The Evolution of SEO - 2014 and Beyond

SEO EVOLUTION 2014 @iacquire

Laying the Foundation HISTORY: LAST 36-MONTHS @iacquire

36-Months of History •  Panda & Penguin •  Google Now •  Webmaster Notifications •  Google+ & +1 •  EMD & QDF Updates •  Authorship & In-Depth Articles •  The Knowledge Graph •  Schema and Rich Snippets •  Hyper Localization •  Big Data & Tools •  Mobile Optimization •  (not provided) •  PageRank Death @iacquire

Let’s Talk Business First iacquire.com @iacquire

The Evolving Role of THE SEO PROFESSIONAL @iacquire

4 Types of SEO Professionals •  Business Case •  Governance •  Measurement •  Project Management •  Content Strategy Lite •  Tactical Strategy •  CMS & Hosting •  Page Speed •  Asset Optimization (images, videos, code) •  Markup Implementation •  Code and Content Implementation SEO Strategist Content SEO Technical SEO SEO Specialist •  Content Strategy Full •  Content & Meta Management •  SEO Copywriting •  Content Navigation •  Asset Optimization (images, videos, pdf) •  Local SEO •  Mobile SEO •  Video SEO •  Social SEO via iAcquire Research @iacquire

4 Types of Business Professionals •  Market Share •  Acquisition & Retention •  Trajectory •  Market Perception Ideal (C-Level & VP) •  Department Management •  Vendor Management •  Resources Champion •  Communication Champion Strategic (VP & Director) Organizational •  Acquisition & Retention Strategy •  Voice and Tone •  Channels & Tactics •  Budgeting •  In vs. Outsourcing Tactical (Manager) (Contributor) •  Departmental Individual Contributor • Vendor Management via iAcquire Research @iacquire

Maturity in The Organization Strategic 40% Organizational 30% Tactical SEO Strategist Ideal 30% Content SEO 10% 30% 20% 40% 50% 50% 20% 60% Technical SEO SEO Specialist 20% an iAcquire Guideline @iacquire

SEO Market Opportunity 10-Point Scale 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Small Biz SME Large Biz Agency Consultant SEO Strategist 2 3 8 9 9 Content SEO 5 7 7 10 9 Technical SEO 1 2 6 8 8 SEO Specialist 5 7 8 6 8 an iAcquire Guideline @iacquire

Market Selection is Key to Success iacquire.com @iacquire

Organic Search Matures ORGANIC SEARCH AS A MARKETING CHANNEL @iacquire

The Old Consumer Decision Journey Elias Lewis (Advertising Agency Hall of Famer) invented this model (AIDA) in 1898. via Wikipedia @iacquire

The New Consumer Decision Journey via Google ZMOT 2012 @iacquire

ZMOT Study Says Search Most Pervasive via Google ZMOT 2012 @iacquire

Historically Prevalent Thinking: “SEO Is Something You Do to Your Website After You Build It, or Redesign it.” iacquire.com @iacquire

SEO As a Tactic (Historically) Market Research Audience Decision Journey Competition Content Strategy Voice and Tone Governance Content Plan Measurement Plan Content Management Creation Integration Engagement (Channels) Earned Media Image by iAcquire Paid Media Owned Media @iacquire

Current & Future Thinking: “Organic Search is a Channel That Touches Every Marketing Medium.” iacquire.com @iacquire

Organic Search As a Channel (Future) Market Research Audience Decision Journey Competition Content Strategy Voice and Tone Governance Content Plan Measurement Plan Content Management Creation Integration Engagement (Channels) Earned Media Image by iAcquire Paid Media Owned Media @iacquire

CMO’s Are Getting Smarter About Channel Integration, But SEO’s Have to Push the Agenda! iacquire.com @iacquire

Are Links The Only Way? RISE OF PEOPLE PAGERANK @iacquire

Read a Quote Time “ “ Within search results, information tied to verified online profiles will be ranked higher than content without such verification, which will result in most users naturally clicking on the top (verified) results. The true cost of remaining anonymous, then, might be irrelevance. – The New Digital Age by Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google @iacquire

Google AgentRank “ “ Particular embodiments implement techniques for computing agent ranks on the basis of a corpus of content signed by those agents, where the corpus optionally contains explicit links among documents and signed content. The agent ranks can optionally also be calculated relative to search terms or categories of search terms. For example, search terms (or structured collections of search terms, i.e., queries) can be classified into topics, e.g., sports or medical specialties, and an agent can have a different rank with respect to each topic. http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO %2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220110289095%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20110289095&RS=DN/20110289095 @iacquire

Google Has The Best Category System •  Over 2,400 categories (5 levels deep) •  Replaces old school systems like SIC/NAICS •  Built for the web •  Future of authorship may align to Google categories h"ps://developers.google.com/adwords/api/docs/appendix/productsservices @iacquire

Google AgentRank Agent Rank =??? @iacquire

How Is AgentRank Calculated? Courtesy of Mike Arnesen @iacquire

Matt Cutts Told Us to Expect To See Agent Rank This Year, and Also Reduction of Authors in SERP’s. iacquire.com @iacquire

Authorship In Flux Via Moz Cast data @iacquire

Cutts’ IS Following Through iacquire.com @iacquire

More about AuthoRship JANUARY 2014 IACQUIRE AUTHORSHIP STUDY @iacquire

An iAcquire Study (January 2014) •  Top 70,000 Digital Publications (blogs, magazines, news sites) •  Analysis includes 250-10,000 of last posts (ex: iAcquire Blog ranked 37,651 – we analyzed 250 pages, 8,949 for economist.com) •  Presence of G+ on page •  Presence of Twitter handle on page •  MOZ Domain Authority @iacquire

An iAcquire Study (January 2014) Image by iAcquire @iacquire

Authenticated Digital Signatures Are Superior To Links. Google is moving from Strings to Things. iacquire.com @iacquire

More About Strings to THings THE KNOWLEDGE GRAPH @iacquire

Current Knowledge Graph •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  Movies & Shows People Places Answers Images Weather Nutritional Info Medical Info Comparisons Flights Autos Census Data @iacquire

Future Knowledge Graph? •  Recipes •  Mortgage Rates •  Colleges (EDU) •  Computer & Cell Reviews/Specs * They have experimented with some of these already. @iacquire

Affiliates That Rely on Public Data (Like EDU, Auto, Travel, Etc.) Are in Trouble Long Term. iacquire.com @iacquire

Reviews Are Getting Attention REVIEWS MIGHT FINALLY MATTER @iacquire

Reviews Haven’t Mattered Much 10% via MOZ 2013 Local Ranking Factors @iacquire

Google Places (Reviews) – Newly Launched Yelp Superpages / DEX Urban Spoon Yellow Pages @iacquire

Reviews Will Matter More In 2014 30% MOZ Local Ranking Factors 2014??? @iacquire

Mobile Changed The World MOBILE & THE FUTURE @iacquire

Mobile Makes The Google Dream Real Modality •  Touch •  Voice •  Sight “a par&cular mode in which something exists or is experienced or expressed.” Context •  Time of Day •  LocaRon •  History Intent •  Keyword Intent •  EnRty Type •  Network “the circumstances that form the se9ng for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed.” “the thing that you plan to do or achieve : an aim or purpose.” Building The Star Trek Computer A favorite line by Amit Singhal, SVP/Google @iacquire

OTHER PREDICTIONS @iacquire

Rapid Fire Stuff •  “Content marketing” titles will be the fastest growing title in digital. •  “Inbound marketing” will lose some steam. Earned media and content marketing will gain nomenclature market share. •  “Audience segmentation” and “content strategy” will be the CMO’s two hottest buzzwords of 2014. •  Google will make Zagat more like Yelp! for deeper restaurant SERP integration. •  Broad knowledge will kill cheap/ineffective/dangerous SEO tactics. @iacquire

THE END Joe Griffin co-CEO iAcquire www.iacquire.com @iacquire @joegriffin