6. | @lilyraynyc#DMOSummit
Methodology:
Analyze organic visibility (VI) of ~1,500
domains in U.S. index over time.
Maintain categorized lists of high-traffic
domains and changes in traffic patterns.
Cross-reference organic performance with
Sistrix data, look for link-related anomalies.
Analyze how sites have changed over time.
#DMOSummit |
8. #DMOSummit | @lilyraynyc
• Organic visibility =/= organic traffic
• None of the following brands are my clients
• Small sample of websites (~1,500)
• My theories about their performance are speculation
• 3rd-party tools are not 100% accurate
• VI change date range: 1/1/20 vs. 10/1/20
• Correlation =/= causation*
Disclaimers:
*(not a relevant disclaimer here, but would this
really be an SEO presentation without it?)
16. #DigitalEliteDay | @lilyraynyc
#DMOSummit | @lilyraynyc
Zoom appears in #3 position for “meetings” during COVID, likely due to Google’s QDF algorithm
(query deserves freshness) & rapidly changing search intent.
18. #DigitalEliteDay | @lilyraynyc
#DMOSummit | @lilyraynyc
University and museum sites lose rankings, as their locations are currently closed. Online art courses
take up the first 3 positions.
25. #DigitalEliteDay | @lilyraynyc
#DMOSummit | @lilyraynyc
Some of the biggest
winners of SEO visibility
this year:
• Highly authoritative institutions (i.e. hospitals)
• Official .gov, .uk and .org sites
• Data-driven & science/evidence-based
• Heavily researched and well-sourced content
28. | @lilyraynyc#DMOSummit
Date Article
04/03/2020 Google Says They Are Not Filtering Out Sites For Coronavirus
Searches
04/06/2020 Google Logo Says Thank You Coronavirus Helpers
04/07/2020 Google Summarizes Its Search Changes For COVID-19 In Tweets
04/07/2020 Google Search COVID Announcements Feature To Be Live Soon
04/14/2020 Google Throttling Crawling Of Sites During The Coronavirus
Outbreak?
04/17/2020 Google Now Supports Government Benefits Schema For COVID-19
Announcements
04/21/2020 Google Local Services Ads Enables COVID-19 Highlights
04/22/2020 Google Testing Questions Box In Search Results In US For COVID-19
Queries
04/23/2020 Google Offers Free COVID-19 Posters For Your Business
05/01/2020 Google Question Hub - What Is Your Question Is Wider Than COVID-
19 Searches
05/04/2020 Google Has Not Slowed Crawling Your Site Because Of COVID-19
05/05/2020 Nooglers First Day As A Google Employee During COVID-19
05/05/2020 AMP Not Required For COVID-19 Related News In Google Top
Stories Carousel
05/07/2020 Google My Business Adds COVID-19 Responder Policy For Hotels
05/07/2020 May 2020 Google Webmaster Report: Core Update, Google
Shopping, LinkedIn & COVID-19
05/07/2020 Google Adds COVID Testing Center Details To Local Panel
05/12/2020 Google Posts Prioritizing COVID-19 Posts Over Other Google Posts
05/18/2020 Google AdSense Unable To Review Some Sites Due To COVID-19
05/26/2020 Google Asks SEOs How COVID-19 Changed SEO Work
06/19/2020 Google Ads Begins Issuing COVID-19 Credits
06/22/2020 Google Internship During COVID-10 Pandemic
07/20/2020 Google Ads To Ban Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dangerous Ads
07/24/2020 Google Search Showing Flight & Hotel COVID-19 Impact
Date Article
03/04/2020 Google I/O Cancelled Over Coronavirus Concerns
03/09/2020 Google Asking Businesses To Update Business Hours & Details For COVID-19
03/10/2020 Google Search Relations Team Grounded During Coronavirus
03/13/2020 Googlers Taking Work Stations Home During Coronavirus
03/13/2020 Google My Business Asking Is The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Affecting Your
Business?
03/16/2020 Should Google Halt Search Algorithm Updates During COVID-19 Outbreak
03/17/2020 60% Of SEOs Would Like To Pause Google Algorithm Updates During COVID-19
Outbreak
03/23/2020 Google Stops Accepting Local Reviews & Q&A During Coronavirus Outbreak
03/25/2020 Google Advice On E-Commerce Sites Closing Due To COVID-19
03/25/2020 Google My Business Not Functioning Properly During Coronavirus Outbreak
03/26/2020 Most SEOs Claiming Organic Search Traffic Declines Due To COVID-19
03/26/2020 Google Ads Offers Advertising Advice During COVID-19
04/01/2020 Google Ads New Policy Prevents Profiting Off Sensitive Events, Like COVID-19
04/01/2020 Google COVID-19 Announcements Beta Structured Data
04/02/2020 Google Posts With COVID-19 Updates
04/02/2020 April 2020 Google Webmaster Report: COVID-19, Algorithm Updates, Mobile First
Indexing & More
04/03/2020 Google Search Console COVID-19 Announcement Feature
04/03/2020 Google Doodle - Stay Home. Save Lives. Leads To Coronavirus Tips Results
Timeline of Google
updates related
to COVID-19
31. #DigitalEliteDay | @lilyraynyc
#DMOSummit | @lilyraynyc
The FDA takes the top two positions for “hand sanitizer,” despite
previously being owned by transactional pages.
44. #DigitalEliteDay | @lilyraynyc
#DMOSummit | @lilyraynyc
Change in Intent?
Transactional pages used to rank for “girls in panties,” now
it’s largely stock image sites.
59. #DMOSummit | @lilyraynyc
• High-quality images
• Great usability
• Fast page load times
• Links to top markets on homepage (basically mini
HTML sitemaps – highly crawlable)
• Robust neighborhood guides
• Extensive attributes about every property,
building and neighborhood
• Content is targeted to searcher’s location
• Thoughtful website architecture
• Dedicated agent pages with amazing E-A-T
60. | @lilyraynyc
What have we learned:
• E-A-T matters more than ever, especially for YMYL/controversial/crisis topics
• Pay attention to changes in search intent to make sure your page is eligible
to rank
• Leverage the latest Google features i.e. FAQ Schema, Web Stories, and
optimizing for Google Discover
• The biggest sites can get away with breaking the rules, but that doesn’t
mean you should copy them.
#DMOSummit |
