Google make over 500 tweaks to their algorithm every year, with some having a major impact on organic search and businesses of all sizes. During my presentation, I will walk through the organic search evolution, and provide tips on how you can ensure that your business/website stays within the rules.

2. @danielbianchini
DANIEL BIANCHINI
Director of Services
@danielbianchini
daniel@white.net

3. THE CHANGING WORLD OF SEO
& 7 TIPS TO STAY AHEAD
@danielbianchini

4. SEO IS DEAD
@danielbianchini

5. THERE ARE MANY ARTICLES STATING THAT
SEO IS DEAD
@danielbianchini

6. SEO ISN’T DEAD
IT’S EVOLVING
@danielbianchini

7. IT USED TO BE:
TECHNICAL CONTENT LINKS
@danielbianchini

8. IT’S NOW A MIX OF:
TECHNICAL CONTENT LINKS
BRANDING
SIGNALS AUTHORITY UX
PLUS
@danielbianchini

9. THE INFLUENCE OF RANKING FACTORS
Moz asked over 150 experts to rate the
influence exerted by broad areas of ranking
factors on Google’s core search algorithm.
Each area was rated on a scale of 1 (not
influential) to 10 (highly influential).
@danielbianchini
Source: https://moz.com/search-ranking-factors

10. SEARCH ENGINES CONTINUE TO EVOLVE DAILY
GOOGLE MAKES 500+ ALGORITHM TWEAKS A YEAR
@danielbianchini

11. GOOGLE SEARCH TIMELINE
@danielbianchini
Source: https://d2v4zi8pl64nxt.cloudfront.net/hummingbird-unleashed-21957/5265a5563a22d1.67726566.png

12. SEARCH ENGINE MARKET SHARE
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
88.9%
6.45%
3.56%
0.32%
0.19%
@danielbianchini
Source: http://www.statista.com/statistics/280269/market-share-held-by-search-engines-in-the-united-kingdom/

13. MAJOR ALGORITHM UPDATES
2000
@danielbianchini
20022001 2003 20052004 2006 20082007 2009 20112010 2012 20142013
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
1 0 1
7
3
9
2 2 2
4
8
21
33
17
15

14. PANDA
@danielbianchini
First hit: Feb 2011
The Panda algorithm update affected up to 12% of
search results. Panda cracked down on websites with
thin content, content farms and high ad-to-content
ratio.

15. .co.uk WEBSITE TRAFFIC
@danielbianchini

16. PANDA ALGORITHM TIMELINE
@danielbianchini
23 FEB
1.0
30 MAY
2.1
23 JUL
2.3
28 SEP
2.5
18 NOV
3.1
27 FEB
3.3
19 APR
3.5
8 JUN
3.7
24 JUL
3.9
18 SEP
3.9.2
5 NOV 21 DEC 14 MAR
18 JUL
PANDA
RECOVERY
23 SEP
4.1
2011 2012 2013 2014
11 APR
2.0
21 JUN
2.2
12 AUG
2.4
5 OCT
‘FLUX’
18 JAN
3.2
23 MAR
3.4
27 APR
3.6
25 JUN
3.8
20 AUG
3.9.1
27 SEP 21 NOV 22 JAN
11 JUN
PANDA
DANCE
20 MAY
4.0
Source: http://i0.wp.com/studio5innovation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Latest-Google-Algorithm-Upate-Timeline-Oct2014.jpg

17. @danielbianchini
PENGUINFirst hit: April 2012
Penguin adjusted a number of spam factors, including
keyword stuffing, and impacted an estimated 3.1% of
English queries.

18. PENGUIN ALGORITHM TIMELINE
@danielbianchini
24 APR
1.0
25 MAY
1.1
05 OCT
2012 2013 2014
22 MAY
2.0
04 OCT
2.1
17 OCT
3.0
Source: http://i0.wp.com/studio5innovation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Latest-Google-Algorithm-Upate-Timeline-Oct2014.jpg

19. @danielbianchini
HUMMINGBIRD
Google’s new search platform that focuses on the meaning
behind the words.

20. @danielbianchini

21. @danielbianchini
PIGEON
Focused on more useful, relevant and accurate local
search results.

22. @danielbianchini
MOBILE

23. THERE ARE
2 BILLIONGLOBAL SMARTPHONE USERS
@danielbianchini
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-10-17/smartphones-in-use-surpass-1-billion-will-double-by-2015

24. AVERAGE USERS INTERACT WITH A SMARTPHONE
221 TIMES A DAY(VERSUS 140 DESKTOP INTERACTIONS)
@danielbianchini
Source: http://www.tecmark.co.uk/smartphone-usage-data-uk-2014/

25. MOBILE SEARCH UPDATES
@danielbianchini
Source: http://moovweb.com/cnt/uploads/2015/03/Timeline-Graphic_updated.png

26. @danielbianchini
#MOBILEGEDDON
21st
April 2015

27. 20/04/1519/04/1518/04/15
MOBILEGEDDON: WHAT WAS THE IMPACT?
@danielbianchini
21/04/15 22/04/15 24/04/1523/04/15 25/04/20 27/04/1526/04/15
50%
55%
60%
65%
70%
75%
% OF MOBILE-FRIENDLY RESULTS
Source: https://moz.com/blog/day-after-mobilegeddon

28. @danielbianchini
OUR ADVICE FOR WEBMASTERS IS TO FOCUS ON CREATING HIGH
QUALITY SITES THAT CREATE A GOOD USER EXPERIENCE AND
EMPLOY WHITE HAT SEO METHODS INSTEAD OF ENGAGING IN
AGGRESSIVE WEBSPAM TACTICS…
2012

29. @danielbianchini
7 TIPS TO STAY AHEAD

30. @danielbianchini
TIP #1
Think like a brand

31. OWN YOUR BRAND
@danielbianchini
Register social
media accounts
Look after local
search if you have a
physical store
Encourage online
reviews
Share achievements
through marketing
channels
Dominate page one
of the search results

32. OWN YOUR BRAND
@danielbianchini
BE MORE AGILE
HAVE THE ABILITY
TO DISRUPT THE
MARKET
POTENTIALLY
BE A LITTLE BIT
CONTROVERSIAL
LOOK AT THE
MARKET FROM A
DIFFERENT ANGLE
If you are a smaller brand you can:

33. UNDERSTAND YOUR
AUDIENCE
@danielbianchini
TIP #1 TIP #2
Think like a brand Understand your
audience

34. KEYWORD RESEARCH & SURVEYS
@danielbianchini
SEMRUSH
www.semrush.com
GOOGLE TRENDS
www.google.com/trends
KEYWORD TOOL
www.keywordtool.io
TERM EXPLORER
www.serpiq.com
ADWORDS KEYWORD PLANNER
adwords.google.com/keywordplanner

35. @danielbianchini
PERSONAS & SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS
Source: https://yougov.co.uk/profileslite#/

36. CREATE CONTENTFOR EACH STAGE OF THE BUYING CYCLE
@danielbianchini
TIP #1 TIP #2 TIP #3
Think like a brand Understand your
audience
Create content
for each stage of
the buying cycle

37. WHAT SEARCHES DO YOUR AUDIENCE MAKE?
@danielbianchini
AWARENESS
UTILISE ALL THE USER JOURNEY STAGES
INFORMATIONAL
ABOUT COMPANY
SUPPLEMENTARY
CONSIDERATION
INFORMATIONAL
INVESTIGATION
SUPPLEMENTARY
PRODUCT
INTENT
TRANSACTIONAL
INVESTIGATION
PRODUCT
INTERACTION
PURCHASE
TRANSACTIONAL
NAVIGATIONAL
PRODUCT
ABOUT COMPANY
INFORMATIONAL
ABOUT COMPANY
SUPPLEMENTARY
INVESTIGATION
PRODUCT
TRANSACTIONAL
INTERACTION
NAVIGATIONAL
Researching non-transactional
level of information
The core proposition for most
websites
Trust content, often unloved Uncovering a potential supplier
Education / inspiration / guides
Any potential login area
Customer services / reviews etc.
Starting to understand &
discovering options for future
transactions
Visiting a pre-determined
destination. Sourcing URL.

38. CREATE USER-LED CONTENT, BASED
ON COMMON SEARCH QUERY TOPICS:
WRITE FOR USERS
NOT FOR KEYWORDS
@danielbianchini

39. ENGAGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE
TO BUILD AUTHORITY
@danielbianchini
TIP #1 TIP #2 TIP #3 TIP #4
Think like a brand Understand your
audience
Create content
for each stage of
the buying cycle
Engage with your
audience to build
authority

40. HOW TO ENGAGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE
@danielbianchini
Respond to
Journalist’s requests
Answer questions
on sites such as
Quora & LinkedIn
Speak at industry
events
Contribute &
collaborate with
industry blogs
Interact with users
on social media

41. T H I N K
ABOUT
MOBILE
@danielbianchini
TIP #1 TIP #2 TIP #3 TIP #5TIP #4
Think like a brand Understand your
audience
Create content
for each stage of
the buying cycle
Engage with your
audience to build
authority
Think about
mobile

42. DEVICE PREFERENCES THROUGHOUT THE DAY
@danielbianchini
EARLY MORNING
Mobiles brighten the commute
DAYTIME EVENING
PCs dominate working hours Tablets are popular at night

43. WHAT TO LOOK FOR
@danielbianchini
• Is the text size legible?
• How close together are the links?
• Is the content wider than the screen?
Tool: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

44. INVEST IN THE MARKETING MIX
@danielbianchini
NOT JUST SEO
TIP #1 TIP #2 TIP #3 TIP #5 TIP #6TIP #4
Think like a brand Understand your
audience
Create content
for each stage of
the buying cycle
Engage with your
audience to build
authority
Invest in the
marketing mix,
not just SEO
Think about
mobile

45. BUILD FOR LONG TERM GROWTH
@danielbianchini
NOT SHORT TERM
TIP #1
Think like a brand
TIP #2
Understand your
audience
TIP #3
Create content
for each stage of
the buying cycle
TIP #5
Engage with your
audience to build
authority
TIP #6
Invest in the
marketing mix,
not just SEO
TIP #7
Think about
mobile
TIP #4
Build for long
term growth, not
short term

46. @danielbianchini
DANIEL BIANCHINI
Director of Services
@danielbianchini
daniel@white.net
THANK YOU!