'Two-tier SERP: Ranking for the most competitive terms'
Tom Capper, London Consulting Team Leader, Distilled
Tom Capper, London Consulting Team Lead, Distilled
Tom Capper talked about ranking for a lead term. You know the high volume keyword your boss really cares about. Often times it’s hard to answer his question: “Why aren’t we #1 for [lead term]?!”.
Tom had an interesting theory: What if the lead terms were no longer relevant as ranking factors? What if Google now had so much data, and had become so data-driven using data from its own search results, that ranking factors were no longer a useful model for these most lucrative positions?
He presented three evidence to examine this issue georgia mobile phone numbers database and explained the 'how' and 'why' from Google's perspective. He also talked about the consequences of this new game and how you can win.
One of Tom’s main points was that Google has changed a lot over the years. And it continues to do so. In 2017 alone, Google conducted 31,584 side-by-side experiments with quality assessors and subsequently implemented 2,453 search changes[]. But many SEOs are still fixated on old updates.
Tom tested the hypothesis that “the higher you rank, the less important ‘ranking factors’ become” with his own studies focusing on links. His analysis showed this to be true: Links become less important (as a ranking factor) as you rank higher. Links become less important in the top 10 and less important in the top 1-5 . Title terms are no longer relevant to ranking factors. Just look at the SERP fluctuation for a big keyword like “mother’s day flowers”:
fluctuation on the SERP for keyword “mother's day flowers”
No major changes have been made in that time. The only thing that has changed is that a lot more people are searching for the term here.
SERPs change when they have high volume!
Additionally, many formerly commercial keywords are increasingly dominated by informational content. This isn’t because Google is reshuffling some ranking factors. It’s because of intent. Google is reevaluating intent for established keywords.
For head terms at the top of the SERPs, Google may be measuring things like:
Pogo-sticking (don't look at bounce rate, use event tracking)
Time to SERP engagement
- and these should be the KPIs you should focus on.
And for this reason, you may want to re-evaluate your pricing:
Price
Aesthetic
Short-sighted interstitials
- Because they can impact the above metrics that Google may be measuring your site with.
What can we do about this?
Tom pointed out that the basics still work. You need to get your basic SEO in order. Here are some things you can optimize further:
Ask users to compare your site to competitors
Change the ranking (on your web store) and see if fewer users leave the site
Remove pop-ups
Page speed
Add USPs to page titles
Brand awareness
Intent
Tom's key takeaways were:
Tom's key takeaways
Link to slides
'10 Visuals That Changed Conversations'
Wil Reynolds, Founder, Seer Interactive
Wil Reynolds, Founder, Seer Interactive
Wil Reynolds is known for breaking down the silos between SEO and Paid Search and using big data tools to analyze search. One of his main tools is PowerBI, and he encourages all SEOs to use it in their work. You can check out his video on YouTube .
Wil noted up front that his presentation isn’t for everyone. If you haven’t been through the process of building a relationship between your paid and organic data, you probably won’t get much out of it. Except to know that it’s possible.
If you are not using PowerBI or integrating SEO and PPC, you may want to start with his presentation at Learn Inbound 2017 and/or check out his slides at SearchLove 2017 .
In his presentation at SearchLove 2018, Wil went through 10 data visualizations that provided further insights and gave examples from both local search, eCommerce, B2B and B2C, PPC or SEO.
Wil's insightful and revealing dashboards from PowerBIOne of Wil's many insightful and explanatory dashboards in PowerBI
In summary, big data has helped Wil’s company change conversations with customers, prioritize workloads, get things done faster, and win at SEO.
The main points are:
Wil's company changes conversations with clients - main points
Link to slides
'How Distance and Intent Shape the Local Pack'
Rob Bucci, CEO, STAT Search Analytics
Rob Bucci, CEO, STAT Search Analytics
Rob Bucci is the former CEO of STAT, MOZ recently acquired the company, you can read about it here .
Rob talked about why local search is important and how you can get better at it. He cited an article by Think With Google that revealed that Google is seeing an increase in local searches where people are not explicitly stating their local intent. This is because people are increasingly learning to assume that Google will understand what they want if they just use a short word or short phrase (like “pizza”). For this reason, you shouldn’t ignore keywords with implied local intent. Google interprets implied local intent, so as SEOs, we need to know how Google thinks and responds.
Rob pointed out that every SERP is localized to some degree. Localization is perhaps the most important filter Google puts its results through when creating its SERP.
Rob referenced an analysis done by STAT where they took highly local keywords, tracked them in specific zip codes and at the general market level (without local knowledge), and compared the two side by side. It turned out that the SERPs were only 30% similar. If you’re not tracking in specific locations, you’re missing 70% of what searchers see .
Only 5% of organic results remained in the same ranking position, meaning if you spend all your time measuring at a national level, you’re actually missing a large portion of what your users are seeing and aren’t reporting with accurate data.
Additionally, SERP features (like featured snippets) are even less similar across local and market-level SERPs. SERP features are more affected by localization than organic results, with only 20% similarity.
Every serp is localized serp
Another important point Rob makes is that your opportunity with Local Packs will vary depending on which geographic modifier you use. If you’re targeting “near me” queries, you’ll have a lot of Local Pack opportunities. If you’re targeting “in x city,” for example, you’ll have slightly fewer opportunities.
Appearance of Local packs by geo modifier
When it comes to Local Pack, Google cares more about where you stand when you search than how you phrase your search . However, this varies by geographic modifier. So, to have a strong local SEO strategy, you need to track multiple locations and use different geographic modifiers.
What are some things you can do to impact your ability to appear or rank in the Local Pack?
The main results were:
Measure the distance of your Local Pack results and find competitors within this radius
Have a good Google ranking
Rank on page 1 of organic results
There are many other findings and takeaways from Rob's presentation, so check out his slides to learn more about Local Packages. You can also download a whitepaper with more details on the topic from STAT's website .
Authors’ note: You can add a specific region, city, or even address to the keywords you track on AccuRanker. This is very useful if your focus is local SEO, as you can add as many locations as you want.
