Most people in this industry know the ins and outs of the Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird Google updates. But how many of us understand exactly how content and SEO are interlinked? In this talk, Jon is going to teach us how to adopt a more advanced approach to optimizing our content, talking through real case studies and the latest algorithm changes

1. Optimizing
Content in a World
of Never Ending
Algorithm
Changes
Jon Wuebben, CEO

2. Fundamentals
• Google makes over 600 changes to its algorithm
in a year
• Vast majority of these are not announced
• When Google makes a big change, they give it a
name
* Panda algorithm
* Penguin algorithm
* Hummingbird algorithm
2

3. Ensuring Great Rankings
• Create content that answers users queries!
• Don’t just try to rank for a particular keyword.
• Google's goal: encourage webmasters to
publish content that’s best of its kind & to deliver
answers to people who are searching.
• Lost rank? Google has lost trust in your site's
quality, either on-site quality or the legitimacy of
backlinks.
• Fix the quality issues to regain the algorithm's
trust and see improvements.
3

4. Checklist for High Quality
Content *
• Would you trust the information presented in this
article?
• Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who
knows the topic well, or is it more shallow?
• Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant
articles on the same or similar topics with slightly
different keyword variations?
• Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers or
does the site generate content by guessing what might
rank well in search engines?
• Does the article provide original content or information,
reporting, research, or analysis?
4
(From blog post by Google Employee Amit Singhal)

5. …Continued….
• Does the page provide substantial value when
compared to other pages in search results?
• Does the article describe both sides of a story?
• Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
• Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced
to a large number of creators, or spread across
a large network of sites?
5

6. Panda – Launched 2/23/11
• Purpose: try to show high-quality sites higher in
search results and demote sites that may be of
lower quality.
• Many called it the "Farmer" update as it seemed
to affect content farms
*(sites that aggregate information from
many sources, often stealing that information
from other sites)
6

7. Penguin - Launched 4/24/12
• Goal: Reduce the trust that Google has in sites
that have cheated by creating unnatural
backlinks in order to gain an advantage in
results.
• Also impacted “Anchor text” (text underlined in a
link)
• SEO’s manipulated the hell out of anchor text
7

8. Anchor Text Example
• Landscaping company in Orlando
• Cheating: Create a bunch of self made links & use
anchor text in links that contain phrases like Orlando
Landscaping Company, Landscapers in Orlando &
Orlando Landscaping.
• Pre-Penguin: Creating links from low quality sites
was effective. (directory listings, self made articles,
and links in comments and forum posts)
• Post-Penguin: Not so much
• Penguin algorithm is Google putting a "trust factor"
on your links.
8

9. Hummingbird – 9/26/13
• Completely different from Penguin or Panda.
• Was a total overhaul of the entire Google algorithm
• Panda & Penguin – new engine part (filter or fuel pump)
• Hummingbird wasn't a new part; it was a completely
new engine.
• Goal: for Google to better understand a user's query.
• And for Google's voice search to be more effective.
*Typing a search query: "best Seattle SEO
company”
* Speaking a query: “Which firm in Seattle offers
the best SEO services?
• Point of Hummingbird: better understand what users
mean when they have queries like this.
9

10. Content Tactics
10

11. Goal: Start Title With Keyword
• Most important on-page SEO factor
• Moz.com study: pages that started title with a
keyword ranked higher than pages with the
keyword in the middle or at the end
11

12. Add Search Love Bling
with Multimedia
• Text can only take your content so far
• Engaging images, videos & diagrams reduce
bounce rate & increase time on site
• These are 2 user interaction-based Google
ranking factors
• Increases perceived value of your content:
people more likely to link to it.
12

13. Add Modifiers To Your Title
• Adding modifiers like “2014”, “best”, “guide”,
and “review” can help you rank for long tail
versions of your target keyword.
• Great trick to wrangle in those long tail
searchers that use 5-9 words per search
• These modifiers aren’t targeting any particular
long tail keyword.
13

14. Post Long Content
• Adage “length is strength” supported by a
SERPIQ.com industry study
• Found that longer content ranked significantly
higher in Google.
• Aim for at least 1500 words when targeting
competitive keywords.
• Brings in more long tail traffic
14

15. Sprinkle LSI Keywords
(Latent Semantic Indexing)
• Synonyms that Google uses to determine a
page’s relevancy (and possibly quality)
• Long content makes it likely that you’ll naturally
include LSI keywords in your content
• Search for your keyword in Google and scroll
down to the “Searches Related to…” area at the
bottom
15

16. What Quality Content Can Do
• Repeat visitors
• Chrome bookmarks
• Time on site
• “Dwell” time
*Measures how long a searcher stays on
your page before hitting the back button.
*Increase dwell time by writing long,
engaging content that keeps people reading.
*Shows Google you gave them something
of value while there
16

17. 17
Ranking Factor Weighting

18. What is Your Reward?
(From Rand Fishkin)
• Have the best opportunity to rank highly in
Google and Bing
• Earn traffic from social networks like Twitter,
Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+
• Be worthy of links & shares from across web
• Build your brand's perception, trust, and
potential to convert visitors
18

19. “Uniquely Valuable”
Content (Rand Fishkin)
• An optimized page doesn't just provide unique content, but unique
value.
• Unique content: those words don't appear anywhere else on the
web.
• Unique value: usefulness & takeaways derived by visitors to the
page.
• Many pages can be "valuable," but few provide a truly unique kind
of value
• Put yourself in the minds of potential visitors; imagine a page that
provides something so different & functional, it rises above
everything else in its field.
• Result? More social shares, links, bigger branding impact, and
better ranking signals.
19

20. Examples
• “The Baby Name Wizard”
• “How Much Does a Website Cost”
• “Scale of the Universe”
• “The Best Instant Noodles of All Time”
• “Top Social Networks by Users”
20

21. 21

22. Other Important To Do’s
• Focus each piece of content on 1 keyword phrase.
• Include the keyword in the content title.
• Add the keyword to the content’s URL
• Use your keyword in first 50 words
• Link to credible outside sources
• Create your content for human beings
• Optimize images & video
• Eliminate duplicate content
22

23. Prepare 12–Month Content Plan
• Creating content on a whim when inspired is not viable for the
long term.
• 12-month content calendar allows for planning content around:
*Holidays & Company milestones & Events
*Variations in team workload and resource availability
• Can include information needed for proper content
optimization:
*Ideas for SEO-friendly titles
*Suggested links
*Blog category and tags
*Meta keywords and meta descriptions
*Sample social media posts
• Becomes much easier to publish content successfully, on time,
and with appropriate optimization.
23

24. Questions?
24

25. Contact Me
• (909) 437-7015 mobile
• jon@contentlaunch.com
• Twitter: @jonwuebben
25