Distilled – SearchLove 2011 Conference Videos
Salepage : Distilled – SearchLove 2011 Conference Videos
Having been lucky enough to attend both of this year’s incredible Searchlove conferences in London and New York, I’ve been entrusted with summarizing all of the sessions for the Distilled blog (which you’re now reading).
Every day, a slew of actionable suggestions was thrown at the crowd, and the top ones from both London and New York are included here.
I’ve got a double cappuccino, a Spotify premium subscription, and a whole working day ahead of me. “Letsa go!” said a renowned fictitious Italian plumber.
London (24-25 Oct) (24-25 Oct)
Rand Fishkin says that having supporters makes everything simpler (SEOmoz)
Rand discussed the principles he gained from developing a successful and sizable community at SEOmoz. Rand believes that communities are powerful because of the simplicity with which they can be used to establish links and social signals, create long tail content, and build brand recognition and trust.
Rand goes on to say that, while there are other venues for developing communities, such as forums, Q&A, curation centers, and social networks, most communities will revolve on a blog.
Some suggestions for creating a community include, but are not limited to:
Create a community that isn’t solely self-serving. Make your primary goal to benefit the community.
Find a shared interest with the community – for example, a handful of SEOmoz’s postings are about their goods.
Get feedback from early adopters and become acquainted with them.
Don’t launch an empty wasteland; instead of comment counts, show tweet counts on posts to make it appear more popular.
Be prepared to put in countless hours before you see any results.
Growing Points:
Create exposure outside of your site by tweeting positive remarks about your material, for example.
Make your profile a source of pride, for example. Dribbble is essential to a designer’s identity.
Contributors should be rewarded disproportionately.
Examine the material that encourages sign-ups and search for methods to replicate it.
Rand discussed employing a community manager, incentivizing content production and sharing, and some of his approaches to dealing with community issues, such as being merciless in removing trolls and providing clear boundaries. He finished with a list of 12 hacks, which included:
Dropping names in post titles for Google Alerts referrals
Obtain contributions from key industry players; they will share.
Make a common foe. In the case of SEOmoz, it’s black hat. Only an SEO invitation is a strong motivation.
Allow people to reuse, embed, and distribute material they’ve made for you on their own websites; they’ll typically link back.
Tom Critchlow, Big Business SEO (Distilled)
Tom mentioned investing in page types: how can you adjust your site’s structure or the way you distribute content so that every blog post or product page earns links and rankings instead of focusing on specific pages?
He also mentioned investing in data ahead of time so that when an event like the Panda update occurs, you have everything you need to make an informed diagnosis. He believes this might rescue your employment.
Organizational charts were reviewed, as well as how they frequently create a vacuum for a single point of contact for online material in order to work to a consistent approach when several teams contribute.
Other suggestions included tailoring your SEO training to meet the demands of specific job roles (for example, public relations), influencing change by introducing better processes, developing project management skills as a substitute for hustle, which is less effective in large organizations, and tailoring your language based on who you’re communicating with.
Tom also discusses actively pruning your site, as huge sites tend to yield low-quality pages such as incomplete profiles or Q&A threads with no responses. Use Webmaster Tools reports to discover and rectify issues and soft 404s, and establish a strategy for reviewing this on a regular basis.
Mat Clayton – The Next Level of Social Integration (Mixcloud)
Mat began by stating that “one in every seven individuals in the globe log into the Facebook ecosystem at least once a month,” illustrating the importance of developing your site around social, especially in the hottest areas such as Communications, Games, and Media.
Implementing the Facebook Insights meta tag on your site will provide you with demographics on visitors to your site (if they’re signed into Facebook when they do so), and Mat recommends it. He mentions other data, such as interactions, being available in the future.
Mat then discusses some of the nomenclature utilized, including People (users), Actions (sharing, like), and Objects (images, pages). When optimizing content for different audiences, tracking this using Facebook Insights coupled with demographic information will be highly helpful.
He discusses leveraging Facebook as a customization engine, as well as using Facebook’s data to boost user engagement. The most obvious example is displaying the profile images of the visitor’s friends next to material they have liked/shared, but Mat believes there are several additional possibilities.
Finally, Mat discusses Facebook’s Recommendation Bar (beta), an easy-to-install tool that slides out when you navigate through material and automatically recommends more stuff.
Will Critchlow’s current SEO toolset (Distilled)
Will’s lecture revolves upon SEOs needing to be able to put their own tools together and use them together in order to be as effective as possible, referencing Avinash Kaushik and Doug McIlroy.
The first example demonstrates how to use bash, grep, and sed to discover all Googlebot visits in a 22Gb log file. Many SEOs may not even know how to get to the command line, so Will created a video that walks you through the entire procedure from start to finish, which you can see on the Distilled YouTube channel.
Other examples include using prototype tools like Balsamiq to create mock-ups of site modifications, creating screencasts with tools like Screenr, and remaining organized using ticket management systems like Trello.
If you need to persuade your employer to make improvements to your website, utilize Smartsheet.com to create a poll similar to Google’s Panda update survey (more details from this Whiteboard Friday).
More tools and use cases include utilizing Excel to categorise URLs using nested IF() statements and Screaming Frog’s SEO Spider tool’s custom filters to detect pages on a site with outdated Google Analytics tracking codes.
Will describes his debugging approach, which involves the following steps:
Document (++verbosity) Reproduce Simplify Isolate
Sleep and showering (sometimes you just need to step away and come back to it).
Will demonstrated how to use the Hunch API with Python, how to get a list of email addresses from your wordpress blog comments using either a plugin or SQL, how to provide visualisations as part of a brief for a designer using ManyEyes, and how to use PhantomJS to grab a screenshot of your site every day to supplement analytics data.
Joost de Valk’s WordPress SEO (Yoast)
Unfortunately, Joost was unable to attend SearchLove due to a family emergency, but he did provide a brief video in which he discussed the new custom XML sitemaps in the new Yoast SEO plugin, using rel=canonical to point blog posts to product pages, using dynamic XML sitemaps, and recommending that all WordPress users implement rel=author.
Is it all about hustling in outreach? – Rob Ouseby (Distilled)
Rob began by emphasizing that outreach is a subset of link building and that the two are not synonymous. Outreach, for example, is merely one component of link development strategies such as infographics and guest blogs.
The following are the outreach priorities:
Create connections.
Obtain protection
Obtain links
To develop a successful outreach team, you must employ the ideal people, who are often clever, curious, creative, internet-savvy, and hustlers. Interview tips included the following:
Inquire about how they have overcome obstacles in the past to see if they have hustle and are able to get things done.
Inquire about the most recent thing they’ve learned to see if they can demonstrate a hunger for knowledge.
Setting tasks on a computer, such as locating contact information, to determine how efficient and web-savvy the applicant is.
Rob revealed his outreach process, which begins with identifying targets using tools like GroupHigh, Followerwonk, niche directories, and advanced Google searches. This is followed by a gentle approach to targets via Twitter, retweeting, commenting on their blog, and other means.
Keeping successful contacts warm can make future outreach much more efficient, and identifying and prioritizing your VIPs (owners of multiple blogs or high authority sites) is a worthwhile strategy.
Rob concluded by discussing suitable metrics for outreach teams, such as unique linking domains per hour, which can be combined with link quality metrics to provide additional insights.
Wil Reynolds says that your content strategy is part of your link building strategy.
Wil begins by stating that he does not believe social metrics have as much of an impact on rankings as many people believe.
He shares some ideas for monetizing broken links, such as paying for hosting for abandoned sites so that links are reactivated, or rebuilding a piece of content that has disappeared or moved from a competitor site and contacting linking sites.
Microsites are commonly used by large brands for brand marketing campaigns, and these domains are frequently abandoned once the campaign is over. They can be found by performing a reverse IP domain check on large brands’ websites or searching for the email address associated with the WHOIS record.
Wil discusses how to create content when you’re stuck for ideas. Google Suggest can provide inspiration, particularly in product searches where suggestions differ from standard searches. Other tools include the PostRank Chrome extension, which overlays metrics on SERPs when searching for competitor content, and Topsy. He suggests using this information in your guest post outreach to suggest topics that have previously been successful for sites.
Finally, Wil discusses how to failproof your infographics by:
Having a solid marketing strategy
Identifying long-form posts that people do not want to read and converting them into infographics
Contacting those who left comments or linked to the post
Sponsored posts on popular websites
Use Google Images to find your infographic and see which websites are linking to it. If they aren’t, get in touch with them.
Wiep Knol on Making Competitor Analysis Useful
Wiep used an Excel dashboard created with data from Open Site Explorer and Majestic to demonstrate actionable link analysis advice.
Wiep recommends creating your own tools because many SEOs have specific needs that only you are aware of. He discusses tools such as keyword and competitor discovery automation.
He discusses how data analysis is less about creating charts and more about knowing how to turn those charts into actions.
Wiep shows how to look for anomalies in historical link data, categorize competitor link types, look at average link quality with OSE data, and use Majestic’s data to look at link growth.
He concludes by emphasizing that every chart should include at least one action point – actions are better than charts.
Gamification is the art of convincing others to do your work for you – Rich Baxter
Rich discussed how websites can use gamification techniques to increase engagement, activity, and traffic, and he provided numerous examples of both good and bad gamification.
Examples include the Speed Camera Lottery, in which drivers who exceed the speed limit enter a lottery to win money collected from fines, and GetGlue.com, a checking-based platform.
Rich suggests using point systems to incentivize action within communities and discusses how this incentivisation can help a community grow. StackOverflow’s points-based community, SlideShare and LinkedIn’s rewards for completing user profiles, and IMOK’s check-in system to help parents keep track of their children are other examples.
Rich concludes that website owners should consider rewarding users for important business behaviors, and that gamification APIs are available to assist them in doing so.
Case Studies in Link Building – Patrick Altoft
Patrick began by aiming to build just enough links to get your client to the top of the search results without putting them at risk of being penalized. He also discusses the importance of website quality in a link building campaign and suggests that you begin by ensuring you have a credible offering.
He discusses increasing your long tail traffic by searching your referring keywords report for keywords that include “who”, “what”, “why”, and so on, and then creating content to rank for these keywords.
Patrick discusses using Google Suggest and the Keyword Tool to generate ideas for varying your anchor text, as he believes that a healthy variety is preferable to exact matches.
The wealth of advice that followed was almost too much for this blog, but some of the key tips included offering images to bloggers in exchange for image credit, creating WordPress widgets that can be updated by XML so that you can control the links from them, developing processes for determining the value of a link, and increasing trust in your site by getting links to your blog posts.
Link Bait’s Past, Present, and Future – Hannah Smith
Hannah’s presentation included link-attracting content such as news stories, ego-bait, industry awards, and user contributions.
She discussed defining the cost of a link in order to justify the investment in link bait, and she provided additional examples of link baiting techniques such as spoof campaigns, PR hooks, using the word iPhone, survey data, and more.
Hannah concludes that exceptional content is required to obtain good links.
What is a CRO expert’s favorite website? – Stephen Pavlovich
Stephen recommended using Evernote to capture, store, and organize ideas. He discussed features like tagging and categorizing, the Evernote mobile app, and searching with OCR. He suggests photographing anything unusual that catches your eye as inspiration for CRO improvements.
Some of the key CRO tips Stephen shared included using a personal touch, allowing users to pay for a service without having to create an account, asking existing customers what they didn’t like about your site or what would prevent them from converting, and trying to find out why users who left your site did so if you have a way of contacting them.
Stephen discussed the importance of delivery in conversion rate optimization, as it is frequently a major concern for potential customers. Other suggestions include tailoring your offers to specific groups of people, being mindful of how you phrase your product’s price, and using quotes or testimonials to reinforce value.
Martin MacDonald discusses how brands should approach SEO.
Martin discussed the difficulties that large brands face when attempting to do SEO without the agility that smaller businesses have. He discussed the difficulties that pre-internet brands had in outranking the likes of Amazon, eBay, Wikipedia, and so on – brands do not always rank automatically.
He shows off Intel’s museumofme, a clever piece of linkbait powered by Facebook data. He discusses how to find and leverage brand evangelists, similar to religious bible followers.
Martin concludes by encouraging SEOs to join his campaign to prevent Google from removing keyword referral data – http://keywordtransparency.com/.
New York City
Any New York speakers not covered below can be found on the London list above.
Dave Minchala is a local SEO expert who uses data to his advantage.
Early in his presentation, Dave shared some interesting statistics: 35% of US adults own smartphones, 58% use maps and Foursquare, and 90% use search for local data, with 87% taking action.
Dave advises using Google Insights with caution when gathering data about local search because the data can be misleading without some digging. He discusses some tactics that may not work for sites attempting to rank in local, such as creating massive amounts of content, video pages, link bait, and infographics, and uses the example of the flying car to demonstrate that it’s a waste of time building something that no one wants.
Dave suggests filtering your keyword lists so you know where your high-value best customers are, who your worst customers are, and who your typical customers are. You should not overlook your regular customers because they are what keep a business running.
He discusses using Factual.com for local data and the Local Search Toolkit, which provides more information than a Google search.
Dave concludes by summarizing his local SEO tools, which include American Fact Finder, Factual, Local Search Toolkit, Whitespark, and SEO Tools Plugin.
Laura Lippay (How’s Your Pony?) on mining social data for SEO and profit.
Laura begins by emphasizing the significance of competitive intelligence before explaining her competitive intelligence toolkit, which includes market research basics, popularity and sentiment research, feedback data, and a grab bag. Use the tools to determine who is speaking and where they are speaking.
Laura displays some of the findings from her research on the used car market. These include the need for a comprehensive search tool, high-quality trusted editorial content, forums as a place to ask questions, and the fact that non-buyers enjoy browsing, so look for ways to exclude track and monetise them separately.
She suggests digging around your competitors’ social media presences to see what works well for them and what doesn’t. She also mentions using Open Site Explorer to compare up to five sites, which is especially useful now that the tool includes social statistics.
Finally, she explains how she conducts sentiment analysis. She gives an example of comparing TMZ and E! Online using data from NetBase. Use this information to provide your readers with more of what they want and less of what they don’t. She discusses using Amplicate and looking at your competitors on Get Satisfaction to figure out what customers want.
Rob Millard on the Past, Present, and Future of Linkbait
Who is this individual? That’s right, it’s me. I discussed the current state of infographics and the blogosphere’s disdain for poorly planned or designed graphics.
I then went over some of the past link bait mistakes I’d made, such as using it when it wasn’t appropriate for a site’s SEO needs, going over budget, managing the number of people involved, and underestimating the outreach required.
This could be remedied by taking visualisation more seriously, using good data, implementing a process for producing link bait, and following some tips for outreaching infographics.
I concluded by discussing some of the features we hope to incorporate into our link bait, such as interactivity, personalization, and real-time data visualization, but stating that form is not as important as a strong hook.
Human Prey – Michael King
It’s probably worth noting that Michael appeared on stage dressed as MC Hammer and danced to U Can’t Touch This.
Once things were up and running, Michael discussed the sweet spot where Social and Search intersect, and advised us to leverage Social by investing in listening tools like SocialMention and quantitative analysis tools like Quantcast and Comscore. Based on this data, you can create personas for your customers and tailor your content to their specific needs. He uses Ovation guitars as an example, with personas such as music moms, happy hobbyists, raging rock stars, and involved instructors. Implement Open Graph so that you can receive Facebook data when users who are logged in visit your site.
Michael discusses privacy concerns, the use of hashes to encode user IDs, and other data sources such as Pzyche, LinkedIn, and Google Plus. He then discusses how to use the personas you’ve created to create dynamically targeted pages that speak to the user.
Michael discusses personal outreach and the importance of creating an authentic online persona because the people you reach out to will look at your timeline. He mentions a variety of outreach tools, such as KnowEm, Followerwonk, and his own KloutSkout and SiteSkout.
Rhea Drysdale on Reputation Management in an Instant World (Source: Outspoken Media)
Rhea discusses how user generated content poses a significant challenge for reputation management, particularly off-site with sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, PissedConsumer, and Ripoff Report. She mentions using Google Instant results as a quick check of a company’s sentiment, though it can be influenced or manipulated and thus is not always accurate.
Rhea used an anonymous client as an example; Googling their name produced numerous negative results. An SEO agency had set up a domain for their name with a low quality page that simply repeated the name nearly 100 times – this is a poor quality result. There were no registered social media accounts, which would have been a better use of resources.
She suggests using unique content across social media profiles and mentions other ways to rank for names such as industry articles, mentions in other people’s profiles, speaking engagements, Wikipedia pages (but don’t edit from your IP), and referencing favorable news articles.
Rhea concludes with two more ORM case studies, including advice on being proactive rather than reactive, as well as dominating SERPs for brand terms.
Why I’m now wearing a white hat – Bob Rains
Bob’s first pro tip: in a lift, if you hold your floor and the door close button, it will go directly to that floor. Bob goes on to explain how gaming search engines were much easier before the year 2000 – paid search was so important to them that companies like Yahoo would fly publishers out to Vegas and wine and dine them in order to get you to send more traffic to their search engine.
He then discusses black-hat techniques like sending paid clicks to affiliate URLs, cookie stuffing, and cloaking. Marketers moved from one black-hat technique to the next because there were no consequences at the time and the potential rewards were so great.
When Matt Cutts’ role became public, it made black-hat techniques more difficult, and Bob goes on to explain why he has now switched to white-hat techniques. His main point revolves around the longevity of white-hat SEO as opposed to the constant maintenance required by some of the short-sighted black-hat techniques.
Michael Gray’s WordPress SEO
Michael generously shared a wealth of WordPress Tips. He began by stating that WordPress is a blogging platform that has been manipulated into a CMS for all sorts of applications, and that it is not particularly good for SEO out of the box.
He walks us through some of the technical adjustments that must be made, such as creating good category and tag pages and optimizing author pages.
He provides tips for optimizing your archives, sitemaps, and breadcrumbs. He suggests using the KB Linker plugin for autolinks and the YARP plugin for related posts. Another tip is to avoid using dates in URLs that can be repurposed annually so that you can continue to build on the authority of the URL. In this section, he concludes with recommendations for site speed, security, and mobile-friendly versions.
Some of his content suggestions include keeping posts narrowly focused because he believes they rank and convert better, creating ongoing series, using an editorial calendar to plan content, and using predictive SEO to create pages for events that you know people will search for in the future.
Finally, he suggests performing a content audit every 3-6 months, which includes listing all of your URLs and extracting traffic and quality metrics (bounce rate, exit percentage), identifying the lowest quality pages, and either removing or reworking them.
That’s all for now, folks. I should also mention that the parties were a lot of fun – check out some of the photos on our Facebook page. Some of the New York photos are courtesy of Maine photographer David Zwickerhill.
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