A look at how digital marketers can break free from the traditional keyword research process and embrace your unique position as digital ethologists. Digital marketers, and SEOs in particular, are the keepers of an incredible amount of information about human behavior. You have the tools and knowledge to deconstruct motivations, actions, and patterns of behavior that drive the research and purchase process. When you start with questions and natural observation, you're better positioned to perform in search and social. More important, if you take the time to quantitatively collect and document this data, you can help inform almost every part of an organization, especially content strategy.

1. Applying Digital Ethology to Content Strategy
Rhea Drysdale
November 16, 2015 | #MozTalk @Rhea

2. Let’s start with a deep
existential question.
#MozTalk @Rhea

3. Do you feel valued?
http://bit.ly/1S1Mpl5

4. Let’s talk about how to drive value.
4
#MozTalk @Rhea

5. Search has grown beyond tactical
manipulation of a rudimentary algorithm
into personalized, predictive technology
we carry with us to the bathroom.
5
#MozTalk @Rhea

6. Google is starting to understand
human behavior on a level that
even our partners don’t fully
understand us.
6
#MozTalk @Rhea

7. Human behavior is the key to:
7
LEADERSHIP
DECISIONS
POINTS OF
DIFFERENTIATION
BRAND POSITIONING
MARKETING
STRATEGY
CONTENT STRATEGY
INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE

8. And, what is search if not a
subset of human behavior?
8
#MozTalk @Rhea

9. Human behavior is the key to:
9
LEADERSHIP
DECISIONS
POINTS OF
DIFFERENTIATION
BRAND POSITIONING
MARKETING
STRATEGY
CONTENT STRATEGY
INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE

10. PSA:
The recommendations in this presentation
may go beyond your current pay grade, but
understanding the behavior of our audience is
critical to the success of our organization.
Search belongs in the board room.
10
#MozTalk @Rhea

11. Before we move on,
let’s take a quick detour.
11
#MozTalk @Rhea

12. What did you want to be when you grew up?
#MozTalk @Rhea

13. 13
http://bit.ly/1YeYcjO
If you received a degree, what field was this in?

14. Most of us didn’t become our
childhood dreams.
14
#MozTalk @Rhea

15. 15
I wanted to save and/or
understand the world.

16. My path was set:
16
#MozTalk @Rhea

17. 17
#MozTalk @Rhea

18. Unfortunately…
18
#MozTalk @Rhea

19. 19
#MozTalk @Rhea

20. Except there are incredible adults
who I discovered through the
wonder of movies.
20
#MozTalk @Rhea

21. 21
#MozTalk @Rhea

22. The evolution of my professional
life looked something like this…
22
#MozTalk @Rhea

23. Make a difference
Reach and inspire
others.
Understand human
behavior (and make
money).
23
#MozTalk @Rhea

24. Did this.
Burnt out
by 14.
24
#MozTalk @Rhea

25. Also did a lot of theater and
stagecraft, but it felt limiting.
25
#MozTalk @Rhea

26. Fortunately, SEO
combined all of
those passions.
(especially primate behavior)
26

27. Getting back to primate
behavior…
27
#MozTalk @Rhea

28. e·thol·o·gy:
the scientific and objective study of animal
behavior especially under natural conditions
#MozTalk @Rhea

29. Search engines try to identify resources
relevant to a user’s needs and present
information that is most useful to the
user.
(They study human behavior under
natural conditions.)
29
#MozTalk @Rhea

30. And we study search engines,
studying human behavior.
30
#MozTalk @Rhea

31. We used to track keywords.
31

32. Now we’re only scratching the surface of
SERP-level analysis, especially with the
latest innovations in SERPs such as
predictive search, Hummingbird, and
most recently, Google’s AI algorithm
addition, RankBrain.
32
http://bloom.bg/1NBhUie

33. RankBrain performs relationship analysis
between queries. It’s an attempt to interpret
language, need states, and deliver something
useful to an individual user.
It’s now also the 3rd most important ranking signal in Google’s algorithm.
33
#MozTalk @Rhea

34. “If we can read every English document on the web, and turn
each sentence into a thought vector, you've got plenty of data
for training a system that can reason like people do.
Now, you might not want it to reason like people do, but at
least we can see what they would think.
What I think is going to happen over the next few years is this
ability to turn sentences into thought vectors is going to
rapidly change the level at which we can understand
documents.”
~ Geoffrey Hinton, Google Distinguished Research
(Cognitive Psychology and Computer Scientist)
34
#MozTalk @Rhea

35. Everyone wants to build 10x
content, but why?
35
#MozTalk @Rhea

36. Is this just thinly veiled link building?
36
#MozTalk @Rhea

37. You add value when you
become the authority.
37
#MozTalk @Rhea

38. Google likes authority.
38
#MozTalk @Rhea

39. Authoritative Rank
“In general, innovative aspects of the subject matter
described in this specification can be embodied in methods
including the actions of receiving a search query from a
searching user, in response to the search query matching a
trigger query, receiving a first set of authoritative users,
processing the first set of authoritative users to define a
second set of authoritative users, and transmitting
instructions to display data associated with authoritative
users of the second set of authoritative users with search
results responsive to the search query.”
http://bit.ly/1Ye4xMh

40. You should already be
investing in authoritative
content that anticipates and
answers the needs of your
audience.
40
#MozTalk @Rhea

41. Google is.
41
#MozTalk @Rhea

42. Your competitors probably are.
42
#MozTalk @Rhea

43. Authoritative content doesn’t have to
be big, but it does need to match the
intent of your audience during all
phases of a “consumer journey:”
Awareness > Consideration > Decision > Retention
43
#MozTalk @Rhea

44. You understand the mechanics of
search, but have an advantage over
search engines because you can also
bridge the gap between motivation
and action with a user (for now).
44
#MozTalk @Rhea

45. We only have so time before machine
learning catches up (limited currently by
the amount of technology needed to
power it).
45
#MozTalk @Rhea

46. In the meantime, how can we
drive value with limited data?
46
#MozTalk @Rhea

47. We start with query types and persona.
47
#MozTalk @Rhea

48. What are common search
query types?
48
#MozTalk @Rhea

49. 1. Navigational
49
Because…

50. 2. Informational
50
#MozTalk @Rhea

51. What’s the intent of this query?
51
#MozTalk @Rhea

52. The majority of you probably
don’t know, but Google does…
52
#MozTalk @Rhea

53. 2. Informational
53
Because…

54. 3. Transactional
54
Because…

55. But that’s not the “why” that we
should be interested in as content
strategists, digital marketers,
business owners, etc.
55
#MozTalk @Rhea

56. Search and social won’t tell us
why someone wants to
purchase something and
making assumptions will only
take us so far.
56
#MozTalk @Rhea

57. The real why looks like amazing content
opportunities to connect with your audience, but you
won’t find this treasure trove of data in
autocomplete, keyword research tools, competitive
analysis, or your own analytics.
57
#MozTalk @Rhea

58. If you asked me why I need a toddler trampoline, I would have a complex
thought process about the research and purchase process:
• Educated, working mom trying to plan for family’s needs
• Expecting a new baby and worried about their
interactions, so I want to give him high-energy play space
• Worried about high-energy interactions with the dog
• Worried about filling the winter months with physical
activity
• Concerned about normal sensory seeking behavior
• Researching sensory diets
58
#MozTalk @Rhea

59. CREATE AMAZING CONTENT ON:
• Introducing your toddler to your new baby
• How-to on dog and toddler interactions
• List of winter activities for toddlers (ideally, each
year and season, e.g. 2-yr-old activities for spring)
• Sensory diet defined and how to make one for
your child
59
#MozTalk @Rhea

60. When in doubt, type your subject
into Pinterest to find poorly
written and illustrated, but
wonderfully helpful content.
60
#MozTalk @Rhea

61. 61

62. But how do we get this
information?
62
#MozTalk @Rhea

63. If we have great content we can do segment analysis,
but even if we have the data to track an individual on
our site, we’re limited to 90 days worth of data.
63
#MozTalk @Rhea

64. The answer is found in ethology.
64

65. Observational data collection considerations:
Biggest concern is the observer’s presence on the
observed subject.
We also have to determine how and what we will
measure (event sampling or time sampling).
65
#MozTalk @Rhea

66. When should we turn to observation?
 When the nature of the research question to be answered is
focused on answering a how- or what-type question
 When the topic is relatively unexplored and little is known to
explain the behavior of people in a particular setting
 When understanding the meaning of a setting in a detailed way
is valuable
 When it is important to study a phenomenon in its natural
setting
 When self-report data (asking people what they do) is likely
to be different from actual behavior (what people actually do)
66
#MozTalk @Rhea

67. If I asked you how you would
find an exterminator, what
would you say?
67
#MozTalk @Rhea

68. Guess what?
You’re probably…
68
#MozTalk @Rhea

69. WRONG!!!!!
69
#MozTalk @Rhea

70. You would actually search for:
“scratching in my walls”
“giant black bug, is it poisonous?”
“what kind of ant is this?”
“little red bites on my son’s arms”
70
#MozTalk @Rhea

71. I know this because,
“omfg what is that sound in my attic?”
(It was bats. It will cost $3,500 for removal at least. They have
a mating season and can’t be disturbed then.)
71
#MozTalk @Rhea

72. We need to observe our subjects.
72
#MozTalk @Rhea

73. Use fieldnotes
Record date, time, subject, environment, etc.
Then collect two-sided documentation:
Observations Comments
(Time or event-based) Your inferences/questions
73
#MozTalk @Rhea

74. Since people aren’t as easy to
track as animals…
74
#MozTalk @Rhea

75. We have to talk to people.
75
#MozTalk @Rhea

76. Who can we talk to?
• Talk to customer service
• Talk to the sales team
• Conduct surveys
• Hold focus groups
• Interview your subjects
76
#MozTalk @Rhea

77. Getting back to query types.
Are we missing one?
77
#MozTalk @Rhea

78. 4. Question Queries
78
http://bit.ly/1Lj6M7T
Because…

79. How do we optimize for questions?
The same way we optimize for
anything else.
79
#MozTalk @Rhea

80. Getting back to your purpose in life.
How do you drive value?
80
#MozTalk @Rhea

81. The data you collect can help
inform…
81
#MozTalk @Rhea

82. Leadership decisions
#MozTalk @Rhea

83. The Setup
Leadership wanted to rank better for long-tail
terms, so the in-house team setup duplicated
pages of the existing ecommerce pages with a
different experience and more content. This
dynamic solution generated millions and
millions of pages.
#MozTalk @Rhea

84. The Setup
Leadership also based navigation in personal
experience versus data.
#MozTalk @Rhea
Client

85. Findings
- Primary navigation accounted for only 10.1% of all
homepage clicks
- We found 36 navigational areas received 0% of all
clicks
- Also discovered sub-nav below the fold buried two
clicks deep with 14% of clicks
- Primary navigation was a jumble of types, brands,
and products
#MozTalk @Rhea

86. Findings
- Tens of millions of duplicated “SEO” URLs weren’t being indexed
- Only 4.8 million indexed URLs
- Only 144 backlinks to 32 URLs
- We only wanted to reclaim 5 of those backlinks
- Decided to keep 175 URLs
- Decided to redirect 17,578 URLs
- Got rid of everything else
- Within the first 30 days of the change, we saw an 11.25% increase in priority
keyword rankings in the top 10 on Google
- Small anticipated revenue decrease, but without execution of any of the
planned optimization of existing URLs
- Increase in Domain Authority
#MozTalk @Rhea

87. Points of differentiation
#MozTalk @Rhea

88. “The two companies were
indistinguishable in their
process and ability to help.”
88
#MozTalk @Rhea

89. POD unclear in a highly regulated industry,
but social listening and search analysis on
forums uncovered an answer that had eluded
them for decades including in-depth market
research by third parties.
Woohoo!
89
#MozTalk @Rhea

90. “…we liked the supervisor”
“…the supervisor was good, but the one before
was more accessible, organized, and
knowledgeable, so I’d look at the other
companies.”
“…they have the best support team.”
90
#MozTalk @Rhea

91. Great.
Create content about the supervisors!
91

92. Brand positioning
#MozTalk @Rhea

93. Company based entire content strategy and external communication around a term
that’s dying. Through competitive and industry analysis, social listening, and
autocomplete/suggested search we found the right descriptive terminology for them.
93

94. Marketing strategy
#MozTalk @Rhea

95. Failure is also a significant
source of information if your
audience simply doesn’t
respond to your campaigns.
#MozTalk @Rhea

96. Client A
3% success rate
Over 8 months
96
Client B
16% success rate
Over 2 months

97. Who won?
Neither, because search couldn’t make up for
reputation problems with client A and industry
disrupters with bigger marketing campaigns with
Client B. These efforts helped provide data on
where and how marketing dollars were best spent.
#MozTalk @Rhea

98. Content strategy
#MozTalk @Rhea

99. Remember those pests in your attic?
99
#MozTalk @Rhea

100. Library we created and optimized now accounts for:
62% of all ranking keywords
81% of all ranking keyword search volume
43% of all ranking page 1 keywords
64% of all ranking page 1 keyword search volume
#MozTalk @Rhea

101. The Results
101
#MozTalk @Rhea

102. Information architecture
#MozTalk @Rhea

103. Client’s heavily regulated
industry based solely on one
keyword and slight variations.
103
#MozTalk @Rhea

104. This keyword generated a
Google Definition before
organic results in the SERPs.
(There’s confusion about the service and Google
understood this when the client did not.)
104
#MozTalk @Rhea

105. Keyword research showed a significant
amount of questions and SERP analysis
showed Google frequently displaying Answer
Boxes with competitors featured above the
client’s 1st place organic listing.
105
#MozTalk @Rhea

106. Content written for regulatory
purposes, not audiences.
106
#MozTalk @Rhea

107. Developed new primary navigation with
supporting content to address the needs of
the audience and help achieve business
objectives.
107
#MozTalk @Rhea

108. Search technology is evolving to better
understand and anticipate human behavior.
We’re no longer just webmasters, content
creators, or SEO hats.
#MozTalk @Rhea

109. Search holds the key to what
organizations need to succeed.
We are the keepers of how humans
want (or don’t want) to find and
interact with our organizations.
109
#MozTalk @Rhea

110. 110
#MozTalk @Rhea

111. Tools Used
- pitchbox.com – outreach management
- www.google.com/trends/ – query trends
- ahrefs.com – backlink analysis
- www.spyfu.com – competitive analysis
- getstat.com – SERP analysis
- www.google.com/analytics/ (In-Page Analytics)
- www.searchmetrics.com – enterprise SEO platform
#MozTalk @Rhea