Given at the Houston Internet Marketing Association's Interactive Strategies Conference on September 14th, 2017 in Houston, this presentation discusses how enterprise SEO is having to shift its strategies to align to the ever-changing search engine paradigm.

1. Enterprise SEO and AI
Humans Mess Things Up. Bots Can Help.

2. Presented by:
Experience:
• 10+ Years of Experience in In-House SEO
• Previous Employers: AMD, HomeAway, BDX,
SpareFoot, Dell, seoClarity
• Appearances: Pubcon, Clarity, SFIMA,
CrossForum, Search Talk Live, SEJ ThinkTank
• Follow: @keithgoode
Name: Keith Goode
Position: SEO Manager, Systems,
IBM

3. Presented by:
CYA:
• I’m not here as a representative of IBM. I’m here
as an SEO professional
• I am not revealing any non-public, IBM-specific
details in this presentation
Name: Keith Goode
Position: SEO Manager, Systems,
IBM

4. Trivia
A Brief History of Humanity’s Boons and Blunders

5. The Library of Alexandria
• Constructed in the 3rd
Century B.C. under
Ptolemy I Soter
(successor to Alexander
the Great)
• Most important library in
the ancient world
• Major center of
scholarship
• Existed for over 800 years

6. The Library of Alexandria
• Burned/Destroyed 4 Times
• Julius Caesar (48 B.C.)
• Emperor Aurelian (c. 270 A.D.)
• Coptic Pope Theophilus (391
A.D.)
• Caliph Omar (642 A.D.)
• Sedition or blasphemy were
the reasons

7. Nuclear Fission
• A very dense source of energy
• Millions of times more energy
dense than fossil fuels
• Most common type of nuclear
reactor
• Discovered by Otto Hahn and his
assistant Fritz Strassman
• December 17, 1938

8. Nuclear Fission
• Nuclear fission became the
atom bomb (Manhattan
Project)
• Dropped on two Japanese
cities
• Hiroshima – August 6, 1945
• Nagasaki – August 9, 1945
• At least 129,000 people killed

9. Computers
• Powered our space
program
• Exponential advances
toward greater
computational ability
• They’re smaller, faster
and sleeker than ever
• They expose us to more
and more risk…

10. Rich Skrenta
• Cofounder of
• DMOZ
• Topix LLC
• Blekko
• Invented the first computer virus
• Elk Cloner - 1982
• Targeted Apple IIe’s
• First widespread, self-replicating virus

11. The Internet
• Unlimited access to the world’s information
• Access for all
• No boundaries to knowledge
“limitless information and total connectivity will
make us wiser, less bigoted and kinder”

12. Truth #1: Godwin’s Law
"As an online discussion grows longer, the
probability of a comparison involving Hitler
approaches 1."

13. Truth #2: Marketers Ruin Everything

14. SEO Copywriting
Keywords:
• Fort Lauderdale vacation
rentals
• Fort Lauderdale
accommodations
• Fort Lauderdale hotels
• Fort Lauderdale condo rentals
• Fort Lauderdale beach house
SEO Copy:
Title:
Keyword 1, Keyword 2 | Sitename
On-page copy:
Fort Lauderdale vacation rentals
are the perfect Fort Lauderdale
accommodations. Rather than
expensive Fort Lauderdale
hotels, try one of our Fort
Lauderdale condo rentals or
Fort Lauderdale beach house
rentals instead.

15. It’s War!
The History of Google’s Long War with Spam

16. Google’s Long History of Algo Changes

17. The Google Intermediaries

18. Google’s Frontal Assault
Image credit: Teeraphol Ambhai

19. Google’s Dilemma
• We cannot write algorithms for each task we
want to accomplish separately
• We need to write general algorithms that learn
from observations
• Enter A.I. – RankBrain and TensorFlow
• Read more from Jeff Dean’s keynote, “Large
Scale Deep Learning”

20. Google’s Rate of Change Accelerating
14
15
16
AI

21. Robopocalypse!
A.I. – Will This Kill SEO … Again?

22. Self Aware A.I.
• EMH – Emergency
Medical Hologram
• Away Mission Team
Attacked
• Corporeal Crew
Immobilized
• The Doctor
Commands Shuttle to
Navigate to Voyager
at Maximum Impulse
• Technology
Commanding
Technology
• Star Trek Voyager
• Episode 11, Season 5
• “The Latent Image”

23. Crewless Ship
• Enterprise is Outfitted
with Latest Computer
• Computer can
Navigate and Pilot
the Ship
• Minimal Crew
Necessary
• War Games with
Other Ships
• Things Go Wrong
• Many Redshirts Die
• Star Trek TOS
• Episode 24, Season 2
• “The Ultimate Computer”

24. A.I. Still in Clumsy
Toddler Stage
Like a toddler:
• Requires adult
(human) supervision
• Relies heavily on
teaching (data input)
• Needs adult (human)
instruction
• GIGO – Garbage
In/Garbage Out
• In the grand scheme
of things, it’s amazing
However, unlike a toddler, A.I. has:
• no innate curiosity
• no appreciation of beauty
• no sense of humor

25. Watson Oncology
Criticisms
• Gives doctors suggestions for
treatments already given by
humans
• Potential to devolve into
“algorithmic bias” based on
geography, race, etc.
• Requires lots of data entry
• Not the “silver bullet” people want
“If you can’t tolerate critics, don’t do
anything new or interesting.”
– Jeff Bezos

26. Enterprise-D Had a Teenage Driver

27. Plus, Bots Can’t Connect Emotionally

28. Engage!
How Enterprises Are Working Within the New Paradigm

29. Enterprises Focused on a Better Roadmap
1. Architecture Issues
2. Indexing Issues
3. Audience and Market Size evaluation (Topic
development)
4. Audience segmentation (Topic management)
5. Content Mapping
6. Content Optimization
7. Links (External, Internal & Social)
Usability
Relevance
Authority
A.K.A. “The Three C’s” – Crawlability, Content, Credibility

30. Rethinking KeywordsSearchVolume
Query Length
Head and Body Terms: Sweet Spot
for Keyword Research
Traditional Long-Tail
Conversational Queries
Head Terms: Laptops
Body Terms: 15 inch
laptops
Long-Tail Terms: 15
inch gaming laptop with
64GB memory
Conversational
Queries: What is the
best gaming laptop for
Modern Warfare?

31. Now With Voice SearchSearchVolume
Head and Body Terms: Sweet Spot
for Keyword Research
Traditional Long-Tail
Conversational Queries
Head Terms: Who sells
Laptops?
Body Terms: Where
can I buy a 15 inch
laptop?
Long-Tail Terms: 15
inch gaming laptop with
64GB memory
Conversational
Queries: What is the
best gaming laptop for
Modern Warfare?
Query Length
Specificity

32. RankBrain Cures Your Keyword Obsession
• You don’t have to obsess over every iteration
of a keyword/phrase
• In some cases, you don’t even have to use the
exact keyword to be relevant*
• Now you can write like you mean it
*No. Seriously. Use the keyword. Don’t depend on outlier situations.

33. Focus on Topics, not Keywords

34. Who Are Your Customers? What is their Journey?SearchVolume
Specificity
Awareness Consideration Decision
Post-
Purchase

35. Does Google prefer
articles over
products?
What is this guy
doing well that I
can emulate?

36. Verbatims and Sales Feedback

37. Competitive Gap Analyses

38. Who Competes with You?
• Market competitors may
not compete with you in
natural search
• Your biggest market
competitors may be
terrible at SEO
• Your real competition may
not even be on your radar

39. Wisdom of the Crowds
Might be branded
terms that you
can’t possibly
rank for
Very likely that
these are
keywords you
should be
interested in
pursuing
Keywords
You
Rank For
Keywords
Competitor
B Ranks For
Keywords
Competitor
A Ranks For

40. The SEO Prime Directive
Enabling the Humanity of the Internet

41. Back to the Beginning

42. Google’s Original Intent
1
4
1
5
1
6
A
I

43. Google’s Original Intent
“to organize the world's information and make it
universally accessible and useful”

44. Content is King?
• No. The User is King … or
Borg Queen
• Content is the Royal
Advisor
• IF your products or
services align to their
needs, your content
should align to their
search methodology

45. Shift Your Organization
• Democratize SEO in your Enterprise
• Adopt a User-First Approach to
Everything
• Yes: Adopt Best Practices
• No: Don’t Focus on the Latest Tricks
• Focus on the Experience, Not the
Engines

46. Executive Buy-in and Prioritization

47. SEO is a Symphony of Effort

48. Thank you!
Connect with me at @keithgoode