategies on how to stay resilient in your daily battles to rank. If
youâre willing to share your strategies with me in the comments below, I'd
be tickled.
Why SEO is a bumpy ride
As you and I both know, SEO done right can pay off in tremendous ways for our
clients: through website traffic, conversions, brand awareness, loyalty, and
retention (just to name a few perks that come from online marketing success). If
you can rank, you can reap the benefits.
But there are no guarantees.
In my first four months on the job as an SEO, Iâve not experienced a
major Earth-shifting Google algorithm update (yet), but I have experienced the
daily joys and challenges of our field. You all know how it goes.
Since starting my job at Happy Dog, this has all happened to me:
I gained clients, and I lost a client.
I created content people liked, and I created content nobody gave a rip about.
I watched rankings skyrocket, and I watched rankings drop it like it's hot.
Boy-oh-boy am I realizing that to do SEO, you need a healthy dose of
Doryâs âjust keep swimmingâ resilience at times.
Credit: Tumblr
Watching the analytics and the SERPs, just waiting for traffic and rankings,
feels awfully like trying to get a fire going at a summer night's bonfire
(without the fun of hot dogs and s'mores). You stare into the flames and wait
for a spark. Add another log. The fire dies down. You shiver. You frantically
run to find twigs. Finally: a tiny blaze! Hallelujah! Then suddenly, a major
gust of wind blows it out. Nooooooo!
I donât know about you, but my emotions follow a pretty specific pattern
when Iâm idling in no-rank-land. First, Iâm frustrated. My client
has a great business. He/she deserves better rankings. But then I feel a sense
of entitlement: I'm putting in the hours, so it's maddening that my work isn't
paying off. I feel desperate. My client is paying me to achieve results. Am I a
failure? Stricken with grief, I eat candy bars and slump in my desk chair
drinking straight from the coffee pot.
What comes next? Well, Iâm hired to help our clients optimize their web
presence. Iâm expected to drive traffic â my clients will not
twiddle their thumbs and wait patiently. The pressureâs on. What am I
going to do?
The eventual outcome of this whole emotional journey is that I get a grip
(finally) and muster up whatever resilience I have. Then here's what I'm
learning to do: to take a marker to the good olâ proverbial drawing board
to see what can be done. This moment, my friends, is the essence of what we do
in SEO.
Itâs not easy being creative
The reason SEO is so challenging/exhilarating/frustrating/tiring/overwhelming
is that, as many experts have already pointed out, thereâs no secret
formula to earn links, start ranking, and succeed at search engine marketing.
There are literally as many ways as your creative mind can dream up, which means
you could see astounding results if you climb out on a limb or you could see no
results at all and completely, totally flop.
Thereâs a risk to every creative endeavor we undertake. When we do it on
behalf of someone else, the risk increases. In the face of all this pressure, we
have to learn how to embody resilience â every day, every hour, every
minute, no matter what the analytics are saying.
Iâm learning that just because I try a tactic and it doesnât work,
that doesnât mean I have failed. Iâm going to be honest for a minute
and shed some light on three of my âfailuresâ in the hopes that you
will a) realize youâre not alone, and b) get some ideas of how to move
forward.
Brookeâs SEO Blunders
I'm still learning Photoshop. Please don't judge.
1. Nobody wanted my content
Problem: I spent hours pouring research and creativity into blog posts for a
client and then pitching them to appropriate platforms. For weeks, nobody bit.
What I did next: Tweaked the ideas, made tiny edits, and re-pitched the
content. People were unimpressed, so I created more content with gusto. Then I
set aside the content nobody wanted for the time being and revisited it when
Iâd had a little space to see if I had any new ideas to improve it. Turns
out, I did.
Reality check: Failing to attract an audienceâs attention is an age-old
dilemma for artists (which we are). Hey, if thereâs anything I learned
from my college creative writing classes, itâs that if you expect a
standing ovation for everything you write, get ready to be disappointed, hon.
Plenty of writers spent years writing and pitching tomes that nobody wanted to
publish (poor Jack Kerouac had On the Road done in three weeks, or so he
claimed, but it took the guy years to find a publisher). Unless youâre
already a smashing success, youâre not entitled to anybodyâs
attention.
How to stay resilient: Learn from the rejection and tweak your overall
strategy. Was the content too shallow or too technical? Did you choose an angle
or approach that didnât jam with your audience? Was the platform you chose
to publish on the wrong fit for the content? Try something new next time.
Donât fret. You canât hit it out of the ballpark every time.
2. I lost a client
Problem: All throughout the first few months of their campaign, my client
seemed wishy-washy, always about to give up. I played cheerleader on every phone
call and email, promising that the rankings for their brand-new, beautiful site
were going to improve. But the client, waiting for the leads to roll in, was
getting antsy. Just as things were getting exciting on the SEO-side, they
bailed.
What I did next: My boss and I did a âWhat went wrong?â analysis,
and we affirmed that the campaign had been solid. The rankings had been slow to
come by, but forecasting a month or two down the road, we saw that things were
looking up. However, we realized how important it is to check in with our
clients and make sure they are happy â this client had had questions but
never raised them with us. This experience made us resolve to check in more
often and create that opportunity to talk about our clientsâ concerns.
Reality check: Even if you perform high-quality work, clients often expect to
get leads and see results in a shorter time period than it may take to achieve
them. It is important to clearly articulate to your clients that in SEO,
âslow and steady wins the race.â In our case, we should have
communicated more with our client and made sure they did not have unrealistic
expectations of us.
How to stay resilient: If you do a good job but still lose the client,
donât hang your head in shame. The thing is, there will always (or at
least often) be a better strategy you could have used. Losing a client can be an
opportunity to reflect on how well your strategy worked. With SEO, even the best
strategies take time, and you canât force your clients to be patient. All
you can do is focus on providing the best quality SEO services that you can.
3. I couldnât figure out how to market a client in a boring,
âblahâ industry
Problem: The day they called to request SEO services, I couldnât even
wrap my head around their product. Wait, so what do you guys do again?
What I did next: I changed their entire keyword strategy three times, didn't
sleep, and tossed idea after idea out the window. Honestly, this was a tough
one. One thing that helped (at my clientâs suggestion) was having learning
sessions with them on the benefit their product provides. When I started to
grasp that, it was easier to drum up ideas (I'm still drumming).
Reality check: Not every client will be easy to market. Some industries are
just doozies.
How to stay resilient: Nick Stagg from Lemonpromotions brought up a great
question in the comments on my first post: âHow do you make a plumber
sound sexy?â How, indeed? There are probably hundreds of ways to go about
it. Overall, I think promoting the plumber will involve four steps:
Understanding the unique value the plumber provides,
Knowing who needs his/her services,
Succinctly articulating his/her value, and
Creatively sharing it.
As marketers, these are challenges that can inspire and push us. Ultimately,
every industry has a need and a purpose, and you can (and will!) find strategies
that will work.
Takeaways
If you're stumped or failing:
Talk to your clients. Keep the relationship strong. Share your resilience with
them. In no-rank land, they'll need it, too. Let their enthusiasm for and
expertise in their field revitalize you.
Try new things. Be adventurous. Experiment with new content or approaches.
Sometimes failure propels us out of the box we were stuck in when nothing else
can.
Give yourself a break. Don't make yourself miserable by wallowing in continual
blame and guilt. Everybody fails! But dwelling on it for too long will prevent
you from moving forward.
Whatever you take away from this reflection (I hope itâs not just
dissatisfaction at my attempts to provide solutions to common SEO ailments
â comment below with your better ideas! I long to hear them!), remember
that weâre all still learning how to do this business in an ethical,
effective, exciting way. If you fail once, or fail again and again, cultivate
resilience. Return to that drawing board. Remember that at the end of the day,
your integrity and the connections you make with your clients are the most
important things - not your ability to make them rank.
My impression of the SEO community after just a few months of reading blogs
and forums is that you people are hungry for the tools and tips to do your jobs
better. You donât want to just do an okay job. You want to succeed, and
you want to do it in big, beautiful, bold ways. When you experience
discouragement, consider J.K. Rowlingâs words in her commencement speech
at Harvard back in 2008 (they apply to SEO and to life in general):
âIt is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live
so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all â in which
case, you fail by default.â
Fail, but do it resiliently. And get back up. Youâll do better next
time.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten
hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think
of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but
want to read!
You may view the latest post at
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/KuN1Yk_GLnE/how-failure-can-make-you-a-better-seo
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Build Great Backlinks
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com
SEO'
Posted by HappyBrooke
This post was originally in YouMoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it
provides great value and interest to our community. The author's views are
entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of Moz, Inc.
Itâs been three months since the good Mozzers allowed my SEO from a
Newbâs Perspective to see the light of day, and Iâm back for another
round. Except now HappyBrooke has had a dose of reality.
Thatâs right â Iâve hit some potholes. And I found out that
Brooke's list of essential qualities SEO pros need (which I listed in the last
post), though it didn't claim to be comprehensive, lacked one: the ability to be
resilient. Props to Heather Baker for noting this in the comments. In this post,
Iâll share my fledgling thoughts on how to cultivate resilience in the
face of failure. As Heather pointed out, if you want to do SEO well, you've
gotta be resilient.
My friends who are, like me, "newbs" to SEO will probably find my epiphanies
more helpful than those of you who are old hat. But no doubt veterans have
developed strategies on how to stay resilient in your daily battles to rank. If
youâre willing to share your strategies with me in the comments below, I'd
be tickled.
Why SEO is a bumpy ride
As you and I both know, SEO done right can pay off in tremendous ways for our
clients: through website traffic, conversions, brand awareness, loyalty, and
retention (just to name a few perks that come from online marketing success). If
you can rank, you can reap the benefits.
But there are no guarantees.
In my first four months on the job as an SEO, Iâve not experienced a
major Earth-shifting Google algorithm update (yet), but I have experienced the
daily joys and challenges of our field. You all know how it goes.
Since starting my job at Happy Dog, this has all happened to me:
I gained clients, and I lost a client.
I created content people liked, and I created content nobody gave a rip about.
I watched rankings skyrocket, and I watched rankings drop it like it's hot.
Boy-oh-boy am I realizing that to do SEO, you need a healthy dose of
Doryâs âjust keep swimmingâ resilience at times.
Credit: Tumblr
Watching the analytics and the SERPs, just waiting for traffic and rankings,
feels awfully like trying to get a fire going at a summer night's bonfire
(without the fun of hot dogs and s'mores). You stare into the flames and wait
for a spark. Add another log. The fire dies down. You shiver. You frantically
run to find twigs. Finally: a tiny blaze! Hallelujah! Then suddenly, a major
gust of wind blows it out. Nooooooo!
I donât know about you, but my emotions follow a pretty specific pattern
when Iâm idling in no-rank-land. First, Iâm frustrated. My client
has a great business. He/she deserves better rankings. But then I feel a sense
of entitlement: I'm putting in the hours, so it's maddening that my work isn't
paying off. I feel desperate. My client is paying me to achieve results. Am I a
failure? Stricken with grief, I eat candy bars and slump in my desk chair
drinking straight from the coffee pot.
What comes next? Well, Iâm hired to help our clients optimize their web
presence. Iâm expected to drive traffic â my clients will not
twiddle their thumbs and wait patiently. The pressureâs on. What am I
going to do?
The eventual outcome of this whole emotional journey is that I get a grip
(finally) and muster up whatever resilience I have. Then here's what I'm
learning to do: to take a marker to the good olâ proverbial drawing board
to see what can be done. This moment, my friends, is the essence of what we do
in SEO.
Itâs not easy being creative
The reason SEO is so challenging/exhilarating/frustrating/tiring/overwhelming
is that, as many experts have already pointed out, thereâs no secret
formula to earn links, start ranking, and succeed at search engine marketing.
There are literally as many ways as your creative mind can dream up, which means
you could see astounding results if you climb out on a limb or you could see no
results at all and completely, totally flop.
Thereâs a risk to every creative endeavor we undertake. When we do it on
behalf of someone else, the risk increases. In the face of all this pressure, we
have to learn how to embody resilience â every day, every hour, every
minute, no matter what the analytics are saying.
Iâm learning that just because I try a tactic and it doesnât work,
that doesnât mean I have failed. Iâm going to be honest for a minute
and shed some light on three of my âfailuresâ in the hopes that you
will a) realize youâre not alone, and b) get some ideas of how to move
forward.
Brookeâs SEO Blunders
I'm still learning Photoshop. Please don't judge.
1. Nobody wanted my content
Problem: I spent hours pouring research and creativity into blog posts for a
client and then pitching them to appropriate platforms. For weeks, nobody bit.
What I did next: Tweaked the ideas, made tiny edits, and re-pitched the
content. People were unimpressed, so I created more content with gusto. Then I
set aside the content nobody wanted for the time being and revisited it when
Iâd had a little space to see if I had any new ideas to improve it. Turns
out, I did.
Reality check: Failing to attract an audienceâs attention is an age-old
dilemma for artists (which we are). Hey, if thereâs anything I learned
from my college creative writing classes, itâs that if you expect a
standing ovation for everything you write, get ready to be disappointed, hon.
Plenty of writers spent years writing and pitching tomes that nobody wanted to
publish (poor Jack Kerouac had On the Road done in three weeks, or so he
claimed, but it took the guy years to find a publisher). Unless youâre
already a smashing success, youâre not entitled to anybodyâs
attention.
How to stay resilient: Learn from the rejection and tweak your overall
strategy. Was the content too shallow or too technical? Did you choose an angle
or approach that didnât jam with your audience? Was the platform you chose
to publish on the wrong fit for the content? Try something new next time.
Donât fret. You canât hit it out of the ballpark every time.
2. I lost a client
Problem: All throughout the first few months of their campaign, my client
seemed wishy-washy, always about to give up. I played cheerleader on every phone
call and email, promising that the rankings for their brand-new, beautiful site
were going to improve. But the client, waiting for the leads to roll in, was
getting antsy. Just as things were getting exciting on the SEO-side, they
bailed.
What I did next: My boss and I did a âWhat went wrong?â analysis,
and we affirmed that the campaign had been solid. The rankings had been slow to
come by, but forecasting a month or two down the road, we saw that things were
looking up. However, we realized how important it is to check in with our
clients and make sure they are happy â this client had had questions but
never raised them with us. This experience made us resolve to check in more
often and create that opportunity to talk about our clientsâ concerns.
Reality check: Even if you perform high-quality work, clients often expect to
get leads and see results in a shorter time period than it may take to achieve
them. It is important to clearly articulate to your clients that in SEO,
âslow and steady wins the race.â In our case, we should have
communicated more with our client and made sure they did not have unrealistic
expectations of us.
How to stay resilient: If you do a good job but still lose the client,
donât hang your head in shame. The thing is, there will always (or at
least often) be a better strategy you could have used. Losing a client can be an
opportunity to reflect on how well your strategy worked. With SEO, even the best
strategies take time, and you canât force your clients to be patient. All
you can do is focus on providing the best quality SEO services that you can.
3. I couldnât figure out how to market a client in a boring,
âblahâ industry
Problem: The day they called to request SEO services, I couldnât even
wrap my head around their product. Wait, so what do you guys do again?
What I did next: I changed their entire keyword strategy three times, didn't
sleep, and tossed idea after idea out the window. Honestly, this was a tough
one. One thing that helped (at my clientâs suggestion) was having learning
sessions with them on the benefit their product provides. When I started to
grasp that, it was easier to drum up ideas (I'm still drumming).
Reality check: Not every client will be easy to market. Some industries are
just doozies.
How to stay resilient: Nick Stagg from Lemonpromotions brought up a great
question in the comments on my first post: âHow do you make a plumber
sound sexy?â How, indeed? There are probably hundreds of ways to go about
it. Overall, I think promoting the plumber will involve four steps:
Understanding the unique value the plumber provides,
Knowing who needs his/her services,
Succinctly articulating his/her value, and
Creatively sharing it.
As marketers, these are challenges that can inspire and push us. Ultimately,
every industry has a need and a purpose, and you can (and will!) find strategies
that will work.
Takeaways
If you're stumped or failing:
Talk to your clients. Keep the relationship strong. Share your resilience with
them. In no-rank land, they'll need it, too. Let their enthusiasm for and
expertise in their field revitalize you.
Try new things. Be adventurous. Experiment with new content or approaches.
Sometimes failure propels us out of the box we were stuck in when nothing else
can.
Give yourself a break. Don't make yourself miserable by wallowing in continual
blame and guilt. Everybody fails! But dwelling on it for too long will prevent
you from moving forward.
Whatever you take away from this reflection (I hope itâs not just
dissatisfaction at my attempts to provide solutions to common SEO ailments
â comment below with your better ideas! I long to hear them!), remember
that weâre all still learning how to do this business in an ethical,
effective, exciting way. If you fail once, or fail again and again, cultivate
resilience. Return to that drawing board. Remember that at the end of the day,
your integrity and the connections you make with your clients are the most
important things - not your ability to make them rank.
My impression of the SEO community after just a few months of reading blogs
and forums is that you people are hungry for the tools and tips to do your jobs
better. You donât want to just do an okay job. You want to succeed, and
you want to do it in big, beautiful, bold ways. When you experience
discouragement, consider J.K. Rowlingâs words in her commencement speech
at Harvard back in 2008 (they apply to SEO and to life in general):
âIt is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live
so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all â in which
case, you fail by default.â
Fail, but do it resiliently. And get back up. Youâll do better next
time.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten
hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think
of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but
want to read!
You may view the latest post at
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/KuN1Yk_GLnE/how-failure-can-make-you-a-better-seo
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Build Great Backlinks
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
[Build Great Backlinks] TITLE
Build Great Backlinks has posted a new item, '2013 Search Engine Ranking
Factors'
Posted by Matt Peters
Yesterday at MozCon, I presented the results from Moz's Ranking Factors 2013
study. In this post I will highlight the key takeaways, and we will follow it up
with a full report and data set sometime later t...
You may view the latest post at
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/_M9Q243lVtA/ranking-factors-2013
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Build Great Backlinks
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com
Factors'
Posted by Matt Peters
Yesterday at MozCon, I presented the results from Moz's Ranking Factors 2013
study. In this post I will highlight the key takeaways, and we will follow it up
with a full report and data set sometime later t...
You may view the latest post at
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/_M9Q243lVtA/ranking-factors-2013
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Build Great Backlinks
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com
Monday, 8 July 2013
[Build Great Backlinks] TITLE
Build Great Backlinks has posted a new item, '#MozCon Speaker Interview: Carrie
Gouldin'
Posted by Lindsay
As Web Community Manager @ThinkGeek, Carrie Gouldin built the companyâs
social media presence from the ground up and now engages hundreds of thousands
of followers through multiple social platforms.
Weâre excited that she is bringing her valuable insights about social
media to MozCon! In her talk, âUsing Metrics to Build Social Media
Engagement,â sheâll share practical advice about how to track links,
read metrics, and keep your followers hungry for more.
Recently, we got the chance to talk to her about her dynamic job, social
metrics, and how a well-coordinated social media response helped ThinkGeek turn
around an internet meltdown.
Tell us about the presentation you have planned for MozCon.
I'm going to talk about how the right content at the right time and the right
metrics tracked with the right tools drives ThinkGeek's social program. I'll
show examples of the kind of stuff that gets us thousands of retweets and a
25-50% Talking About This rate on Facebook, some of our behind-the-scenes data
on traffic and revenue, and tips and tests you can try right away.
Youâre currently the web community manager at ThinkGeek. Could you tell
us a bit about how you got into that role?
I started at ThinkGeek almost five years ago. At that time, ThinkGeek had a
very strong brand and passionate fans, but we weren't really available to our
customers out there on social networks. I came in at the right time â
before Oprah joined Twitter, even â and was able to start building a
community organically and trying new things without the burden of so-called
"best practices." It also wasn't my only role (and still isn't; I also head up
our email program), so I was able to justify my existence beyond Faceyspaces and
Twitlogs to those who were on the fence about the value of social networks for
internet retailers.
What do you think are the top three qualities of an effective web community
manager?
First and foremost, 100% dedication to the brand, values, and public persona
of the company they represent. If they're going to manufacture the Kool-Aid,
they have to drink it first. This is why I feel social media should always be
kept in-house.
Second, the ability to communicate clearly, interestingly, and like a real
human being â which is to say with humor, compassion, and enthusiasm. That
includes strong (and concise!) writing skills, some Photoshop mojo, experience
with HTML and web publishing, and unflagging attention to detail.
And lastly, a thick skin and knowing when to take a break. Being at the beck
and call of the internet is not easy.
Which social metric do you think is widely undervalued?
Engagement is undervalued, and the metric depends on the network. What good is
a jillion followers if none of them clicks your links or retweets or shares your
content?
On the other hand, revenue and traffic are valued but traditionally achieved
through paid placements like boosted Facebook posts or sponsored tweets, while
we treat our social streams like network television with great content
surrounding our commercials, which does work for us. We haven't seen boosted
posts pay off for us on Facebook, but remarketing ads (not under the purview of
our "community" team) can be successful.
Give us an example of one important test that any business on Facebook should
do in the process of building social media engagement.
On Facebook, try the same content two ways at the same time of day, one day
apart. It's hard to do A/B tests given the nature of the tools we have--that is,
in most cases, everyone sees the same thing at the same time--so you have to be
creative.
I'd suggest an image + text post on Facebook on the same subject versus the
same text without an image. Which does better on shares? Clicks? Comments?
Reach? Revenue? Facebook targets different kind of content to different users
based on their past engagement history, so you might see very different results.
A couple months ago, ThinkGeek was caught in the crossfire between FOX and
sellers on Etsy, but ThinkGeek came out of it looking great. Can you share a bit
about how social media helped manage ThinkGeekâs reputation in this
incident, and any insights you gained from the experience?
For those playing along at home, the issue was over a licensed knit hat from
Joss Whedon's short-lived space western Firefly, owned by FOX. The show ranks up
there with Doctor Who, Star Wars, and Star Trek in terms of the geek lexicon,
and the hat in question became a symbol of both rebelling against the man
(because of the character who wore it) and helping others out (with charitable
donations from the purchase of hand-made knit hat replicas on sites like Etsy).
So when an unnamed source (a.k.a. the man) went after many unlicensed Etsy
sellers (the rebels with hearts of gold) with cease and desist orders, the
internet exploded.
Our licensed version of the hat (made by another company that is not us) is
visible out there in the geekiverse so we got a lot of questions and accusations
about our role in the matter via email, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, our blog,
our Jayne hat product page comments, the phone â every possible method of
contact.
First, there was a collective "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" at ThinkGeek HQ, and we
told customers we didn't know what was going on (which was true) but we'd find
out. After some triage behind the scenes, we learned it was FOX â
generally unloved by fans because FOX is the reason the show was cancelled in
the first place â and that in fact FOX had only issued one C&D, so
presumably Etsy decided to shut down the other stores. As quickly as we could,
we published a blog post explaining our side of things.
Neither we nor the licensors who make the hat had any role in it, but then the
story changed to "Well, if you didn't sell it, this wouldn't happen." That may
or may not be true. FOX would have likely tried to protect their intellectual
property regardless, but there we were still selling the hat. So, after much
consternation about how to turn our problem into a solution befitting the
charitable roots of the hat, we published another post the following day
announcing our donation of the proceeds to Can't Stop the Serenity, a Browncoat
charity that supports Equality Now:
Then Nathan Fillion, who starred in Firefly, very kindly tweeted about the
steps we'd taken:
Which was very much appreciated by us (because we're fans so OMG <3
NATHAN)... but crashed our blog, and spawned the hashtag #Fillioned. All in all,
a good ending to two long days.
What did we do that made this work out? We were honest, acted quickly, and
responded in the manner that honored and respected the spirit of the hat and the
fandom surrounding it. Pretty simple, but in practice it takes serious
coordination to pull a response like that together.
What is your geekiest hobby?
MY JOB. Seriously. Curating a collection of 100+ fan-made cosplay outfits for
a stuffed monkey who meets geek celebrities like Adam Savage, Wil Wheaton, and
the voice of GLaDOS should count for something.
What is a quote that has stuck with you, and why?
"Brevity is the soul of wit" from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Comes in handy for
Twitter-zen.
If you had to be trapped in a TV show for a month, which would you choose?
I should say Game of Thrones to stay on message but that's just about the very
last universe I'd want to find myself trapped in. My top pick would be Downton
Abbey so I could I hang with the Dowager Countess.
It was great to speak with you, Carrie! Get geeky updates by following
@ThinkGeek on Twitter, and learn test-driven social media tips by checking out
Carrieâs presentation at MozCon!
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten
hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think
of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but
want to read!
You may view the latest post at
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/An2U06z5Rbs/mozcon-speaker-interview-carrie-gouldin
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Build Great Backlinks
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com
Gouldin'
Posted by Lindsay
As Web Community Manager @ThinkGeek, Carrie Gouldin built the companyâs
social media presence from the ground up and now engages hundreds of thousands
of followers through multiple social platforms.
Weâre excited that she is bringing her valuable insights about social
media to MozCon! In her talk, âUsing Metrics to Build Social Media
Engagement,â sheâll share practical advice about how to track links,
read metrics, and keep your followers hungry for more.
Recently, we got the chance to talk to her about her dynamic job, social
metrics, and how a well-coordinated social media response helped ThinkGeek turn
around an internet meltdown.
Tell us about the presentation you have planned for MozCon.
I'm going to talk about how the right content at the right time and the right
metrics tracked with the right tools drives ThinkGeek's social program. I'll
show examples of the kind of stuff that gets us thousands of retweets and a
25-50% Talking About This rate on Facebook, some of our behind-the-scenes data
on traffic and revenue, and tips and tests you can try right away.
Youâre currently the web community manager at ThinkGeek. Could you tell
us a bit about how you got into that role?
I started at ThinkGeek almost five years ago. At that time, ThinkGeek had a
very strong brand and passionate fans, but we weren't really available to our
customers out there on social networks. I came in at the right time â
before Oprah joined Twitter, even â and was able to start building a
community organically and trying new things without the burden of so-called
"best practices." It also wasn't my only role (and still isn't; I also head up
our email program), so I was able to justify my existence beyond Faceyspaces and
Twitlogs to those who were on the fence about the value of social networks for
internet retailers.
What do you think are the top three qualities of an effective web community
manager?
First and foremost, 100% dedication to the brand, values, and public persona
of the company they represent. If they're going to manufacture the Kool-Aid,
they have to drink it first. This is why I feel social media should always be
kept in-house.
Second, the ability to communicate clearly, interestingly, and like a real
human being â which is to say with humor, compassion, and enthusiasm. That
includes strong (and concise!) writing skills, some Photoshop mojo, experience
with HTML and web publishing, and unflagging attention to detail.
And lastly, a thick skin and knowing when to take a break. Being at the beck
and call of the internet is not easy.
Which social metric do you think is widely undervalued?
Engagement is undervalued, and the metric depends on the network. What good is
a jillion followers if none of them clicks your links or retweets or shares your
content?
On the other hand, revenue and traffic are valued but traditionally achieved
through paid placements like boosted Facebook posts or sponsored tweets, while
we treat our social streams like network television with great content
surrounding our commercials, which does work for us. We haven't seen boosted
posts pay off for us on Facebook, but remarketing ads (not under the purview of
our "community" team) can be successful.
Give us an example of one important test that any business on Facebook should
do in the process of building social media engagement.
On Facebook, try the same content two ways at the same time of day, one day
apart. It's hard to do A/B tests given the nature of the tools we have--that is,
in most cases, everyone sees the same thing at the same time--so you have to be
creative.
I'd suggest an image + text post on Facebook on the same subject versus the
same text without an image. Which does better on shares? Clicks? Comments?
Reach? Revenue? Facebook targets different kind of content to different users
based on their past engagement history, so you might see very different results.
A couple months ago, ThinkGeek was caught in the crossfire between FOX and
sellers on Etsy, but ThinkGeek came out of it looking great. Can you share a bit
about how social media helped manage ThinkGeekâs reputation in this
incident, and any insights you gained from the experience?
For those playing along at home, the issue was over a licensed knit hat from
Joss Whedon's short-lived space western Firefly, owned by FOX. The show ranks up
there with Doctor Who, Star Wars, and Star Trek in terms of the geek lexicon,
and the hat in question became a symbol of both rebelling against the man
(because of the character who wore it) and helping others out (with charitable
donations from the purchase of hand-made knit hat replicas on sites like Etsy).
So when an unnamed source (a.k.a. the man) went after many unlicensed Etsy
sellers (the rebels with hearts of gold) with cease and desist orders, the
internet exploded.
Our licensed version of the hat (made by another company that is not us) is
visible out there in the geekiverse so we got a lot of questions and accusations
about our role in the matter via email, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, our blog,
our Jayne hat product page comments, the phone â every possible method of
contact.
First, there was a collective "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" at ThinkGeek HQ, and we
told customers we didn't know what was going on (which was true) but we'd find
out. After some triage behind the scenes, we learned it was FOX â
generally unloved by fans because FOX is the reason the show was cancelled in
the first place â and that in fact FOX had only issued one C&D, so
presumably Etsy decided to shut down the other stores. As quickly as we could,
we published a blog post explaining our side of things.
Neither we nor the licensors who make the hat had any role in it, but then the
story changed to "Well, if you didn't sell it, this wouldn't happen." That may
or may not be true. FOX would have likely tried to protect their intellectual
property regardless, but there we were still selling the hat. So, after much
consternation about how to turn our problem into a solution befitting the
charitable roots of the hat, we published another post the following day
announcing our donation of the proceeds to Can't Stop the Serenity, a Browncoat
charity that supports Equality Now:
Then Nathan Fillion, who starred in Firefly, very kindly tweeted about the
steps we'd taken:
Which was very much appreciated by us (because we're fans so OMG <3
NATHAN)... but crashed our blog, and spawned the hashtag #Fillioned. All in all,
a good ending to two long days.
What did we do that made this work out? We were honest, acted quickly, and
responded in the manner that honored and respected the spirit of the hat and the
fandom surrounding it. Pretty simple, but in practice it takes serious
coordination to pull a response like that together.
What is your geekiest hobby?
MY JOB. Seriously. Curating a collection of 100+ fan-made cosplay outfits for
a stuffed monkey who meets geek celebrities like Adam Savage, Wil Wheaton, and
the voice of GLaDOS should count for something.
What is a quote that has stuck with you, and why?
"Brevity is the soul of wit" from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Comes in handy for
Twitter-zen.
If you had to be trapped in a TV show for a month, which would you choose?
I should say Game of Thrones to stay on message but that's just about the very
last universe I'd want to find myself trapped in. My top pick would be Downton
Abbey so I could I hang with the Dowager Countess.
It was great to speak with you, Carrie! Get geeky updates by following
@ThinkGeek on Twitter, and learn test-driven social media tips by checking out
Carrieâs presentation at MozCon!
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten
hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think
of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but
want to read!
You may view the latest post at
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/An2U06z5Rbs/mozcon-speaker-interview-carrie-gouldin
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Build Great Backlinks
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com
[Build Great Backlinks] TITLE
Build Great Backlinks has posted a new item, 'SEO Ranking Factor #1 is
Satisfaction'
Posted by Cyrus Shepard
You know the numbers â Google uses over 200 ranking signals, updates its
algorithm over 500 times a year, and employs thousands of engineers. We often
get so caught up in the minutiae of the algorithm that we forget all this effort
serves a single purpose:
Satisfy the user.
This isn't a touchy-feely post that says "Make great content and visitors will
come" or "Delight your customers and magic will happen."
It's not magic. Satisfaction is an actual ranking factor.
Unlike other ranking factors, this one is hard to measure because it's based
almost entirely on search engines' own internal data â something they
don't share. We do know search engines both measure and reward satisfaction in
very significant ways. In fact, I highly suspect satisfaction is one of Google's
most important metrics used to judge the performance of its own search results.
It's easy to tweak a keyword. It's much harder to stop visitors from clicking
the back button on your website when they don't find what they were looking for.
Satisfaction is very difficult to game; perhaps that's why search engines place
so much emphasis on it.
How Google measures and predicts satisfaction
User behavior in search results
Stephen Levyâs excellent book In the Plex describes how Google engineers
figured out how to improve search results by mining their user behavior data
(bold added):
"â Google could see how satisfied users were. â The best sign of
their happiness was the "long click" â this occurred when someone went to
a search result, ideally the top one, and did not return. That meant Google has
successfully fulfilled the query. But unhappy users were unhappy in their own
ways, most telling were the âshort clicksâ where a user followed a
link and immediately returned to try again. "If people type something and then
go and change their query, you could tell they arenât happy," says Patel.
"If they go to the next page of results, itâs a sign theyâre not
happy."
Often called pogosticking, this refers to the behavior of users that click on
a result, then "pogostick" back and forth between the search results and
different websites, searching for satisfaction.
Search quality raters
In 2012, Google released an abbreviated copy of its Search Quality Rating
Guidelines to the public. A version of this document is used by Google's small
army of Search Quality Raters to evaluate search results.
One of the highest scores a quality rater can assign to a page is "useful"
(bold added):
âUseful pages should be high quality and a good âfitâ for
the query. In addition, they often have some or all of the following
characteristics: highly satisfying, authoritative, entertaining, and/or recent
(such as breaking news on a topic). Useful pages are usually well organized and
pages you trust. They are from information sources that seem reliable. Useful
information pages are not "spammy."
The problem with quality raters is they can only look at a few thousand
websites at any given time. There are millions of sites on the web, so Google
invented a new system:
Panda
Instead of evaluating results after the fact, Panda gives Google the ability
to predict user satisfaction â modeled on actual human surveys â and
apply it to every site in its index.
Less satisfying pages are ranked lower in search results, and every few weeks
the index is updated with new data.
The chart below shows Panda hitting a site again and again.
Site visits with Panda updates via Panguin Tool and Google Algorithm Change
History
What can we do?
If search engines measure user satisfaction and employ it as a ranking factor,
our goals as search marketers are to:
Create highly satisfying experiences so that users donât return to search
results to pick another URL.
Build sites that meet Pandaâs expectation of high quality.
Surprise and delight our visitors so that they seek us out again and again.
5 Tips to improve visitor satisfaction:
1. Google's free website satisfaction surveys
As if to put an exclamation point on the whole satisfaction experience, Google
recently released free, embeddable customer satisfaction surveys for website
owners.
After installing a line of JavaScript on your site, your visitors are presented
with the following questions:
Overall, how satisfied are you with this website?
What, if anything, do you find frustrating or unappealing about this website?
What is your main reason for visiting this website today?
Did you successfully complete your main reason for visiting this website today?
If you'd like to customize the questions, Google allows you to do this for
$0.01 per response.
It feels like Google wants to give site owners the same type of feedback
Google acquires directly from behavior data. Using these forms won't tell you
exactly what to do, but any webmaster using them is sure to get a ton of
valuable feedback about visitor satisfaction.
2. Removing barriers
Weâve talked for years about making your site more accessible for both
search robots and humans, but we rarely discuss how those usability factors
affect rankings.
Imagine if you will, a site that requires registration to view any content,
which is otherwise accessible to search engines. We're seeing these more and
more all over the web.
What if Moz required registration?
The idea is simple: folks click on a search result, see the form and return to
the search results to try another URL. After a few hundred times (or less),
search engines start to figure out this result doesnât satisfy users.
At Moz, weâve seen sites use similar tactics only to watch their bounce
rate skyrocket, and their rankings drop. In fact, thereâs anecdotal
evidence of sites being hit by Panda after introducing similar barriers.
3. Speed it up
We know that faster websites are good, but page speed has two mechanisms by
which to influence rankings:
Directly: Google reps have stated that page speed has a direct impact on
rankings for a certain percentage of queries (only 1% in 2010).
Secondary: As page speed affects usage, it can have a secondary effect on user
satisfaction. A frustrated user waiting too long for a page to load can often
return to search results.
Google obsesses over speed, and scientists at Microsoft have shown that users
will visit a site less often if it's only 250 milliseconds slower than the
competition.
Source: NYTimes
If you ever need to convince your client or boss to improve page speed, try
the comparison tool at Webpagetest.com which allows you to export a slow motion
video.
4. Empathy
Empathy as a ranking factor? "Cyrus," I can hear you saying, "youâve
been hanging out with Rand too much!"
Consider this comment on a recent Whiteboard Friday. I've edited the comment
below to highlight the important parts:
When you practice empathy, you put yourself in the shoes of your visitor to
try to build a satisfying experience. You accomplish this by
Answering their questions
Employing intuitive layouts
Giving them relevant links and resources to click
Surprising them with extras
While it's difficult to prove a relationship between improved user experiences
and rankings (because we can't measure user behavior like Google can) there's
strong anecdotal evidence that search engines aggregate these factors into their
algorithms.
5. Linking out
One of the best SEO articles Iâve read all year is AJ Kohn's Time to
Long Click, a great article you shouldn't miss. AJ explains how linking out (and
also creating content hubs) can be used to increase user satisfaction (bold
added):
What Iâm recommending is that you link to other valuable sources of
information when appropriate so that you fully satisfy that userâs query.
In doing so youâll generate more long clicks and earn more links over
time, both of which can have profound and positive impact on your rankings. Stop
thinking about optimizing your page and think about optimizing the search
experience instead.
-AJ Kohn
Think of it this way: It's far better for users to click away to another URL
from your site than for those same users to return to Google to try again. In
the first instance, you are the authority hub, in the latter, Google is the
authority.
Be the authority.
How do YOU improve satisfaction?
There are two types of SEOs: those that try to satisfy robots, and those that
satisfy users.
The robot-focused SEOs build pages with just the right keywords and title
tags, hoping to attract the bots on relevancy. I say "try" to satisfy robots,
because search engines are actually watching the users. If the users aren't
happy, neither are the bots.
The user-focused SEOs works with the same keywords and title tag, but then
they go one step further and ask their users to try the site. After that, they
do whatever it takes to make their users happy.
Have you seen improvement in rankings after improving user satisfaction? Share
your story with us in the comments below.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten
hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think
of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but
want to read!
You may view the latest post at
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/Th_qtyT8bIE/seo-satisfaction
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Build Great Backlinks
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com
Satisfaction'
Posted by Cyrus Shepard
You know the numbers â Google uses over 200 ranking signals, updates its
algorithm over 500 times a year, and employs thousands of engineers. We often
get so caught up in the minutiae of the algorithm that we forget all this effort
serves a single purpose:
Satisfy the user.
This isn't a touchy-feely post that says "Make great content and visitors will
come" or "Delight your customers and magic will happen."
It's not magic. Satisfaction is an actual ranking factor.
Unlike other ranking factors, this one is hard to measure because it's based
almost entirely on search engines' own internal data â something they
don't share. We do know search engines both measure and reward satisfaction in
very significant ways. In fact, I highly suspect satisfaction is one of Google's
most important metrics used to judge the performance of its own search results.
It's easy to tweak a keyword. It's much harder to stop visitors from clicking
the back button on your website when they don't find what they were looking for.
Satisfaction is very difficult to game; perhaps that's why search engines place
so much emphasis on it.
How Google measures and predicts satisfaction
User behavior in search results
Stephen Levyâs excellent book In the Plex describes how Google engineers
figured out how to improve search results by mining their user behavior data
(bold added):
"â Google could see how satisfied users were. â The best sign of
their happiness was the "long click" â this occurred when someone went to
a search result, ideally the top one, and did not return. That meant Google has
successfully fulfilled the query. But unhappy users were unhappy in their own
ways, most telling were the âshort clicksâ where a user followed a
link and immediately returned to try again. "If people type something and then
go and change their query, you could tell they arenât happy," says Patel.
"If they go to the next page of results, itâs a sign theyâre not
happy."
Often called pogosticking, this refers to the behavior of users that click on
a result, then "pogostick" back and forth between the search results and
different websites, searching for satisfaction.
Search quality raters
In 2012, Google released an abbreviated copy of its Search Quality Rating
Guidelines to the public. A version of this document is used by Google's small
army of Search Quality Raters to evaluate search results.
One of the highest scores a quality rater can assign to a page is "useful"
(bold added):
âUseful pages should be high quality and a good âfitâ for
the query. In addition, they often have some or all of the following
characteristics: highly satisfying, authoritative, entertaining, and/or recent
(such as breaking news on a topic). Useful pages are usually well organized and
pages you trust. They are from information sources that seem reliable. Useful
information pages are not "spammy."
The problem with quality raters is they can only look at a few thousand
websites at any given time. There are millions of sites on the web, so Google
invented a new system:
Panda
Instead of evaluating results after the fact, Panda gives Google the ability
to predict user satisfaction â modeled on actual human surveys â and
apply it to every site in its index.
Less satisfying pages are ranked lower in search results, and every few weeks
the index is updated with new data.
The chart below shows Panda hitting a site again and again.
Site visits with Panda updates via Panguin Tool and Google Algorithm Change
History
What can we do?
If search engines measure user satisfaction and employ it as a ranking factor,
our goals as search marketers are to:
Create highly satisfying experiences so that users donât return to search
results to pick another URL.
Build sites that meet Pandaâs expectation of high quality.
Surprise and delight our visitors so that they seek us out again and again.
5 Tips to improve visitor satisfaction:
1. Google's free website satisfaction surveys
As if to put an exclamation point on the whole satisfaction experience, Google
recently released free, embeddable customer satisfaction surveys for website
owners.
After installing a line of JavaScript on your site, your visitors are presented
with the following questions:
Overall, how satisfied are you with this website?
What, if anything, do you find frustrating or unappealing about this website?
What is your main reason for visiting this website today?
Did you successfully complete your main reason for visiting this website today?
If you'd like to customize the questions, Google allows you to do this for
$0.01 per response.
It feels like Google wants to give site owners the same type of feedback
Google acquires directly from behavior data. Using these forms won't tell you
exactly what to do, but any webmaster using them is sure to get a ton of
valuable feedback about visitor satisfaction.
2. Removing barriers
Weâve talked for years about making your site more accessible for both
search robots and humans, but we rarely discuss how those usability factors
affect rankings.
Imagine if you will, a site that requires registration to view any content,
which is otherwise accessible to search engines. We're seeing these more and
more all over the web.
What if Moz required registration?
The idea is simple: folks click on a search result, see the form and return to
the search results to try another URL. After a few hundred times (or less),
search engines start to figure out this result doesnât satisfy users.
At Moz, weâve seen sites use similar tactics only to watch their bounce
rate skyrocket, and their rankings drop. In fact, thereâs anecdotal
evidence of sites being hit by Panda after introducing similar barriers.
3. Speed it up
We know that faster websites are good, but page speed has two mechanisms by
which to influence rankings:
Directly: Google reps have stated that page speed has a direct impact on
rankings for a certain percentage of queries (only 1% in 2010).
Secondary: As page speed affects usage, it can have a secondary effect on user
satisfaction. A frustrated user waiting too long for a page to load can often
return to search results.
Google obsesses over speed, and scientists at Microsoft have shown that users
will visit a site less often if it's only 250 milliseconds slower than the
competition.
Source: NYTimes
If you ever need to convince your client or boss to improve page speed, try
the comparison tool at Webpagetest.com which allows you to export a slow motion
video.
4. Empathy
Empathy as a ranking factor? "Cyrus," I can hear you saying, "youâve
been hanging out with Rand too much!"
Consider this comment on a recent Whiteboard Friday. I've edited the comment
below to highlight the important parts:
When you practice empathy, you put yourself in the shoes of your visitor to
try to build a satisfying experience. You accomplish this by
Answering their questions
Employing intuitive layouts
Giving them relevant links and resources to click
Surprising them with extras
While it's difficult to prove a relationship between improved user experiences
and rankings (because we can't measure user behavior like Google can) there's
strong anecdotal evidence that search engines aggregate these factors into their
algorithms.
5. Linking out
One of the best SEO articles Iâve read all year is AJ Kohn's Time to
Long Click, a great article you shouldn't miss. AJ explains how linking out (and
also creating content hubs) can be used to increase user satisfaction (bold
added):
What Iâm recommending is that you link to other valuable sources of
information when appropriate so that you fully satisfy that userâs query.
In doing so youâll generate more long clicks and earn more links over
time, both of which can have profound and positive impact on your rankings. Stop
thinking about optimizing your page and think about optimizing the search
experience instead.
-AJ Kohn
Think of it this way: It's far better for users to click away to another URL
from your site than for those same users to return to Google to try again. In
the first instance, you are the authority hub, in the latter, Google is the
authority.
Be the authority.
How do YOU improve satisfaction?
There are two types of SEOs: those that try to satisfy robots, and those that
satisfy users.
The robot-focused SEOs build pages with just the right keywords and title
tags, hoping to attract the bots on relevancy. I say "try" to satisfy robots,
because search engines are actually watching the users. If the users aren't
happy, neither are the bots.
The user-focused SEOs works with the same keywords and title tag, but then
they go one step further and ask their users to try the site. After that, they
do whatever it takes to make their users happy.
Have you seen improvement in rankings after improving user satisfaction? Share
your story with us in the comments below.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten
hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think
of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but
want to read!
You may view the latest post at
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/Th_qtyT8bIE/seo-satisfaction
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Build Great Backlinks
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com
Friday, 5 July 2013
[Build Great Backlinks] TITLE
Build Great Backlinks has posted a new item, 'How Should Marketers React When
Google's Search Results Have Dramatic Changes?'
Posted by randfish
Late last month, Google made an update to its search algorithm that caused our
MozCast to spike to an all-time high of more than 113 degrees. Our work as web
marketers can be frustrating when we're aiming for a continuously moving target.
In today's Whiteboard Friday, Rand covers how we can keep our cool and learn
from those changes when they happen.
How Should Marketers React When Google's Search Results Have Dramatic
Changes - Whiteboard Friday
For reference, here's a still image of this week's whiteboard.
Video Transcription
Howdy, Moz fans and welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. This
week, I want to talk a little bit about how marketers should be reacting when
Google makes big, dramatic changes in their rankings and their algorithm. Now,
this can be a challenging topic, right?
So we've seen, for example in the recent past, MozCast, which is Dr. Pete's
project that monitors several thousand search results and sort of looks at
changes in the top ten and what percent of them are churning in and out, and we
saw one of the biggest spikes we've ever seen, bigger than Panda, bigger than
Penguin, just hugely dramatic.
Dr. Pete represents those in MozCast with temperatures. So the average day
temperature is 70 degrees. This one was 113 degrees. Very, very hot, meaning a
dramatic amount of change. Lots of things in the first page of results on
average moving out and being replaced by other things and lots of positions
moving around too.
Now, the way I like to approach big algorithm updates is to look at, number
one, what happened? What actually changed in the results? Because sometimes a
dramatic variety of different things can be happening. So we see through MozCast
and through monitoring lots of search results ourselves, for ourselves and for
campaigns that we pay attention to, we can see that you've sort of got one, two,
three, four ordering. That might shift over to be, oh wow, look. Almost everyone
who is in the first page of results kind of fell down or fell out of those
results, and now it's number 11, 19, 4, and 16 that are ranking in there. Wow,
okay. That was a big algorithmic shakeup. Push a lot of people down, a lot of
new people in.
Or it might just be a reordering. So, one, two, three, four went to four,
two, six, eight. Well, okay. I mean, two and four are still in the top four. Six
and eight are still in the top ten. But we've had some bouncing around. So this
is a shift, but not nearly as dramatic as the prior one, and actually MozCast
temperatures represent that because Dr. Pete looks at sort of where things are
shifting to figure that out.
Or, and we also see a lot of this, Google has introduced new types of
results. There's now a carousel at the top. There are now news results going in
there. There are other things that are pushing results off of page one that are
shaking things up, that are making things dramatically different, that are
making essentially organic visibility quite different from how it used to be.
Those different types of results are of a vast variety, and Google rolls
them out in tests all the time and then permanently when they like the results
of those tests. Now, if you're observing these patterns in the change of types
of results and observing the patterns in what's rising and falling, this can
really help you get to the bottom of, "What should my strategy be? What tactics
should I take?"
But the second question that I want to take you to before we get there is:
What is Google saying about the update? Sometimes Google is very quiet and they
don't say anything, and sometimes they'll give some information. Right?
So, for example, Google mentioned with regards to this big update that
happened recently that there's a rolling update going on, meaning you can see
spikes in values potentially over a period of time as they roll out the update,
and it will be ending on or around July 4th.
Okay. That's potentially very interesting information. That might tell me,
"You know what? Before I do a big, wholesale analysis of how this impacted me,
I'm going to wait for this whole thing to roll out. Let me just give it a few
more days, wait until the 4th of July and see what actually happens at the end
of the shakeout." Gianluca Fiorelli asked Matt Cutts, he said, "Is this a global
update or just U.S. or English results only?" Matt nicely replied, "Well, it's
global."
So that is also helpful to observe and to know so that people can get this
sense of, "Oh, wow. I'm targeting mostly Spanish language search results in
Spain or in Mexico, or in South and Latin America. I guess I should be paying
attention to whatever is going on with this update."
Third, I like to ask, "How has this update affected me?" Of course, because
I'm a marketer who observes broad trends and runs a software company in the
field, I like to see what those broad trends are and know about them. But I also
really want to see how it affects me, and as a search marketer, that's certainly
what you should be thinking about, too.
So being able to monitor this through data is really important, and there
are three points of data that you can collect from your own analytics. Those are
the number of pages that receive one or more visits from Google search, the
number of keywords that send one or more visits from Google to your site, and
the total amount of Google search traffic that you're receiving.
Then, if you want to get more granular, you can go down to the keyword level
and look at what are individual keywords sending. Of course, remember that
because of "not provided" a lot of that won't be trackable anymore, which is
frustrating and challenging.
Then the last thing that you're going to need in order to see how this has
impacted you is ranking position. So I like to collect rank position data in
non-personalized, non-geographically biased results. This is not perfect. A lot
of people are geographically biased, are searching on mobile phones or devices
that are location-enabled, do have Google accounts that are biasing them
personally. But this is the best that we're going to do, those non-personalized,
non-geo biased results.
You can achieve that by going outside of your country code. So for example,
if I'm in Google US, I'm going to go search "Google.co.uk/search?q=" whatever
keyword I'm tracking, "&gl=US". That will bias me back to the U.S., but taking
me to the U.K. and then saying U.S. will make it so that I'm not
geo-personalized to just Seattle or just Washington, or just wherever I happen
to be on the road where I'm searching.
Using "pws=0" will help remove personalization. This actually removes most
of the personalization anyway. If you want, you can also log out or use a
browser window that is non-personalized where you're not logged in. From this,
you get the best picture we can really get as search marketers about what's
going on and how the shift has impacted you, and you can see really different
things.
I mean, if I see that my rankings haven't really changed, but the number of
pages that are receiving one or more visits from Google has dropped dramatically
and that's affecting my overall total traffic, I can presume, "Hey, you know
what? This is probably an indexation problem for me."
Whatever update Google has been making, the way it's affected me is that
I've lost pages that used to be in the search results. I'm no longer performing
for them at all, and they weren't the ones that I was tracking. So probably it
means my long tail is where this is impacted, and so that can inform my strategy
and my tactics from there.
This is the last question that I like to visit whenever something like this
has happened which is: Are there actions that I should be taking? Not just what
actions, but are there actions? Sometimes I just kind of go, "Hey, it's cool.
I'm going to let Google do what they're going to do, and I'm going to do what
I'm going to do. I'm not going to worry about them."
But sometimes there are tactical actions like, "Hey, you know what? I need
to bolster some individual keywords. We lost rankings on some keywords that are
really important. Let's see if maybe we should produce new pages of content.
Maybe we should update the existing content. Maybe we should redirect the old
ones to the new ones. Maybe we should be trying to earn some new links and
social signals and shares to that stuff, whatever that might be."
Or there might be more strategic level SEO types of things like, "Man,
Google just introduced this big carousel across all these different types of
hotel and travel results. I'm not sure that keyword phrase of city name plus
hotels or city name plus places to stay is really going to help me anymore.
Maybe I should start to consider whether I need to go earlier on in the keyword
search funnel."
Maybe I need to get in here where people aren't yet searching for hotels,
but they're searching for destinations or places, or those kinds of things,
rather than targeting down here where it looks like Google is kind of dominating
the search results themselves. That's a big strategic kind of shift that you'll
have to make with your content and your website and your keyword targeting
strategy.
But being able to ask these questions, all of them, and then getting down to
the tactical and strategic can really help make you more reactive in an
intelligent, considerate way to the big changes that Google might be making.
All right, everyone. I hope you've enjoyed this edition of Whiteboard
Friday, and we'll see you again next week. Take care.
Video transcription by Speechpad.com
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten
hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think
of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but
want to read!
You may view the latest post at
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/a8v9DfN6ie4/how-should-marketers-react-when-googles-search-results-have-dramatic-changes
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Build Great Backlinks
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com
Google's Search Results Have Dramatic Changes?'
Posted by randfish
Late last month, Google made an update to its search algorithm that caused our
MozCast to spike to an all-time high of more than 113 degrees. Our work as web
marketers can be frustrating when we're aiming for a continuously moving target.
In today's Whiteboard Friday, Rand covers how we can keep our cool and learn
from those changes when they happen.
How Should Marketers React When Google's Search Results Have Dramatic
Changes - Whiteboard Friday
For reference, here's a still image of this week's whiteboard.
Video Transcription
Howdy, Moz fans and welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. This
week, I want to talk a little bit about how marketers should be reacting when
Google makes big, dramatic changes in their rankings and their algorithm. Now,
this can be a challenging topic, right?
So we've seen, for example in the recent past, MozCast, which is Dr. Pete's
project that monitors several thousand search results and sort of looks at
changes in the top ten and what percent of them are churning in and out, and we
saw one of the biggest spikes we've ever seen, bigger than Panda, bigger than
Penguin, just hugely dramatic.
Dr. Pete represents those in MozCast with temperatures. So the average day
temperature is 70 degrees. This one was 113 degrees. Very, very hot, meaning a
dramatic amount of change. Lots of things in the first page of results on
average moving out and being replaced by other things and lots of positions
moving around too.
Now, the way I like to approach big algorithm updates is to look at, number
one, what happened? What actually changed in the results? Because sometimes a
dramatic variety of different things can be happening. So we see through MozCast
and through monitoring lots of search results ourselves, for ourselves and for
campaigns that we pay attention to, we can see that you've sort of got one, two,
three, four ordering. That might shift over to be, oh wow, look. Almost everyone
who is in the first page of results kind of fell down or fell out of those
results, and now it's number 11, 19, 4, and 16 that are ranking in there. Wow,
okay. That was a big algorithmic shakeup. Push a lot of people down, a lot of
new people in.
Or it might just be a reordering. So, one, two, three, four went to four,
two, six, eight. Well, okay. I mean, two and four are still in the top four. Six
and eight are still in the top ten. But we've had some bouncing around. So this
is a shift, but not nearly as dramatic as the prior one, and actually MozCast
temperatures represent that because Dr. Pete looks at sort of where things are
shifting to figure that out.
Or, and we also see a lot of this, Google has introduced new types of
results. There's now a carousel at the top. There are now news results going in
there. There are other things that are pushing results off of page one that are
shaking things up, that are making things dramatically different, that are
making essentially organic visibility quite different from how it used to be.
Those different types of results are of a vast variety, and Google rolls
them out in tests all the time and then permanently when they like the results
of those tests. Now, if you're observing these patterns in the change of types
of results and observing the patterns in what's rising and falling, this can
really help you get to the bottom of, "What should my strategy be? What tactics
should I take?"
But the second question that I want to take you to before we get there is:
What is Google saying about the update? Sometimes Google is very quiet and they
don't say anything, and sometimes they'll give some information. Right?
So, for example, Google mentioned with regards to this big update that
happened recently that there's a rolling update going on, meaning you can see
spikes in values potentially over a period of time as they roll out the update,
and it will be ending on or around July 4th.
Okay. That's potentially very interesting information. That might tell me,
"You know what? Before I do a big, wholesale analysis of how this impacted me,
I'm going to wait for this whole thing to roll out. Let me just give it a few
more days, wait until the 4th of July and see what actually happens at the end
of the shakeout." Gianluca Fiorelli asked Matt Cutts, he said, "Is this a global
update or just U.S. or English results only?" Matt nicely replied, "Well, it's
global."
So that is also helpful to observe and to know so that people can get this
sense of, "Oh, wow. I'm targeting mostly Spanish language search results in
Spain or in Mexico, or in South and Latin America. I guess I should be paying
attention to whatever is going on with this update."
Third, I like to ask, "How has this update affected me?" Of course, because
I'm a marketer who observes broad trends and runs a software company in the
field, I like to see what those broad trends are and know about them. But I also
really want to see how it affects me, and as a search marketer, that's certainly
what you should be thinking about, too.
So being able to monitor this through data is really important, and there
are three points of data that you can collect from your own analytics. Those are
the number of pages that receive one or more visits from Google search, the
number of keywords that send one or more visits from Google to your site, and
the total amount of Google search traffic that you're receiving.
Then, if you want to get more granular, you can go down to the keyword level
and look at what are individual keywords sending. Of course, remember that
because of "not provided" a lot of that won't be trackable anymore, which is
frustrating and challenging.
Then the last thing that you're going to need in order to see how this has
impacted you is ranking position. So I like to collect rank position data in
non-personalized, non-geographically biased results. This is not perfect. A lot
of people are geographically biased, are searching on mobile phones or devices
that are location-enabled, do have Google accounts that are biasing them
personally. But this is the best that we're going to do, those non-personalized,
non-geo biased results.
You can achieve that by going outside of your country code. So for example,
if I'm in Google US, I'm going to go search "Google.co.uk/search?q=" whatever
keyword I'm tracking, "&gl=US". That will bias me back to the U.S., but taking
me to the U.K. and then saying U.S. will make it so that I'm not
geo-personalized to just Seattle or just Washington, or just wherever I happen
to be on the road where I'm searching.
Using "pws=0" will help remove personalization. This actually removes most
of the personalization anyway. If you want, you can also log out or use a
browser window that is non-personalized where you're not logged in. From this,
you get the best picture we can really get as search marketers about what's
going on and how the shift has impacted you, and you can see really different
things.
I mean, if I see that my rankings haven't really changed, but the number of
pages that are receiving one or more visits from Google has dropped dramatically
and that's affecting my overall total traffic, I can presume, "Hey, you know
what? This is probably an indexation problem for me."
Whatever update Google has been making, the way it's affected me is that
I've lost pages that used to be in the search results. I'm no longer performing
for them at all, and they weren't the ones that I was tracking. So probably it
means my long tail is where this is impacted, and so that can inform my strategy
and my tactics from there.
This is the last question that I like to visit whenever something like this
has happened which is: Are there actions that I should be taking? Not just what
actions, but are there actions? Sometimes I just kind of go, "Hey, it's cool.
I'm going to let Google do what they're going to do, and I'm going to do what
I'm going to do. I'm not going to worry about them."
But sometimes there are tactical actions like, "Hey, you know what? I need
to bolster some individual keywords. We lost rankings on some keywords that are
really important. Let's see if maybe we should produce new pages of content.
Maybe we should update the existing content. Maybe we should redirect the old
ones to the new ones. Maybe we should be trying to earn some new links and
social signals and shares to that stuff, whatever that might be."
Or there might be more strategic level SEO types of things like, "Man,
Google just introduced this big carousel across all these different types of
hotel and travel results. I'm not sure that keyword phrase of city name plus
hotels or city name plus places to stay is really going to help me anymore.
Maybe I should start to consider whether I need to go earlier on in the keyword
search funnel."
Maybe I need to get in here where people aren't yet searching for hotels,
but they're searching for destinations or places, or those kinds of things,
rather than targeting down here where it looks like Google is kind of dominating
the search results themselves. That's a big strategic kind of shift that you'll
have to make with your content and your website and your keyword targeting
strategy.
But being able to ask these questions, all of them, and then getting down to
the tactical and strategic can really help make you more reactive in an
intelligent, considerate way to the big changes that Google might be making.
All right, everyone. I hope you've enjoyed this edition of Whiteboard
Friday, and we'll see you again next week. Take care.
Video transcription by Speechpad.com
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten
hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think
of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but
want to read!
You may view the latest post at
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/a8v9DfN6ie4/how-should-marketers-react-when-googles-search-results-have-dramatic-changes
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Build Great Backlinks
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com
Thursday, 4 July 2013
[Build Great Backlinks] TITLE
Build Great Backlinks has posted a new item, 'Thinking Big: An Interview with
#MozCon Speaker Kyle Rush'
Posted by Erica McGillivray
When we sat down in our big MozCon command room â think the
Enterprise-D's swank Observation Lounge â we knew we wanted to bring
someone who'd worked for the Obama re-election campaign to MozCon. Why? Because
no matter your flavor of politics, the re-election campaign was full of internet
marketing brilliance and used big data to connect with its audience in a way
that affected the world. This is what we're all trying to do, right?
When we sent feelers out, Kyle Rush answered our call. He served as deputy
director of frontend web development for the Obama for America campaign. Kyle's
currently director of technology at The New Yorker, and he'll be speaking about
how to "Win Through Optimization and Testing" at MozCon, July 8-10. You don't
want to miss this advice about testing and conversion rate optimization. You can
follow Kyle on Twitter @kylerush and on his blog.
How did you come to work for the Obama for America campaign?
I've always been interested in technology since a young age. In junior high, I
would spend all of my free time on the family computer making websites. In my
second year of undergrad, I got really into politics and changed my major from
advertising to political science. I followed the '08 campaign closely and really
admired how the campaign was able to innovate in the political field because
political campaigns are notorious for deploying outdated and unusable
technology, if any. After graduation, I worked for Blue State Digital which
contributed to the '08 digital effort. My boss Teddy Goff left Blue State to
become the Digital Director at the Obama campaign, and I asked if he needed an
engineer. Two weeks later, I moved to Chicago.
What did you learn most about yourself as part of such an intense experience?
A lot of political staffers will tell you that working on a campaign is like
building an airplane while you're flying it, and that's very much the case. I
moved to Chicago, where I had never lived, on a two-week notice. We quickly
hired some engineers and built out a team. During the last half of the campaign,
we worked seven-day weeks and not less than 10-hour days. We saw all the work we
were doing play out on TV every day. There were extreme highs like when we had a
90% chance to win the election a few weeks before the first debate. There were
extreme lows like when we lost the first debate badly. We worked 18 months
towards one night, and then we won. I think that we all learned that the limits
we thought we had don't actually exist and that we can go as high and far as we
want to.
What was your favorite win for the campaign?
The obvious favorite win is election day, which was one of the happiest days
of my life. Aside from that, though, I would say the day we tested our
"sequential" donate page. At that point, we had already optimized all the
low-hanging fruit, and it was time to put some serious investment in a variation
to try and beat our control donate page. We put in a lot of thinking, time, and
effort, and we ended up beating the control by 5%. That was a huge win, because
it taught us that even though you might think your page is optimized, there is
always more you can do.
What win surprised you the most?
I don't know if it qualifies as a win, but the Democratic National Convention
was by far the most surprising thing that happened during the campaign. The
convention went perfectly, but the amount of traffic we received to the website
during the convention was unreal. We blew through our entire test queue for
donate pages and were just coming up with tests to do on the fly while the
traffic was pouring in.
Okay, for those us who are political nerds, did you get to meet President
Obama? What's he like?
We did get to meet the President! He came to the office several times during
the campaign to talk and meet everyone at headquarters. For having the stature
of the President of the United States, he is very human. The day after the
election, he came and hugged everyone at headquarters. He is a great guy.
Switching gears from your past to your present, what's inspired you lately?
Web performance is always really inspiring to me because deep down it's what I
care about on my engineering side. Specifically, I really like to read about the
way that other engineers make web apps feel like native apps on mobile devices.
We're all a bunch of data geeks. What are some of your favorite metrics to dig
into?
I'm a performance engineer at heart so I really like to look at metrics around
page speed. My favorite metric is time-to-paint, which is the amount of time it
takes for the browser to do its first render of a web page. This differs from
the pageload metric in that the browser often paints the web page before all of
the assets have loaded. For this reason, time-to-paint is a more valuable metric
to me.
As an engineer obsessed with UX, I also like to focus on metrics that quantify
user frustration. On the Obama campaign, I spent a lot of time measuring any
form error from a validation error on a certain field to the number of
validation errors that occurred for each for submission. On our donate forms, we
found that the people most commonly had two errors on their form submission
which were the employer/occupation fields. Then we wrote a script that measured
if people were entering any data in them at all. Turns out people weren't
entering any data, and we soon came up with solution to fix this problem. Once
we solved the problem, our error rates plummeted.
MozCon attendees love to engage on social media with speakers. What's your
favorite social media network?
Instagram is definitely my favorite social medium. It's beautifully simple,
and it doesn't require a lot of attention, unlike Twitter. You can go a week
without opening it and not feel like you missed a lot.
Finally, for some pure fun, what music have you been listening to lately?
I like pretty much all music, but I really like upbeat/dance-y music. Lately,
I've been listening to Kanye's new album Yeezus non-stop. Typically though, I
listen to house music at work and while working out. Over the past few days,
I've been listening to songs like "Boy Oh Boy" by Diplo, "Play Hard" by David
Guetta, and "Alive" by Krewella.
Thanks, Kyle, for sharing with us. Can't wait for your talk at MozCon. Follow
Kyle on Twitter @kylerush and on his blog. We'll see the rest of you there!
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten
hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think
of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but
want to read!
You may view the latest post at
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/68sPr15FjLw/thinking-big-an-interview-with-mozcon-speaker-kyle-rush
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Build Great Backlinks
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com
#MozCon Speaker Kyle Rush'
Posted by Erica McGillivray
When we sat down in our big MozCon command room â think the
Enterprise-D's swank Observation Lounge â we knew we wanted to bring
someone who'd worked for the Obama re-election campaign to MozCon. Why? Because
no matter your flavor of politics, the re-election campaign was full of internet
marketing brilliance and used big data to connect with its audience in a way
that affected the world. This is what we're all trying to do, right?
When we sent feelers out, Kyle Rush answered our call. He served as deputy
director of frontend web development for the Obama for America campaign. Kyle's
currently director of technology at The New Yorker, and he'll be speaking about
how to "Win Through Optimization and Testing" at MozCon, July 8-10. You don't
want to miss this advice about testing and conversion rate optimization. You can
follow Kyle on Twitter @kylerush and on his blog.
How did you come to work for the Obama for America campaign?
I've always been interested in technology since a young age. In junior high, I
would spend all of my free time on the family computer making websites. In my
second year of undergrad, I got really into politics and changed my major from
advertising to political science. I followed the '08 campaign closely and really
admired how the campaign was able to innovate in the political field because
political campaigns are notorious for deploying outdated and unusable
technology, if any. After graduation, I worked for Blue State Digital which
contributed to the '08 digital effort. My boss Teddy Goff left Blue State to
become the Digital Director at the Obama campaign, and I asked if he needed an
engineer. Two weeks later, I moved to Chicago.
What did you learn most about yourself as part of such an intense experience?
A lot of political staffers will tell you that working on a campaign is like
building an airplane while you're flying it, and that's very much the case. I
moved to Chicago, where I had never lived, on a two-week notice. We quickly
hired some engineers and built out a team. During the last half of the campaign,
we worked seven-day weeks and not less than 10-hour days. We saw all the work we
were doing play out on TV every day. There were extreme highs like when we had a
90% chance to win the election a few weeks before the first debate. There were
extreme lows like when we lost the first debate badly. We worked 18 months
towards one night, and then we won. I think that we all learned that the limits
we thought we had don't actually exist and that we can go as high and far as we
want to.
What was your favorite win for the campaign?
The obvious favorite win is election day, which was one of the happiest days
of my life. Aside from that, though, I would say the day we tested our
"sequential" donate page. At that point, we had already optimized all the
low-hanging fruit, and it was time to put some serious investment in a variation
to try and beat our control donate page. We put in a lot of thinking, time, and
effort, and we ended up beating the control by 5%. That was a huge win, because
it taught us that even though you might think your page is optimized, there is
always more you can do.
What win surprised you the most?
I don't know if it qualifies as a win, but the Democratic National Convention
was by far the most surprising thing that happened during the campaign. The
convention went perfectly, but the amount of traffic we received to the website
during the convention was unreal. We blew through our entire test queue for
donate pages and were just coming up with tests to do on the fly while the
traffic was pouring in.
Okay, for those us who are political nerds, did you get to meet President
Obama? What's he like?
We did get to meet the President! He came to the office several times during
the campaign to talk and meet everyone at headquarters. For having the stature
of the President of the United States, he is very human. The day after the
election, he came and hugged everyone at headquarters. He is a great guy.
Switching gears from your past to your present, what's inspired you lately?
Web performance is always really inspiring to me because deep down it's what I
care about on my engineering side. Specifically, I really like to read about the
way that other engineers make web apps feel like native apps on mobile devices.
We're all a bunch of data geeks. What are some of your favorite metrics to dig
into?
I'm a performance engineer at heart so I really like to look at metrics around
page speed. My favorite metric is time-to-paint, which is the amount of time it
takes for the browser to do its first render of a web page. This differs from
the pageload metric in that the browser often paints the web page before all of
the assets have loaded. For this reason, time-to-paint is a more valuable metric
to me.
As an engineer obsessed with UX, I also like to focus on metrics that quantify
user frustration. On the Obama campaign, I spent a lot of time measuring any
form error from a validation error on a certain field to the number of
validation errors that occurred for each for submission. On our donate forms, we
found that the people most commonly had two errors on their form submission
which were the employer/occupation fields. Then we wrote a script that measured
if people were entering any data in them at all. Turns out people weren't
entering any data, and we soon came up with solution to fix this problem. Once
we solved the problem, our error rates plummeted.
MozCon attendees love to engage on social media with speakers. What's your
favorite social media network?
Instagram is definitely my favorite social medium. It's beautifully simple,
and it doesn't require a lot of attention, unlike Twitter. You can go a week
without opening it and not feel like you missed a lot.
Finally, for some pure fun, what music have you been listening to lately?
I like pretty much all music, but I really like upbeat/dance-y music. Lately,
I've been listening to Kanye's new album Yeezus non-stop. Typically though, I
listen to house music at work and while working out. Over the past few days,
I've been listening to songs like "Boy Oh Boy" by Diplo, "Play Hard" by David
Guetta, and "Alive" by Krewella.
Thanks, Kyle, for sharing with us. Can't wait for your talk at MozCon. Follow
Kyle on Twitter @kylerush and on his blog. We'll see the rest of you there!
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten
hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think
of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but
want to read!
You may view the latest post at
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/68sPr15FjLw/thinking-big-an-interview-with-mozcon-speaker-kyle-rush
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Build Great Backlinks
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com
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