What is User Generated Content (UGC) and how does it relate to SEO? Kevin goes in-depth on the 4 major challenges that UGC SEO brings: Indexing & Crawling, Content Quality, Schema and Spam. An exciting deep dive into technical SEO.

1. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
!"#"$"%&'()*+,

2. @kevin_indig @kevin_indig www.kevin-indig.com
K E V I N I N D I G
Exponential organic
growth with User
Generated Content

3. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
-.()/*+0&12&345&/*(,216)0

4. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
#&*+(67+8&345&9-:&261)&;&0<,+0
A video platform
(Youtube competitor).
!"#$%&'(#')
A SaaS company with tons
of properties.
*($"++#")
A marketplace for B2B software
and reviews.
,-

5. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
=(<*>)1,<17
~3b monthly visits at its height
~100,000,000 indexed pages

6. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
?,*(00<(7
~1M indexed pages
Lots of UGC sites
Marketplace.atlassian.com
Community.Atlassian.com
Bitbucket.Atlassian.com
Jira.Atlassian.com
Trello.com

7. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
4@
~500K indexed pages
User reviews
www.g2.com
Learn.g2.com

8. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
A16B<7C&D<,E&345&
<0&8<22+6+7,
Unique opportunity, unique
challenges
Pros Cons
Scalability Spam
Lower/no content cost Duplicate/thin content
Easier backlinks More technical SEO challenges
Faster Growth Harder to control
Better access to data Needs moderation
Flywheel effect Harder to get going

9. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
• Make sure Google only
indexes and crawls relevant
content.
• Help Google find all content.
• Optimize JS frameworks.
• Distribute PageRank
throughout the site.
.)/01#)234356"7$#)2
• Minimize low quality and
thin content.
• Keep the average content
quality high.
• Incentivize engagement.
5')(0)(389"$#(%
• FAQ schema
• Review schema
• Q&A schema
:;<0&"
• Minimize spam.
• Disincentivize future spammers.
:="&
345&9-:&E(0&F&G16+&GE(**+7C+0

10. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
!"#$%&"'()(*+,-.&"'

11. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
#78+.<7C&H&
56(D*<7C
Levers
- Internal linking
- Rendering, especially JavaScript
- Site speed
- XML Sitemaps

12. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
:/,<)<I+&216&G*<GBJ
8+/,E
Optimizing your internal link structure is the
most effective way to improve crawling and
indexing of your site.
Assess click-depth on a regular
basis (quarterly at least)

13. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
:/,<)<I+&216&G*<GBJ
8+/,E
Building more category or hub pages can solve
this problem. It helps search engines discover
more pages because they stop digging after a
certain level.
Trello had a steep site structure

14. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
K(C0&G(7&<)/61L+&>1M6&<7,+67(*&*<7B<7C&0,6MG,M6+

15. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
!"#$#%& '()'$(*+,(*&)
The first time they capitalize on hashtags and
utilize their internal linking structure
Hashtag pages list all videos
with a certain hashtag

16. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
:/,<)<I+&0/++8&<2&
>1MN6+&0*1D
However, when you’re too slow Google will tone
its crawl budget for you down.
What is too slow?
-> 500 errors in search console
-> FID > 300ms
-> TTFB = green
Site speed has a bigger impact
on UX than SEO

17. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
K"#"$!"
True Internal PageRank
Applying TIPR got marketplace.atlassian.com to an
inflection point in Jan 2017 and increased organic
traffic by ~60% in the next 12 months.
Full article: https://www.kevin-
indig.com/blog/internal-link-optimization-with-tipr/

18. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
!"#$%$&'#$() "(#*)#$'+
By better distributing PageRank, other pages get more equity
and a higher crawl rate.
,(-*./01.2*3
Backlinks and crawl rate operate on a power curve: a few pages
get the most.
0
100
200
300
400
500
600 1
40
79
118
157
196
235
274
313
352
391
430
469
508
547
586
625
664
703
Linking
domains
Number of URLs
DOMAIN POP
DISTRIBUTION
0
50
100
150
200
250
1
230
459
688
917
1146
1375
1604
1833
2062
2291
2520
2749
2978
3207
3436
3665
3894
4123
Monthly
crawls
Number of URLs
CRAWL RATE DISTRIBUTION

19. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
:/,<)<I<7C&,E+&
<7,+67(*&*<7B<7C&
0,6MG,M6+
By linking more “fairly” between pages, we can
distribute PR better throughout the site.
Incoming and outgoing links are
out of balance
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
0
8
13
18
23
28
33
38
43
49
54
60
65
73
81
87
94
109
120
132
154
182
216
286
323
334
352
Number
of
Inlinks/Outlinks
Number of URLs
INCOMING VS. OUTGOING INTERNAL LINKS
Inlinks Outlinks

20. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
O<7B0&,1&(//&L+60<170&(,+&M/&G6(D*&PM8C+,&17&
,E+&?,*(00<(7&)(6B+,/*(G+

21. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
K#$!&/61L+8&,1&P+&
L+6>&+22<G<+7,
The biggest point often missed is that internal
PR is not sufficient to really understand where
on your platform the most PR accrues. That’s
why we need to combine external backlinks (by
URL) to enrich our understanding.
Organic traffic increased +60%
https://www.kevin-indig.com/blog/internal-link-optimization-with-tipr/

22. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
*/"0$"0(12,.&03

23. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
517,+7,&QM(*<,> Levers
- Consolidation
- Canonicalization
- Index control
- User incentives & guidance
- Content moderation

24. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
R9-:&=+P,R&<0&6+(*
410 = old/closed accounts
Have a plan for old content
Replace duplicates with tag pages
Avoid server errors
Refresh and send XML sitemaps often
UGC means you need a constant
handle on SEO hygiene

25. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
=17N,&<78+.&*1C<7&
/(C+0
Exclude them in the robots.txt

26. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
'(L+&(&/*(7&216&
8+(8&G17,+7,
401 is the best solution
We unsuccessfully used automated redirects at
Dailymotion but it didn’t work.

27. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
?L1<8&0+6L+6&
1M,(C+0
Respect Google’s resources
Assess database connections, CDNs, and server
load balancing to solve this.

28. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
=M/*<G(,+&G17,+7,&
<0&(7&<00M+
answers.atlassian.com had big
DC issues
The best solution is to index the page with the
most value, i.e., most answers or fixed issues
when dealing with a community.

29. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
=M/*<G(,+&G17,+7,&
<0&(7&<00M+
The migration worked really well
Fixing a lot of SEO debt increased the success of
the migration from answers.atlassian.com to
community.atlassian.com.

30. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
4)5'5*%*)#/$3/%106/%(.*/3"'%7".((8
Rank by votes, clicks, comments, etc.
9'): ;< *)5'5*%*)# $8 "(33$;+*
G2 ranks vendors by # of reviews and rating.

31. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
AE(,&G17,+7,&SM(*<,>&0G16+&G1M*8&>1M&G6+(,+T

32. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
4&56(7"&88$09

33. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
!<GE&07<//+,0 Levers
- FAQ schema
- Review rich snippets
- Q&A schema

34. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
!"#$"%&'$()&*+$,,"-*
Over 1.6M monthly sessions from review rich snippets.
./0&*()"12
Over 200K monthly sessions with two months.

35. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
U?Q&07<//+,0&
86(D&(,,+7,<17
The initial fear was for FAQ snippets to give
away too much information, but they are very
effective in drawing clicks, which seems to be
rewarded by Google.

36. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
!+L<+D&07<//+,0&
(6+&(&6+SM<6+)+7,&
216&6+L<+D&0<,+0
For review sites, just like for recipe sites,
reviews are not a competitive advantage, but a
minimum requirement to play.

37. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
AE(,&6<GE&07<//+,0&G(7&>1M&C+7+6(,+T

38. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
78,:

39. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
9/()
Levers
- Blocklisting
- Deindexation
- Content Moderation

40. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
345&E(0&
81D70<8+0
As soon as users can get a benefit from gaming
the system, they will try. The problem: you can’t
keep up taking it down without systems.
An internet law: wherever users
can spam, they will

41. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
411C*+&<07N,&
<))M7+&,1&0/()

42. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
?78&7+<,E+6&<0&4@
A vendor changed their name to “CRM
Software” to rank for that keyword.

43. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
KE+&6+0M*,&12&0/()&
(,&=(<*>)1,<17
Google’s Phantom III update hit
dailymotion.com and punished it for low-quality
content (rightfully so). That was back in early
2015.
Traffic dropped by over 25%

44. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
AE(,&D+&8<8
You can’t moderate all spam but you can start
somewhere: with a list of content you definitely
don’t want.
Blocklist the worst terms

45. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
=.(-/(.5')$0/#.'88$0
Google rewarded bitbucket.org with more organic traffic.
>*%(#$2'#* 3"'%%*.3
We showed Google that we’re a trustworthy platform.

46. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
• Make sure Google only
indexes and crawls relevant
content.
• Help Google find all content.
• Optimize JS frameworks.
• Distribute PageRank
throughout the site.
.)/01#)234356"7$#)2
• Minimize low quality and
thin content.
• Keep the average content
quality high.
• Incentivize engagement.
5')(0)(389"$#(%
• FAQ schema
• Review schema
• Q&A schema
:;<0&"
• Minimize spam.
• Disincentivize future spammers.
:="&
345&9-:&E(0&F&G16+&GE(**+7C+0

47. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
1. Ensure efficient crawling and indexing
2. Help Google find all the content
3. Update XML sitemaps often
4. Assess how Google’s renders (your mobile site)
5. Develop a content quality score
6. Deindex old/dead/thin/duplicate content
7. Add Schema wherever you can
8. Kill & disincentivize spam
91*L+&F&G16+&
GE(**+7C+0

48. @kevin_indig @kevin_indig www.kevin-indig.com
K E V I N I N D I G

50. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
?A-9:V-&K#KO-
4:-9&'-!-
It is a long established fact that a reader will be
distracted by the readable content of a page when
that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of
letters, as opposed to using 'Content here,
content here', making it look like readable
English. Many desktop publishing packages and
web page editors now use as their default model
text, and a search for will uncover many web sites
still in their infancy.
It is a long established fact that
when looking at its layout.

51. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
?A-9:V-&K#KO-
4:-9&'-!-
It is a long established fact that a reader will be
distracted by the readable content of a page when
that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of
letters, as opposed to using 'Content here,
content here', making it look like readable
English. Many desktop publishing packages and
web page editors now use as their default model
text, and a search for will uncover many web sites
still in their infancy.
It is a long established fact that
when looking at its layout.

52. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
/345674&898:4&;645&<4!4
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable
content of a page when that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters,
as opposed desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use as
their default model text, and a search for will uncover many web sites still in
their infancy.
/345674&898:4&;645&<4!4
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable
content of a page when that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters,
as opposed desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use as
their default model text, and a search for will uncover many web sites still in
their infancy.

53. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
?@4A!B4/CDCE4/=!4A/F494
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the
distribution of many web sites still in their infancy.
?@4A!B4/CDCE4/=!4A/F494
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the
distribution of many web sites still in their infancy.

54. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
?A-9:V-&K#KO-&4:-9&'-!-

55. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
?A-9:V-&K#KO-
4:-9&'-!-
It is a long established fact that a reader will be
distracted by the readable content of a page
when that it has a more-or-less normal
distribution of letters, as opposed to using
'Content here, content here', making it look like
readable English.
It is a long established fact that
when looking at its layout.

56. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
?A-9:V-&K#KO-&'-!-
Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Integer vulputate sollicitudin
dapibus. ullamcorper purus consectetur lorem ultricies pulvinar. Cras et nulla a mi egestas sagittis eu ut dui. Integer
molestie laoreet Fusce maximus sit amet nulla non consectetur. Ut blandit iaculis arcu, sit amet fringilla nisl ultrices et. Nulla
commodo sapien et fermentum auctor. Nullam efficitur nisi ut ligula interdum semper. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur urna quam, ac sagittis purus blandit id. Morbi et placerat orci. Proin dignissim maximus eros vel
Integer vulputate sollicitudin dapibus. Vivamus at tincidunt ex. Etiam vitae
interdum purus. Duis arcu turpis, accumsan nec ullamcorper ornare, vehicula
in mi.

57. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
Nunc laoreet sollicitudin ullamcorper. Donec congue risus ac dui
efficitur pulvinar. Duis neque magna, fermentum eu sodales non,
molestie et erat. Cras consectetur nisi gravida nisl semper
condimentum. In ullamcorper enim et ex hendrerit, nec varius purus
dapibus. Pellentesque in dui sed lectus faucibus hendrerit. Proin
tempor consectetur velit, suscipit gravida mauris commodo eget.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Etiam
suscipit magna vitae quam iaculis, non tristique odio blandit.
Vestibulum eget massa id justo condimentum bibendum. Duis
tincidunt eu nunc quis pulvinar. Fusce sit amet mollis lectus, quis
sagittis lectus. In egestas lorem ut fermentum maximus. Integer
ligula orci, pharetra ac libero quis, pellentesque gravida ante.
Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra,
per inceptos himenaeos. Integer vulputate sollicitudin dapibus.
Vivamus at tincidunt ex. Etiam vitae interdum purus. Duis arcu
turpis, accumsan nec ullamcorper ornare, vehicula in mi. In
ullamcorper purus consectetur lorem ultricies pulvinar. Cras et nulla
a mi egestas sagittis eu ut dui. Integer molestie laoreet urna. Fusce
maximus sit amet nulla non consectetur. Ut blandit iaculis arcu, sit
amet fringilla nisl ultrices et.
?A-9:V-&K#KO-
4:-9&'-!-
It is a long established fact that
when looking at its layout.

58. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
?A-9:V-&K#KO-&4:-9&'-!-
Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Integer vulputate sollicitudin
dapibus. ullamcorper purus consectetur lorem ultricies pulvinar. Cras et nulla a mi egestas sagittis eu ut dui. Integer
molestie laoreet Fusce maximus sit amet nulla non consectetur. Ut blandit iaculis arcu, sit amet fringilla nisl ultrices et.
Nulla commodo sapien et fermentum auctor. Nullam efficitur nisi ut ligula interdum semper. Lorem ipsum dolor sit
amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Praesent vel ante vitae tortor imperdiet pretium vitae a ex. Suspendisse turpis justo,
egestas sit amet lectus malesuada, tristique convallis leo. Fusce est est, tempus at purus nec, venenatis efficitur libero.
Nunc ornare mauris eget ligula aliquam pretium. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada
fames ac turpis egestas. In sollicitudin urna quam, ac sagittis purus blandit id. Morbi et placerat orci. Proin dignissim
maximus eros vel
Integer vulputate sollicitudin dapibus. Vivamus at tincidunt ex extiam vitae interdum
purus duis arcu turpis, accumsan ullamcorper ornare, vehicula in mi.

59. KEVIN INDIG UGC SEO
?A-9:V-&K#KO-
4:-9&'-!-
It is a long established fact that a reader will be
distracted by the readable content of a page when
looking at its layout the point of using is that it has
a more-or-less normal distribution of letters.
No offers/promotions
Drives engagement & retention
Nurture with drip campaigns

60. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
?A-9:V-&K#KO-
4:-9&'-!-
It is a long established fact that a reader will be
distracted by the readable content of a page when
looking at its layout the point of using is that it has
a more-or-less normal distribution of letters.
No offers/promotions
Drives engagement & retention
Nurture with drip campaigns

61. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
?A-9:V-&K#KO-
4:-9&'-!-
It is a long established fact that a reader will be
distracted by the readable content of a page when
looking at its layout the point of using is that it has
a more-or-less normal distribution of letters.
No offers/promotions
Drives engagement & retention
Nurture with drip campaigns

62. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
?A-9:V-&K#KO-&4:-9&'-!-
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the is
that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters.
It is a long established fact that a
reader will be distracted by the
readable content of a page when
using Lorem Ipsum
*>?:@A?3B.BC?
It is a long established fact that a
reader will be distracted by the
readable content of a page when
using Lorem Ipsum
*>?:@A?3B.BC?
It is a long established fact that a
reader will be distracted by the
readable content of a page when
using Lorem Ipsum
*>?:@A?3B.BC?

63. KEVIN INDIG
2020 Copyright. All rights Reserved.
UGC SEO
?A-9:V-&K#KO-&4:-9&'-!-
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the is
that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters.
• Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit.
• Proin quis quam imperdiet,
gravida lacus a, luctus velit.
• Duis eu ligula nec elit
rhoncus lacinia.
• Vivamus mollis arcu sit amet
lacinia tempor.
• Nam quis neque eget nunc
ullamcorper dapibus.
*>?:@A?3B.BC?
• Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit.
• Proin quis quam imperdiet,
gravida lacus a, luctus velit.
• Duis eu ligula nec elit
rhoncus lacinia.
• Vivamus mollis arcu sit amet
lacinia tempor.
• Nam quis neque eget nunc
ullamcorper dapibus.
*>?:@A?3B.BC?
• Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit.
• Proin quis quam imperdiet,
gravida lacus a, luctus velit.
• Duis eu ligula nec elit
rhoncus lacinia.
• Vivamus mollis arcu sit amet
lacinia tempor.
• Nam quis neque eget nunc
ullamcorper dapibus.
*>?:@A?3B.BC?