1.
REVERSE-ENGINEERING
GOOGLE’S RESEARCH
How to target the right content to the right
customers at the right time.

2.
@STATrob
#SearchLove

3.
DO YOU REMEMBER THE NAME OF
THE ACTOR FROM THAT SCIFI
MOVIE WITH THE SHORT OLD GUY
WITH WEIRD EARS?
@STATrob

4.
REMEMBER BEFORE GOOGLE?
How did you get the answers you needed?
@STATrob

5.
INSTANT GRATIFICATION IS THE
NAME OF THE GAME FOR GOOGLE.
Their goal is to give you the answers you need. Fast.
@STATrob

6.
THEY’VE CHANGED THE WORLD.
And they’ve changed human behaviour.
@STATrob

7.
[NAME OF BAD GUY
FROM HUDSON HAWK]
Google isn’t good at this query. They totally suck, right?
@STATrob

8.
GOOGLE IS A VICTIM OF
THEIR OWN SUCCESS.
They have changed our expectations for information
retrieval and they have to adapt to those changes.
@STATrob

9.
GOOGLE IS CHANGING THE RULES.
BUT, THEY ALSO HAVE TO PLAY BY
THE NEW RULES.
@STATrob

10.
IT’S LIKE A GIANT DRAWING A
MAP WHILE ITS FOOTSTEPS
ALTER THE LANDSCAPE.
@STATrob

11.
SERPS ARE THE FRONTEND TO
GOOGLE’S MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR
CONSUMER RESEARCH MACHINE.
@STATrob

12.
BY PAYING ATTENTION TO THE
SERPS, WE CAN SNOOP ON
GOOGLE’S RESEARCH.
And we can learn what our customers are
looking for when they search for something.
@STATrob

13.
LET’S TALK INTENT.
@STATrob

14.
CONSUMER SEARCH INTENT.
There are three key stages of search intent
when making consumer searches online.
@STATrob

15.
THE INFORMATIONAL STAGE IS
THE START OF THE PATH TO
PURCHASE.
@STATrob

16.
AT EACH STAGE OF THE FUNNEL,
THE SEARCHER HAS A
DIFFERENT INTENT.
@STATrob

17.
“…demographics don't help us
understand what we really need to
know — what consumers are looking
for in an exact moment or where
they are looking to find it.”
THINK WITH GOOGLE
@STATrob

18.
SEARCHER INTENT IS THE
NEW DEMOGRAPHICS.
@STATrob

19.
INTENT BEATS IDENTITY.
IMMEDIACY BEATS LOYALTY.
In order to be where the searcher is looking, we need
to understand their intent.
@STATrob

20.
THE RESEARCH
@STATrob

21.
14 PRODUCT CATEGORIES,
542 QUERIES:
• Music (40 core queries)
• Computers (42 core queries)
• Sports & outdoors (38 core queries)
• And so on.
@STATrob

22.
EXAMPLE KEYWORD MODIFICATIONS
APPLIANCES ELECTRONICS PET SUPPLIES
INFORMATIONAL blender lcd tv cat brush
COMMERCIAL blender reviews best lcd tv compare cat brushes
TRANSACTIONAL buy blender lcd tv free shipping cat brush coupons

23.
KEYWORD RESEARCH IS
MORE ART THAN SCIENCE.
Your keyword lists will be more nuanced than ours.
@STATrob

24.
SIMPLE SHARE OF VOICE SCORING
WEIGHT SEARCH VOLUME SHARE OF VOICE SCORE
Rank 1 1 x 1000 = 1000
Rank 2 0.9 x 1000 = 900
Rank 3 0.8 x 1000 = 800
… … … …
Rank 10 0.1 x 1000 = 100

25.
DON’T FORGET
THE DATA FROM OUR RESEARCH
IS SPECIFIC TO OUR KEYWORD
SET. YOUR RESULTS WILL DIFFER.
@STATrob

26.
I’M HERE TO SHOW YOU WHAT’S
POSSIBLE. FOCUS ON THESE
METHODS, RATHER THAN THE DATA.
@STATrob

27.
FOR EACH STAGE OF INTENT,
WE MAPPED THE SERP.
@STATrob

28.
FEATURED SNIPPETS

29.
IMAGES

30.
NEWS

31.
PLACES

32.
PEOPLE ALSO ASK

33.
VIDEO

34.
SHOPPING

35.
QUESTION ONE
HOW CAN WE UNLOCK GOOGLE’S
INSIGHTS INTO WHAT SEARCHERS
ARE LOOKING FOR AT EACH STAGE?
@STATrob

36.
QUESTION TWO
WHAT POINTS OF LEVERAGE DO
WE HAVE IN EACH STAGE TO MAKE
SURE WE’RE VISIBLE AND USEFUL?
@STATrob

37.
QUESTION THREE
CAN WE REVERSE-ENGINEER THE
WINNING STRATEGIES OF KEY
COMPETITORS AT EACH STAGE?
@STATrob

38.
HERE’S A 10,000-FOOT VIEW
OF WHAT WE FOUND.
@STATrob

39.
ORGANIC RESULTS RULE.
10%
90%
ORGANIC
ALL OTHERS

40.
BE THERE. BE USEFUL. BE QUICK.
The core organic algorithm does an amazing job of
determining which results are most useful to a given
searcher’s intent.
@STATrob

41.
BUT SHOPPING BOXES
ARE MAAAAAAJOR.
40%
60%
SHOPPING
NON-SHOPPING

42.
THESE ARE OUR
POINTS OF LEVERAGE.
7%
7%
9%
23%
25%
29% IMAGES
VIDEO
ANSWERS
PLACES
PEOPLE ALSO ASK
NEWS

43.
INFORMATIONAL
INTENT STAGE.
@STATrob

44.
TOPOLOGY OF THE
INFORMATIONAL SERP
5%
5%
8%
18%
21%
42%
SHOPPING
IMAGES
NEWS
VIDEOS
PEOPLE ALSO ASK
ANSWERS
PLACES

45.
SHOPPING RESULTS FOR OUR
KEYWORDS IN THE
INFORMATIONAL STAGE.
42%
@STATrob

46.
IMMEDIACY BEATS LOYALTY.
Google knows that some people just want it now.
Fast and cheap.
@STATrob

47.
IMAGE RESULTS FOR
OUR KEYWORDS IN THE
INFORMATIONAL STAGE.
21%
@STATrob

48.
IMAGES ARE A GREAT UX
FOR UNREFINED QUERIES.
They’re an easy way to find the exact
model, style or colour you’re looking for.
@STATrob

49.
The view when a searcher clicks on an image.

50.
VIDEO RESULTS FOR
OUR KEYWORDS IN THE
INFORMATIONAL STAGE.
8%
@STATrob

51.
Video pack/carousel

52.
Stand-alone video result

53.
7 SITES WITH VIDEO RESULTS
Results
0
35
70
YOUTUBE PCGAMER LIFEHACKER VICE EBAY MASHABLE STANCE
111122
62

54.
FEATURED SNIPPET RESULTS
FOR OUR KEYWORDS IN THE
INFORMATIONAL STAGE.
5%
@STATrob

55.
LET’S LOOK AT THE POTENTIAL
OF GOING AFTER THESE
FEATURED SNIPPETS.
@STATrob

56.
WHICH STYLE OF FEATURED SNIPPET
IS THE MOST COMMON?
Results
0
10
20
30
40
50
LIST PARAGRAPH TABLE
2
39
1

57.
AVERAGE SEARCH VOLUME PER
FEATURED SNIPPET RESULT FOR
OUR INFORMATIONAL KEYWORDS.
23,300
@STATrob

58.
WIKIPEDIA IS THE OBVIOUS INCUMBENT HERE.
Results
0
5
10
15
20
WIKIPEDIA.ORG AMAZON.COM BESTBUY.COM XEROX.COM OFFICEDEPOT.COM
1
22
3
17

59.
WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED
ABOUT THE SERPS FOR OUR
INFORMATIONAL KEYWORDS?
@STATrob

60.
LESSON 1
RECOGNIZE WHEN YOU’LL NEED A
PAID STRATEGY TO WIN.
@STATrob

61.
THE PREVALENCE OF SHOPPING
BOXES CAN’T BE IGNORED.
We need a paid strategy to give searchers what they
want here.
@STATrob

62.
LESSON 2
LOOK FOR STRONG BIAS
TOWARDS CERTAIN SITES.
@STATrob

63.
CAN YOU DISPLACE AN
INCUMBENT LIKE WIKIPEDIA?
They dominate the featured snippets in this stage.
Is there really room for us to win there?
@STATrob

64.
LESSON 3
LOOKING AT THE SERP TOPOLOGY
TELLS US WHAT GOOGLE THINKS
THESE SEARCHERS WANT.
@STATrob

65.
IN THIS STAGE, WE SAW
SEARCHER NEEDS BEING MET BY
NEWS, IMAGES, AND ORGANIC.
This is what Google has determined is the best
outcome for these searches.
@STATrob

66.
COMMERCIAL
INTENT STAGE.
@STATrob

67.
TOPOLOGY OF THE
COMMERCIAL SERP
12%
13%
10%
59%
SHOPPING
IMAGES
NEWS
VIDEOS
PEOPLE ALSO ASK
ANSWERS
PLACES

68.
WHAT’S THE AVERAGE SHARE OF VOICE
CONTRIBUTION PER RESULT?
SHAREOFVOICESCORE
0
1,500
3,000
4,500
6,000
SHOPPING IMAGES NEWS VIDEOS P.A.A. ANSWERS PLACES
16
1,946
44188
5,184
53
704

69.
LET’S REVERSE-ENGINEER
THE WINNING STRATEGIES
IN THIS STAGE.
@STATrob

70.
WHO HAS THE MOST SHARE OF VOICE
IN THIS STAGE?
SHAREOFVOICESCORE
0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
CONSUMER REPORTS TECHRADAR AMAZON CNET PCMAG
308K321K
352K
374K376K

71.
BUT WHO HAS THE MOST RANKINGS?RANKINGS
0
1,750
3,500
CONSUMER REPORTS TECHRADAR AMAZON.COM CNET PCMAG
204230
3,117
138299

72.
WHO IS WINNING WHERE?
SHAREOFVOICESCORE
0K
100K
200K
300K
400K
CONSUMER REPORTS TECHRADAR AMAZON.COM CNET PCMAG
NEWS
VIDEO
ANSWERS
ORGANIC

73.
SEGMENT BY THE QUERY
MODIFIER TO SEE WHICH
RESULT TYPES GOOGLE LIKES.
@STATrob

74.
SERP TOPOLOGY FOR
“BEST” QUERIES
29%
12%
5%
50%
SHOPPING
IMAGES
NEWS
VIDEOS
PEOPLE ALSO ASK
ANSWERS
PLACES

75.
SERP TOPOLOGY FOR
“COMPARE” QUERIES
8%
6%
42%
10%
34%
SHOPPING
IMAGES
NEWS
VIDEOS
PEOPLE ALSO ASK
ANSWERS
PLACES

76.
SERP TOPOLOGY FOR
“NEW” QUERIES
4%
12%
7%
27%
50%
SHOPPING
IMAGES
NEWS
VIDEOS
PEOPLE ALSO ASK
ANSWERS
PLACES

77.
DON’T FORGET
GO DEEPER THAN THE SURFACE
DATA. DIG INTO SHARE OF VOICE.
@STATrob

78.
WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED
ABOUT THE SERPS FOR OUR
COMMERCIAL KEYWORDS?
@STATrob

79.
LESSON 1
BY USING SHARE OF VOICE,
MEASURE WHICH DOMAINS ARE
WINNING.
@STATrob

80.
WITH ALMOST 3,000 FEWER
RANKINGS, TECHRADAR STILL
BEAT AMAZON.
Focusing on share-of-voice winners makes the
analysis easier.
@STATrob

81.
LESSON 2
PERFORM SHARE OF VOICE
ANALYSIS ON RESULT TYPES TO
ASSESS THEIR POTENTIAL.
@STATrob

82.
WE CAN REVERSE ENGINEER
TECHRADAR’S WINNING STRATEGY:
FEATURED SNIPPETS.
@STATrob

83.
LESSON 3
SEGMENT EVEN DEEPER ON
QUERY MODIFIERS LIKE “BEST”
TO SEE HOW THE SERPS ADAPT.
@STATrob

84.
FOR “BEST” SEARCHERS WANT
SNIPPETS. FOR “COMPARE” THEY
WANT VIDEOS.
This is where you get some of the most actionable insight
into searcher intent.
@STATrob

85.
TRANSACTIONAL
INTENT STAGE.
@STATrob

86.
TOPOLOGY OF THE
TRANSACTIONAL SERP
9%
7%
11%
69%
SHOPPING
IMAGES
NEWS
VIDEOS
PEOPLE ALSO ASK
ANSWERS
PLACES

87.
WHO HAS THE MOST SHARE OF VOICE
IN THIS STAGE?
SHAREOFVOICESCORE
0K
125K
250K
375K
500K
AMAZON.COM WALMART.COM OVERSTOCK.COM BESTBUY.COM SEARSOUTLET.COM
104K
165K
205K
397K400K

88.
WHO IS WINNING WHERE?
SHAREOFVOICESCORE
0K
100K
200K
300K
400K
AMAZON.COM WALMART.COM OVERSTOCK.COM BESTBUY.COM SEARSOUTLET.COM
ORGANIC
NEWS
VIDEO
ANSWERS

89.
TWEETABLE TIP
THE FURTHER DOWN THE
FUNNEL YOU GO, THE MORE
DISTILLED THE SERP BECOMES.
@STATrob

90.
THIS IS GOOD OL’ FASHIONED SEO!
(Ok, and PPC.)
@STATrob

91.
ARE YOU RANKING HIGH?
RANKING THE RIGHT CONTENT?
@STATrob

92.
WHAT KIND OF CONTENT
IS AMAZON RANKING?
RANKINGS
0
400
800
1200
1600
CATEGORY PRODUCT COUPON OTHER
104
706
1,590

93.
WHAT ABOUT WALMART’S CONTENT?
RANKINGS
0
400
800
1200
1600
CATEGORY PRODUCT
162
1,008

94.
AND OVERSTOCK’S CONTENT?
RANKINGS
0
400
800
1200
1600
CATEGORY PRODUCT BUYERS' GUIDE
1011
422

95.
WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED
ABOUT THE SERPS FOR OUR
TRANSACTIONAL KEYWORDS?
@STATrob

96.
LESSON 1
THE DEEPER YOU GO IN THE
FUNNEL, THE MORE YOU HAVE
TO RELY ON ORGANIC RANKINGS.
@STATrob

97.
ORGANIC RESULTS WERE THE BEST
WAY TO PUSH TRAFFIC IN THIS STAGE.
Catering content towards universal results isn’t going to win
the day when searchers are this low in the funnel.
@STATrob

98.
LESSON 2
ANALYZE RANKING URLS TO FIND
OUT WHAT UX SATISFIES THE
SEARCHER’S INTENT.
@STATrob

99.
THE MAJORITY OF PAGES WE
SAW RANKING HIGHEST WERE
CATEGORY PAGES.
We also identified a few potential areas, like coupons,
where we might be able to develop new content.
@STATrob

100.
SO WHAT CONCLUSIONS
HAVE WE REACHED?
@STATrob

101.
GOOGLE’S ADVICE
YOU HAVE TO BE THERE, BE
USEFUL, AND BE QUICK.
@STATrob

102.
HOW TO “BE THERE”
QUALITY KEYWORD RESEARCH
AND THOROUGH SEGMENTATION
BY INTENT STAGES IS CRUCIAL.
@STATrob

103.
HOW TO “BE THERE”
YOU KNOW IF YOU’RE “THERE”
BY MEASURING SHARE OF VOICE.
You can break this out by stage or result type.
@STATrob

104.
HOW TO “BE USEFUL”
LOOK AT SERP TOPOLOGIES TO
FIND OUT WHAT GOOGLE THINKS
IS USEFUL TO SEARCHERS.
@STATrob

105.
SERP TOPOLOGY FOR
“COMPARE” QUERIES
8%
6%
42%
10%
34%
SHOPPING
IMAGES
NEWS
VIDEOS
PEOPLE ALSO ASK
ANSWERS
PLACES

106.
HOW TO “BE USEFUL”
CREATE STRATEGIC CONTENT
EXPERIENCES THAT SATISFY
SEARCHERS’ IMMEDIATE NEEDS.
@STATrob

107.
HOW TO “BE QUICK”
OPTIMIZE SITE SPEED AND
GET RIGHT TO THE POINT.
Omit everything that distracts from the immediate
needs of the searcher.
@STATrob

108.
HOW MANY UNIVERSAL RESULTS
ARE THERE IN EACH STAGE?
0%
50%
100%
INFORMATIONAL COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONAL
10%11%15%

109.
TOPOLOGY OF THE
INFORMATIONAL SERP
5%
5%
8%
18%
21%
42%
SHOPPING
IMAGES
NEWS
VIDEOS
PEOPLE ALSO ASK
ANSWERS
PLACES

110.
TOPOLOGY OF THE
COMMERCIAL SERP
12%
13%
10%
59%
SHOPPING
IMAGES
NEWS
VIDEOS
PEOPLE ALSO ASK
ANSWERS
PLACES

111.
TOPOLOGY OF THE
TRANSACTIONAL SERP
9%
7%
11%
69%
SHOPPING
IMAGES
NEWS
VIDEOS
PEOPLE ALSO ASK
ANSWERS
PLACES

112.
WHICH RESULT TYPE HAS
THE HIGHEST AVERAGE SHARE OF VOICE?SHAREOFVOICESCORE
0
1,500
3,000
4,500
6,000
ORGANIC SHOPPING EVERYTHING ELSE
2,997
5,312
1,992

113.
KEY TAKEAWAY
OPTIMIZING FOR UNIVERSAL
RESULTS IS THE BEST WAY TO
ENSURE YOU’RE SATISFYING
SEARCHER INTENT.
@STATrob

114.
KEY TAKEAWAY
WE CAN SNOOP INTO GOOGLE’S
FINDINGS ON SEARCH INTENT BY
LOOKING AT SERP TOPOLOGY.
@STATrob

115.
KEY TAKEAWAY
AS WE MOVE DOWN THE INTENT
FUNNEL, DIFFERENT RESULT TYPES
RISE AND FALL IN VALUE.
@STATrob

116.
KEY TAKEAWAY
WITH KNOWLEDGE OF INTENT, WE
CAN CRAFT THE RIGHT CONTENT
FOR THE RIGHT MOMENT OF THE
SEARCHER’S JOURNEY.
@STATrob

117.
THIS ANALYSIS IS EASY TO DO.
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED:
• A SERP tracking tool that can break out result types
• Search volume data
• A share of voice model of your choosing
• Excel or SQL
@STATrob

118.
DOWNLOAD THE
WHITEPAPER:
GETSTAT.COM/SEARCHLOVE

119.
ONE MORE THING…
@STATrob

120.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE SOME FRESH
FEATURED SNIPPET RESEARCH?
@STATrob

121.
WE WERE CURIOUS ABOUT FEATURED
SNIPPET VOLATILITY.
So, naturally, we ran the numbers!
@STATrob

122.
THREE TYPES OF VOLATILITY
• Featured snippet disappearing
• Featured snippet reappearing after it’s disappeared
• Featured snippet URL changing
@STATrob

123.
WE TRACKED THE DATA FOR 20 DAYS
• 232,451 keywords that showed snippets on day one
• Tracked on a smartphone device
• Tracked in Los Angeles, California
@STATrob

124.
GOOD NEWS!
Most snippets are actually quite stable.
@STATrob

125.
68% OF SNIPPETS WERE
UNCHANGED OVER 20 DAYS.
68%
@STATrob

126.
89% OF QUERIES HAVE SNIPPETS
THAT APPEARED EVERY DAY.
89%
@STATrob

127.
MOST OF THE VOLATILITY WE SAW
WAS DUE TO URL CHANGES.
When SERPs have a snippet, it looks like they stick around.
@STATrob

128.
SNIPPETS ARE SELECTED FROM UP TO
THREE DIFFERENT SOURCE URLS
98% of snippets are sourced from up to three different URLs.
@STATrob

129.
STABLE SNIPPETS PULL MOSTLY FROM
RANKS THREE & FOUR.
If you spot a snippet pulling from below rank four, you have a
better chance of stealing it.
@STATrob

130.
PARAGRAPH SNIPPETS ARE THE MOST
STABLE FORMAT.
Table snippets are Google’s least favourite format.
@STATrob

131.
KEY TAKEAWAY: TRACK THE SNIPPETS
IN YOUR SPACE.
See how snippet appearance and formats are changing, track
their volatility, and see what three URLs are your competition.
@STATrob

132.
READ MORE:
GETSTAT.COM/VOLATILITY
@STATrob