Talk given at #SEMCON2013 on SEO Strategy and the impact caused by Hummingbird. http://www.pinasevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-7th-Search-Engine-Marketing-SEMCON-2013.jpeg

1. SEO Strategy
and the
Hummingbird
Effect
Robin Leonard
#SEMCON2013

2. Robin Leonard
CEO, AllFamous Digital
robin_allfamous
robinleonard1
www.allfamous.com

3. The history of search
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTBShTwCnD4

4. How often does Google change?
500-600 times per year
Here is a great resource: http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change

5. What is Hummingbird?

6. What is Hummingbird?
Many parts are still the same
"precise and fast”
Biggest algorithmic change in 12 years
- Huffington Post

7. What is the purpose of Hummingbird?
§ Look at your entire sentence and better understand
what you want
§ Improve results accuracy
§ Improve mobile and voice search
§ Make search faster and more precise

8. Example: Dumb Human
Keywords
• I
• Mexican
• Tonight
• Where
• Place
What you mean
• You are mexican
• Where is the best
place for
Mexicans like you
to go

9. Example: Smart Human
Keywords
• I
• Mexican
• Tonight
• Where
• Place
What you mean
• You would like to
eat from a
mexican
restaurant tonight
close to where
you live, that is
open tonight

10. Example: Before

11. Example: After

12. Example: Before

13. Example: After

14. What actually changed?
1. Knowledge graph is core to search
2. Conversational search
3. Panda is softening
4. Mobile Optimization
5. Stronger focus on Authorship

15. Knowledge Graph is Core To Search

16. Conversational Search
What is the weather today?
How about tomorrow?
How about in Sagada?

17. Panda Is Softening
Some sites that were previously penalized by Panda, may be un-penalized.

18. Mobile Optimization
You don’t have a
choice. Consumers
are going mobile, and
Google is favoring it.

19. Stronger Focus on Authorship
Sort of like
an online ID
badge.
Google will hugely
favor authentic
people over
anonymous
spammers.

20. What is a typical SEO strategy
§ On-Page Optimization
§ Keyword Management
§ Social Media Awesomeness
§ Blog content
§ Link Marketing
§ Guest blogging
§ Paid Advertising
§ Email Marketing
§ Video Marketing

21. The Hummingbird Effect (on SEO strategy)
Strategy
Hummingbird Effect
How to adapt
On-Page Optimization
Takes mobile page stats seriously
Ensure site is mobile optimized
Create targeted landing pages.
Keyword Management
• Cannot see what keywords were used
to search for your site
• Longtail search terms have more
value
• You can use Google Webmaster Tools to
see your rankings and Adwords to see
search volumes
• Focus on questions
Social Media
Awesomeness
• Authorship is important
• Google+ +1’s are important
Get more into Google+ and Authorship
Blog Content
• Long tail and context are important
• Authorship is important
Write very specific articles answering human
questions, related to your product/service.
• Always setup authorship and build
• Find guest bloggers with strong authorship
Link Marketing
No major change, aside from Panda
softening
Keep ensuring you only build high quality links
Guest Blogging
Stronger focus on authorship
Ensure Google Authorship is setup
Paid Advertising
Penalizes sites that don’t label
advertorials correctly
Make sure ads are labeled correctly and not
deceiving
Email Marketing
No change
Video Marketing
Users must have Google+ to comment
Get more active on Google+ it will become
more prevalent over time.

22. On-Page Optimization
Do all the same juicy
good things you used to
do for On-Page…
Just make sure it
is mobile.

23. Keyword Management
Google now hides a lot of search queries, making it hard to track which
keywords convert.

24. Keyword Management
We can check Google Webmaster Tools to see what search queries were
made resulting in clicks.

25. Keyword Management
Because Google Webmaster Tools has no connection with Google Analytics,
it is impossible to see how people converted based on their search.
Google
Webmaster
Google
Analytics
Search Traffic
Landing Page
Paid Traffic
Referral Traffic
Social Traffic

26. Social Media Awesomeness
Keep doing what you were doing and…
Get into
Google+
A +1 is the same as
a backlink in Google
Webmaster Tools.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-abraham/how-toregister-your-authorship_b_4132888.html

27. Blog Content
Industry
Blog Ideas
Real Estate
Where is the best location to buy
investment property in Fort Bonifacio?
FMCG
Which dishwashing liquid gives you the
most value for money?
Retail
Where can I buy the most expensive tan
leather shoes in Makati?
Be more
specific and
product
related
Context is king.
Asking questions also invites people to give their opinion, increasing engagement.

28. Link Marketing
No change, aside from a softening of Google Panda.
This is how we do link marketing:
Contextual Link Socialization
High Quality Reference Links

29. Authorship is King
Guest Blogging
Bloggers contribute to Company
Company contributes to Blogs
Brand
Company publishes
blogs on other site
Guest publishes his
blogs on your site
Blogger Page
Company Page
•
•
Great for traffic if blogger has audience
Increase share of voice
•
•
Great linkjuice if site has high authority
Great for referral traffic

30. Paid Advertising
Sneaky ad
Real link
The only thing that has changed is
penalizing sneaky ads.

31. YouTube Video
Users need to
have Google+ to
comment on
YouTube videos

32. The Hummingbird Effect (on SEO strategy)
Strategy
Hummingbird Effect
How to adapt
On-Page Optimization
Takes mobile page stats seriously
Ensure site is mobile optimized
Create targeted landing pages.
Keyword Management
• Cannot see what keywords were used
to search for your site
• Longtail search terms have more
value
• You can use Google Webmaster Tools to
see your rankings and Adwords to see
search volumes
• Focus on questions
Social Media
Awesomeness
• Authorship is important
• Google+ +1’s are important
Get more into Google+ and Authorship
Blog Content
• Long tail and context are important
• Authorship is important
Write very specific articles answering human
questions, related to your product/service.
• Always setup authorship and build
• Find guest bloggers with strong authorship
Link Marketing
No major change, aside from Panda
softening
Keep ensuring you only build high quality links
Guest Blogging
Stronger focus on authorship
Ensure Google Authorship is setup
Paid Advertising
Penalizes sites that don’t label
advertorials correctly
Make sure ads are labeled correctly and not
deceiving
Email Marketing
No change
Video Marketing
Users must have Google+ to comment
Get more active on Google+ it will become
more prevalent over time.

33. Top Takeaways
1. Don’t stop doing what you are doing
2. Make sure your site is mobile optimized
3. Get into Google+ and Google Authorship
4. Revisit your content strategy and ask “Am I asking the
right questions”
5. Being human is a long term strategy, not a campaign or
a fix.

34. Robin Leonard
CEO, AllFamous Digital
robin_allfamous
robinleonard1
Thank You!!
www.allfamous.com