The document discusses 5 key changes to Google search: 1) It indexes content faster, 2) Shows results as users type with Google Instant, 3) Ranks results based on social activity, 4) Uses human ratings to double check page quality, and 5) Personalizes results based on users' friends. The changes aim to provide up-to-date, high quality results tailored to individual users, in response to increased competition from Bing.

1. Mike Moran
The 5 Things You Need to Know about the
New Google Search
Mike Moran
Chief Strategist, Converseon
www.mikemoran.com © 2012 Mike Moran Group LLC

2. Mike Moran
It’s not your father’s Google anymore
 Optimize your titles
 Get links to your pages
 Steer clear of spam
2 © 2011 Mike Moran

3. Mike Moran
That Google search box looks the same as ever
 Same old logo
 Same old search button
 And, of course, “I’m Feeling Lucky”
3 © 2011 Mike Moran

4. Mike Moran
Since 2010, Google has practically remade search
1. It indexes content faster than ever
2. It shows results to searchers as they type
3. It ranks results based on social activity
4. It ranks results based on human ratings
5. It ranks results based on who your friends are
4 © 2011 Mike Moran

5. Mike Moran
Google Caffeine can keep up with the social Web
 Google’s index once took two weeks to update
 Now it can take minutes
 Why is that important?
Collect content faster
1 and faster.
5 © 2011 Mike Moran

6. Mike Moran
Many searches now have up-to-the-minute results
 Many searches contain results within an hour of
your search
 44 minutes
ago
6 © 2011 Mike Moran

7. Mike Moran
What does that mean to a search marketer?
 Some
searches
require fresh
results
 If you don’t
have them,
you don’t
show up
7 © 2011 Mike Moran

8. Mike Moran
Google Instant shows results as you type
Show search results
2 faster.
8 © 2011 Mike Moran

9. Mike Moran
What happens when people accept suggestions?
 Fewer unique keywords, if only because of
misspellings
 Might be
more
emphasis
on paid
results
9 © 2011 Mike Moran

10. Mike Moran
Google Instant’s impact is somewhat overblown
 Only some searches use Instant
 Searches that don’t use Instant:
 Toolbars
 Chrome browser address bar
 Some searchers turn off Instant
10 © 2011 Mike Moran

11. Mike Moran
Google Plus and other social activity counts
Use social cues as
3 markers of quality.
11 © 2011 Mike Moran

12. Mike Moran
The search ranking algorithm decides who’s first
 Social does
not affect
paid search
results
 It helps
decide the
#1 organic
result
 Some will
do anything
89% of clicks on page 1
12 © 2011 Mike Moran

13. Mike Moran
Black Hat SEO experts fool everybody
 They fool Google
 They fool searchers
 They are extremely smart
and hardworking
 If it works for you,
good luck
13 © 2011 Mike Moran

14. Mike Moran
Some people reverse engineer the algorithm
 Google wants the keywords on the page
 Google wants the keywords in the title
 Google wants links to the site
What Google really wants
is high quality search results
for the searchers
14 © 2011 Mike Moran

15. Mike Moran
If social activity doesn’t match link analysis…
 …it seems more suspicious to Google as spam
 It’s difficult for spammers to simulate both
15 © 2011 Mike Moran

16. Mike Moran
And some content has nothing better
 The views
are the
best
indicator of
video
quality
 Links to
videos are
not as
strong
16 © 2011 Mike Moran

17. Mike Moran
What if some spam slips through the cracks?
Human raters doublecheck
4 page quality.
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18. Mike Moran
So what’s Google Panda?
 A new release of the Google search ranking
algorithm
 It was born almost a
year ago
 But it just keeps growing
in importance
 Every few months, it
changes
18 © 2011 Mike Moran

19. Mike Moran
Panda adds a new factor to the ranking algorithm
 Human beings rate a small subset of search results:
 Nice design?
 Speedy response?
 Quality content?
 Would you return?
 Sites that people like get
bumped higher in ranking
 The sites they don’t like
are shoved down
19 © 2011 Mike Moran

20. Mike Moran
Machine learning scales the human ratings
 Even Google can’t afford human ratings for every
page for every search
 So, it looks for patterns—common features
 If your site looks like the
low-rated sites, your site
gets ranked lower
20 © 2011 Mike Moran

21. Mike Moran
What does it mean to “look like” low quality?
 Machine learning detects patterns in what pages
look like based on “features”
 What could the features be?
 The length of the title tag
 The ratio of words to pictures
 The commonality of runs of words
21 © 2011 Mike Moran

22. Mike Moran
What is the practical effect of Panda?
 Sites that ranked highly with the old algorithm have
been affected
 If your site was great for search engines, but
not for actual people, time to up your game
 Who seemed to get hit?
 “Content farms” and screen-scrapers
 Older content
 Sites loaded with ads
 Vertical search sites—but not Google sites!
22 © 2011 Mike Moran

23. Mike Moran
It’s not just about spamming
 Most of you don’t practice real You
black hat SEO
 But you don’t win by examining
the terms of service like a legal
document
 You see what works for
all three parties
Google Searchers
23 © 2011 Mike Moran

24. Mike Moran
That wasn’t just bad luck
 Tactics that help You
everyone get
rewarded
 Tactics that help only
you don’t
 Maybe you should
stick to what will work
long-term Google Searchers
24 © 2011 Mike Moran

25. Mike Moran
Should you only be looking at rankings?
 Many sites that
lamented their loss of
traffic actually didn’t
lose any sales
 Google might be
improving its ability to
send qualified leads to
your site
25 © 2011 Mike Moran

26. Mike Moran
Is Panda over? The world has now stabilized?
 Google will continue to roll out algorithm changes
based on:
 Panda feature changes and human rating changes
 Google +1 button ratings
 Other content quality assessments,
including social media activity
 If Panda is working (and Google seems to be
committed to it), expect Microsoft and other engines to
follow
26 © 2011 Mike Moran

27. Mike Moran
Don’t be a good scout. Be good at business.
 You’re not trying out for You
sainthood
 Do it because it works
 It’s less risky, easier to do,
and has fewer ups and downs
 Focus on a quality searcher
experience, and success Google Searchers
will follow
27 © 2011 Mike Moran

28. Mike Moran
Google Search Plus World adds your friends
Make everything
5 personal.
28 © 2011 Mike Moran

29. Mike Moran
If results are personalized, where do you rank?
 Search marketers always want to know where they
rank
 But the answer is, “Only Google knows”
 Google is starting to pass the rank on
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30. Mike Moran
Personalization can be toggled on and off
30 © 2011 Mike Moran

31. Mike Moran
This is a response to Bing’s deal with Facebook
 Bing finds all public content, just like Google
 But it also finds results your friends recommend
31 © 2011 Mike Moran

32. Mike Moran
In fact, all of these changes might be in reaction
 Microsoft’s market share keeps creeping up
 Bing’s global share is trending heavily up
introduced
Source: Forbes
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33. Mike Moran
And how about Bing’s US share?
 Google’s share is flat since 2009
 Bing has
steadily
risen
 And Bing
powers all
Yahoo!
searches
Source: Comscore
33 © 2011 Mike Moran

34. Mike Moran
Bing has grown to 30% of US searches
 This chart is from one year ago
 Bing had made significant improvement in share
Google
Bing
Source: Mashable
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35. Mike Moran
This was a prediction from one year ago
 It’s extreme
 It’s not happening
 But do you
think that
Google is Google
running
scared?
Bing
Source: State of Search
35 © 2011 Mike Moran

36. Mike Moran
Google has arrested the slide
 A year later, Microsoft is still around 30%
 But Google is still innovating
36 © 2011 Mike Moran

37. Mike Moran
Thank you! www.mikemoran.com
www.converseon.com
37 © 2011 Mike Moran