This document discusses new techniques for SEO in the modern age. It covers the importance of data-driven approaches like split testing over following best practices. Machine learning is becoming more important for SEO due to its use in search algorithms. A hub and spoke content model is proposed to manage content across multiple platforms. Split testing and machine learning are positioned as essential SEO techniques, with the recommendation to learn categories of machine learning rather than trying to learn the techniques directly.

2. TOM ANTHONY
3 New Techniques
for the
Modern Age of SEO
@TomAnthonySEO

3. MEETING THE PARENTS

4. I WAS FOLLOWING ‘BEST PRACTICE’ (GOOD MANNERS)

5. Have you recommended
ALT attributes on images
for SEO reasons?
?

6. ALT ATTRIBUTES GOOD FOR SEO
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

7. TEST RESULT: ALT ATTRIBUTES HAD NO IMPACT
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

8. SEO Best Practices
are no longer useful.
We need data driven approaches.
!

9. DECK STRUCTURE
SEO
Split-Testing

10. SEO
Split-Testing
Machine Learning
vs The Algo
vs
DECK STRUCTURE

11. SEO
Split-Testing
Machine Learning
vs The Algo
Hub & Spoke
API Based Approach
vs
DECK STRUCTURE

12. SEO
Split-Testing
Machine Learning
vs The Algo
Hub & Spoke
API Based Approach
vs
1 month 1 year 2 years
DECK STRUCTURE

13. SEO
Split-Testing
Machine Learning
vs The Algo
Hub & Spoke
API Based Approach
vs
1 month 1 year 2+ years
DECK STRUCTURE
Actionable Thought Provoking

14. SEO
SPLIT-TESTING

15. TEST RESULT: ALT ATTRIBUTES HAD NO IMPACT
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

16. Blog Post

17. Blog Post

18. Blog PostBlog Post

19. ‘TRADITIONAL’ CRO A/B TESTING IS USER ORIENTED
Visitors A & B:
control version
of a page
Visitors C & D:
test version
of the same page
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

20. SEO A/B TESTING IS PAGE ORIENTED
Pages 1, 2, 3:
Control Layout
Pages 4, 5, 6:
Test Layout
All users see the
same as each other
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

21. SEO A/B TESTING INCLUDES GOOGLEBOT
Googlebot sees
the same as users
Pages 1, 2, 3:
Control Layout
Pages 4, 5, 6:
Test Layout
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

22. 2009: ALGORITHM IS PRETTY WELL UNDERSTOOD
No Panda
No Penguin
No RankBrain
No Machine Learning
We know what to do.
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

23. AMIT SINGHAL - HEAD OF SEARCH, GOOGLE
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

24. THE ALGORITHM WAS MOSTLY HANDMADE
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

25. EARLY 2016: AMIT SINGHAL RETIRES
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

26. JOHN GIANNANDREA TAKES OVER
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

27. PREVIOUSLY HEAD OF MACHINE LEARNING
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

28. IMPACT OF MACHINE LEARNING
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

29. IMPACT OF MACHINE LEARNING
Translate
10 YEARS
RESEARCH
2 MONTHS
MACHINE LEARNING
Imagine the same step change in the search algo!
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

30. Are we good at understanding
the ranking algorithm?
?

31. WE SURVEYED 2000 PEOPLE FOR 10 QUERIES

32. % OF UK SEARCH RESULT PAIRS PREDICTED CORRECTLY
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Laypeople
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

33. % OF UK SEARCH RESULT PAIRS PREDICTED CORRECTLY
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Laypeople <= 3 yrs SEO
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

34. % OF UK SEARCH RESULT PAIRS PREDICTED CORRECTLY
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Laypeople <= 3 yrs SEO > 3 yrs SEO
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

35. % OF UK SEARCH RESULT PAIRS PREDICTED CORRECTLY
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Laypeople <= 3 yrs SEO > 3 yrs SEO Coin flip
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

36. DistilledODN
Your Server Your Home Page
CDN
Distilled ODN
Your Optimized
Home Page
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

37. GRAPH: TOTAL ADDITIONAL SESSIONS

38. SHADED AREA SHOWS CONFIDENCE INTERVAL

39. TEST IS SIGNIFICANT WHEN THE FAN CROSSES 0

40. IN THIS CASE IT HAPPENED HERE:

41. ALT ATTRIBUTES
1

42. HYPOTHESIS: ALT attributes on images are good for SEO

43. RESULT: ALT attributes had no effect
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

44. SEO ‘CONTENT’
2

45. HYPOTHESIS: Text content on category pages is sort of good?

46. RESULT: No real impact when removed
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

47. RESULT: A 3.1% improvement in organic performance

48. Not every site
is the same.
Identical changes can
have different results.
!

49. JAVASCRIPT
RENDERING
3

50. HYPOTHESIS: Javascript impacts Google’s crawling / indexation
MAY 2014
“our indexing system has been rendering a substantial number of web pages more like an
average user’s browser with JavaScript turned on.
OCT 2015
“We are generally able to render and understand your web pages like modern browsers.”
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

51. Javascript EnabledJavascript Disabled
SITUATION: Javascript needed to render product list
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

52. RESULT: CSS fallback led to a 6.2% uplift
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

53. TITLES:
HIGHEST SEARCH VOLUME
4

54. Title tag before: Which TV should I buy? - Argos
Title tag after: Which TV to buy? - Argos
HYPOTHESIS: Title tags should match greatest search volume term
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

55. RESULT: Organic sessions decreased by average 8%
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

56. STRUCTURED MARKUP
ON CATEGORY PAGES
5

57. SITUATION: Category pages have lots of images but little text

58. HYPOTHESIS: Structured Markup per product will help
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

59. RESULT: Organic sessions increase by 11%
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

60. LEARN HOW TO DO IT: READ THIS
Blog Post

61. THEN READ THIS:
Blog Post

62. LOOK AT THIS
Slideshare

63. MACHINE LEARNING
VS THE ALGO
vs

64. You do not need to learn
Machine Learning techniques!
It’s an exercise in PAIN.
!

65. LEARN TO DRIVE, NOT HOW TO BUILD ENGINES
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

66. LEARN CATEGORIES, SO YOU CAN PICK BEST TOOL
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

67. OK, but why do we need
Machine Learning at all?
?

68. SEO REASONS FOR USING MACHINE LEARNING
ML Search Algo: we need ML to unravel it
IPAs, Apps, Smart Watches: too much data
Competitive Advantage: better insights, sooner

69. The next year will see an
explosion of Machine Learning
powered SEO tools.
!

70. #theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

71. (SOME) THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH ML
Categorisation

72. (SOME) THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH ML
Categorisation
Prediction

73. (SOME) THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH ML
Categorisation
Prediction
Clustering

74. AUTOMATICALLY CATEGORISE UGC CATEGORISATION
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

75. AUTOMATED ANALYTICS INSIGHTS PREDICTION
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

76. DYNAMIC PERSONAS PREDICTION CLUSTERING
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

77. KEYWORD RESEARCH CLUSTERING
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

78. DEEPRANK: SERP ANALYSIS
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Laypeople <= 3 yrs SEO > 3 yrs SEO Coin flip
PREDICTION
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

79. DEEPRANK: SERP ANALYSIS
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Laypeople <= 3 yrs SEO > 3 yrs SEO Coin flip DeepRank
PREDICTION
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

80. FURTHER READING
Machine Learning for SEOs Machine Learning Revolution Machine Doing
Mike King
iPullRank
Eric Enge
Stone Temple
Tom Anthony
Distilled
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

81. HUB & SPOKE
API BASED APPROACH

82. BUSINESS START WITH A WEBSITE

83. BOLT A MOBILE SITE ON TO THE SIDE

84. WE NEED AN APP!

85. APP CAN BE A FRAME ON THE MOBILE SITE…

86. LETS HAVE A BLOG!

87. UN-GUIDED EVOLUTION CREATES PROBLEMS
Slow uptake of new technologies.
Logging, analytics and BI all over the place.
New channels built from ground up.
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

88. SLOW RESPONSE: CREATES COMPETITOR OPPORTUNITIES
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

89. GAP BETWEEN CHANNELS - SHORTER & SHORTER
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

90. HUB & SPOKE MODEL

91. What might this
mean for SEOs?
?

92. INVEST IN CENTRALISED ANALYTICS
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO
Source Blog Post

93. INPUTS & OUTPUTS MATRIX
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

94. Typed Spoken Touch Visual
Large
Display
Desktop
Website
- Booth -
Touch
Mobile Website
App
Smart
Watch
Smart
Watch
Smart
Glasses
(e.g Google Glass)
Static - - - -
Audio -
Ambient IPA
(e.g Amazon Echo)
- -
SEARCH INPUT
SmallDisplay
RESULTPRESENTATION

95. Typed Spoken Touch Visual
Large
Display
Desktop
Website
- Booth -
Touch
Mobile Website
App
Smart
Watch
Smart
Watch
Smart
Glasses
(e.g Google Glass)
Static -
Smart
Mirror
- -
Audio -
Ambient IPA
(e.g Amazon Echo)
- -
SmallDisplay
SEARCH INPUTRESULTPRESENTATION

96. Typed Spoken Touch Visual
Large
Display
Desktop
Website
- Booth -
Touch
Mobile Website
App
Smart
Watch
Smart
Watch
Smart
Glasses
(e.g Google Glass)
Static -
Smart
Mirror
- -
Audio -
Ambient IPA
(e.g Amazon Echo)
- -
SmallDisplay
SEARCH INPUTRESULTPRESENTATION

97. SUMMARY

98. HUB & SPOKE MODEL
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

99. MACHINE LEARNING: LEARN THE CATEGORIES
#theinbounder @TomAnthonySEO

100. SPLIT-TESTING IS…
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Laypeople <= 3 yrs SEO > 3 yrs SEO Coin flip
NECESSARY ESTABLISHED
CREDIBLE ACCESSIBLE

101. WWW.DISTILLEDODN.COM
CHECK OUT OUR SEO
A/B TESTING PLATFORM:
@TomAnthonySEO
@Dom_Woodman
@WillCritchlow
DIS.TL/INBOUNDER-LONDON
GET THE DECK:
@jonoalderson