Rand's presentation from Mozcon 2017 on how Google enters and often crowds out competitors in vertical search spaces (and how marketers can fight back against this threat).

1. Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz | @randfish | rand@moz.com
How to Survive
Google’s Trojan Horsing of the Web

2. What Has Google
Been Up To?

3. Breaking Into Job Listings

4. Breaking Into Reservations

5. Breaking Into CulturalContent

6. Disintermediating Lists

7. Penalizing vs. IgnoringSpam

8. Facing their1st RealThreatinYears

9. Losing theirFirstBigCase vs.theEU

10. Facing Potential
Regulation ofResults
inCanada

11. Paying Professors toHaveTheirBack

12. But Google is Still the
Unquestionable Behemoth

13. WhereDoPeople Search?

14. BreakdownofSearcheson
MajorWebProperties(October
2016)

15. BreakdownofSearcheson
MajorWebProperties
(May2017)

16. GoogleCore
Oct2016 May2017
GoogleImages
Yahoo
Bing
GoogleMaps
Amazon
Facebook
Gained/Lost
58.9%
27.7%
2.6%
2.3%
2.2%
1.9%
0.7%
YouTube 3.8%
64.8%
21.8%
2.4%
2.4%
1.2%
2.3%
1.5%
3.6%
+5.9
-5.9
-0.2
+0.1
-1.0
+0.4
+0.8
-0.2

17. GoogleCore
Oct2016 May2017
GoogleImages
Yahoo
Bing
GoogleMaps
Amazon
Facebook
Gained/Lost
58.9%
27.7%
2.6%
2.3%
2.2%
1.9%
0.7%
YouTube 3.8%
64.8%
21.8%
2.4%
2.4%
1.2%
2.3%
1.5%
3.6%
+5.9
-5.9
-0.2
+0.1
-1.0
+0.4
+0.8
-0.2
We think this is
Halloween

18. GoogleCore
Oct2016 May2017
GoogleImages
Yahoo
Bing
GoogleMaps
Amazon
Facebook
Gained/Lost
58.9%
27.7%
2.6%
2.3%
2.2%
1.9%
0.7%
YouTube 3.8%
64.8%
21.8%
2.4%
2.4%
1.2%
2.3%
1.5%
3.6%
+5.9
-5.9
-0.2
+0.1
-1.0
+0.4
+0.8
-0.2This is compensated for by a rise in web search
clicks to local results

19. GoogleCore
Oct2016 May2017
GoogleImages
Yahoo
Bing
GoogleMaps
Amazon
Facebook
Gained/Lost
58.9%
27.7%
2.6%
2.3%
2.2%
1.9%
0.7%
YouTube 3.8%
64.8%
21.8%
2.4%
2.4%
1.2%
2.3%
1.5%
3.6%
+5.9
-5.9
-0.2
+0.1
-1.0
+0.4
+0.8
-0.2
I’m keeping an eye on these two

20. Google’s Growth
So far, 2017 is trending ~10-15% higher than 2016, not
including voice or Apple devices

21. TotalSearchers vs.Active Searchers
UnitedStates
Canada
UnitedKingdom
AverageSearches/Month %ofSearchersw/10+
Searches/Month
103-119
120-139
120-135
~39%
~40%
~41%

22. Google CTRBreakdown
Relatively flat excluding seasonality = SEO not being
cannibalized by Google’s own results

23. What are the Web’s Top
Traffic Referrers?

24. Google.com
Oct2016 May2017
Facebook.com
Reddit.com
YouTube.com
Imgur.com
Bing.com
Wikipedia.org
Gained/Lost
59.2%
6.5%
5.4%
4.5%
2.2%
2.2%
1.4%
Yahoo.com 6.0%
62.6%
5.9%
4.1%
4.7%
1.5%
2.1%
1.4%
5.0%
+3.4%
-0.6%
-1.3%
+0.2%
-0.6%
-0.1%
+0%
-1.0%
Amazon.com 1.3% 1.4% +0.1%

25. Google.com
Oct2016 May2017
Facebook.com
Reddit.com
YouTube.com
Imgur.com
Bing.com
Wikipedia.org
Gained/Lost
59.2%
6.5%
5.4%
4.5%
2.2%
2.2%
1.4%
Yahoo.com 6.0%
62.6%
5.9%
4.1%
4.7%
1.5%
2.1%
1.4%
5.0%
+3.4%
-0.6%
-1.3%
+0.2%
-0.6%
-0.1%
+0%
-1.0%
Amazon.com 1.3% 1.4% +0.1%
This is when Reddit stopped using Imgur for all
its image hosting

26. Google.com
Oct2016 May2017
Facebook.com
Reddit.com
YouTube.com
Imgur.com
Bing.com
Wikipedia.org
Gained/Lost
59.2%
6.5%
5.4%
4.5%
2.2%
2.2%
1.4%
Yahoo.com 6.0%
62.6%
5.9%
4.1%
4.7%
1.5%
2.1%
1.4%
5.0%
+3.4%
-0.6%
-1.3%
+0.2%
-0.6%
-0.1%
+0%
-1.0%
Amazon.com 1.3% 1.4% +0.1%
In 7 months, Google gained more
share than all but the top 5 even
have 

27. Top 10 11-100 101-1K 1K-10K 10K+
Google 22.2% 14.9% 18.0% 18.7% 26.2%
Facebook 42.7% 17.7% 15.3% 12.9% 11.3%
Yahoo 39.2% 15.8% 15.6% 14.0% 15.4%
Reddit 75.2% 11.0% 7.2% 4.4% 2.2%
Youtube 80.1% 7.2% 5.4% 4.1% 3.2%
NotAllReferrers SendTrafficEqually
(databelowfromMay2017)

28. Top 10 11-100 101-1K 1K-10K 10K+
Google 22.2% 14.9% 18.0% 18.7% 26.2%
Facebook 42.7% 17.7% 15.3% 12.9% 11.3%
Yahoo 39.2% 15.8% 15.6% 14.0% 15.4%
Reddit 75.2% 11.0% 7.2% 4.4% 2.2%
Youtube 80.1% 7.2% 5.4% 4.1% 3.2%
NotAllReferrers SendTrafficEqually
(databelowfromMay2017)
Google distributes traffic pretty evenly

29. Top 10 11-100 101-1K 1K-10K 10K+
Google 22.2% 14.9% 18.0% 18.7% 26.2%
Facebook 42.7% 17.7% 15.3% 12.9% 11.3%
Yahoo 39.2% 15.8% 15.6% 14.0% 15.4%
Reddit 75.2% 11.0% 7.2% 4.4% 2.2%
Youtube 80.1% 7.2% 5.4% 4.1% 3.2%
NotAllReferrers SendTrafficEqually
(databelowfromMay2017)
Facebook is strongly biased to the top

30. Top 10 11-100 101-1K 1K-10K 10K+
Google 22.2% 14.9% 18.0% 18.7% 26.2%
Facebook 42.7% 17.7% 15.3% 12.9% 11.3%
Yahoo 39.2% 15.8% 15.6% 14.0% 15.4%
Reddit 75.2% 11.0% 7.2% 4.4% 2.2%
Youtube 80.1% 7.2% 5.4% 4.1% 3.2%
NotAllReferrers SendTrafficEqually
(databelowfromMay2017)
Reddit & YouTube even more so

31. Web Marketers Live in
Google’s World…

32. And That’s Becoming
More Dangerous

33. ThisisCelebrity NetWorth’sStory…

35. Via TheOutline

36. DICK MOVE!

37. Here’s Google
Trojan Horsing…

38. Local Events
Eventbrite and Meetup… Huh.
Via TheVerge

39. Job Listings
Via Techcrunch
Something tells me this will not go
well for them…

40. Weather

41. Sports
Seems like a fair deal…

42. The Model’s Pretty
Consistent

43. Google: “Doagreatjob
answering the searcher’s query
&we’llrankyou high*”
*Unlesswehaveourownresults;then
wegettobefirst.

44. Google: “Structure data likethis&we’llmake your listings
morevisible!”
Via Google

45. Google: “These results arebest forourusers. (They fellfor
itagain!)”
NBC has, BTW, put the proper
video markup on their pages.

46. Site Operators Face a
Prisoner’s Dilemma

47. Give GoogleYour Content…

48. …andrisk Google using your data tobuildafeature that
killsyour traffic

49. Or,Holdback your uniquevalue…

50. …Andrisk a
competitor benefiting
fromGoogle’s
opportunities instead

51. Fear Isn’t the Only Thing
Stopping Publishers

52. Some Queries Deserve More thana
SimpleAnswer (evenifthat’swhatsearcherswant)

53. e.g. Climatechange searches
Via Quartz

54. e.g. Politically-charged content

55. e.g. Dangerously incomplete answers

56. e.g. Misleading “instantsolutions”
I do have some feedback; this
sucks! It’s incomplete, wrong, &
frustratingly reductive.

57. This is what a mortgage
calculator should do:

58. What’s the Solution?

59. The 5-Part Path:
AnSEOstrategythatsegmentssearcherintent
Contentstrategythatprioritizescomplextasks
Businessgoalsthatsynchw/yourSEO+content
Atrafficstrategythatdiversifiessources
IncorporationofGoogle’sfutureintoyourplans
1
2
3
4
5

60. Measured by:Traffic Driven
Examples inAction:
HowsomesitesavoidthedangerousdancewithGoogle’sdevilish
proposition

61. Index.co

62. Segmenting Searcher Intent

63. Redfin

64. Prioritizing ComplexTasks

66. Eater

67. DiversifyingTrafficSources

69. Shutterstock

70. SynchingBusinessGoalsw/SEO+Content

71. TheMuse

72. IncorporatingGoogle’sFutureInYourPlans

73. 10 Tactical Tips to
Thrive in Google’s World

74. #1:Prioritize buckets ofKWs w/complex task completion
requirements
These are easy to answer.
Google could do it with a
snippet or a voice answer.

75. #1:Prioritize buckets ofKWs w/complex task completion
requirements
But underwater zombies?
That’s a query that demands
more attention.

76. #2:Serve“instantanswer”contentwhilesimultaneously
enticingtheclick
“and heck…” what? I must
know!

77. #3:InvestincontentGoogleeithercan’tshowin
SERPsorthatbuildsyourbrandwhentheydo
Even if Google launches their own Lyft
competitor, being included here builds Lyft’s
brands & customers in the meantime.

78. Interactive content is deviously hard to steal in a SERP, & immensely valuable to those who are
seeking to solve this problem.
Via LetsCrunchIt

79. #4:Makeyourinternalsearch+navasgoodorbetterthan
Google’spath

80. This should scare the $#%^
out of Eater

81. Memeorandum offers a
navigational UX that Google
can’t truly compete against

82. By serving conscious & unconscious needs, Etsy
provides a UX that Google can’t compete with

83. #5:Drivevisitors toowned,subscription channels
For as long as Google offers ways to
drive traffic to your site (vs. host
content with them), we’ll take it!

84. No matter what channel you use to broadcast or distribute, make sure the traffic always goes
back to a domain & UX you own+control

85. #6:LeverageRLSAtooutrankGoogle
forthesearcherswhomattermost

86. #7:Bias search suggest inyour favor through linguistic
branding

87. Hat tip to Gianluca Fiorelli
for spotting this campaign &
its influence on search
suggest + related

88. #8:Use influencer marketing tobecome the brand
searchers recognize

89. Mainstream Foodies
Fancy-Pants
Types
Sous Vide Aficionados Paleo Foodies
Relevant
Locavores

91. #9:Innovate attheproblem-level vs.the solution-level (b/c
Googledoesthereverse)
Google solves this query at the
solution level

92. Youwantahigh%ofvisitorstocomeaway
fromyourexperiencethinking:
Why wouldIever Google ___________
when___________ solves thisproblem
socompletely and elegantly?
search query
your site

93. Dribbble solves it at the
problem level

94. Before your audience needs a solution,
they have a problem.
BeatGoogle tothepunch.
Bethere forthe problem’sdiscovery.

95. SolutionLevel ProblemLevel

96. SolutionLevel ProblemLevel

97. #10: IfGoogle’s already inyourspace, findwhattheyfailto
deliver &double-down
Fine for a quick
answer, but lacks
depth…

98. What are all those deeper, next questions folks have AFTER they search for weather?
Wunderground knows, and nails ‘em.

100. Measured by:Traffic Driven
Don’t Just Fight Off the
Dragon…

101. Measured by:Traffic Driven
Make it bring you to the skies.

102. Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz | @randfish | rand@moz.com
You Got This!