This document summarizes key points from a presentation on SEO in 2017 given by Rand Fishkin. The main points are:
1) Google dominates online traffic referrals, increasing its share to over 64% in 2017. Facebook and other major sites lost traffic share.
2) Most search happens on Google, with the average user searching 3-4 times per day on desktop and mobile. Click-through rates are higher for organic than paid search on Google.
3) Ranking in traditional search results may no longer be enough, as over 18 unique types of search engine results pages now appear, reducing organic traffic to some sites.
4) SEO does not work for every organization depending on
11. Google’s Growth
So far, 2017 is trending ~10-15% higher than
2016, not including voice or Apple devices
12. Total Searchers vs.Active Searchers
United States
Canada
United Kingdom
Average
Searches/Month
%ofSearchersw/10+
Searches/Month
103-119
120-139
120-135
~39%
~40%
~41%
31. If Google sees high rates of pogo-sticking or other
signals that your page/site isn’t solving search
queries, they’ll likely rank you lower
Query
Satisfaction
Via WB Friday
32. Using the searcher’s keywords intelligently on
your page still matters for rankings (and for CTR in
the results)
Keywords
33. Domains accrue signals of quality & value.
Powerful domains may give the pages they host a
boost in ranking ability.
Quality of Host
Domain
Via OSE
34. Google wants to see sites provide an easy-to-use,
intuitive experience on every device, at every
speed, without impediment.
User
Experience
35. Speed & accessibility to crawlers still matters, and
Google still doesn’t handle non-text, or non-HTML-
link accessible pages well.
Technical &
Crawl
36. The geography, device, search history, and timing
of a searcher’s query can all change Google’s
results significantly.
Personalization
43. And on mobile, even more
kinds of searches are limited
to particular networks
(Google Play & iPhone App
Store).
44. Analyze Which Types of SERPsAppear Most in the
Keywords You CareAbout
These show me how many of
each SERP type appears in
the results for this keyword
list (via KWE)
45. Then Determine What Verticals & SERPTypes You
Need to Optimize For
It might pay to
generate some
visual charts in
addition to a text-
only version…
46. We expected answers
like these would
siphon away traffic
from our site… In
reality, we got more!
Featured Snippets are one of the most powerful
forms of this:
47. But some answers really do
remove traffic (estimates of
50%+ traffic loss to web
results after SERP changes
like these)
50. You can make these estimates yourself when evaluating
keywords for SEO effort:
51. Or you can use a tool like Keyword Explorer to get the
CTR Opportunity scores
100% CTR
Opportunity
60% CTR
Opportunity
52. It’s Possible to Use SEO to Get Into Featured Snippets
(and earn big CTR boosts)
They beat out Wikipedia by
phrasing the content to match
the *answer* Google wanted for
this search query
53. More on How to Become theAnswer:
Via Dr. Pete (and more Dr. Pete)
56. Some find the SEO results too competitive to be worthwhile:
57. Some have chosen not to build the strength required in content
creation/marketing (for a variety of reasons):
58. Should Your Company Invest in Making
SEO a Core Competency?
Opportunity (search volume)
Opportunity Cost (other channels)
Passion & Interest
Cost of Acquisition vs. Lifetime Value
59. My Best Advice for
Building SEO Into Your
Company’s Marketing
#5
61. Expect 6+ Months of Investment
w/ Little to No ROI
Your first few months will
probably look like this.
62. Focus on Your Marketing Flywheel,
Not on Finding an Elusive Growth Hack
63. Moz’s
Flywheel
KW Research +
Industry Intuition
Publish
Content
Promote via
Social Channels
Push to email +
RSS subscribers
Earn Links +
Amplification
Grow social, email,
RSS, & WoM channels
Grow Domain
Authority
Earn Search &
Referral Traffic
Rank for More
Competitive KWs
64. KW Research +
Industry Intuition
Publish
Content
Promote via
Social Channels
Push to email +
RSS subscribers
Earn Links +
Amplification
Grow social, email,
RSS, & WoM channels
Grow Domain
Authority
Earn Search &
Referral Traffic
Rank for More
Competitive KWs
In 2006, I was lucky if
new content led to any
links or rankings at all
65. KW Research +
Industry Intuition
Publish
Content
Promote via
Social Channels
Push to email +
RSS subscribers
Earn Links +
Amplification
Grow social, email,
RSS, & WoM channels
Grow Domain
Authority
Earn Search &
Referral Traffic
Rank for More
Competitive KWs
But, by 2017, nearly every
post earns a handful of
links, & some earn a lot!
69. But… Almost Every Flywheel Finds
a Point (or Points) of Friction
Publish
Content
Promote via
Social Channels
Push to email +
RSS subscribers
Crap… We’re not reaching anyone
who will link/amplify us