Google is transitioning its search algorithms to be based on machine learning, including RankBrain. This will make algorithms more winner-take-all, rewarding sites that perform well according to signals like click-through rate (CTR) and engagement. The document provides five strategies for SEOs to survive this change: 1) Use tools to identify "donkey" pages with low CTR and convert them to "unicorns" with high CTR through headline testing. 2) Leverage social media ads and remarketing to increase brand awareness and CTR. 3) Monitor engagement signals like bounce rate. 4) Promote inspirational brand content through Facebook ads. 5) Delete poor performing pages to avoid negative impact. The key is focusing

1. HACKING RANKBRAIN &
MACHINE LEARNING-ENABLED ALGOS:
The 5 SEO Strategies You’ll Need to Survive
SEO Judgment Day

2. AN AVERAGE DAY IN
THE NOT TOO FAR OFF
FUTURE…

3. BOOM!

4. SEO JUDGEMENT DAY:
Google Core Search
Algorithms All Based on
Machine Learning

5. Algos for Spam Detection, Image
Search, Video Search, Query
Interpretation, Core Ranking Algo
(etc.) All Machine-Learning
Enabled

6. MILLIONS OF WEBSITES
IMPACTED

8. JOHN CONNOR,
Leader of the SEO
Rebellion in 2020.

10. WHAT IS MACHINE
LEARNING?

11. GOOGLE SEARCH TODAY: HEURISTIC
ALGORITHMS
Not Entirely Machine Learning Based
(Yet)Google Algorithm Change
History

12. • Machine Learning / AI-
Powered
• Checks if the search
results met user
expectations
• Make adjustments to query
& rankings based on the
outcome
Google Search In The
Future:
MACHINE-LEARNING
BASED

13. WHERE DOES GOOGLE
USE MACHINE
LEARNING?

14. Ran

15. Google Cloud Vision API
Google Cloud Speech API
Google Cloud Translate API

17. Certain Search Verticals
Like Porn?

18. Google AdWords Entirely
Based on Machine Learning
for Ad Targeting

19. FACEBOOK NEWS FEED & AD
TARGETING

20. TWITTER ADS USE MACHINE
LEARNING

21. Machine Learning Systems
Pretty Much EVERYWHERE

22. Core Algo Changing?
Validation Signals?
WHO CARES! GET IN!

23. if
You Want
Your
Website
Rankings
To Live

24. Why Didn’t
They Just
Send Rand?

26. Three Random Facts
ABOUT ME

27. 1. Expert Drone Pilot

28. 2. STUDIED ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING FOR 5
YEARS

29. 3. Built Suite of Long Tail Keyword
Research Tools

30. What is RankBrain??

31. Google: “RankBrain Used on Long
Tail Queries” ... “Query
Interpretation ... That Changes
Rank”

32. Last Year: RankBrain as It’s Own
Thing?
*Note: Not Official Google Diagram.
The
CORE
Algorit
hm!
Panda
Pengui
n
RankBra
in
(New!)
The
CORE
Algorit
hm!
Panda
Pengui
n

33. The
CORE
Algorit
hm!
The Future: RankBrain as a
Thing That Works Across
Multiple Things
*Note: Not Official Google Diagram.
Panda
Pengui
n
RankBrain (New!)

34. How Does RankBrain REALLY Work??

35. Long Tail Query
Entered
RankBrain Makes a Guess and Re-Writes
The Query into Something it
Recognizes (Query Interpretation)
Did The
Result
Satisfy
The User?
Great. Next
Time I See
Queries Like
This, I’ll
Put This
Page at the
Top.
Larry’s Greatly Simplified
RankBrain Diagram*
*Note: Not Official Google Diagram. System Doesn’t
Update in Real-Time (yet).
Rats. Next
Time I See a
Query Like
This, I’ll
Try Some
Other Page

36. Searching For
RANKBRAIN

37. Organic Search Ranking
What’s A Good Click Through Rate
for Organic Search? (Spoiler
Alert: It’s in Flux)OrganicSearchClickThroughRate

38. Organic Search Ranking
What’s A Good Click Through Rate
for Organic Search? (Spoiler
Alert: It’s in Flux)OrganicSearchClickThroughRate CTRs
Trending
Higher in
Top
Positions
CTRs
Trending
Lower in
Lower
Positions

39. Organic Search Ranking
What’s A Good Click Through Rate
for Organic Search? (Spoiler
Alert: It’s in Flux)OrganicSearchClickThroughRate CTRs
Trending
Higher in
Top
Positions
CTRs
Trending
Lower in
Lower
Positions

40. Remember
The
Right
Side
Ads?
(RIP Ad
Spots 8-
11)

41. THE CTR vs RANKING CURVE is
BENDING!
WHY?
Theory
Impossible
Because
Elimination of Right Side Rail
Ads?
That Happened
in February

42. THE CTR vs RANKING CURVE is
BENDING!
WHY?
Theory
Impossible
Because
Elimination of Right Side Rail
Ads?
That Happened
in February
Increase in Featured Snippets?
That would
shift the
curve
outwards, not
bend curve.

43. THE CTR vs RANKING CURVE is
BENDING!
WHY?
Theory
Impossible
Because
Elimination of Right Side Rail
Ads?
That Happened
in February
Increase in Featured Snippets?
That would
shift the
curve
outwards, not
bend curve.
Change in Mobile?
78% Desktop /
22% Mobile
(+/- 0.5%)

44. What Came First:
The CTR or the Ranking??

45. +/- 3%
Increase in
Post
Engagement
+/- 1 Spot in
Organic
Position
RankBrain Rewards &
Penalties?

46. Outputs are The New Inputs!

47. A Simple CTR
Optimization Example

48. Behold The Power of CTR
Optimization
WHAT?
Page Title CTR Rank
Guerrilla Marketing: 20+ Examples &
Strategies to Stand Out
1% 8
20+ Jaw-Dropping Guerrilla Marketing
Examples
4.19% 5

49. Massive SEO Traffic
Impact!

50. Key Takeaway: ML (in General) Makes
Stuff Increasingly Winner-Take-All.
Larry’s RankBrain Theory: High CTR
Long Tail Rankings Get *Additional*
Bonus Ranking Boost

51. If True, What Should SEOs Do To
Prepare For RankBrain and Other ML-
Enabled Algos?

52. They’re Not Going To Tell
You Everything…

53. He’s Delusional. Do Nothing.

54. We Need To
Crush More
Auditions.

55. New ML-Algos
Tougher Than
Previous Ones…

56. Five SEO Weapons to
Survive SEO
Judgement Day

57. LARRY’S #1 SEO WEAPON
The CTR
Donkey Detector!

58. WHAT’S MY ORGANIC
CTR?

59. DOWNLOAD THIS QUERY DATA

60. What’s a Good Click Through
Rate?

61. CTR Study (2014) by. Philip Petrescu
for Moz.

62. SERP Differs
Greatly By
Industry

63. Use Your Own Data To Plot The Average CTR
for YOUR Industry!
Unicorns
Donkeys
CTR vs. Average Position

64. DONKEYS VS.
UNICORNS.

65. Unicorns are Up To 6x Better
Than Donkeys.
Avg. CTR
Donkey CTRs (Bottom 10%) = 3x Worse Than Avg.
Unicorn CTRs (Top 10%) = +2x Better Avg.

66. DONKEYS DETECTED.
How to Convert to Unicorn??

67. Larry’s #2 SEO Weapon:
DONKEY TO UNICORN
CONVERTER

68. These SEO
Title Tags
All Suck:

69. “SEO”
Headlines are
Like Dynamic
Keyword
Insertion
(DKI) for PPC

70. Keyword Headlines Using
Dynamic Keyword Insertion Do
OK, Not Great
Relative
Frequency
Average
CTR
Top 15% Top 5% Top 1%
Relative
CTR
Ads without
DKI
Ads with DKI

71. Keyword-y Headlines Less Likely To
Be UnicornsRelative
Frequency
Top 5%
Ads without
DKI
Ads with DKI
Top 1%
Relative
CTR

72. Larry’s Unicorn
Research Lab

73. Leverage Emotional Triggers
I Know Now Why You Cry…

74. The Top 9 Emotions
That Make People
Click Like Crazy:
Step 1: Pick One of These
Emotional Triggers
• Laughter
• Amusement
• Curiosity
• Awe
• Anger
• Fear
• Joy
• Empathy
• Sadness

75. Step 2. Write Headline
Copy From Perspective of
One of These Personas
The Bearer
of Bad News
The
Hero/Villai
n
The
Comedian
The Feel
Good Friend

76. 3. Use This Title Template
Commonly Employed By
‘Viral’ Articles
Format
List post, quiz,
Infographic
Emotional
Hook
Emotional word or
superlative
Content Type
Images, quotes, pictures,
facts
Topic
Love, cats, dogs, fitness,
health, Donald Trump
5 AWESOME SEO STRATEGIES TO DEFEAT
RANKBRAIN

77. Unicorn Headlines = Top
10%
Odds of Finding Unicorn =
1:10
So Test 10 Different
Headlines

78. Quiz: How Many Headlines Do You
See Here?

79. It’s the Same Headline with
Different Capitalization,
Punctuation
Are We Learning Yet??

80. You Need 10 *Different*
Headlines!
How to Spot the Unicorn?

81. Use AdWords to Test
Headlines

82. Bid to Position (eg: Top
Spot)

83. OK To Target Cheaper Markets
Average Cost Per Click Around
The World
Greater than US Average CPC
Average US CPC
1-20% Less than Average US CP
21-40% Less than
Average US CPC41-60% Less than Average US C
61-80% Less than
Average US CPC>81% Less than Average US CPC
Limited Data

84. Use Broad Match Keyword
Match Type

85. • Identify Donkeys (Bottom 10%)
• Write 10 Different Headlines
• Test 10 Ads on AdWords
• Replace Old Headline With Winner
Larry’s Donkey to Unicorn
Converter: Summary

86. The Same Emotions
That Make People to
Share Things Cause
High CTR.

87. elative Search CTR vs. Facebook Post Engagement Rat

88. Social Signals Were Suspected
Ranking Factors A Long Time
Ago!

89. Meaning: CTR As Ranking
Factor Has Been In Place
For a Long Time!

90. "In addition, click data
(the website links on
which a user actually
clicks) is important for
evaluating the quality
of the search results
page.”
Udi Manber, Google's
former chief of search
quality, Testimony to
US Federal Trade
Commission, Obtained by
The Wall St. Journal,
August 8, 2012

91. 2. You
Can
Audition
Headline
s in
Facebook
and
Twitter
Ads,
Too!

92. 3. The Grand Unified Unicorn
Quaternary Theory: They All Have
High Engagement in Common
SEO Unicorn
Paid/Organic
Social
Unicorn
CRO Unicorn PPC Unicorn

93. 4. Bonus (New) Featured Snippets!

94. Snippet Position CTR
most expensive google
adwords 1.1 0.6939
weight loss keywords 1 0.5595
insurance keywords 1 0.5408
most expensive adwords 1 0.5303
meta tags for seo 1.1 0.4768
how to increase ctr 1.5 0.4556
best call to action buttons 1.1 0.4503
meta tag for seo 1.4 0.4481
marketing buzz words 1 0.434
what is a good click
through rate 1.1 0.4127
Theory: Unusually
High CTR Appears to
Play a Major Role in
Snippet Selection.
Beat Expected CTR by
50%

96. A Note of Caution

97. Don’t Use Spam Sites Like
CrowdSearch.me

99. We’ve Got RankBrain By The
Balls

100. They Have a Back-Up
System…

101. We’ve Got Rankbrain By The
Balls
Seems to Have a Back-Up
System…
We’re Gonna Need Bigger
Guns..

102. LARRY’S #3 SEO WEAPON
Engagement Rate Unicorn/Donkey
Detector

103. Bounce Rate vs. Organic
Position
Pass:
Bounce
Rate Low
Enough
Fail:
Bounce
Rate Too
High

104. We Know Google Measures Dwell
Time

105. We Know Google Measures Dwell
Time

106. “Back” On Mobile Triggers “People
Also Search For”

107. Time on Site vs. Organic
Position
PASS: Good
Enough
Time On
Site
Fail: Time
on Site
not Good
Enough

108. Key Takeaway: “Task
Completion Rates” Used
To Validate CTR

109. Engagement Rate Donkey Detector

110. Search Conversion Rate Distribution
Median: 2.35%
Top 25%: 5.31% and Above
Top 10%: 11.45%
and Above
SHAREOFALLACCOUNTS
SEARCH CONVERSION RATE. (WordStream Customer Data – Not Official Google Data)
What’s a Good Conversion
Rate?

111. How to Turn
Conversion Rate
Donkeys into
Unicorns?

112. Larry Kim, Founder
WordStream, Inc.
SearchLove London, October 17, 2016
#searchlove@larrykim

113. Unicorn CRO!
1. On-Page Elements:
UX, Design, Images,
Copy, Fonts, Emotional
Triggers, Psychology,
Etc.
2. Brand Awareness:
People overwhelmingly
favor the brands
they're familiar with.
3.Growth Hack:
Engineer an offer to be
10x more compelling
and pull uses through
the funnel 10x faster.
Key Takeaway: Focus on All Three Areas!
#searchlove@larrykim

114. RankBrain
Terminated
Now What?

115. Time Travel to Past:
Before Users Do Searches

116. Larry’s #4 SEO Weapo
FACEBOOK ADS and
Google Display
Network

117. Wait.. Advertising Impacts
Organic CTR and Conversion
Rates??

118. Brand Affinity DRAMATICALLY Impacts CTR (+2-3x!)

119. Brand Affinity DRAMATICALLY Impacts
CONVERSION RATES (+2-3x!)

120. Facebook Ads
Impact
Clicks,
Conversions
from
Paid/Organic
Search

121. Warning: Facebook Ads Employ Machine
Learning Tech: So You Can’t Promote
Junk

122. Interests Targeting

123. Demographic Targeting

124. Behavioral Targeting

125. Custom Affinity Audiences in
Google Display Network

126. In Google
Display
Network
Targeting,
Set Keyword
Setting to
“Content”

127. Clone Existing Customer Lists

128. Time Travel to FUTURE:
Ensure Subsequent Searches
Go Your Way

129. I’LL BE
BACK
Larry’s #5 SEO
Weapon:
Remarketi
ng

130. LovePop
Cards:

131. 3-Dimensional Pop-Up Cards

133. Unicorn Video Ads!

136. Returning
Visitors:
1. Existing Customers
2. 1-Day Remarketing
Audience
3. 7, 30, 180-day
Remarketing
Audiences
New Visitors:
1. Lookalike
Audiences
2. Interest, Behavior
& Demographic-
Based Audiences.
Note: Exclude the overlap (duh).
arry’s Ad Targeting Stack (Powered By Tim
Travel)

137. Delete Your “Bad
Neighborhoods”
Self Destruct Sequence
Initiated

138. Mission
Complet
e

139. What Does it All Mean?

140. Old SEO Tactics Clearly Don’t
Work Anymore

141. They Might Even Make Things
Worse!

142. Don’t Just Wait for RankBrain
& ML-Algos.

143. Better CTR & Conversion Rates -> More Clicks
& Conversions.
Improved CTR & CVR -> Better Rankings.
Better Rankings -> Even more clicks and
Virtuous Cycle of
Unicorn Land:

144. Terrible CTR & Engagement Rates -> Less
Clicks, Leads, Sales, etc.
Crappy User Engagement -> Terrible Rankings.
Terrible Rankings -> Even Fewer Clicks &
Sales.
Vs. Death Spiral of
RankBrain and Other ML-
Algos

145. How Marketing REALLY Works
STEP
1:
Promote Inspirational / Memorable Content about Your Brand
to your Target Market
STEP
2:
People See The Ad, But Don’t Necessarily Take Action Right
Away. (But Become Biased)
STEP
3:
Later when the Need Arises,
People either:
Do a Branded
Search for Your
Stuff
Do Un-Branded Search
but Biased Towards
Clicking & Buying
From You.

146. Be a Unicorn in a Sea of
Donkeys

147. Thank You, Will Critchlow &
SearchLove Team!