#spurious taxonomies
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All animals are either Beasts or Creatures. This is usually consistent for a given species, but not always; for example, most dogs are Beasts and most cats are Creatures, but occasionally one will encounter a cat who is clearly a Beast, or dog who's an absolute Creature.
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Hirschfeld wasn't a beacon of enlightment on racism but he was at worst as racist as your average middle class german jew at the time and often probably a bit better
He's certainly better in the book he wrote about racism towards the end of his life. I don't want to overstate it -- the source I'm pulling the below quote from is one largely critical of how Hirschfeld failed to challenge the racial/racist norms in his society -- but i doubt any of Hirschfeld's thinking on race was ever at all compatible with far right eugenics and they most certainly were not by the time he wrote that book
"While Hirschfeld wrote about a wide range of issues, including, as this book shows, suicide, war, and corporal punishment, he typically angled the focus of any of his discussions toward affirming homosexuality. This is also true for his book-length study Rassismus (Racism), which was written in the early 1930s, when Hirschfeld had already left Germany to escape Nazi persecution. [...] It was one of the first works to use the term racism in an English context. Hirschfeld’s motivations for writing Racism were clear. He argued that he had decided to examine “the racial theory which underlies the doctrine of race war” for the very reason that he himself “numbered among the many thousand who have fallen victim to the practical realization of this theory.” These words, noting Hirschfeld’s personal investment in the topic, firmly identify Racism as a response to Nazi ideology and its implementation. A number of scholars have argued that it was the practices and principles of German colonialism that paved the way for the rise of Nazism. Hirschfeld’s historicization of Nazism in contrast traces the roots of racist thinking in Germany to the ideas and scientific developments of the German Enlightenment. Providing an overview of racial thinking in German culture and science from Enlightenment discipline formations to Nazi ideology, he focuses in particular on how ideas about race have been constructed and transmitted in the country. Somewhat curiously perhaps, given his own experiences, he barely touches on antisemitism, figuring racism instead in terms of spurious theories about skin color. Explaining that he was taught in school that humanity is divided according to Friedrich Blumenbach’s color-coded taxonomy into five distinct “races”—black, white, yellow, red, and brown—Hirschfeld suggests that the teaching of this classification is partly how scientific speculation is vernacularized as a universal truth. Such truths in turn underpin Western assumptions about modernity, which conflate ideas about civilization (or its perceived lack) and skin color to make claims for the existence of racial hierarchies that inevitably privilege whites and that are more often than not—as in the case of German Nazism—used to further a politics of national expansion and supremacy.
Hirschfeld’s understanding of the construction and naturalization of racial categories led him to proclaim that “if it were practicable we should certainly do well to eradicate the use of the word ‘race’ as far as subdivisions of human species are concerned; or, if we do use it in this way, to put it in quote-marks to show that it is questionable."
From Sexual Rights in a World of Wrongs: Reframing the Emergence of Homosexual Rights Activism in Colonial Contexts in The Hirschfeld Archives by Heike Bauer
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Pack Up the Big Top: Insights from MozCon Virtual 2021's Grand Finale
And just like that, MozCon Virtual 2021 has come to an end. Over the past three days, we’ve seen incredibly insightful presentations on everything from content marketing, to machine learning, to new and exciting SEO tips and tricks. A big thank you to all our speakers, emcees, attendees, and volunteers in front of and behind the camera. It wouldn’t be MozCon without you!
Check out our recaps from day one and day two, and if you missed day three, read on for top-level takeaways! But to get the most out of this year’s MozCon content, make sure to access the video bundle when it goes on sale Friday, and stay tuned for details on MozCon 2022 —
You heard it here first, folks: #MozCon 2022 is slated to be LIVE in Seattle, in person! 🎉 https://t.co/3CKcI0N9l7
— Moz (@Moz) July 14, 2021
— that’s right! We’ll be back live and in-person next year in Seattle. Can’t wait to see you all there!
Tom Capper — The Fast & The Spurious: Core Web Vitals & SEO
“What if I told you that Core Web Vitals, and this update, are a bluff?”
Tom sure did kick off day three by blowing our minds with his opening line — the update everyone has been obsessing over for the last year isn’t actually all it’s cracked up to be?
Well, sort of.
It turns out we can’t afford to call Google’s bluff, but we can “sort of cheat”. Tom went on to lay out the flaws of Core Web Vitals, which all add up to the fact that they actually encourage terrible optimizations.
Core Web Vitals are all the rage, but do they live up to the hype?
Here's @THCapper's take
- SEO is like the prisoner's dilemma
- Prioritize high traffic pages & page speed
- Metrics can be gamed
- Drop, delay unstable elements or move below fold
- Rethink hero images#mozconpic.twitter.com/hgqeUZzKTP
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
So what’s taking so long? As we all know, this roll out has been delayed multiple times. Tom uses a brilliant example of the classic prisoner’s dilemma to explain why:
@THCapper pulling a #ChidiAnagonye by bringing moral philosophy into an SEO talk. #MozCon#TheGoodPlacepic.twitter.com/A7cx1GtKVy
— Sandi Pope Griffin (@sandpoper) July 14, 2021
As it turns out, Google has been contradicting themselves when talking about CWV because they can’t actually roll out updates that undermine the quality of their services — they’re relying on us, the SEOs, to act as the prisoners in their big dilemma of rankings.
On Google’s “There appears to be some confusion”: “Well, yes, you will notice some confusion if you directly contradict yourself.” @THCapper#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
Tom advised SEOs to take advantage of Google Discover, which is actually a massive, untapped traffic opportunity as it’s more responsive to speed than organic search.
"For most sites I see that are taking Google Discover even remotely seriously, they are getting more traffic from Discover than from organic search." - @THCapper dropping shocking stats. #MozConpic.twitter.com/kJSPDKCTTn
— Rob Ousbey (@RobOusbey) July 14, 2021
Before he signed off, Tom reiterated:
Prioritize high traffic pages
Metrics can be gamed/optimized
Don’t do any of this at the expense of speed
We won’t dig into the how for all of this here, so definitely check out his presentation in the video bundle!
Luke Carthy — The Ultimate How-To for Faceted Navigation SEO in E-Commerce
After an introduction that got the whole chat laughing (“Hi, I’m Morgan Freeman. Welcome to the afterlife.”), Luke Carthy showed us how he generated a 25% increase in organic traffic using faceted navigation.
Wait, what’s faceted navigation? You’ve definitely run into it if you’ve ever shopped online. Think about the stores that allow you to filter and sort your search. Behind that search is a faceted nav, defining, filtering, and sorting URLs on a website.
If it’s so common, what’s wrong with it? As Luke explains, faceted navs generate hundreds of long, parameterized, filtered URLs. It’s messy, it’s bloated, and bots can’t easily crawl them.
SEOs tend to counteract this bloat by “nofollowing the shit out of” faceted URLs. But when we do that, all of that long-tail gold disappears.
So what’s the solution? As Luke says, “It’s all about balance!”
(Side note: how cute is this photo??)
Luke shared some ways to “make facets sexy” by:
Understanding your site’s taxonomy
Using filters only to add granularity
Using “-” (dash) instead of “_” (underscore)
Filtering parameter URLs in GA to spot opportunities
Using a consistent structure
Limiting indexable parameter options
There were a bunch more actionable tips in this presentation, but we won’t spoil it all for you!
Okay, wow, this presentation is EXTREMELY actionable for anyone who handles e-commerce sites.
But also, if you handle a blog - maybe try and use it for tags, categories, etc. Just a thought off the top of the dome 🤷♀️@MrLukeCarthy#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Miracle Inameti-Archibong — Harnessing the Natural Language Toolkit for More Productive SEO
In her quick presentation, MozCon newcomer Miracle walked us through ways to use Natural Language Processing to do our SEO tasks — like keyword research — and even shared some of her own resources to help us do it!
With Miracle’s comprehensive Natural Language Processor with Python, you can analyze up to 10,000 keywords with the click of a button and group them based on category, frequency, and search intent. Don’t worry — even if you aren’t a programmer, Miracle’s scripts are easy enough to plug and play so you can start analyzing immediately.
If you're not following @mira_inam yet, what are you doing?
Miracle just shared SO many actionable keyword research takeaways!!! Thank you!!! 🤯🤯🤯 https://t.co/ESStpcLt5I
— Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) July 14, 2021
Miracle then walked us through how to get the script up and running step-by-step. The results were mind-bending. In just a few short clicks, she produced a wealth of keyword data sure to fuel some brilliant strategies and ideas.
To be honest, there was so much information in such a short time frame, this is one we’ll have to revisit again to absorb every tip possible, but click below to access Miracle’s scripts:
http://bit.ly/keywordclassification
http://bit.ly/keywordcluster
Amanda Milligan — A Live Guide to Finding & Filling the Gaps in Your Link Strategy
Amanda kicked off her first MozCon presentation by reiterating the importance of quality over quantity, to the tune of enthusiastic cheers from the MozCon chat box. In today’s climate, quality content is what will get you that authority and trustworthiness today’s marketers (and Google) crave. Quantity may give you a short term boost, but it won’t last and it won’t compound.
@millanda on creating link-worthy content:
"Always remember that it's not just about the link juice, but about the excellence you've created and the value you've provided as a result." #mozcon#SEO#linkbuildingpic.twitter.com/yT7uqIS7OL
— Katie Bradley (@KtBee21) July 14, 2021
But Google is just a robot and they base their assumptions on links: Who owns them and who links to whom? If your competitors are ranking on time.com and you aren’t, then Google will see your competitors more favorably and rank them higher in the SERP.
Amanda reminds us that these gaps are opportunities. If your competitor can get a link on Time.com, then so can you!
Amanda jumps straight to Moz Pro’s Link Intersect — “This tool was made for this kind of analysis!” — measuring up Chewy.com to competitors Petco.com and Petsmart.com to reveal the places where Chewy’s competitors link, but Chewy doesn’t.
One such article on CNN.com links to Petsmart and Petco and features a very cute guinea pig in a suit of armor — is it possible for Chewy to obtain a link to CNN? Yes!
Developing the content is only half the battle. Once you have something you think will resonate, it’s time to start pitching, which is arguably “where many link builders fall short.” In the pitching process, Amanda offers a fool proof plan of attack: “Pitch your content exclusively at first, and then once published, you can begin to take it elsewhere.” Publishers love exclusive content because they can leverage it to drive more views to their own content.
Amanda also drives home another link building golden rule: make sure you research and position your pitches and tailor them to the publisher. Gone are the days of mass outreach, and that won’t serve you well in the long run.
Once you’ve done the work, it’s time to track and record your progress. Take note of all the places your content shows up (anchor text, images, etc.) or whether it is do-follow or not.
Finding & filling gaps in your link strategy:
1/2
Finding
- Identify brands building great links
- See who links to them, but not to you (use a tool like Moz's link intersect)
- Analyze the types of content earning links
- Consider similar angles@millanda#MozConpic.twitter.com/lsH0DcbVfk
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Check out Amanda’s Whiteboard Friday on crafting the perfect pitch email for more tips!
Lily Ray — From the Medic Update to Now: How the E-A-T Ecosystem Has Transformed Organic Search
Lily Ray has been studying the evolution of Google and E-A-T for a few years now, and in this presentation, she outlined key changes in how Google perceives content – specifically when it comes to the rise of misinformation.
Since 2016, and especially in the last year, more people turn to Google for information on things like politics, vaccines, COVID, and other important topics. This makes it increasingly necessary for Google to surface reliable information. In times of crisis, things become even more critical, and according to the data, Google begins to favor more authoritative sources versus relevant sources. We don’t know exactly how this is determined, but in her study, the data shows that Google favorably ranks content from reputable sources for potentially controversial keywords.
If there is one thing that Lily wants us to walk away with, it's the “E-A-T matters in crisis”, and is Google’s quality standard for evaluating content, authors, and websites.
As a result of this, Google saw a sharp decline in search visibility for questionable news sources, which then expanded to include health and science sites, regardless of the technical optimization on those sites.
@lilyraynyc explains E-A-T at #MozCon
E-A-T was created in 2014 to make sure the quality of the content they are surfacing is meeting the needs of the users.
@Moz
In 2017 many of the fake news were wiped off the SERPs. Then this continued in 2018 with the YMYL sites pic.twitter.com/6PUCFwKrbV
— TurnDigi (@TurnDigi) July 14, 2021
Lily digs into keyword comparisons, showing how more authoritative sites became increasingly more visible between 2018 and 2021.
If you are wondering how E-A-T impacts search results - these slides by @lilyraynyc showing real life examples are sooo good #MozConpic.twitter.com/eQux45kKmm
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
Most of the sites that lost visibility were doing some questionable things including:
Leveraging questionable authors
Had poor reputations
Published deceptive content
Lacked sufficient sources
Published dangerous medical advice
Included hate speech
Included excessive affiliate or sales links
“Winning sites make it really clear who they are, who writes for them, how they make money on the sites, why they should trust them […]—all of these great things that really instill trust in the user.” @lilyraynyc#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
From there, Lily dug into 10 key ways Google has changed, and we encourage you to check out her slides and take a look for yourself.
What do all these changes mean for SEO? The landscape is more complex and competitive than ever, so it’s important to be reasonable with your organic search goals and always put E-A-T at the forefront of your SEO Strategy.
Learn from the winners investing in EAT over the last few years of Google’s evolution: @lilyraynyc#mozcon@Healthline@NerdWallet@[email protected]/0TfFAoNWqc
— Amsive Digital (@Amsive_Digital) July 14, 2021
Kameron Jenkins — The Content Refresh: How to Do More With Less
Kameron Jenkins is no stranger to content. She manages multiple blogs and currently works for e-commerce powerhouse, Shopify.
When it comes to content, she knows that the best way to regain lost traffic and give your content new life is through a content refresh. In her presentation, she walked us through her exact process for identifying and updating old content. Surprisingly, most content marketers only dedicate 10-25% of their time to content refreshes, even though a content refresh can lead to more ROI in the long term.
Content people! About what % of your team's publishing calendar is *refreshes (vs. brand new content)?
*taking something that was previously published and updating it.
— Kameron Jenkins 👋 (@Kammie_Jenkins) May 11, 2021
How do you identify the content that could benefit from a refresh? Look at your Google Analytics Landing Page report alongside Google Search Console, and prioritize content based on goal conversions, trending topics, and business priorities.
@Kammie_Jenkins Great deck and congrats on #mozcon!!! We're totally aligned on using the biggest movers for analysis. I love including impressions too to see the scope of opportunities.
Kind of like this: pic.twitter.com/5hoaova2zL
— Noah Learner (He/Him) (@noahlearner) July 14, 2021
Oh heck, I loooove anyone who has a favorite GA view. But add in GSC data exports... I think I'm in heaven.
Pageviews going down in GA
+
Losing rank for specific keywords in GSC
=
Opportunity for content revamp#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Next, it’s time to refresh. When moving into the execution, you’ll want to ask yourself three key questions:
What’s table stakes?
What will give you the competitive advantage?
And what will maximize conversions?
Other content refresh opportunities to look out for are consolidation, query targeting, and internal linking.
How can you stand out from the competition in your content refresh? Incorporate original research and expert quotes to beef up the authority and originality of your post.
Lastly, maximize your conversions by testing out your CTA placement and make your offers relevant to your audience.
She left us with some wise words of wisdom, “SEO is like owning a car. Even when the car is paid off, you still need to conduct regular maintenance to keep that engine running.”
Some tips for getting more value from your existing content:
- Refresh decaying content to rank faster, increase ROI & maintain brand credibility
- Remember session loss ≠ Traffic loss
- Leverage GA & GSC data
- Prioritize by trend, conversions & value@Kammie_Jenkins#MozConpic.twitter.com/SAVTtAFMIC
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Best quote of #MozCon by @Kammie_Jenkins of @Shopifypic.twitter.com/tNb6qvwRO6
— Barb Davids 🤓🏃♀️🍻 (@BarbDavids) July 14, 2021
Wil Reynolds — The 3 Most Important Search Marketing Tools…Your Heart, Your Brain, & Your [Small] Ego
Wil brought the energy yet again for his ninth MozCon presentation, closing out the conference with a bang. His message was simple yet powerful: Your top three tools are your heart, your brain, and your small ego. But what does that mean, exactly?
Small ego
Wil began by introducing the concept of intellectual humility, or the recognition that some of the things you believe just might be wrong. He urged us to listen to the people around us who say there's a better way — even brand-new coworkers or recent college grads whose ideas you might otherwise discount.
Sharing this with everyone I know 👏 #mozconhttps://t.co/f1x5gDp5is
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
And don't feel badly that you might be wrong — Wil posits that not knowing your own ignorance is just part of the human condition. He shared a quote from Upton Sinclair that was especially poignant:
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Heart
A hundred years ago, no business needed SEO. They needed customers, profits, and sales. And as true then as it is now, they needed to know their customers.
One slide stood out loud and clear: The less you understand your customer, the more you spend to acquire them. And as Wil said, reports that lack dollar signs don't land on real decision makers' desks. Here's where your brain comes in.
“Best practices are a great start for those who lack data, or have data but can’t process it.” - @wilreynolds#MozCon#IntellectualHonestypic.twitter.com/91QiMy4ZDq
— Michael Tolosa (@TolosaSEO) July 14, 2021
Brain
Wil presented a bit of a conundrum: making decisions based on your gut may be easy and comfortable, but it's the data that gets you the insights you need to create and test hypotheses. However, exhaustive data — the kind of data where opportunity lives — is probably too big for your laptop to handle. What's an SEO to do?
Of course he had answers! Wil's suggestion was to harness the power of ngrams. With the help of a tool like PowerBI or BigQuery and using ngrams to examine all the search terms, you can find all your ranking results and see where your search term isn't in the title.
Transform your SEO data into winning insights:
- Shrink your ego & question assumptions
- Don't rely on best practices.
- Tools are a start, not an end.
- Business is about $
- Understanding your customer saves $
- What people do & say are different@wilreynolds#mozconpic.twitter.com/IB7CcQ4IpN
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
There's too much goodness to cram into a short recap, so you'll definitely want to get yourself a copy of the MozCon video bundle when it's ready for purchase. Until then, a few final suggestions from Wil:
Examining all your data is the only way to capture all your opportunities; resist the urge to pare it down to the top 20%. Every time you shrink your data down, you're missing out on opportunities that someone else can see.
See every data set through a competitive lens: if all else is the same, how do you create value?
Combine your paid and SEO data together — get the dollar signs in those reports and get in front of key decision makers
Learn SQL. You'll be able to search for exactly what you need within your own data, you won't have to rely on others, and your hypotheses will benefit from your newfound data freedom.
Be brave enough to suck at something new. Stop doing the thing that you feel comfortable with. Run your own experiments and validate your hypotheses. It'll be worth it in the end!
Hey #MozCon thank you!
Remember:
1 - Surround yourself with people willing to show you a new way (show >> tell) - its easy to find people to tell you you are doing it wrong, find the people who build stuff to show you a new way.
— Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) July 14, 2021
Thanks everyone for a wonderful show! And we’ll see you in person next year!
#MozCon was freaking awesome! I learned so much and enjoyed meeting so many new colleagues! Thank you @Moz for such a wonderful event!
— Taylor Berg (@taylorannberg) July 15, 2021
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Pack Up the Big Top: Insights from MozCon Virtual 2021's Grand Finale
And just like that, MozCon Virtual 2021 has come to an end. Over the past three days, we’ve seen incredibly insightful presentations on everything from content marketing, to machine learning, to new and exciting SEO tips and tricks. A big thank you to all our speakers, emcees, attendees, and volunteers in front of and behind the camera. It wouldn’t be MozCon without you!
Check out our recaps from day one and day two, and if you missed day three, read on for top-level takeaways! But to get the most out of this year’s MozCon content, make sure to access the video bundle when it goes on sale Friday, and stay tuned for details on MozCon 2022 —
You heard it here first, folks: #MozCon 2022 is slated to be LIVE in Seattle, in person! 🎉 https://t.co/3CKcI0N9l7
— Moz (@Moz) July 14, 2021
— that’s right! We’ll be back live and in-person next year in Seattle. Can’t wait to see you all there!
Tom Capper — The Fast & The Spurious: Core Web Vitals & SEO
“What if I told you that Core Web Vitals, and this update, are a bluff?”
Tom sure did kick off day three by blowing our minds with his opening line — the update everyone has been obsessing over for the last year isn’t actually all it’s cracked up to be?
Well, sort of.
It turns out we can’t afford to call Google’s bluff, but we can “sort of cheat”. Tom went on to lay out the flaws of Core Web Vitals, which all add up to the fact that they actually encourage terrible optimizations.
Core Web Vitals are all the rage, but do they live up to the hype?
Here's @THCapper's take
- SEO is like the prisoner's dilemma
- Prioritize high traffic pages & page speed
- Metrics can be gamed
- Drop, delay unstable elements or move below fold
- Rethink hero images#mozconpic.twitter.com/hgqeUZzKTP
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
So what’s taking so long? As we all know, this roll out has been delayed multiple times. Tom uses a brilliant example of the classic prisoner’s dilemma to explain why:
@THCapper pulling a #ChidiAnagonye by bringing moral philosophy into an SEO talk. #MozCon#TheGoodPlacepic.twitter.com/A7cx1GtKVy
— Sandi Pope Griffin (@sandpoper) July 14, 2021
As it turns out, Google has been contradicting themselves when talking about CWV because they can’t actually roll out updates that undermine the quality of their services — they’re relying on us, the SEOs, to act as the prisoners in their big dilemma of rankings.
On Google’s “There appears to be some confusion”: “Well, yes, you will notice some confusion if you directly contradict yourself.” @THCapper#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
Tom advised SEOs to take advantage of Google Discover, which is actually a massive, untapped traffic opportunity as it’s more responsive to speed than organic search.
"For most sites I see that are taking Google Discover even remotely seriously, they are getting more traffic from Discover than from organic search." - @THCapper dropping shocking stats. #MozConpic.twitter.com/kJSPDKCTTn
— Rob Ousbey (@RobOusbey) July 14, 2021
Before he signed off, Tom reiterated:
Prioritize high traffic pages
Metrics can be gamed/optimized
Don’t do any of this at the expense of speed
We won’t dig into the how for all of this here, so definitely check out his presentation in the video bundle!
Luke Carthy — The Ultimate How-To for Faceted Navigation SEO in E-Commerce
After an introduction that got the whole chat laughing (“Hi, I’m Morgan Freeman. Welcome to the afterlife.”), Luke Carthy showed us how he generated a 25% increase in organic traffic using faceted navigation.
Wait, what’s faceted navigation? You’ve definitely run into it if you’ve ever shopped online. Think about the stores that allow you to filter and sort your search. Behind that search is a faceted nav, defining, filtering, and sorting URLs on a website.
If it’s so common, what’s wrong with it? As Luke explains, faceted navs generate hundreds of long, parameterized, filtered URLs. It’s messy, it’s bloated, and bots can’t easily crawl them.
SEOs tend to counteract this bloat by “nofollowing the shit out of” faceted URLs. But when we do that, all of that long-tail gold disappears.
So what’s the solution? As Luke says, “It’s all about balance!”
(Side note: how cute is this photo??)
Luke shared some ways to “make facets sexy” by:
Understanding your site’s taxonomy
Using filters only to add granularity
Using “-” (dash) instead of “_” (underscore)
Filtering parameter URLs in GA to spot opportunities
Using a consistent structure
Limiting indexable parameter options
There were a bunch more actionable tips in this presentation, but we won’t spoil it all for you!
Okay, wow, this presentation is EXTREMELY actionable for anyone who handles e-commerce sites.
But also, if you handle a blog - maybe try and use it for tags, categories, etc. Just a thought off the top of the dome 🤷♀️@MrLukeCarthy#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Miracle Inameti-Archibong — Harnessing the Natural Language Toolkit for More Productive SEO
In her quick presentation, MozCon newcomer Miracle walked us through ways to use Natural Language Processing to do our SEO tasks — like keyword research — and even shared some of her own resources to help us do it!
With Miracle’s comprehensive Natural Language Processor with Python, you can analyze up to 10,000 keywords with the click of a button and group them based on category, frequency, and search intent. Don’t worry — even if you aren’t a programmer, Miracle’s scripts are easy enough to plug and play so you can start analyzing immediately.
If you're not following @mira_inam yet, what are you doing?
Miracle just shared SO many actionable keyword research takeaways!!! Thank you!!! 🤯🤯🤯 https://t.co/ESStpcLt5I
— Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) July 14, 2021
Miracle then walked us through how to get the script up and running step-by-step. The results were mind-bending. In just a few short clicks, she produced a wealth of keyword data sure to fuel some brilliant strategies and ideas.
To be honest, there was so much information in such a short time frame, this is one we’ll have to revisit again to absorb every tip possible, but click below to access Miracle’s scripts:
http://bit.ly/keywordclassification
http://bit.ly/keywordcluster
Amanda Milligan — A Live Guide to Finding & Filling the Gaps in Your Link Strategy
Amanda kicked off her first MozCon presentation by reiterating the importance of quality over quantity, to the tune of enthusiastic cheers from the MozCon chat box. In today’s climate, quality content is what will get you that authority and trustworthiness today’s marketers (and Google) crave. Quantity may give you a short term boost, but it won’t last and it won’t compound.
@millanda on creating link-worthy content:
"Always remember that it's not just about the link juice, but about the excellence you've created and the value you've provided as a result." #mozcon#SEO#linkbuildingpic.twitter.com/yT7uqIS7OL
— Katie Bradley (@KtBee21) July 14, 2021
But Google is just a robot and they base their assumptions on links: Who owns them and who links to whom? If your competitors are ranking on time.com and you aren’t, then Google will see your competitors more favorably and rank them higher in the SERP.
Amanda reminds us that these gaps are opportunities. If your competitor can get a link on Time.com, then so can you!
Amanda jumps straight to Moz Pro’s Link Intersect — “This tool was made for this kind of analysis!” — measuring up Chewy.com to competitors Petco.com and Petsmart.com to reveal the places where Chewy’s competitors link, but Chewy doesn’t.
One such article on CNN.com links to Petsmart and Petco and features a very cute guinea pig in a suit of armor — is it possible for Chewy to obtain a link to CNN? Yes!
Developing the content is only half the battle. Once you have something you think will resonate, it’s time to start pitching, which is arguably “where many link builders fall short.” In the pitching process, Amanda offers a fool proof plan of attack: “Pitch your content exclusively at first, and then once published, you can begin to take it elsewhere.” Publishers love exclusive content because they can leverage it to drive more views to their own content.
Amanda also drives home another link building golden rule: make sure you research and position your pitches and tailor them to the publisher. Gone are the days of mass outreach, and that won’t serve you well in the long run.
Once you’ve done the work, it’s time to track and record your progress. Take note of all the places your content shows up (anchor text, images, etc.) or whether it is do-follow or not.
Finding & filling gaps in your link strategy:
1/2
Finding
- Identify brands building great links
- See who links to them, but not to you (use a tool like Moz's link intersect)
- Analyze the types of content earning links
- Consider similar angles@millanda#MozConpic.twitter.com/lsH0DcbVfk
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Check out Amanda’s Whiteboard Friday on crafting the perfect pitch email for more tips!
Lily Ray — From the Medic Update to Now: How the E-A-T Ecosystem Has Transformed Organic Search
Lily Ray has been studying the evolution of Google and E-A-T for a few years now, and in this presentation, she outlined key changes in how Google perceives content – specifically when it comes to the rise of misinformation.
Since 2016, and especially in the last year, more people turn to Google for information on things like politics, vaccines, COVID, and other important topics. This makes it increasingly necessary for Google to surface reliable information. In times of crisis, things become even more critical, and according to the data, Google begins to favor more authoritative sources versus relevant sources. We don’t know exactly how this is determined, but in her study, the data shows that Google favorably ranks content from reputable sources for potentially controversial keywords.
If there is one thing that Lily wants us to walk away with, it's the “E-A-T matters in crisis”, and is Google’s quality standard for evaluating content, authors, and websites.
As a result of this, Google saw a sharp decline in search visibility for questionable news sources, which then expanded to include health and science sites, regardless of the technical optimization on those sites.
@lilyraynyc explains E-A-T at #MozCon
E-A-T was created in 2014 to make sure the quality of the content they are surfacing is meeting the needs of the users.
@Moz
In 2017 many of the fake news were wiped off the SERPs. Then this continued in 2018 with the YMYL sites pic.twitter.com/6PUCFwKrbV
— TurnDigi (@TurnDigi) July 14, 2021
Lily digs into keyword comparisons, showing how more authoritative sites became increasingly more visible between 2018 and 2021.
If you are wondering how E-A-T impacts search results - these slides by @lilyraynyc showing real life examples are sooo good #MozConpic.twitter.com/eQux45kKmm
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
Most of the sites that lost visibility were doing some questionable things including:
Leveraging questionable authors
Had poor reputations
Published deceptive content
Lacked sufficient sources
Published dangerous medical advice
Included hate speech
Included excessive affiliate or sales links
“Winning sites make it really clear who they are, who writes for them, how they make money on the sites, why they should trust them […]—all of these great things that really instill trust in the user.” @lilyraynyc#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
From there, Lily dug into 10 key ways Google has changed, and we encourage you to check out her slides and take a look for yourself.
What do all these changes mean for SEO? The landscape is more complex and competitive than ever, so it’s important to be reasonable with your organic search goals and always put E-A-T at the forefront of your SEO Strategy.
Learn from the winners investing in EAT over the last few years of Google’s evolution: @lilyraynyc#mozcon@Healthline@NerdWallet@[email protected]/0TfFAoNWqc
— Amsive Digital (@Amsive_Digital) July 14, 2021
Kameron Jenkins — The Content Refresh: How to Do More With Less
Kameron Jenkins is no stranger to content. She manages multiple blogs and currently works for e-commerce powerhouse, Shopify.
When it comes to content, she knows that the best way to regain lost traffic and give your content new life is through a content refresh. In her presentation, she walked us through her exact process for identifying and updating old content. Surprisingly, most content marketers only dedicate 10-25% of their time to content refreshes, even though a content refresh can lead to more ROI in the long term.
Content people! About what % of your team's publishing calendar is *refreshes (vs. brand new content)?
*taking something that was previously published and updating it.
— Kameron Jenkins 👋 (@Kammie_Jenkins) May 11, 2021
How do you identify the content that could benefit from a refresh? Look at your Google Analytics Landing Page report alongside Google Search Console, and prioritize content based on goal conversions, trending topics, and business priorities.
@Kammie_Jenkins Great deck and congrats on #mozcon!!! We're totally aligned on using the biggest movers for analysis. I love including impressions too to see the scope of opportunities.
Kind of like this: pic.twitter.com/5hoaova2zL
— Noah Learner (He/Him) (@noahlearner) July 14, 2021
Oh heck, I loooove anyone who has a favorite GA view. But add in GSC data exports... I think I'm in heaven.
Pageviews going down in GA
+
Losing rank for specific keywords in GSC
=
Opportunity for content revamp#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Next, it’s time to refresh. When moving into the execution, you’ll want to ask yourself three key questions:
What’s table stakes?
What will give you the competitive advantage?
And what will maximize conversions?
Other content refresh opportunities to look out for are consolidation, query targeting, and internal linking.
How can you stand out from the competition in your content refresh? Incorporate original research and expert quotes to beef up the authority and originality of your post.
Lastly, maximize your conversions by testing out your CTA placement and make your offers relevant to your audience.
She left us with some wise words of wisdom, “SEO is like owning a car. Even when the car is paid off, you still need to conduct regular maintenance to keep that engine running.”
Some tips for getting more value from your existing content:
- Refresh decaying content to rank faster, increase ROI & maintain brand credibility
- Remember session loss ≠ Traffic loss
- Leverage GA & GSC data
- Prioritize by trend, conversions & value@Kammie_Jenkins#MozConpic.twitter.com/SAVTtAFMIC
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Best quote of #MozCon by @Kammie_Jenkins of @Shopifypic.twitter.com/tNb6qvwRO6
— Barb Davids 🤓🏃♀️🍻 (@BarbDavids) July 14, 2021
Wil Reynolds — The 3 Most Important Search Marketing Tools…Your Heart, Your Brain, & Your [Small] Ego
Wil brought the energy yet again for his ninth MozCon presentation, closing out the conference with a bang. His message was simple yet powerful: Your top three tools are your heart, your brain, and your small ego. But what does that mean, exactly?
Small ego
Wil began by introducing the concept of intellectual humility, or the recognition that some of the things you believe just might be wrong. He urged us to listen to the people around us who say there's a better way — even brand-new coworkers or recent college grads whose ideas you might otherwise discount.
Sharing this with everyone I know 👏 #mozconhttps://t.co/f1x5gDp5is
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
And don't feel badly that you might be wrong — Wil posits that not knowing your own ignorance is just part of the human condition. He shared a quote from Upton Sinclair that was especially poignant:
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Heart
A hundred years ago, no business needed SEO. They needed customers, profits, and sales. And as true then as it is now, they needed to know their customers.
One slide stood out loud and clear: The less you understand your customer, the more you spend to acquire them. And as Wil said, reports that lack dollar signs don't land on real decision makers' desks. Here's where your brain comes in.
“Best practices are a great start for those who lack data, or have data but can’t process it.” - @wilreynolds#MozCon#IntellectualHonestypic.twitter.com/91QiMy4ZDq
— Michael Tolosa (@TolosaSEO) July 14, 2021
Brain
Wil presented a bit of a conundrum: making decisions based on your gut may be easy and comfortable, but it's the data that gets you the insights you need to create and test hypotheses. However, exhaustive data — the kind of data where opportunity lives — is probably too big for your laptop to handle. What's an SEO to do?
Of course he had answers! Wil's suggestion was to harness the power of ngrams. With the help of a tool like PowerBI or BigQuery and using ngrams to examine all the search terms, you can find all your ranking results and see where your search term isn't in the title.
Transform your SEO data into winning insights:
- Shrink your ego & question assumptions
- Don't rely on best practices.
- Tools are a start, not an end.
- Business is about $
- Understanding your customer saves $
- What people do & say are different@wilreynolds#mozconpic.twitter.com/IB7CcQ4IpN
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
There's too much goodness to cram into a short recap, so you'll definitely want to get yourself a copy of the MozCon video bundle when it's ready for purchase. Until then, a few final suggestions from Wil:
Examining all your data is the only way to capture all your opportunities; resist the urge to pare it down to the top 20%. Every time you shrink your data down, you're missing out on opportunities that someone else can see.
See every data set through a competitive lens: if all else is the same, how do you create value?
Combine your paid and SEO data together — get the dollar signs in those reports and get in front of key decision makers
Learn SQL. You'll be able to search for exactly what you need within your own data, you won't have to rely on others, and your hypotheses will benefit from your newfound data freedom.
Be brave enough to suck at something new. Stop doing the thing that you feel comfortable with. Run your own experiments and validate your hypotheses. It'll be worth it in the end!
Hey #MozCon thank you!
Remember:
1 - Surround yourself with people willing to show you a new way (show >> tell) - its easy to find people to tell you you are doing it wrong, find the people who build stuff to show you a new way.
— Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) July 14, 2021
Thanks everyone for a wonderful show! And we’ll see you in person next year!
#MozCon was freaking awesome! I learned so much and enjoyed meeting so many new colleagues! Thank you @Moz for such a wonderful event!
— Taylor Berg (@taylorannberg) July 15, 2021
0 notes
Text
Pack Up the Big Top: Insights from MozCon Virtual 2021's Grand Finale
And just like that, MozCon Virtual 2021 has come to an end. Over the past three days, we’ve seen incredibly insightful presentations on everything from content marketing, to machine learning, to new and exciting SEO tips and tricks. A big thank you to all our speakers, emcees, attendees, and volunteers in front of and behind the camera. It wouldn’t be MozCon without you!
Check out our recaps from day one and day two, and if you missed day three, read on for top-level takeaways! But to get the most out of this year’s MozCon content, make sure to access the video bundle when it goes on sale Friday, and stay tuned for details on MozCon 2022 —
You heard it here first, folks: #MozCon 2022 is slated to be LIVE in Seattle, in person! 🎉 https://t.co/3CKcI0N9l7
— Moz (@Moz) July 14, 2021
— that’s right! We’ll be back live and in-person next year in Seattle. Can’t wait to see you all there!
Tom Capper — The Fast & The Spurious: Core Web Vitals & SEO
“What if I told you that Core Web Vitals, and this update, are a bluff?”
Tom sure did kick off day three by blowing our minds with his opening line — the update everyone has been obsessing over for the last year isn’t actually all it’s cracked up to be?
Well, sort of.
It turns out we can’t afford to call Google’s bluff, but we can “sort of cheat”. Tom went on to lay out the flaws of Core Web Vitals, which all add up to the fact that they actually encourage terrible optimizations.
Core Web Vitals are all the rage, but do they live up to the hype?
Here's @THCapper's take
- SEO is like the prisoner's dilemma
- Prioritize high traffic pages & page speed
- Metrics can be gamed
- Drop, delay unstable elements or move below fold
- Rethink hero images#mozconpic.twitter.com/hgqeUZzKTP
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
So what’s taking so long? As we all know, this roll out has been delayed multiple times. Tom uses a brilliant example of the classic prisoner’s dilemma to explain why:
@THCapper pulling a #ChidiAnagonye by bringing moral philosophy into an SEO talk. #MozCon#TheGoodPlacepic.twitter.com/A7cx1GtKVy
— Sandi Pope Griffin (@sandpoper) July 14, 2021
As it turns out, Google has been contradicting themselves when talking about CWV because they can’t actually roll out updates that undermine the quality of their services — they’re relying on us, the SEOs, to act as the prisoners in their big dilemma of rankings.
On Google’s “There appears to be some confusion”: “Well, yes, you will notice some confusion if you directly contradict yourself.” @THCapper#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
Tom advised SEOs to take advantage of Google Discover, which is actually a massive, untapped traffic opportunity as it’s more responsive to speed than organic search.
"For most sites I see that are taking Google Discover even remotely seriously, they are getting more traffic from Discover than from organic search." - @THCapper dropping shocking stats. #MozConpic.twitter.com/kJSPDKCTTn
— Rob Ousbey (@RobOusbey) July 14, 2021
Before he signed off, Tom reiterated:
Prioritize high traffic pages
Metrics can be gamed/optimized
Don’t do any of this at the expense of speed
We won’t dig into the how for all of this here, so definitely check out his presentation in the video bundle!
Luke Carthy — The Ultimate How-To for Faceted Navigation SEO in E-Commerce
After an introduction that got the whole chat laughing (“Hi, I’m Morgan Freeman. Welcome to the afterlife.”), Luke Carthy showed us how he generated a 25% increase in organic traffic using faceted navigation.
Wait, what’s faceted navigation? You’ve definitely run into it if you’ve ever shopped online. Think about the stores that allow you to filter and sort your search. Behind that search is a faceted nav, defining, filtering, and sorting URLs on a website.
If it’s so common, what’s wrong with it? As Luke explains, faceted navs generate hundreds of long, parameterized, filtered URLs. It’s messy, it’s bloated, and bots can’t easily crawl them.
SEOs tend to counteract this bloat by “nofollowing the shit out of” faceted URLs. But when we do that, all of that long-tail gold disappears.
So what’s the solution? As Luke says, “It’s all about balance!”
(Side note: how cute is this photo??)
Luke shared some ways to “make facets sexy” by:
Understanding your site’s taxonomy
Using filters only to add granularity
Using “-” (dash) instead of “_” (underscore)
Filtering parameter URLs in GA to spot opportunities
Using a consistent structure
Limiting indexable parameter options
There were a bunch more actionable tips in this presentation, but we won’t spoil it all for you!
Okay, wow, this presentation is EXTREMELY actionable for anyone who handles e-commerce sites.
But also, if you handle a blog - maybe try and use it for tags, categories, etc. Just a thought off the top of the dome 🤷♀️@MrLukeCarthy#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Miracle Inameti-Archibong — Harnessing the Natural Language Toolkit for More Productive SEO
In her quick presentation, MozCon newcomer Miracle walked us through ways to use Natural Language Processing to do our SEO tasks — like keyword research — and even shared some of her own resources to help us do it!
With Miracle’s comprehensive Natural Language Processor with Python, you can analyze up to 10,000 keywords with the click of a button and group them based on category, frequency, and search intent. Don’t worry — even if you aren’t a programmer, Miracle’s scripts are easy enough to plug and play so you can start analyzing immediately.
If you're not following @mira_inam yet, what are you doing?
Miracle just shared SO many actionable keyword research takeaways!!! Thank you!!! 🤯🤯🤯 https://t.co/ESStpcLt5I
— Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) July 14, 2021
Miracle then walked us through how to get the script up and running step-by-step. The results were mind-bending. In just a few short clicks, she produced a wealth of keyword data sure to fuel some brilliant strategies and ideas.
To be honest, there was so much information in such a short time frame, this is one we’ll have to revisit again to absorb every tip possible, but click below to access Miracle’s scripts:
http://bit.ly/keywordclassification
http://bit.ly/keywordcluster
Amanda Milligan — A Live Guide to Finding & Filling the Gaps in Your Link Strategy
Amanda kicked off her first MozCon presentation by reiterating the importance of quality over quantity, to the tune of enthusiastic cheers from the MozCon chat box. In today’s climate, quality content is what will get you that authority and trustworthiness today’s marketers (and Google) crave. Quantity may give you a short term boost, but it won’t last and it won’t compound.
@millanda on creating link-worthy content:
"Always remember that it's not just about the link juice, but about the excellence you've created and the value you've provided as a result." #mozcon#SEO#linkbuildingpic.twitter.com/yT7uqIS7OL
— Katie Bradley (@KtBee21) July 14, 2021
But Google is just a robot and they base their assumptions on links: Who owns them and who links to whom? If your competitors are ranking on time.com and you aren’t, then Google will see your competitors more favorably and rank them higher in the SERP.
Amanda reminds us that these gaps are opportunities. If your competitor can get a link on Time.com, then so can you!
Amanda jumps straight to Moz Pro’s Link Intersect — “This tool was made for this kind of analysis!” — measuring up Chewy.com to competitors Petco.com and Petsmart.com to reveal the places where Chewy’s competitors link, but Chewy doesn’t.
One such article on CNN.com links to Petsmart and Petco and features a very cute guinea pig in a suit of armor — is it possible for Chewy to obtain a link to CNN? Yes!
Developing the content is only half the battle. Once you have something you think will resonate, it’s time to start pitching, which is arguably “where many link builders fall short.” In the pitching process, Amanda offers a fool proof plan of attack: “Pitch your content exclusively at first, and then once published, you can begin to take it elsewhere.” Publishers love exclusive content because they can leverage it to drive more views to their own content.
Amanda also drives home another link building golden rule: make sure you research and position your pitches and tailor them to the publisher. Gone are the days of mass outreach, and that won’t serve you well in the long run.
Once you’ve done the work, it’s time to track and record your progress. Take note of all the places your content shows up (anchor text, images, etc.) or whether it is do-follow or not.
Finding & filling gaps in your link strategy:
1/2
Finding
- Identify brands building great links
- See who links to them, but not to you (use a tool like Moz's link intersect)
- Analyze the types of content earning links
- Consider similar angles@millanda#MozConpic.twitter.com/lsH0DcbVfk
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Check out Amanda’s Whiteboard Friday on crafting the perfect pitch email for more tips!
Lily Ray — From the Medic Update to Now: How the E-A-T Ecosystem Has Transformed Organic Search
Lily Ray has been studying the evolution of Google and E-A-T for a few years now, and in this presentation, she outlined key changes in how Google perceives content – specifically when it comes to the rise of misinformation.
Since 2016, and especially in the last year, more people turn to Google for information on things like politics, vaccines, COVID, and other important topics. This makes it increasingly necessary for Google to surface reliable information. In times of crisis, things become even more critical, and according to the data, Google begins to favor more authoritative sources versus relevant sources. We don’t know exactly how this is determined, but in her study, the data shows that Google favorably ranks content from reputable sources for potentially controversial keywords.
If there is one thing that Lily wants us to walk away with, it's the “E-A-T matters in crisis”, and is Google’s quality standard for evaluating content, authors, and websites.
As a result of this, Google saw a sharp decline in search visibility for questionable news sources, which then expanded to include health and science sites, regardless of the technical optimization on those sites.
@lilyraynyc explains E-A-T at #MozCon
E-A-T was created in 2014 to make sure the quality of the content they are surfacing is meeting the needs of the users.
@Moz
In 2017 many of the fake news were wiped off the SERPs. Then this continued in 2018 with the YMYL sites pic.twitter.com/6PUCFwKrbV
— TurnDigi (@TurnDigi) July 14, 2021
Lily digs into keyword comparisons, showing how more authoritative sites became increasingly more visible between 2018 and 2021.
If you are wondering how E-A-T impacts search results - these slides by @lilyraynyc showing real life examples are sooo good #MozConpic.twitter.com/eQux45kKmm
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
Most of the sites that lost visibility were doing some questionable things including:
Leveraging questionable authors
Had poor reputations
Published deceptive content
Lacked sufficient sources
Published dangerous medical advice
Included hate speech
Included excessive affiliate or sales links
“Winning sites make it really clear who they are, who writes for them, how they make money on the sites, why they should trust them […]—all of these great things that really instill trust in the user.” @lilyraynyc#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
From there, Lily dug into 10 key ways Google has changed, and we encourage you to check out her slides and take a look for yourself.
What do all these changes mean for SEO? The landscape is more complex and competitive than ever, so it’s important to be reasonable with your organic search goals and always put E-A-T at the forefront of your SEO Strategy.
Learn from the winners investing in EAT over the last few years of Google’s evolution: @lilyraynyc#mozcon@Healthline@NerdWallet@[email protected]/0TfFAoNWqc
— Amsive Digital (@Amsive_Digital) July 14, 2021
Kameron Jenkins — The Content Refresh: How to Do More With Less
Kameron Jenkins is no stranger to content. She manages multiple blogs and currently works for e-commerce powerhouse, Shopify.
When it comes to content, she knows that the best way to regain lost traffic and give your content new life is through a content refresh. In her presentation, she walked us through her exact process for identifying and updating old content. Surprisingly, most content marketers only dedicate 10-25% of their time to content refreshes, even though a content refresh can lead to more ROI in the long term.
Content people! About what % of your team's publishing calendar is *refreshes (vs. brand new content)?
*taking something that was previously published and updating it.
— Kameron Jenkins 👋 (@Kammie_Jenkins) May 11, 2021
How do you identify the content that could benefit from a refresh? Look at your Google Analytics Landing Page report alongside Google Search Console, and prioritize content based on goal conversions, trending topics, and business priorities.
@Kammie_Jenkins Great deck and congrats on #mozcon!!! We're totally aligned on using the biggest movers for analysis. I love including impressions too to see the scope of opportunities.
Kind of like this: pic.twitter.com/5hoaova2zL
— Noah Learner (He/Him) (@noahlearner) July 14, 2021
Oh heck, I loooove anyone who has a favorite GA view. But add in GSC data exports... I think I'm in heaven.
Pageviews going down in GA
+
Losing rank for specific keywords in GSC
=
Opportunity for content revamp#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Next, it’s time to refresh. When moving into the execution, you’ll want to ask yourself three key questions:
What’s table stakes?
What will give you the competitive advantage?
And what will maximize conversions?
Other content refresh opportunities to look out for are consolidation, query targeting, and internal linking.
How can you stand out from the competition in your content refresh? Incorporate original research and expert quotes to beef up the authority and originality of your post.
Lastly, maximize your conversions by testing out your CTA placement and make your offers relevant to your audience.
She left us with some wise words of wisdom, “SEO is like owning a car. Even when the car is paid off, you still need to conduct regular maintenance to keep that engine running.”
Some tips for getting more value from your existing content:
- Refresh decaying content to rank faster, increase ROI & maintain brand credibility
- Remember session loss ≠ Traffic loss
- Leverage GA & GSC data
- Prioritize by trend, conversions & value@Kammie_Jenkins#MozConpic.twitter.com/SAVTtAFMIC
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Best quote of #MozCon by @Kammie_Jenkins of @Shopifypic.twitter.com/tNb6qvwRO6
— Barb Davids 🤓🏃♀️🍻 (@BarbDavids) July 14, 2021
Wil Reynolds — The 3 Most Important Search Marketing Tools…Your Heart, Your Brain, & Your [Small] Ego
Wil brought the energy yet again for his ninth MozCon presentation, closing out the conference with a bang. His message was simple yet powerful: Your top three tools are your heart, your brain, and your small ego. But what does that mean, exactly?
Small ego
Wil began by introducing the concept of intellectual humility, or the recognition that some of the things you believe just might be wrong. He urged us to listen to the people around us who say there's a better way — even brand-new coworkers or recent college grads whose ideas you might otherwise discount.
Sharing this with everyone I know 👏 #mozconhttps://t.co/f1x5gDp5is
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
And don't feel badly that you might be wrong — Wil posits that not knowing your own ignorance is just part of the human condition. He shared a quote from Upton Sinclair that was especially poignant:
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Heart
A hundred years ago, no business needed SEO. They needed customers, profits, and sales. And as true then as it is now, they needed to know their customers.
One slide stood out loud and clear: The less you understand your customer, the more you spend to acquire them. And as Wil said, reports that lack dollar signs don't land on real decision makers' desks. Here's where your brain comes in.
“Best practices are a great start for those who lack data, or have data but can’t process it.” - @wilreynolds#MozCon#IntellectualHonestypic.twitter.com/91QiMy4ZDq
— Michael Tolosa (@TolosaSEO) July 14, 2021
Brain
Wil presented a bit of a conundrum: making decisions based on your gut may be easy and comfortable, but it's the data that gets you the insights you need to create and test hypotheses. However, exhaustive data — the kind of data where opportunity lives — is probably too big for your laptop to handle. What's an SEO to do?
Of course he had answers! Wil's suggestion was to harness the power of ngrams. With the help of a tool like PowerBI or BigQuery and using ngrams to examine all the search terms, you can find all your ranking results and see where your search term isn't in the title.
Transform your SEO data into winning insights:
- Shrink your ego & question assumptions
- Don't rely on best practices.
- Tools are a start, not an end.
- Business is about $
- Understanding your customer saves $
- What people do & say are different@wilreynolds#mozconpic.twitter.com/IB7CcQ4IpN
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
There's too much goodness to cram into a short recap, so you'll definitely want to get yourself a copy of the MozCon video bundle when it's ready for purchase. Until then, a few final suggestions from Wil:
Examining all your data is the only way to capture all your opportunities; resist the urge to pare it down to the top 20%. Every time you shrink your data down, you're missing out on opportunities that someone else can see.
See every data set through a competitive lens: if all else is the same, how do you create value?
Combine your paid and SEO data together — get the dollar signs in those reports and get in front of key decision makers
Learn SQL. You'll be able to search for exactly what you need within your own data, you won't have to rely on others, and your hypotheses will benefit from your newfound data freedom.
Be brave enough to suck at something new. Stop doing the thing that you feel comfortable with. Run your own experiments and validate your hypotheses. It'll be worth it in the end!
Hey #MozCon thank you!
Remember:
1 - Surround yourself with people willing to show you a new way (show >> tell) - its easy to find people to tell you you are doing it wrong, find the people who build stuff to show you a new way.
— Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) July 14, 2021
Thanks everyone for a wonderful show! And we’ll see you in person next year!
#MozCon was freaking awesome! I learned so much and enjoyed meeting so many new colleagues! Thank you @Moz for such a wonderful event!
— Taylor Berg (@taylorannberg) July 15, 2021
0 notes
Text
Pack Up the Big Top: Insights from MozCon Virtual 2021's Grand Finale
And just like that, MozCon Virtual 2021 has come to an end. Over the past three days, we’ve seen incredibly insightful presentations on everything from content marketing, to machine learning, to new and exciting SEO tips and tricks. A big thank you to all our speakers, emcees, attendees, and volunteers in front of and behind the camera. It wouldn’t be MozCon without you!
Check out our recaps from day one and day two, and if you missed day three, read on for top-level takeaways! But to get the most out of this year’s MozCon content, make sure to access the video bundle when it goes on sale Friday, and stay tuned for details on MozCon 2022 —
You heard it here first, folks: #MozCon 2022 is slated to be LIVE in Seattle, in person! 🎉 https://t.co/3CKcI0N9l7
— Moz (@Moz) July 14, 2021
— that’s right! We’ll be back live and in-person next year in Seattle. Can’t wait to see you all there!
Tom Capper — The Fast & The Spurious: Core Web Vitals & SEO
“What if I told you that Core Web Vitals, and this update, are a bluff?”
Tom sure did kick off day three by blowing our minds with his opening line — the update everyone has been obsessing over for the last year isn’t actually all it’s cracked up to be?
Well, sort of.
It turns out we can’t afford to call Google’s bluff, but we can “sort of cheat”. Tom went on to lay out the flaws of Core Web Vitals, which all add up to the fact that they actually encourage terrible optimizations.
Core Web Vitals are all the rage, but do they live up to the hype?
Here's @THCapper's take
- SEO is like the prisoner's dilemma
- Prioritize high traffic pages & page speed
- Metrics can be gamed
- Drop, delay unstable elements or move below fold
- Rethink hero images#mozconpic.twitter.com/hgqeUZzKTP
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
So what’s taking so long? As we all know, this roll out has been delayed multiple times. Tom uses a brilliant example of the classic prisoner’s dilemma to explain why:
@THCapper pulling a #ChidiAnagonye by bringing moral philosophy into an SEO talk. #MozCon#TheGoodPlacepic.twitter.com/A7cx1GtKVy
— Sandi Pope Griffin (@sandpoper) July 14, 2021
As it turns out, Google has been contradicting themselves when talking about CWV because they can’t actually roll out updates that undermine the quality of their services — they’re relying on us, the SEOs, to act as the prisoners in their big dilemma of rankings.
On Google’s “There appears to be some confusion”: “Well, yes, you will notice some confusion if you directly contradict yourself.” @THCapper#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
Tom advised SEOs to take advantage of Google Discover, which is actually a massive, untapped traffic opportunity as it’s more responsive to speed than organic search.
"For most sites I see that are taking Google Discover even remotely seriously, they are getting more traffic from Discover than from organic search." - @THCapper dropping shocking stats. #MozConpic.twitter.com/kJSPDKCTTn
— Rob Ousbey (@RobOusbey) July 14, 2021
Before he signed off, Tom reiterated:
Prioritize high traffic pages
Metrics can be gamed/optimized
Don’t do any of this at the expense of speed
We won’t dig into the how for all of this here, so definitely check out his presentation in the video bundle!
Luke Carthy — The Ultimate How-To for Faceted Navigation SEO in E-Commerce
After an introduction that got the whole chat laughing (“Hi, I’m Morgan Freeman. Welcome to the afterlife.”), Luke Carthy showed us how he generated a 25% increase in organic traffic using faceted navigation.
Wait, what’s faceted navigation? You’ve definitely run into it if you’ve ever shopped online. Think about the stores that allow you to filter and sort your search. Behind that search is a faceted nav, defining, filtering, and sorting URLs on a website.
If it’s so common, what’s wrong with it? As Luke explains, faceted navs generate hundreds of long, parameterized, filtered URLs. It’s messy, it’s bloated, and bots can’t easily crawl them.
SEOs tend to counteract this bloat by “nofollowing the shit out of” faceted URLs. But when we do that, all of that long-tail gold disappears.
So what’s the solution? As Luke says, “It’s all about balance!”
(Side note: how cute is this photo??)
Luke shared some ways to “make facets sexy” by:
Understanding your site’s taxonomy
Using filters only to add granularity
Using “-” (dash) instead of “_” (underscore)
Filtering parameter URLs in GA to spot opportunities
Using a consistent structure
Limiting indexable parameter options
There were a bunch more actionable tips in this presentation, but we won’t spoil it all for you!
Okay, wow, this presentation is EXTREMELY actionable for anyone who handles e-commerce sites.
But also, if you handle a blog - maybe try and use it for tags, categories, etc. Just a thought off the top of the dome 🤷♀️@MrLukeCarthy#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Miracle Inameti-Archibong — Harnessing the Natural Language Toolkit for More Productive SEO
In her quick presentation, MozCon newcomer Miracle walked us through ways to use Natural Language Processing to do our SEO tasks — like keyword research — and even shared some of her own resources to help us do it!
With Miracle’s comprehensive Natural Language Processor with Python, you can analyze up to 10,000 keywords with the click of a button and group them based on category, frequency, and search intent. Don’t worry — even if you aren’t a programmer, Miracle’s scripts are easy enough to plug and play so you can start analyzing immediately.
If you're not following @mira_inam yet, what are you doing?
Miracle just shared SO many actionable keyword research takeaways!!! Thank you!!! 🤯🤯🤯 https://t.co/ESStpcLt5I
— Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) July 14, 2021
Miracle then walked us through how to get the script up and running step-by-step. The results were mind-bending. In just a few short clicks, she produced a wealth of keyword data sure to fuel some brilliant strategies and ideas.
To be honest, there was so much information in such a short time frame, this is one we’ll have to revisit again to absorb every tip possible, but click below to access Miracle’s scripts:
http://bit.ly/keywordclassification
http://bit.ly/keywordcluster
Amanda Milligan — A Live Guide to Finding & Filling the Gaps in Your Link Strategy
Amanda kicked off her first MozCon presentation by reiterating the importance of quality over quantity, to the tune of enthusiastic cheers from the MozCon chat box. In today’s climate, quality content is what will get you that authority and trustworthiness today’s marketers (and Google) crave. Quantity may give you a short term boost, but it won’t last and it won’t compound.
@millanda on creating link-worthy content:
"Always remember that it's not just about the link juice, but about the excellence you've created and the value you've provided as a result." #mozcon#SEO#linkbuildingpic.twitter.com/yT7uqIS7OL
— Katie Bradley (@KtBee21) July 14, 2021
But Google is just a robot and they base their assumptions on links: Who owns them and who links to whom? If your competitors are ranking on time.com and you aren’t, then Google will see your competitors more favorably and rank them higher in the SERP.
Amanda reminds us that these gaps are opportunities. If your competitor can get a link on Time.com, then so can you!
Amanda jumps straight to Moz Pro’s Link Intersect — “This tool was made for this kind of analysis!” — measuring up Chewy.com to competitors Petco.com and Petsmart.com to reveal the places where Chewy’s competitors link, but Chewy doesn’t.
One such article on CNN.com links to Petsmart and Petco and features a very cute guinea pig in a suit of armor — is it possible for Chewy to obtain a link to CNN? Yes!
Developing the content is only half the battle. Once you have something you think will resonate, it’s time to start pitching, which is arguably “where many link builders fall short.” In the pitching process, Amanda offers a fool proof plan of attack: “Pitch your content exclusively at first, and then once published, you can begin to take it elsewhere.” Publishers love exclusive content because they can leverage it to drive more views to their own content.
Amanda also drives home another link building golden rule: make sure you research and position your pitches and tailor them to the publisher. Gone are the days of mass outreach, and that won’t serve you well in the long run.
Once you’ve done the work, it’s time to track and record your progress. Take note of all the places your content shows up (anchor text, images, etc.) or whether it is do-follow or not.
Finding & filling gaps in your link strategy:
1/2
Finding
- Identify brands building great links
- See who links to them, but not to you (use a tool like Moz's link intersect)
- Analyze the types of content earning links
- Consider similar angles@millanda#MozConpic.twitter.com/lsH0DcbVfk
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Check out Amanda’s Whiteboard Friday on crafting the perfect pitch email for more tips!
Lily Ray — From the Medic Update to Now: How the E-A-T Ecosystem Has Transformed Organic Search
Lily Ray has been studying the evolution of Google and E-A-T for a few years now, and in this presentation, she outlined key changes in how Google perceives content – specifically when it comes to the rise of misinformation.
Since 2016, and especially in the last year, more people turn to Google for information on things like politics, vaccines, COVID, and other important topics. This makes it increasingly necessary for Google to surface reliable information. In times of crisis, things become even more critical, and according to the data, Google begins to favor more authoritative sources versus relevant sources. We don’t know exactly how this is determined, but in her study, the data shows that Google favorably ranks content from reputable sources for potentially controversial keywords.
If there is one thing that Lily wants us to walk away with, it's the “E-A-T matters in crisis”, and is Google’s quality standard for evaluating content, authors, and websites.
As a result of this, Google saw a sharp decline in search visibility for questionable news sources, which then expanded to include health and science sites, regardless of the technical optimization on those sites.
@lilyraynyc explains E-A-T at #MozCon
E-A-T was created in 2014 to make sure the quality of the content they are surfacing is meeting the needs of the users.
@Moz
In 2017 many of the fake news were wiped off the SERPs. Then this continued in 2018 with the YMYL sites pic.twitter.com/6PUCFwKrbV
— TurnDigi (@TurnDigi) July 14, 2021
Lily digs into keyword comparisons, showing how more authoritative sites became increasingly more visible between 2018 and 2021.
If you are wondering how E-A-T impacts search results - these slides by @lilyraynyc showing real life examples are sooo good #MozConpic.twitter.com/eQux45kKmm
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
Most of the sites that lost visibility were doing some questionable things including:
Leveraging questionable authors
Had poor reputations
Published deceptive content
Lacked sufficient sources
Published dangerous medical advice
Included hate speech
Included excessive affiliate or sales links
“Winning sites make it really clear who they are, who writes for them, how they make money on the sites, why they should trust them […]—all of these great things that really instill trust in the user.” @lilyraynyc#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
From there, Lily dug into 10 key ways Google has changed, and we encourage you to check out her slides and take a look for yourself.
What do all these changes mean for SEO? The landscape is more complex and competitive than ever, so it’s important to be reasonable with your organic search goals and always put E-A-T at the forefront of your SEO Strategy.
Learn from the winners investing in EAT over the last few years of Google’s evolution: @lilyraynyc#mozcon@Healthline@NerdWallet@[email protected]/0TfFAoNWqc
— Amsive Digital (@Amsive_Digital) July 14, 2021
Kameron Jenkins — The Content Refresh: How to Do More With Less
Kameron Jenkins is no stranger to content. She manages multiple blogs and currently works for e-commerce powerhouse, Shopify.
When it comes to content, she knows that the best way to regain lost traffic and give your content new life is through a content refresh. In her presentation, she walked us through her exact process for identifying and updating old content. Surprisingly, most content marketers only dedicate 10-25% of their time to content refreshes, even though a content refresh can lead to more ROI in the long term.
Content people! About what % of your team's publishing calendar is *refreshes (vs. brand new content)?
*taking something that was previously published and updating it.
— Kameron Jenkins 👋 (@Kammie_Jenkins) May 11, 2021
How do you identify the content that could benefit from a refresh? Look at your Google Analytics Landing Page report alongside Google Search Console, and prioritize content based on goal conversions, trending topics, and business priorities.
@Kammie_Jenkins Great deck and congrats on #mozcon!!! We're totally aligned on using the biggest movers for analysis. I love including impressions too to see the scope of opportunities.
Kind of like this: pic.twitter.com/5hoaova2zL
— Noah Learner (He/Him) (@noahlearner) July 14, 2021
Oh heck, I loooove anyone who has a favorite GA view. But add in GSC data exports... I think I'm in heaven.
Pageviews going down in GA
+
Losing rank for specific keywords in GSC
=
Opportunity for content revamp#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Next, it’s time to refresh. When moving into the execution, you’ll want to ask yourself three key questions:
What’s table stakes?
What will give you the competitive advantage?
And what will maximize conversions?
Other content refresh opportunities to look out for are consolidation, query targeting, and internal linking.
How can you stand out from the competition in your content refresh? Incorporate original research and expert quotes to beef up the authority and originality of your post.
Lastly, maximize your conversions by testing out your CTA placement and make your offers relevant to your audience.
She left us with some wise words of wisdom, “SEO is like owning a car. Even when the car is paid off, you still need to conduct regular maintenance to keep that engine running.”
Some tips for getting more value from your existing content:
- Refresh decaying content to rank faster, increase ROI & maintain brand credibility
- Remember session loss ≠ Traffic loss
- Leverage GA & GSC data
- Prioritize by trend, conversions & value@Kammie_Jenkins#MozConpic.twitter.com/SAVTtAFMIC
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Best quote of #MozCon by @Kammie_Jenkins of @Shopifypic.twitter.com/tNb6qvwRO6
— Barb Davids 🤓🏃♀️🍻 (@BarbDavids) July 14, 2021
Wil Reynolds — The 3 Most Important Search Marketing Tools…Your Heart, Your Brain, & Your [Small] Ego
Wil brought the energy yet again for his ninth MozCon presentation, closing out the conference with a bang. His message was simple yet powerful: Your top three tools are your heart, your brain, and your small ego. But what does that mean, exactly?
Small ego
Wil began by introducing the concept of intellectual humility, or the recognition that some of the things you believe just might be wrong. He urged us to listen to the people around us who say there's a better way — even brand-new coworkers or recent college grads whose ideas you might otherwise discount.
Sharing this with everyone I know 👏 #mozconhttps://t.co/f1x5gDp5is
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
And don't feel badly that you might be wrong — Wil posits that not knowing your own ignorance is just part of the human condition. He shared a quote from Upton Sinclair that was especially poignant:
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Heart
A hundred years ago, no business needed SEO. They needed customers, profits, and sales. And as true then as it is now, they needed to know their customers.
One slide stood out loud and clear: The less you understand your customer, the more you spend to acquire them. And as Wil said, reports that lack dollar signs don't land on real decision makers' desks. Here's where your brain comes in.
“Best practices are a great start for those who lack data, or have data but can’t process it.” - @wilreynolds#MozCon#IntellectualHonestypic.twitter.com/91QiMy4ZDq
— Michael Tolosa (@TolosaSEO) July 14, 2021
Brain
Wil presented a bit of a conundrum: making decisions based on your gut may be easy and comfortable, but it's the data that gets you the insights you need to create and test hypotheses. However, exhaustive data — the kind of data where opportunity lives — is probably too big for your laptop to handle. What's an SEO to do?
Of course he had answers! Wil's suggestion was to harness the power of ngrams. With the help of a tool like PowerBI or BigQuery and using ngrams to examine all the search terms, you can find all your ranking results and see where your search term isn't in the title.
Transform your SEO data into winning insights:
- Shrink your ego & question assumptions
- Don't rely on best practices.
- Tools are a start, not an end.
- Business is about $
- Understanding your customer saves $
- What people do & say are different@wilreynolds#mozconpic.twitter.com/IB7CcQ4IpN
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
There's too much goodness to cram into a short recap, so you'll definitely want to get yourself a copy of the MozCon video bundle when it's ready for purchase. Until then, a few final suggestions from Wil:
Examining all your data is the only way to capture all your opportunities; resist the urge to pare it down to the top 20%. Every time you shrink your data down, you're missing out on opportunities that someone else can see.
See every data set through a competitive lens: if all else is the same, how do you create value?
Combine your paid and SEO data together — get the dollar signs in those reports and get in front of key decision makers
Learn SQL. You'll be able to search for exactly what you need within your own data, you won't have to rely on others, and your hypotheses will benefit from your newfound data freedom.
Be brave enough to suck at something new. Stop doing the thing that you feel comfortable with. Run your own experiments and validate your hypotheses. It'll be worth it in the end!
Hey #MozCon thank you!
Remember:
1 - Surround yourself with people willing to show you a new way (show >> tell) - its easy to find people to tell you you are doing it wrong, find the people who build stuff to show you a new way.
— Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) July 14, 2021
Thanks everyone for a wonderful show! And we’ll see you in person next year!
#MozCon was freaking awesome! I learned so much and enjoyed meeting so many new colleagues! Thank you @Moz for such a wonderful event!
— Taylor Berg (@taylorannberg) July 15, 2021
#túi_giấy_epacking_việt_nam #túi_giấy_epacking #in_túi_giấy_giá_rẻ #in_túi_giấy #epackingvietnam #tuigiayepacking
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Pack Up the Big Top: Insights from MozCon Virtual 2021's Grand Finale
And just like that, MozCon Virtual 2021 has come to an end. Over the past three days, we’ve seen incredibly insightful presentations on everything from content marketing, to machine learning, to new and exciting SEO tips and tricks. A big thank you to all our speakers, emcees, attendees, and volunteers in front of and behind the camera. It wouldn’t be MozCon without you!
Check out our recaps from day one and day two, and if you missed day three, read on for top-level takeaways! But to get the most out of this year’s MozCon content, make sure to access the video bundle when it goes on sale Friday, and stay tuned for details on MozCon 2022 —
You heard it here first, folks: #MozCon 2022 is slated to be LIVE in Seattle, in person! 🎉 https://t.co/3CKcI0N9l7
— Moz (@Moz) July 14, 2021
— that’s right! We’ll be back live and in-person next year in Seattle. Can’t wait to see you all there!
Tom Capper — The Fast & The Spurious: Core Web Vitals & SEO
“What if I told you that Core Web Vitals, and this update, are a bluff?”
Tom sure did kick off day three by blowing our minds with his opening line — the update everyone has been obsessing over for the last year isn’t actually all it’s cracked up to be?
Well, sort of.
It turns out we can’t afford to call Google’s bluff, but we can “sort of cheat”. Tom went on to lay out the flaws of Core Web Vitals, which all add up to the fact that they actually encourage terrible optimizations.
Core Web Vitals are all the rage, but do they live up to the hype?
Here's @THCapper's take
- SEO is like the prisoner's dilemma
- Prioritize high traffic pages & page speed
- Metrics can be gamed
- Drop, delay unstable elements or move below fold
- Rethink hero images#mozconpic.twitter.com/hgqeUZzKTP
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
So what’s taking so long? As we all know, this roll out has been delayed multiple times. Tom uses a brilliant example of the classic prisoner’s dilemma to explain why:
@THCapper pulling a #ChidiAnagonye by bringing moral philosophy into an SEO talk. #MozCon#TheGoodPlacepic.twitter.com/A7cx1GtKVy
— Sandi Pope Griffin (@sandpoper) July 14, 2021
As it turns out, Google has been contradicting themselves when talking about CWV because they can’t actually roll out updates that undermine the quality of their services — they’re relying on us, the SEOs, to act as the prisoners in their big dilemma of rankings.
On Google’s “There appears to be some confusion”: “Well, yes, you will notice some confusion if you directly contradict yourself.” @THCapper#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
Tom advised SEOs to take advantage of Google Discover, which is actually a massive, untapped traffic opportunity as it’s more responsive to speed than organic search.
"For most sites I see that are taking Google Discover even remotely seriously, they are getting more traffic from Discover than from organic search." - @THCapper dropping shocking stats. #MozConpic.twitter.com/kJSPDKCTTn
— Rob Ousbey (@RobOusbey) July 14, 2021
Before he signed off, Tom reiterated:
Prioritize high traffic pages
Metrics can be gamed/optimized
Don’t do any of this at the expense of speed
We won’t dig into the how for all of this here, so definitely check out his presentation in the video bundle!
Luke Carthy — The Ultimate How-To for Faceted Navigation SEO in E-Commerce
After an introduction that got the whole chat laughing (“Hi, I’m Morgan Freeman. Welcome to the afterlife.”), Luke Carthy showed us how he generated a 25% increase in organic traffic using faceted navigation.
Wait, what’s faceted navigation? You’ve definitely run into it if you’ve ever shopped online. Think about the stores that allow you to filter and sort your search. Behind that search is a faceted nav, defining, filtering, and sorting URLs on a website.
If it’s so common, what’s wrong with it? As Luke explains, faceted navs generate hundreds of long, parameterized, filtered URLs. It’s messy, it’s bloated, and bots can’t easily crawl them.
SEOs tend to counteract this bloat by “nofollowing the shit out of” faceted URLs. But when we do that, all of that long-tail gold disappears.
So what’s the solution? As Luke says, “It’s all about balance!”
(Side note: how cute is this photo??)
Luke shared some ways to “make facets sexy” by:
Understanding your site’s taxonomy
Using filters only to add granularity
Using “-” (dash) instead of “_” (underscore)
Filtering parameter URLs in GA to spot opportunities
Using a consistent structure
Limiting indexable parameter options
There were a bunch more actionable tips in this presentation, but we won’t spoil it all for you!
Okay, wow, this presentation is EXTREMELY actionable for anyone who handles e-commerce sites.
But also, if you handle a blog - maybe try and use it for tags, categories, etc. Just a thought off the top of the dome 🤷♀️@MrLukeCarthy#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Miracle Inameti-Archibong — Harnessing the Natural Language Toolkit for More Productive SEO
In her quick presentation, MozCon newcomer Miracle walked us through ways to use Natural Language Processing to do our SEO tasks — like keyword research — and even shared some of her own resources to help us do it!
With Miracle’s comprehensive Natural Language Processor with Python, you can analyze up to 10,000 keywords with the click of a button and group them based on category, frequency, and search intent. Don’t worry — even if you aren’t a programmer, Miracle’s scripts are easy enough to plug and play so you can start analyzing immediately.
If you're not following @mira_inam yet, what are you doing?
Miracle just shared SO many actionable keyword research takeaways!!! Thank you!!! 🤯🤯🤯 https://t.co/ESStpcLt5I
— Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) July 14, 2021
Miracle then walked us through how to get the script up and running step-by-step. The results were mind-bending. In just a few short clicks, she produced a wealth of keyword data sure to fuel some brilliant strategies and ideas.
To be honest, there was so much information in such a short time frame, this is one we’ll have to revisit again to absorb every tip possible, but click below to access Miracle’s scripts:
http://bit.ly/keywordclassification
http://bit.ly/keywordcluster
Amanda Milligan — A Live Guide to Finding & Filling the Gaps in Your Link Strategy
Amanda kicked off her first MozCon presentation by reiterating the importance of quality over quantity, to the tune of enthusiastic cheers from the MozCon chat box. In today’s climate, quality content is what will get you that authority and trustworthiness today’s marketers (and Google) crave. Quantity may give you a short term boost, but it won’t last and it won’t compound.
@millanda on creating link-worthy content:
"Always remember that it's not just about the link juice, but about the excellence you've created and the value you've provided as a result." #mozcon#SEO#linkbuildingpic.twitter.com/yT7uqIS7OL
— Katie Bradley (@KtBee21) July 14, 2021
But Google is just a robot and they base their assumptions on links: Who owns them and who links to whom? If your competitors are ranking on time.com and you aren’t, then Google will see your competitors more favorably and rank them higher in the SERP.
Amanda reminds us that these gaps are opportunities. If your competitor can get a link on Time.com, then so can you!
Amanda jumps straight to Moz Pro’s Link Intersect — “This tool was made for this kind of analysis!” — measuring up Chewy.com to competitors Petco.com and Petsmart.com to reveal the places where Chewy’s competitors link, but Chewy doesn’t.
One such article on CNN.com links to Petsmart and Petco and features a very cute guinea pig in a suit of armor — is it possible for Chewy to obtain a link to CNN? Yes!
Developing the content is only half the battle. Once you have something you think will resonate, it’s time to start pitching, which is arguably “where many link builders fall short.” In the pitching process, Amanda offers a fool proof plan of attack: “Pitch your content exclusively at first, and then once published, you can begin to take it elsewhere.” Publishers love exclusive content because they can leverage it to drive more views to their own content.
Amanda also drives home another link building golden rule: make sure you research and position your pitches and tailor them to the publisher. Gone are the days of mass outreach, and that won’t serve you well in the long run.
Once you’ve done the work, it’s time to track and record your progress. Take note of all the places your content shows up (anchor text, images, etc.) or whether it is do-follow or not.
Finding & filling gaps in your link strategy:
1/2
Finding
- Identify brands building great links
- See who links to them, but not to you (use a tool like Moz's link intersect)
- Analyze the types of content earning links
- Consider similar angles@millanda#MozConpic.twitter.com/lsH0DcbVfk
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Check out Amanda’s Whiteboard Friday on crafting the perfect pitch email for more tips!
Lily Ray — From the Medic Update to Now: How the E-A-T Ecosystem Has Transformed Organic Search
Lily Ray has been studying the evolution of Google and E-A-T for a few years now, and in this presentation, she outlined key changes in how Google perceives content – specifically when it comes to the rise of misinformation.
Since 2016, and especially in the last year, more people turn to Google for information on things like politics, vaccines, COVID, and other important topics. This makes it increasingly necessary for Google to surface reliable information. In times of crisis, things become even more critical, and according to the data, Google begins to favor more authoritative sources versus relevant sources. We don’t know exactly how this is determined, but in her study, the data shows that Google favorably ranks content from reputable sources for potentially controversial keywords.
If there is one thing that Lily wants us to walk away with, it's the “E-A-T matters in crisis”, and is Google’s quality standard for evaluating content, authors, and websites.
As a result of this, Google saw a sharp decline in search visibility for questionable news sources, which then expanded to include health and science sites, regardless of the technical optimization on those sites.
@lilyraynyc explains E-A-T at #MozCon
E-A-T was created in 2014 to make sure the quality of the content they are surfacing is meeting the needs of the users.
@Moz
In 2017 many of the fake news were wiped off the SERPs. Then this continued in 2018 with the YMYL sites pic.twitter.com/6PUCFwKrbV
— TurnDigi (@TurnDigi) July 14, 2021
Lily digs into keyword comparisons, showing how more authoritative sites became increasingly more visible between 2018 and 2021.
If you are wondering how E-A-T impacts search results - these slides by @lilyraynyc showing real life examples are sooo good #MozConpic.twitter.com/eQux45kKmm
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
Most of the sites that lost visibility were doing some questionable things including:
Leveraging questionable authors
Had poor reputations
Published deceptive content
Lacked sufficient sources
Published dangerous medical advice
Included hate speech
Included excessive affiliate or sales links
“Winning sites make it really clear who they are, who writes for them, how they make money on the sites, why they should trust them […]—all of these great things that really instill trust in the user.” @lilyraynyc#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
From there, Lily dug into 10 key ways Google has changed, and we encourage you to check out her slides and take a look for yourself.
What do all these changes mean for SEO? The landscape is more complex and competitive than ever, so it’s important to be reasonable with your organic search goals and always put E-A-T at the forefront of your SEO Strategy.
Learn from the winners investing in EAT over the last few years of Google’s evolution: @lilyraynyc#mozcon@Healthline@NerdWallet@[email protected]/0TfFAoNWqc
— Amsive Digital (@Amsive_Digital) July 14, 2021
Kameron Jenkins — The Content Refresh: How to Do More With Less
Kameron Jenkins is no stranger to content. She manages multiple blogs and currently works for e-commerce powerhouse, Shopify.
When it comes to content, she knows that the best way to regain lost traffic and give your content new life is through a content refresh. In her presentation, she walked us through her exact process for identifying and updating old content. Surprisingly, most content marketers only dedicate 10-25% of their time to content refreshes, even though a content refresh can lead to more ROI in the long term.
Content people! About what % of your team's publishing calendar is *refreshes (vs. brand new content)?
*taking something that was previously published and updating it.
— Kameron Jenkins 👋 (@Kammie_Jenkins) May 11, 2021
How do you identify the content that could benefit from a refresh? Look at your Google Analytics Landing Page report alongside Google Search Console, and prioritize content based on goal conversions, trending topics, and business priorities.
@Kammie_Jenkins Great deck and congrats on #mozcon!!! We're totally aligned on using the biggest movers for analysis. I love including impressions too to see the scope of opportunities.
Kind of like this: pic.twitter.com/5hoaova2zL
— Noah Learner (He/Him) (@noahlearner) July 14, 2021
Oh heck, I loooove anyone who has a favorite GA view. But add in GSC data exports... I think I'm in heaven.
Pageviews going down in GA
+
Losing rank for specific keywords in GSC
=
Opportunity for content revamp#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Next, it’s time to refresh. When moving into the execution, you’ll want to ask yourself three key questions:
What’s table stakes?
What will give you the competitive advantage?
And what will maximize conversions?
Other content refresh opportunities to look out for are consolidation, query targeting, and internal linking.
How can you stand out from the competition in your content refresh? Incorporate original research and expert quotes to beef up the authority and originality of your post.
Lastly, maximize your conversions by testing out your CTA placement and make your offers relevant to your audience.
She left us with some wise words of wisdom, “SEO is like owning a car. Even when the car is paid off, you still need to conduct regular maintenance to keep that engine running.”
Some tips for getting more value from your existing content:
- Refresh decaying content to rank faster, increase ROI & maintain brand credibility
- Remember session loss ≠ Traffic loss
- Leverage GA & GSC data
- Prioritize by trend, conversions & value@Kammie_Jenkins#MozConpic.twitter.com/SAVTtAFMIC
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Best quote of #MozCon by @Kammie_Jenkins of @Shopifypic.twitter.com/tNb6qvwRO6
— Barb Davids 🤓🏃♀️🍻 (@BarbDavids) July 14, 2021
Wil Reynolds — The 3 Most Important Search Marketing Tools…Your Heart, Your Brain, & Your [Small] Ego
Wil brought the energy yet again for his ninth MozCon presentation, closing out the conference with a bang. His message was simple yet powerful: Your top three tools are your heart, your brain, and your small ego. But what does that mean, exactly?
Small ego
Wil began by introducing the concept of intellectual humility, or the recognition that some of the things you believe just might be wrong. He urged us to listen to the people around us who say there's a better way — even brand-new coworkers or recent college grads whose ideas you might otherwise discount.
Sharing this with everyone I know 👏 #mozconhttps://t.co/f1x5gDp5is
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
And don't feel badly that you might be wrong — Wil posits that not knowing your own ignorance is just part of the human condition. He shared a quote from Upton Sinclair that was especially poignant:
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Heart
A hundred years ago, no business needed SEO. They needed customers, profits, and sales. And as true then as it is now, they needed to know their customers.
One slide stood out loud and clear: The less you understand your customer, the more you spend to acquire them. And as Wil said, reports that lack dollar signs don't land on real decision makers' desks. Here's where your brain comes in.
“Best practices are a great start for those who lack data, or have data but can’t process it.” - @wilreynolds#MozCon#IntellectualHonestypic.twitter.com/91QiMy4ZDq
— Michael Tolosa (@TolosaSEO) July 14, 2021
Brain
Wil presented a bit of a conundrum: making decisions based on your gut may be easy and comfortable, but it's the data that gets you the insights you need to create and test hypotheses. However, exhaustive data — the kind of data where opportunity lives — is probably too big for your laptop to handle. What's an SEO to do?
Of course he had answers! Wil's suggestion was to harness the power of ngrams. With the help of a tool like PowerBI or BigQuery and using ngrams to examine all the search terms, you can find all your ranking results and see where your search term isn't in the title.
Transform your SEO data into winning insights:
- Shrink your ego & question assumptions
- Don't rely on best practices.
- Tools are a start, not an end.
- Business is about $
- Understanding your customer saves $
- What people do & say are different@wilreynolds#mozconpic.twitter.com/IB7CcQ4IpN
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
There's too much goodness to cram into a short recap, so you'll definitely want to get yourself a copy of the MozCon video bundle when it's ready for purchase. Until then, a few final suggestions from Wil:
Examining all your data is the only way to capture all your opportunities; resist the urge to pare it down to the top 20%. Every time you shrink your data down, you're missing out on opportunities that someone else can see.
See every data set through a competitive lens: if all else is the same, how do you create value?
Combine your paid and SEO data together — get the dollar signs in those reports and get in front of key decision makers
Learn SQL. You'll be able to search for exactly what you need within your own data, you won't have to rely on others, and your hypotheses will benefit from your newfound data freedom.
Be brave enough to suck at something new. Stop doing the thing that you feel comfortable with. Run your own experiments and validate your hypotheses. It'll be worth it in the end!
Hey #MozCon thank you!
Remember:
1 - Surround yourself with people willing to show you a new way (show >> tell) - its easy to find people to tell you you are doing it wrong, find the people who build stuff to show you a new way.
— Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) July 14, 2021
Thanks everyone for a wonderful show! And we’ll see you in person next year!
#MozCon was freaking awesome! I learned so much and enjoyed meeting so many new colleagues! Thank you @Moz for such a wonderful event!
— Taylor Berg (@taylorannberg) July 15, 2021
0 notes
Text
Pack Up the Big Top: Insights from MozCon Virtual 2021's Grand Finale
And just like that, MozCon Virtual 2021 has come to an end. Over the past three days, we’ve seen incredibly insightful presentations on everything from content marketing, to machine learning, to new and exciting SEO tips and tricks. A big thank you to all our speakers, emcees, attendees, and volunteers in front of and behind the camera. It wouldn’t be MozCon without you!
Check out our recaps from day one and day two, and if you missed day three, read on for top-level takeaways! But to get the most out of this year’s MozCon content, make sure to access the video bundle when it goes on sale Friday, and stay tuned for details on MozCon 2022 —
You heard it here first, folks: #MozCon 2022 is slated to be LIVE in Seattle, in person! 🎉 https://t.co/3CKcI0N9l7
— Moz (@Moz) July 14, 2021
— that’s right! We’ll be back live and in-person next year in Seattle. Can’t wait to see you all there!
Tom Capper — The Fast & The Spurious: Core Web Vitals & SEO
“What if I told you that Core Web Vitals, and this update, are a bluff?”
Tom sure did kick off day three by blowing our minds with his opening line — the update everyone has been obsessing over for the last year isn’t actually all it’s cracked up to be?
Well, sort of.
It turns out we can’t afford to call Google’s bluff, but we can “sort of cheat”. Tom went on to lay out the flaws of Core Web Vitals, which all add up to the fact that they actually encourage terrible optimizations.
Core Web Vitals are all the rage, but do they live up to the hype?
Here's @THCapper's take
- SEO is like the prisoner's dilemma
- Prioritize high traffic pages & page speed
- Metrics can be gamed
- Drop, delay unstable elements or move below fold
- Rethink hero images#mozconpic.twitter.com/hgqeUZzKTP
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
So what’s taking so long? As we all know, this roll out has been delayed multiple times. Tom uses a brilliant example of the classic prisoner’s dilemma to explain why:
@THCapper pulling a #ChidiAnagonye by bringing moral philosophy into an SEO talk. #MozCon#TheGoodPlacepic.twitter.com/A7cx1GtKVy
— Sandi Pope Griffin (@sandpoper) July 14, 2021
As it turns out, Google has been contradicting themselves when talking about CWV because they can’t actually roll out updates that undermine the quality of their services — they’re relying on us, the SEOs, to act as the prisoners in their big dilemma of rankings.
On Google’s “There appears to be some confusion”: “Well, yes, you will notice some confusion if you directly contradict yourself.” @THCapper#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
Tom advised SEOs to take advantage of Google Discover, which is actually a massive, untapped traffic opportunity as it’s more responsive to speed than organic search.
"For most sites I see that are taking Google Discover even remotely seriously, they are getting more traffic from Discover than from organic search." - @THCapper dropping shocking stats. #MozConpic.twitter.com/kJSPDKCTTn
— Rob Ousbey (@RobOusbey) July 14, 2021
Before he signed off, Tom reiterated:
Prioritize high traffic pages
Metrics can be gamed/optimized
Don’t do any of this at the expense of speed
We won’t dig into the how for all of this here, so definitely check out his presentation in the video bundle!
Luke Carthy — The Ultimate How-To for Faceted Navigation SEO in E-Commerce
After an introduction that got the whole chat laughing (“Hi, I’m Morgan Freeman. Welcome to the afterlife.”), Luke Carthy showed us how he generated a 25% increase in organic traffic using faceted navigation.
Wait, what’s faceted navigation? You’ve definitely run into it if you’ve ever shopped online. Think about the stores that allow you to filter and sort your search. Behind that search is a faceted nav, defining, filtering, and sorting URLs on a website.
If it’s so common, what’s wrong with it? As Luke explains, faceted navs generate hundreds of long, parameterized, filtered URLs. It’s messy, it’s bloated, and bots can’t easily crawl them.
SEOs tend to counteract this bloat by “nofollowing the shit out of” faceted URLs. But when we do that, all of that long-tail gold disappears.
So what’s the solution? As Luke says, “It’s all about balance!”
(Side note: how cute is this photo??)
Luke shared some ways to “make facets sexy” by:
Understanding your site’s taxonomy
Using filters only to add granularity
Using “-” (dash) instead of “_” (underscore)
Filtering parameter URLs in GA to spot opportunities
Using a consistent structure
Limiting indexable parameter options
There were a bunch more actionable tips in this presentation, but we won’t spoil it all for you!
Okay, wow, this presentation is EXTREMELY actionable for anyone who handles e-commerce sites.
But also, if you handle a blog - maybe try and use it for tags, categories, etc. Just a thought off the top of the dome 🤷♀️@MrLukeCarthy#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Miracle Inameti-Archibong — Harnessing the Natural Language Toolkit for More Productive SEO
In her quick presentation, MozCon newcomer Miracle walked us through ways to use Natural Language Processing to do our SEO tasks — like keyword research — and even shared some of her own resources to help us do it!
With Miracle’s comprehensive Natural Language Processor with Python, you can analyze up to 10,000 keywords with the click of a button and group them based on category, frequency, and search intent. Don’t worry — even if you aren’t a programmer, Miracle’s scripts are easy enough to plug and play so you can start analyzing immediately.
If you're not following @mira_inam yet, what are you doing?
Miracle just shared SO many actionable keyword research takeaways!!! Thank you!!! 🤯🤯🤯 https://t.co/ESStpcLt5I
— Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) July 14, 2021
Miracle then walked us through how to get the script up and running step-by-step. The results were mind-bending. In just a few short clicks, she produced a wealth of keyword data sure to fuel some brilliant strategies and ideas.
To be honest, there was so much information in such a short time frame, this is one we’ll have to revisit again to absorb every tip possible, but click below to access Miracle’s scripts:
http://bit.ly/keywordclassification
http://bit.ly/keywordcluster
Amanda Milligan — A Live Guide to Finding & Filling the Gaps in Your Link Strategy
Amanda kicked off her first MozCon presentation by reiterating the importance of quality over quantity, to the tune of enthusiastic cheers from the MozCon chat box. In today’s climate, quality content is what will get you that authority and trustworthiness today’s marketers (and Google) crave. Quantity may give you a short term boost, but it won’t last and it won’t compound.
@millanda on creating link-worthy content:
"Always remember that it's not just about the link juice, but about the excellence you've created and the value you've provided as a result." #mozcon#SEO#linkbuildingpic.twitter.com/yT7uqIS7OL
— Katie Bradley (@KtBee21) July 14, 2021
But Google is just a robot and they base their assumptions on links: Who owns them and who links to whom? If your competitors are ranking on time.com and you aren’t, then Google will see your competitors more favorably and rank them higher in the SERP.
Amanda reminds us that these gaps are opportunities. If your competitor can get a link on Time.com, then so can you!
Amanda jumps straight to Moz Pro’s Link Intersect — “This tool was made for this kind of analysis!” — measuring up Chewy.com to competitors Petco.com and Petsmart.com to reveal the places where Chewy’s competitors link, but Chewy doesn’t.
One such article on CNN.com links to Petsmart and Petco and features a very cute guinea pig in a suit of armor — is it possible for Chewy to obtain a link to CNN? Yes!
Developing the content is only half the battle. Once you have something you think will resonate, it’s time to start pitching, which is arguably “where many link builders fall short.” In the pitching process, Amanda offers a fool proof plan of attack: “Pitch your content exclusively at first, and then once published, you can begin to take it elsewhere.” Publishers love exclusive content because they can leverage it to drive more views to their own content.
Amanda also drives home another link building golden rule: make sure you research and position your pitches and tailor them to the publisher. Gone are the days of mass outreach, and that won’t serve you well in the long run.
Once you’ve done the work, it’s time to track and record your progress. Take note of all the places your content shows up (anchor text, images, etc.) or whether it is do-follow or not.
Finding & filling gaps in your link strategy:
1/2
Finding
- Identify brands building great links
- See who links to them, but not to you (use a tool like Moz's link intersect)
- Analyze the types of content earning links
- Consider similar angles@millanda#MozConpic.twitter.com/lsH0DcbVfk
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Check out Amanda’s Whiteboard Friday on crafting the perfect pitch email for more tips!
Lily Ray — From the Medic Update to Now: How the E-A-T Ecosystem Has Transformed Organic Search
Lily Ray has been studying the evolution of Google and E-A-T for a few years now, and in this presentation, she outlined key changes in how Google perceives content – specifically when it comes to the rise of misinformation.
Since 2016, and especially in the last year, more people turn to Google for information on things like politics, vaccines, COVID, and other important topics. This makes it increasingly necessary for Google to surface reliable information. In times of crisis, things become even more critical, and according to the data, Google begins to favor more authoritative sources versus relevant sources. We don’t know exactly how this is determined, but in her study, the data shows that Google favorably ranks content from reputable sources for potentially controversial keywords.
If there is one thing that Lily wants us to walk away with, it's the “E-A-T matters in crisis”, and is Google’s quality standard for evaluating content, authors, and websites.
As a result of this, Google saw a sharp decline in search visibility for questionable news sources, which then expanded to include health and science sites, regardless of the technical optimization on those sites.
@lilyraynyc explains E-A-T at #MozCon
E-A-T was created in 2014 to make sure the quality of the content they are surfacing is meeting the needs of the users.
@Moz
In 2017 many of the fake news were wiped off the SERPs. Then this continued in 2018 with the YMYL sites pic.twitter.com/6PUCFwKrbV
— TurnDigi (@TurnDigi) July 14, 2021
Lily digs into keyword comparisons, showing how more authoritative sites became increasingly more visible between 2018 and 2021.
If you are wondering how E-A-T impacts search results - these slides by @lilyraynyc showing real life examples are sooo good #MozConpic.twitter.com/eQux45kKmm
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
Most of the sites that lost visibility were doing some questionable things including:
Leveraging questionable authors
Had poor reputations
Published deceptive content
Lacked sufficient sources
Published dangerous medical advice
Included hate speech
Included excessive affiliate or sales links
“Winning sites make it really clear who they are, who writes for them, how they make money on the sites, why they should trust them […]—all of these great things that really instill trust in the user.” @lilyraynyc#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
From there, Lily dug into 10 key ways Google has changed, and we encourage you to check out her slides and take a look for yourself.
What do all these changes mean for SEO? The landscape is more complex and competitive than ever, so it’s important to be reasonable with your organic search goals and always put E-A-T at the forefront of your SEO Strategy.
Learn from the winners investing in EAT over the last few years of Google’s evolution: @lilyraynyc#mozcon@Healthline@NerdWallet@[email protected]/0TfFAoNWqc
— Amsive Digital (@Amsive_Digital) July 14, 2021
Kameron Jenkins — The Content Refresh: How to Do More With Less
Kameron Jenkins is no stranger to content. She manages multiple blogs and currently works for e-commerce powerhouse, Shopify.
When it comes to content, she knows that the best way to regain lost traffic and give your content new life is through a content refresh. In her presentation, she walked us through her exact process for identifying and updating old content. Surprisingly, most content marketers only dedicate 10-25% of their time to content refreshes, even though a content refresh can lead to more ROI in the long term.
Content people! About what % of your team's publishing calendar is *refreshes (vs. brand new content)?
*taking something that was previously published and updating it.
— Kameron Jenkins 👋 (@Kammie_Jenkins) May 11, 2021
How do you identify the content that could benefit from a refresh? Look at your Google Analytics Landing Page report alongside Google Search Console, and prioritize content based on goal conversions, trending topics, and business priorities.
@Kammie_Jenkins Great deck and congrats on #mozcon!!! We're totally aligned on using the biggest movers for analysis. I love including impressions too to see the scope of opportunities.
Kind of like this: pic.twitter.com/5hoaova2zL
— Noah Learner (He/Him) (@noahlearner) July 14, 2021
Oh heck, I loooove anyone who has a favorite GA view. But add in GSC data exports... I think I'm in heaven.
Pageviews going down in GA
+
Losing rank for specific keywords in GSC
=
Opportunity for content revamp#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Next, it’s time to refresh. When moving into the execution, you’ll want to ask yourself three key questions:
What’s table stakes?
What will give you the competitive advantage?
And what will maximize conversions?
Other content refresh opportunities to look out for are consolidation, query targeting, and internal linking.
How can you stand out from the competition in your content refresh? Incorporate original research and expert quotes to beef up the authority and originality of your post.
Lastly, maximize your conversions by testing out your CTA placement and make your offers relevant to your audience.
She left us with some wise words of wisdom, “SEO is like owning a car. Even when the car is paid off, you still need to conduct regular maintenance to keep that engine running.”
Some tips for getting more value from your existing content:
- Refresh decaying content to rank faster, increase ROI & maintain brand credibility
- Remember session loss ≠ Traffic loss
- Leverage GA & GSC data
- Prioritize by trend, conversions & value@Kammie_Jenkins#MozConpic.twitter.com/SAVTtAFMIC
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Best quote of #MozCon by @Kammie_Jenkins of @Shopifypic.twitter.com/tNb6qvwRO6
— Barb Davids 🤓🏃♀️🍻 (@BarbDavids) July 14, 2021
Wil Reynolds — The 3 Most Important Search Marketing Tools…Your Heart, Your Brain, & Your [Small] Ego
Wil brought the energy yet again for his ninth MozCon presentation, closing out the conference with a bang. His message was simple yet powerful: Your top three tools are your heart, your brain, and your small ego. But what does that mean, exactly?
Small ego
Wil began by introducing the concept of intellectual humility, or the recognition that some of the things you believe just might be wrong. He urged us to listen to the people around us who say there's a better way — even brand-new coworkers or recent college grads whose ideas you might otherwise discount.
Sharing this with everyone I know 👏 #mozconhttps://t.co/f1x5gDp5is
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
And don't feel badly that you might be wrong — Wil posits that not knowing your own ignorance is just part of the human condition. He shared a quote from Upton Sinclair that was especially poignant:
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Heart
A hundred years ago, no business needed SEO. They needed customers, profits, and sales. And as true then as it is now, they needed to know their customers.
One slide stood out loud and clear: The less you understand your customer, the more you spend to acquire them. And as Wil said, reports that lack dollar signs don't land on real decision makers' desks. Here's where your brain comes in.
“Best practices are a great start for those who lack data, or have data but can’t process it.” - @wilreynolds#MozCon#IntellectualHonestypic.twitter.com/91QiMy4ZDq
— Michael Tolosa (@TolosaSEO) July 14, 2021
Brain
Wil presented a bit of a conundrum: making decisions based on your gut may be easy and comfortable, but it's the data that gets you the insights you need to create and test hypotheses. However, exhaustive data — the kind of data where opportunity lives — is probably too big for your laptop to handle. What's an SEO to do?
Of course he had answers! Wil's suggestion was to harness the power of ngrams. With the help of a tool like PowerBI or BigQuery and using ngrams to examine all the search terms, you can find all your ranking results and see where your search term isn't in the title.
Transform your SEO data into winning insights:
- Shrink your ego & question assumptions
- Don't rely on best practices.
- Tools are a start, not an end.
- Business is about $
- Understanding your customer saves $
- What people do & say are different@wilreynolds#mozconpic.twitter.com/IB7CcQ4IpN
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
There's too much goodness to cram into a short recap, so you'll definitely want to get yourself a copy of the MozCon video bundle when it's ready for purchase. Until then, a few final suggestions from Wil:
Examining all your data is the only way to capture all your opportunities; resist the urge to pare it down to the top 20%. Every time you shrink your data down, you're missing out on opportunities that someone else can see.
See every data set through a competitive lens: if all else is the same, how do you create value?
Combine your paid and SEO data together — get the dollar signs in those reports and get in front of key decision makers
Learn SQL. You'll be able to search for exactly what you need within your own data, you won't have to rely on others, and your hypotheses will benefit from your newfound data freedom.
Be brave enough to suck at something new. Stop doing the thing that you feel comfortable with. Run your own experiments and validate your hypotheses. It'll be worth it in the end!
Hey #MozCon thank you!
Remember:
1 - Surround yourself with people willing to show you a new way (show >> tell) - its easy to find people to tell you you are doing it wrong, find the people who build stuff to show you a new way.
— Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) July 14, 2021
Thanks everyone for a wonderful show! And we’ll see you in person next year!
#MozCon was freaking awesome! I learned so much and enjoyed meeting so many new colleagues! Thank you @Moz for such a wonderful event!
— Taylor Berg (@taylorannberg) July 15, 2021
0 notes
Text
Pack Up the Big Top: Insights from MozCon Virtual 2021's Grand Finale
And just like that, MozCon Virtual 2021 has come to an end. Over the past three days, we’ve seen incredibly insightful presentations on everything from content marketing, to machine learning, to new and exciting SEO tips and tricks. A big thank you to all our speakers, emcees, attendees, and volunteers in front of and behind the camera. It wouldn’t be MozCon without you!
Check out our recaps from day one and day two, and if you missed day three, read on for top-level takeaways! But to get the most out of this year’s MozCon content, make sure to access the video bundle when it goes on sale Friday, and stay tuned for details on MozCon 2022 —
You heard it here first, folks: #MozCon 2022 is slated to be LIVE in Seattle, in person! 🎉 https://t.co/3CKcI0N9l7
— Moz (@Moz) July 14, 2021
— that’s right! We’ll be back live and in-person next year in Seattle. Can’t wait to see you all there!
Tom Capper — The Fast & The Spurious: Core Web Vitals & SEO
“What if I told you that Core Web Vitals, and this update, are a bluff?”
Tom sure did kick off day three by blowing our minds with his opening line — the update everyone has been obsessing over for the last year isn’t actually all it’s cracked up to be?
Well, sort of.
It turns out we can’t afford to call Google’s bluff, but we can “sort of cheat”. Tom went on to lay out the flaws of Core Web Vitals, which all add up to the fact that they actually encourage terrible optimizations.
Core Web Vitals are all the rage, but do they live up to the hype?
Here's @THCapper's take
- SEO is like the prisoner's dilemma
- Prioritize high traffic pages & page speed
- Metrics can be gamed
- Drop, delay unstable elements or move below fold
- Rethink hero images#mozconpic.twitter.com/hgqeUZzKTP
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
So what’s taking so long? As we all know, this roll out has been delayed multiple times. Tom uses a brilliant example of the classic prisoner’s dilemma to explain why:
@THCapper pulling a #ChidiAnagonye by bringing moral philosophy into an SEO talk. #MozCon#TheGoodPlacepic.twitter.com/A7cx1GtKVy
— Sandi Pope Griffin (@sandpoper) July 14, 2021
As it turns out, Google has been contradicting themselves when talking about CWV because they can’t actually roll out updates that undermine the quality of their services — they’re relying on us, the SEOs, to act as the prisoners in their big dilemma of rankings.
On Google’s “There appears to be some confusion”: “Well, yes, you will notice some confusion if you directly contradict yourself.” @THCapper#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
Tom advised SEOs to take advantage of Google Discover, which is actually a massive, untapped traffic opportunity as it’s more responsive to speed than organic search.
"For most sites I see that are taking Google Discover even remotely seriously, they are getting more traffic from Discover than from organic search." - @THCapper dropping shocking stats. #MozConpic.twitter.com/kJSPDKCTTn
— Rob Ousbey (@RobOusbey) July 14, 2021
Before he signed off, Tom reiterated:
Prioritize high traffic pages
Metrics can be gamed/optimized
Don’t do any of this at the expense of speed
We won’t dig into the how for all of this here, so definitely check out his presentation in the video bundle!
Luke Carthy — The Ultimate How-To for Faceted Navigation SEO in E-Commerce
After an introduction that got the whole chat laughing (“Hi, I’m Morgan Freeman. Welcome to the afterlife.”), Luke Carthy showed us how he generated a 25% increase in organic traffic using faceted navigation.
Wait, what’s faceted navigation? You’ve definitely run into it if you’ve ever shopped online. Think about the stores that allow you to filter and sort your search. Behind that search is a faceted nav, defining, filtering, and sorting URLs on a website.
If it’s so common, what’s wrong with it? As Luke explains, faceted navs generate hundreds of long, parameterized, filtered URLs. It’s messy, it’s bloated, and bots can’t easily crawl them.
SEOs tend to counteract this bloat by “nofollowing the shit out of” faceted URLs. But when we do that, all of that long-tail gold disappears.
So what’s the solution? As Luke says, “It’s all about balance!”
(Side note: how cute is this photo??)
Luke shared some ways to “make facets sexy” by:
Understanding your site’s taxonomy
Using filters only to add granularity
Using “-” (dash) instead of “_” (underscore)
Filtering parameter URLs in GA to spot opportunities
Using a consistent structure
Limiting indexable parameter options
There were a bunch more actionable tips in this presentation, but we won’t spoil it all for you!
Okay, wow, this presentation is EXTREMELY actionable for anyone who handles e-commerce sites.
But also, if you handle a blog - maybe try and use it for tags, categories, etc. Just a thought off the top of the dome 🤷♀️@MrLukeCarthy#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Miracle Inameti-Archibong — Harnessing the Natural Language Toolkit for More Productive SEO
In her quick presentation, MozCon newcomer Miracle walked us through ways to use Natural Language Processing to do our SEO tasks — like keyword research — and even shared some of her own resources to help us do it!
With Miracle’s comprehensive Natural Language Processor with Python, you can analyze up to 10,000 keywords with the click of a button and group them based on category, frequency, and search intent. Don’t worry — even if you aren’t a programmer, Miracle’s scripts are easy enough to plug and play so you can start analyzing immediately.
If you're not following @mira_inam yet, what are you doing?
Miracle just shared SO many actionable keyword research takeaways!!! Thank you!!! 🤯🤯🤯 https://t.co/ESStpcLt5I
— Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) July 14, 2021
Miracle then walked us through how to get the script up and running step-by-step. The results were mind-bending. In just a few short clicks, she produced a wealth of keyword data sure to fuel some brilliant strategies and ideas.
To be honest, there was so much information in such a short time frame, this is one we’ll have to revisit again to absorb every tip possible, but click below to access Miracle’s scripts:
http://bit.ly/keywordclassification
http://bit.ly/keywordcluster
Amanda Milligan — A Live Guide to Finding & Filling the Gaps in Your Link Strategy
Amanda kicked off her first MozCon presentation by reiterating the importance of quality over quantity, to the tune of enthusiastic cheers from the MozCon chat box. In today’s climate, quality content is what will get you that authority and trustworthiness today’s marketers (and Google) crave. Quantity may give you a short term boost, but it won’t last and it won’t compound.
@millanda on creating link-worthy content:
"Always remember that it's not just about the link juice, but about the excellence you've created and the value you've provided as a result." #mozcon#SEO#linkbuildingpic.twitter.com/yT7uqIS7OL
— Katie Bradley (@KtBee21) July 14, 2021
But Google is just a robot and they base their assumptions on links: Who owns them and who links to whom? If your competitors are ranking on time.com and you aren’t, then Google will see your competitors more favorably and rank them higher in the SERP.
Amanda reminds us that these gaps are opportunities. If your competitor can get a link on Time.com, then so can you!
Amanda jumps straight to Moz Pro’s Link Intersect — “This tool was made for this kind of analysis!” — measuring up Chewy.com to competitors Petco.com and Petsmart.com to reveal the places where Chewy’s competitors link, but Chewy doesn’t.
One such article on CNN.com links to Petsmart and Petco and features a very cute guinea pig in a suit of armor — is it possible for Chewy to obtain a link to CNN? Yes!
Developing the content is only half the battle. Once you have something you think will resonate, it’s time to start pitching, which is arguably “where many link builders fall short.” In the pitching process, Amanda offers a fool proof plan of attack: “Pitch your content exclusively at first, and then once published, you can begin to take it elsewhere.” Publishers love exclusive content because they can leverage it to drive more views to their own content.
Amanda also drives home another link building golden rule: make sure you research and position your pitches and tailor them to the publisher. Gone are the days of mass outreach, and that won’t serve you well in the long run.
Once you’ve done the work, it’s time to track and record your progress. Take note of all the places your content shows up (anchor text, images, etc.) or whether it is do-follow or not.
Finding & filling gaps in your link strategy:
1/2
Finding
- Identify brands building great links
- See who links to them, but not to you (use a tool like Moz's link intersect)
- Analyze the types of content earning links
- Consider similar angles@millanda#MozConpic.twitter.com/lsH0DcbVfk
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Check out Amanda’s Whiteboard Friday on crafting the perfect pitch email for more tips!
Lily Ray — From the Medic Update to Now: How the E-A-T Ecosystem Has Transformed Organic Search
Lily Ray has been studying the evolution of Google and E-A-T for a few years now, and in this presentation, she outlined key changes in how Google perceives content – specifically when it comes to the rise of misinformation.
Since 2016, and especially in the last year, more people turn to Google for information on things like politics, vaccines, COVID, and other important topics. This makes it increasingly necessary for Google to surface reliable information. In times of crisis, things become even more critical, and according to the data, Google begins to favor more authoritative sources versus relevant sources. We don’t know exactly how this is determined, but in her study, the data shows that Google favorably ranks content from reputable sources for potentially controversial keywords.
If there is one thing that Lily wants us to walk away with, it's the “E-A-T matters in crisis”, and is Google’s quality standard for evaluating content, authors, and websites.
As a result of this, Google saw a sharp decline in search visibility for questionable news sources, which then expanded to include health and science sites, regardless of the technical optimization on those sites.
@lilyraynyc explains E-A-T at #MozCon
E-A-T was created in 2014 to make sure the quality of the content they are surfacing is meeting the needs of the users.
@Moz
In 2017 many of the fake news were wiped off the SERPs. Then this continued in 2018 with the YMYL sites pic.twitter.com/6PUCFwKrbV
— TurnDigi (@TurnDigi) July 14, 2021
Lily digs into keyword comparisons, showing how more authoritative sites became increasingly more visible between 2018 and 2021.
If you are wondering how E-A-T impacts search results - these slides by @lilyraynyc showing real life examples are sooo good #MozConpic.twitter.com/eQux45kKmm
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
Most of the sites that lost visibility were doing some questionable things including:
Leveraging questionable authors
Had poor reputations
Published deceptive content
Lacked sufficient sources
Published dangerous medical advice
Included hate speech
Included excessive affiliate or sales links
“Winning sites make it really clear who they are, who writes for them, how they make money on the sites, why they should trust them […]—all of these great things that really instill trust in the user.” @lilyraynyc#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
From there, Lily dug into 10 key ways Google has changed, and we encourage you to check out her slides and take a look for yourself.
What do all these changes mean for SEO? The landscape is more complex and competitive than ever, so it’s important to be reasonable with your organic search goals and always put E-A-T at the forefront of your SEO Strategy.
Learn from the winners investing in EAT over the last few years of Google’s evolution: @lilyraynyc#mozcon@Healthline@NerdWallet@[email protected]/0TfFAoNWqc
— Amsive Digital (@Amsive_Digital) July 14, 2021
Kameron Jenkins — The Content Refresh: How to Do More With Less
Kameron Jenkins is no stranger to content. She manages multiple blogs and currently works for e-commerce powerhouse, Shopify.
When it comes to content, she knows that the best way to regain lost traffic and give your content new life is through a content refresh. In her presentation, she walked us through her exact process for identifying and updating old content. Surprisingly, most content marketers only dedicate 10-25% of their time to content refreshes, even though a content refresh can lead to more ROI in the long term.
Content people! About what % of your team's publishing calendar is *refreshes (vs. brand new content)?
*taking something that was previously published and updating it.
— Kameron Jenkins 👋 (@Kammie_Jenkins) May 11, 2021
How do you identify the content that could benefit from a refresh? Look at your Google Analytics Landing Page report alongside Google Search Console, and prioritize content based on goal conversions, trending topics, and business priorities.
@Kammie_Jenkins Great deck and congrats on #mozcon!!! We're totally aligned on using the biggest movers for analysis. I love including impressions too to see the scope of opportunities.
Kind of like this: pic.twitter.com/5hoaova2zL
— Noah Learner (He/Him) (@noahlearner) July 14, 2021
Oh heck, I loooove anyone who has a favorite GA view. But add in GSC data exports... I think I'm in heaven.
Pageviews going down in GA
+
Losing rank for specific keywords in GSC
=
Opportunity for content revamp#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Next, it’s time to refresh. When moving into the execution, you’ll want to ask yourself three key questions:
What’s table stakes?
What will give you the competitive advantage?
And what will maximize conversions?
Other content refresh opportunities to look out for are consolidation, query targeting, and internal linking.
How can you stand out from the competition in your content refresh? Incorporate original research and expert quotes to beef up the authority and originality of your post.
Lastly, maximize your conversions by testing out your CTA placement and make your offers relevant to your audience.
She left us with some wise words of wisdom, “SEO is like owning a car. Even when the car is paid off, you still need to conduct regular maintenance to keep that engine running.”
Some tips for getting more value from your existing content:
- Refresh decaying content to rank faster, increase ROI & maintain brand credibility
- Remember session loss ≠ Traffic loss
- Leverage GA & GSC data
- Prioritize by trend, conversions & value@Kammie_Jenkins#MozConpic.twitter.com/SAVTtAFMIC
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Best quote of #MozCon by @Kammie_Jenkins of @Shopifypic.twitter.com/tNb6qvwRO6
— Barb Davids 🤓🏃♀️🍻 (@BarbDavids) July 14, 2021
Wil Reynolds — The 3 Most Important Search Marketing Tools…Your Heart, Your Brain, & Your [Small] Ego
Wil brought the energy yet again for his ninth MozCon presentation, closing out the conference with a bang. His message was simple yet powerful: Your top three tools are your heart, your brain, and your small ego. But what does that mean, exactly?
Small ego
Wil began by introducing the concept of intellectual humility, or the recognition that some of the things you believe just might be wrong. He urged us to listen to the people around us who say there's a better way — even brand-new coworkers or recent college grads whose ideas you might otherwise discount.
Sharing this with everyone I know 👏 #mozconhttps://t.co/f1x5gDp5is
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
And don't feel badly that you might be wrong — Wil posits that not knowing your own ignorance is just part of the human condition. He shared a quote from Upton Sinclair that was especially poignant:
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Heart
A hundred years ago, no business needed SEO. They needed customers, profits, and sales. And as true then as it is now, they needed to know their customers.
One slide stood out loud and clear: The less you understand your customer, the more you spend to acquire them. And as Wil said, reports that lack dollar signs don't land on real decision makers' desks. Here's where your brain comes in.
“Best practices are a great start for those who lack data, or have data but can’t process it.” - @wilreynolds#MozCon#IntellectualHonestypic.twitter.com/91QiMy4ZDq
— Michael Tolosa (@TolosaSEO) July 14, 2021
Brain
Wil presented a bit of a conundrum: making decisions based on your gut may be easy and comfortable, but it's the data that gets you the insights you need to create and test hypotheses. However, exhaustive data — the kind of data where opportunity lives — is probably too big for your laptop to handle. What's an SEO to do?
Of course he had answers! Wil's suggestion was to harness the power of ngrams. With the help of a tool like PowerBI or BigQuery and using ngrams to examine all the search terms, you can find all your ranking results and see where your search term isn't in the title.
Transform your SEO data into winning insights:
- Shrink your ego & question assumptions
- Don't rely on best practices.
- Tools are a start, not an end.
- Business is about $
- Understanding your customer saves $
- What people do & say are different@wilreynolds#mozconpic.twitter.com/IB7CcQ4IpN
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
There's too much goodness to cram into a short recap, so you'll definitely want to get yourself a copy of the MozCon video bundle when it's ready for purchase. Until then, a few final suggestions from Wil:
Examining all your data is the only way to capture all your opportunities; resist the urge to pare it down to the top 20%. Every time you shrink your data down, you're missing out on opportunities that someone else can see.
See every data set through a competitive lens: if all else is the same, how do you create value?
Combine your paid and SEO data together — get the dollar signs in those reports and get in front of key decision makers
Learn SQL. You'll be able to search for exactly what you need within your own data, you won't have to rely on others, and your hypotheses will benefit from your newfound data freedom.
Be brave enough to suck at something new. Stop doing the thing that you feel comfortable with. Run your own experiments and validate your hypotheses. It'll be worth it in the end!
Hey #MozCon thank you!
Remember:
1 - Surround yourself with people willing to show you a new way (show >> tell) - its easy to find people to tell you you are doing it wrong, find the people who build stuff to show you a new way.
— Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) July 14, 2021
Thanks everyone for a wonderful show! And we’ll see you in person next year!
#MozCon was freaking awesome! I learned so much and enjoyed meeting so many new colleagues! Thank you @Moz for such a wonderful event!
— Taylor Berg (@taylorannberg) July 15, 2021
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Pack Up the Big Top: Insights from MozCon Virtual 2021's Grand Finale
And just like that, MozCon Virtual 2021 has come to an end. Over the past three days, we’ve seen incredibly insightful presentations on everything from content marketing, to machine learning, to new and exciting SEO tips and tricks. A big thank you to all our speakers, emcees, attendees, and volunteers in front of and behind the camera. It wouldn’t be MozCon without you!
Check out our recaps from day one and day two, and if you missed day three, read on for top-level takeaways! But to get the most out of this year’s MozCon content, make sure to access the video bundle when it goes on sale Friday, and stay tuned for details on MozCon 2022 —
You heard it here first, folks: #MozCon 2022 is slated to be LIVE in Seattle, in person! 🎉 https://t.co/3CKcI0N9l7
— Moz (@Moz) July 14, 2021
— that’s right! We’ll be back live and in-person next year in Seattle. Can’t wait to see you all there!
Tom Capper — The Fast & The Spurious: Core Web Vitals & SEO
“What if I told you that Core Web Vitals, and this update, are a bluff?”
Tom sure did kick off day three by blowing our minds with his opening line — the update everyone has been obsessing over for the last year isn’t actually all it’s cracked up to be?
Well, sort of.
It turns out we can’t afford to call Google’s bluff, but we can “sort of cheat”. Tom went on to lay out the flaws of Core Web Vitals, which all add up to the fact that they actually encourage terrible optimizations.
Core Web Vitals are all the rage, but do they live up to the hype?
Here's @THCapper's take
- SEO is like the prisoner's dilemma
- Prioritize high traffic pages & page speed
- Metrics can be gamed
- Drop, delay unstable elements or move below fold
- Rethink hero images#mozconpic.twitter.com/hgqeUZzKTP
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
So what’s taking so long? As we all know, this roll out has been delayed multiple times. Tom uses a brilliant example of the classic prisoner’s dilemma to explain why:
@THCapper pulling a #ChidiAnagonye by bringing moral philosophy into an SEO talk. #MozCon#TheGoodPlacepic.twitter.com/A7cx1GtKVy
— Sandi Pope Griffin (@sandpoper) July 14, 2021
As it turns out, Google has been contradicting themselves when talking about CWV because they can’t actually roll out updates that undermine the quality of their services — they’re relying on us, the SEOs, to act as the prisoners in their big dilemma of rankings.
On Google’s “There appears to be some confusion”: “Well, yes, you will notice some confusion if you directly contradict yourself.” @THCapper#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
Tom advised SEOs to take advantage of Google Discover, which is actually a massive, untapped traffic opportunity as it’s more responsive to speed than organic search.
"For most sites I see that are taking Google Discover even remotely seriously, they are getting more traffic from Discover than from organic search." - @THCapper dropping shocking stats. #MozConpic.twitter.com/kJSPDKCTTn
— Rob Ousbey (@RobOusbey) July 14, 2021
Before he signed off, Tom reiterated:
Prioritize high traffic pages
Metrics can be gamed/optimized
Don’t do any of this at the expense of speed
We won’t dig into the how for all of this here, so definitely check out his presentation in the video bundle!
Luke Carthy — The Ultimate How-To for Faceted Navigation SEO in E-Commerce
After an introduction that got the whole chat laughing (“Hi, I’m Morgan Freeman. Welcome to the afterlife.”), Luke Carthy showed us how he generated a 25% increase in organic traffic using faceted navigation.
Wait, what’s faceted navigation? You’ve definitely run into it if you’ve ever shopped online. Think about the stores that allow you to filter and sort your search. Behind that search is a faceted nav, defining, filtering, and sorting URLs on a website.
If it’s so common, what’s wrong with it? As Luke explains, faceted navs generate hundreds of long, parameterized, filtered URLs. It’s messy, it’s bloated, and bots can’t easily crawl them.
SEOs tend to counteract this bloat by “nofollowing the shit out of” faceted URLs. But when we do that, all of that long-tail gold disappears.
So what’s the solution? As Luke says, “It’s all about balance!”
(Side note: how cute is this photo??)
Luke shared some ways to “make facets sexy” by:
Understanding your site’s taxonomy
Using filters only to add granularity
Using “-” (dash) instead of “_” (underscore)
Filtering parameter URLs in GA to spot opportunities
Using a consistent structure
Limiting indexable parameter options
There were a bunch more actionable tips in this presentation, but we won’t spoil it all for you!
Okay, wow, this presentation is EXTREMELY actionable for anyone who handles e-commerce sites.
But also, if you handle a blog - maybe try and use it for tags, categories, etc. Just a thought off the top of the dome 🤷♀️@MrLukeCarthy#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Miracle Inameti-Archibong — Harnessing the Natural Language Toolkit for More Productive SEO
In her quick presentation, MozCon newcomer Miracle walked us through ways to use Natural Language Processing to do our SEO tasks — like keyword research — and even shared some of her own resources to help us do it!
With Miracle’s comprehensive Natural Language Processor with Python, you can analyze up to 10,000 keywords with the click of a button and group them based on category, frequency, and search intent. Don’t worry — even if you aren’t a programmer, Miracle’s scripts are easy enough to plug and play so you can start analyzing immediately.
If you're not following @mira_inam yet, what are you doing?
Miracle just shared SO many actionable keyword research takeaways!!! Thank you!!! 🤯🤯🤯 https://t.co/ESStpcLt5I
— Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) July 14, 2021
Miracle then walked us through how to get the script up and running step-by-step. The results were mind-bending. In just a few short clicks, she produced a wealth of keyword data sure to fuel some brilliant strategies and ideas.
To be honest, there was so much information in such a short time frame, this is one we’ll have to revisit again to absorb every tip possible, but click below to access Miracle’s scripts:
http://bit.ly/keywordclassification
http://bit.ly/keywordcluster
Amanda Milligan — A Live Guide to Finding & Filling the Gaps in Your Link Strategy
Amanda kicked off her first MozCon presentation by reiterating the importance of quality over quantity, to the tune of enthusiastic cheers from the MozCon chat box. In today’s climate, quality content is what will get you that authority and trustworthiness today’s marketers (and Google) crave. Quantity may give you a short term boost, but it won’t last and it won’t compound.
@millanda on creating link-worthy content:
"Always remember that it's not just about the link juice, but about the excellence you've created and the value you've provided as a result." #mozcon#SEO#linkbuildingpic.twitter.com/yT7uqIS7OL
— Katie Bradley (@KtBee21) July 14, 2021
But Google is just a robot and they base their assumptions on links: Who owns them and who links to whom? If your competitors are ranking on time.com and you aren’t, then Google will see your competitors more favorably and rank them higher in the SERP.
Amanda reminds us that these gaps are opportunities. If your competitor can get a link on Time.com, then so can you!
Amanda jumps straight to Moz Pro’s Link Intersect — “This tool was made for this kind of analysis!” — measuring up Chewy.com to competitors Petco.com and Petsmart.com to reveal the places where Chewy’s competitors link, but Chewy doesn’t.
One such article on CNN.com links to Petsmart and Petco and features a very cute guinea pig in a suit of armor — is it possible for Chewy to obtain a link to CNN? Yes!
Developing the content is only half the battle. Once you have something you think will resonate, it’s time to start pitching, which is arguably “where many link builders fall short.” In the pitching process, Amanda offers a fool proof plan of attack: “Pitch your content exclusively at first, and then once published, you can begin to take it elsewhere.” Publishers love exclusive content because they can leverage it to drive more views to their own content.
Amanda also drives home another link building golden rule: make sure you research and position your pitches and tailor them to the publisher. Gone are the days of mass outreach, and that won’t serve you well in the long run.
Once you’ve done the work, it’s time to track and record your progress. Take note of all the places your content shows up (anchor text, images, etc.) or whether it is do-follow or not.
Finding & filling gaps in your link strategy:
1/2
Finding
- Identify brands building great links
- See who links to them, but not to you (use a tool like Moz's link intersect)
- Analyze the types of content earning links
- Consider similar angles@millanda#MozConpic.twitter.com/lsH0DcbVfk
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Check out Amanda’s Whiteboard Friday on crafting the perfect pitch email for more tips!
Lily Ray — From the Medic Update to Now: How the E-A-T Ecosystem Has Transformed Organic Search
Lily Ray has been studying the evolution of Google and E-A-T for a few years now, and in this presentation, she outlined key changes in how Google perceives content – specifically when it comes to the rise of misinformation.
Since 2016, and especially in the last year, more people turn to Google for information on things like politics, vaccines, COVID, and other important topics. This makes it increasingly necessary for Google to surface reliable information. In times of crisis, things become even more critical, and according to the data, Google begins to favor more authoritative sources versus relevant sources. We don’t know exactly how this is determined, but in her study, the data shows that Google favorably ranks content from reputable sources for potentially controversial keywords.
If there is one thing that Lily wants us to walk away with, it's the “E-A-T matters in crisis”, and is Google’s quality standard for evaluating content, authors, and websites.
As a result of this, Google saw a sharp decline in search visibility for questionable news sources, which then expanded to include health and science sites, regardless of the technical optimization on those sites.
@lilyraynyc explains E-A-T at #MozCon
E-A-T was created in 2014 to make sure the quality of the content they are surfacing is meeting the needs of the users.
@Moz
In 2017 many of the fake news were wiped off the SERPs. Then this continued in 2018 with the YMYL sites pic.twitter.com/6PUCFwKrbV
— TurnDigi (@TurnDigi) July 14, 2021
Lily digs into keyword comparisons, showing how more authoritative sites became increasingly more visible between 2018 and 2021.
If you are wondering how E-A-T impacts search results - these slides by @lilyraynyc showing real life examples are sooo good #MozConpic.twitter.com/eQux45kKmm
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
Most of the sites that lost visibility were doing some questionable things including:
Leveraging questionable authors
Had poor reputations
Published deceptive content
Lacked sufficient sources
Published dangerous medical advice
Included hate speech
Included excessive affiliate or sales links
“Winning sites make it really clear who they are, who writes for them, how they make money on the sites, why they should trust them […]—all of these great things that really instill trust in the user.” @lilyraynyc#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
From there, Lily dug into 10 key ways Google has changed, and we encourage you to check out her slides and take a look for yourself.
What do all these changes mean for SEO? The landscape is more complex and competitive than ever, so it’s important to be reasonable with your organic search goals and always put E-A-T at the forefront of your SEO Strategy.
Learn from the winners investing in EAT over the last few years of Google’s evolution: @lilyraynyc#mozcon@Healthline@NerdWallet@[email protected]/0TfFAoNWqc
— Amsive Digital (@Amsive_Digital) July 14, 2021
Kameron Jenkins — The Content Refresh: How to Do More With Less
Kameron Jenkins is no stranger to content. She manages multiple blogs and currently works for e-commerce powerhouse, Shopify.
When it comes to content, she knows that the best way to regain lost traffic and give your content new life is through a content refresh. In her presentation, she walked us through her exact process for identifying and updating old content. Surprisingly, most content marketers only dedicate 10-25% of their time to content refreshes, even though a content refresh can lead to more ROI in the long term.
Content people! About what % of your team's publishing calendar is *refreshes (vs. brand new content)?
*taking something that was previously published and updating it.
— Kameron Jenkins 👋 (@Kammie_Jenkins) May 11, 2021
How do you identify the content that could benefit from a refresh? Look at your Google Analytics Landing Page report alongside Google Search Console, and prioritize content based on goal conversions, trending topics, and business priorities.
@Kammie_Jenkins Great deck and congrats on #mozcon!!! We're totally aligned on using the biggest movers for analysis. I love including impressions too to see the scope of opportunities.
Kind of like this: pic.twitter.com/5hoaova2zL
— Noah Learner (He/Him) (@noahlearner) July 14, 2021
Oh heck, I loooove anyone who has a favorite GA view. But add in GSC data exports... I think I'm in heaven.
Pageviews going down in GA
+
Losing rank for specific keywords in GSC
=
Opportunity for content revamp#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Next, it’s time to refresh. When moving into the execution, you’ll want to ask yourself three key questions:
What’s table stakes?
What will give you the competitive advantage?
And what will maximize conversions?
Other content refresh opportunities to look out for are consolidation, query targeting, and internal linking.
How can you stand out from the competition in your content refresh? Incorporate original research and expert quotes to beef up the authority and originality of your post.
Lastly, maximize your conversions by testing out your CTA placement and make your offers relevant to your audience.
She left us with some wise words of wisdom, “SEO is like owning a car. Even when the car is paid off, you still need to conduct regular maintenance to keep that engine running.”
Some tips for getting more value from your existing content:
- Refresh decaying content to rank faster, increase ROI & maintain brand credibility
- Remember session loss ≠ Traffic loss
- Leverage GA & GSC data
- Prioritize by trend, conversions & value@Kammie_Jenkins#MozConpic.twitter.com/SAVTtAFMIC
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Best quote of #MozCon by @Kammie_Jenkins of @Shopifypic.twitter.com/tNb6qvwRO6
— Barb Davids 🤓🏃♀️🍻 (@BarbDavids) July 14, 2021
Wil Reynolds — The 3 Most Important Search Marketing Tools…Your Heart, Your Brain, & Your [Small] Ego
Wil brought the energy yet again for his ninth MozCon presentation, closing out the conference with a bang. His message was simple yet powerful: Your top three tools are your heart, your brain, and your small ego. But what does that mean, exactly?
Small ego
Wil began by introducing the concept of intellectual humility, or the recognition that some of the things you believe just might be wrong. He urged us to listen to the people around us who say there's a better way — even brand-new coworkers or recent college grads whose ideas you might otherwise discount.
Sharing this with everyone I know 👏 #mozconhttps://t.co/f1x5gDp5is
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
And don't feel badly that you might be wrong — Wil posits that not knowing your own ignorance is just part of the human condition. He shared a quote from Upton Sinclair that was especially poignant:
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Heart
A hundred years ago, no business needed SEO. They needed customers, profits, and sales. And as true then as it is now, they needed to know their customers.
One slide stood out loud and clear: The less you understand your customer, the more you spend to acquire them. And as Wil said, reports that lack dollar signs don't land on real decision makers' desks. Here's where your brain comes in.
“Best practices are a great start for those who lack data, or have data but can’t process it.” - @wilreynolds#MozCon#IntellectualHonestypic.twitter.com/91QiMy4ZDq
— Michael Tolosa (@TolosaSEO) July 14, 2021
Brain
Wil presented a bit of a conundrum: making decisions based on your gut may be easy and comfortable, but it's the data that gets you the insights you need to create and test hypotheses. However, exhaustive data — the kind of data where opportunity lives — is probably too big for your laptop to handle. What's an SEO to do?
Of course he had answers! Wil's suggestion was to harness the power of ngrams. With the help of a tool like PowerBI or BigQuery and using ngrams to examine all the search terms, you can find all your ranking results and see where your search term isn't in the title.
Transform your SEO data into winning insights:
- Shrink your ego & question assumptions
- Don't rely on best practices.
- Tools are a start, not an end.
- Business is about $
- Understanding your customer saves $
- What people do & say are different@wilreynolds#mozconpic.twitter.com/IB7CcQ4IpN
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
There's too much goodness to cram into a short recap, so you'll definitely want to get yourself a copy of the MozCon video bundle when it's ready for purchase. Until then, a few final suggestions from Wil:
Examining all your data is the only way to capture all your opportunities; resist the urge to pare it down to the top 20%. Every time you shrink your data down, you're missing out on opportunities that someone else can see.
See every data set through a competitive lens: if all else is the same, how do you create value?
Combine your paid and SEO data together — get the dollar signs in those reports and get in front of key decision makers
Learn SQL. You'll be able to search for exactly what you need within your own data, you won't have to rely on others, and your hypotheses will benefit from your newfound data freedom.
Be brave enough to suck at something new. Stop doing the thing that you feel comfortable with. Run your own experiments and validate your hypotheses. It'll be worth it in the end!
Hey #MozCon thank you!
Remember:
1 - Surround yourself with people willing to show you a new way (show >> tell) - its easy to find people to tell you you are doing it wrong, find the people who build stuff to show you a new way.
— Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) July 14, 2021
Thanks everyone for a wonderful show! And we’ll see you in person next year!
#MozCon was freaking awesome! I learned so much and enjoyed meeting so many new colleagues! Thank you @Moz for such a wonderful event!
— Taylor Berg (@taylorannberg) July 15, 2021
0 notes
Text
Pack Up the Big Top: Insights from MozCon Virtual 2021's Grand Finale
And just like that, MozCon Virtual 2021 has come to an end. Over the past three days, we’ve seen incredibly insightful presentations on everything from content marketing, to machine learning, to new and exciting SEO tips and tricks. A big thank you to all our speakers, emcees, attendees, and volunteers in front of and behind the camera. It wouldn’t be MozCon without you!
Check out our recaps from day one and day two, and if you missed day three, read on for top-level takeaways! But to get the most out of this year’s MozCon content, make sure to access the video bundle when it goes on sale Friday, and stay tuned for details on MozCon 2022 —
You heard it here first, folks: #MozCon 2022 is slated to be LIVE in Seattle, in person! 🎉 https://t.co/3CKcI0N9l7
— Moz (@Moz) July 14, 2021
— that’s right! We’ll be back live and in-person next year in Seattle. Can’t wait to see you all there!
Tom Capper — The Fast & The Spurious: Core Web Vitals & SEO
“What if I told you that Core Web Vitals, and this update, are a bluff?”
Tom sure did kick off day three by blowing our minds with his opening line — the update everyone has been obsessing over for the last year isn’t actually all it’s cracked up to be?
Well, sort of.
It turns out we can’t afford to call Google’s bluff, but we can “sort of cheat”. Tom went on to lay out the flaws of Core Web Vitals, which all add up to the fact that they actually encourage terrible optimizations.
Core Web Vitals are all the rage, but do they live up to the hype?
Here's @THCapper's take
- SEO is like the prisoner's dilemma
- Prioritize high traffic pages & page speed
- Metrics can be gamed
- Drop, delay unstable elements or move below fold
- Rethink hero images#mozconpic.twitter.com/hgqeUZzKTP
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
So what’s taking so long? As we all know, this roll out has been delayed multiple times. Tom uses a brilliant example of the classic prisoner’s dilemma to explain why:
@THCapper pulling a #ChidiAnagonye by bringing moral philosophy into an SEO talk. #MozCon#TheGoodPlacepic.twitter.com/A7cx1GtKVy
— Sandi Pope Griffin (@sandpoper) July 14, 2021
As it turns out, Google has been contradicting themselves when talking about CWV because they can’t actually roll out updates that undermine the quality of their services — they’re relying on us, the SEOs, to act as the prisoners in their big dilemma of rankings.
On Google’s “There appears to be some confusion”: “Well, yes, you will notice some confusion if you directly contradict yourself.” @THCapper#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
Tom advised SEOs to take advantage of Google Discover, which is actually a massive, untapped traffic opportunity as it’s more responsive to speed than organic search.
"For most sites I see that are taking Google Discover even remotely seriously, they are getting more traffic from Discover than from organic search." - @THCapper dropping shocking stats. #MozConpic.twitter.com/kJSPDKCTTn
— Rob Ousbey (@RobOusbey) July 14, 2021
Before he signed off, Tom reiterated:
Prioritize high traffic pages
Metrics can be gamed/optimized
Don’t do any of this at the expense of speed
We won’t dig into the how for all of this here, so definitely check out his presentation in the video bundle!
Luke Carthy — The Ultimate How-To for Faceted Navigation SEO in E-Commerce
After an introduction that got the whole chat laughing (“Hi, I’m Morgan Freeman. Welcome to the afterlife.”), Luke Carthy showed us how he generated a 25% increase in organic traffic using faceted navigation.
Wait, what’s faceted navigation? You’ve definitely run into it if you’ve ever shopped online. Think about the stores that allow you to filter and sort your search. Behind that search is a faceted nav, defining, filtering, and sorting URLs on a website.
If it’s so common, what’s wrong with it? As Luke explains, faceted navs generate hundreds of long, parameterized, filtered URLs. It’s messy, it’s bloated, and bots can’t easily crawl them.
SEOs tend to counteract this bloat by “nofollowing the shit out of” faceted URLs. But when we do that, all of that long-tail gold disappears.
So what’s the solution? As Luke says, “It’s all about balance!”
(Side note: how cute is this photo??)
Luke shared some ways to “make facets sexy” by:
Understanding your site’s taxonomy
Using filters only to add granularity
Using “-” (dash) instead of “_” (underscore)
Filtering parameter URLs in GA to spot opportunities
Using a consistent structure
Limiting indexable parameter options
There were a bunch more actionable tips in this presentation, but we won’t spoil it all for you!
Okay, wow, this presentation is EXTREMELY actionable for anyone who handles e-commerce sites.
But also, if you handle a blog - maybe try and use it for tags, categories, etc. Just a thought off the top of the dome 🤷♀️@MrLukeCarthy#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Miracle Inameti-Archibong — Harnessing the Natural Language Toolkit for More Productive SEO
In her quick presentation, MozCon newcomer Miracle walked us through ways to use Natural Language Processing to do our SEO tasks — like keyword research — and even shared some of her own resources to help us do it!
With Miracle’s comprehensive Natural Language Processor with Python, you can analyze up to 10,000 keywords with the click of a button and group them based on category, frequency, and search intent. Don’t worry — even if you aren’t a programmer, Miracle’s scripts are easy enough to plug and play so you can start analyzing immediately.
If you're not following @mira_inam yet, what are you doing?
Miracle just shared SO many actionable keyword research takeaways!!! Thank you!!! 🤯🤯🤯 https://t.co/ESStpcLt5I
— Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) July 14, 2021
Miracle then walked us through how to get the script up and running step-by-step. The results were mind-bending. In just a few short clicks, she produced a wealth of keyword data sure to fuel some brilliant strategies and ideas.
To be honest, there was so much information in such a short time frame, this is one we’ll have to revisit again to absorb every tip possible, but click below to access Miracle’s scripts:
http://bit.ly/keywordclassification
http://bit.ly/keywordcluster
Amanda Milligan — A Live Guide to Finding & Filling the Gaps in Your Link Strategy
Amanda kicked off her first MozCon presentation by reiterating the importance of quality over quantity, to the tune of enthusiastic cheers from the MozCon chat box. In today’s climate, quality content is what will get you that authority and trustworthiness today’s marketers (and Google) crave. Quantity may give you a short term boost, but it won’t last and it won’t compound.
@millanda on creating link-worthy content:
"Always remember that it's not just about the link juice, but about the excellence you've created and the value you've provided as a result." #mozcon#SEO#linkbuildingpic.twitter.com/yT7uqIS7OL
— Katie Bradley (@KtBee21) July 14, 2021
But Google is just a robot and they base their assumptions on links: Who owns them and who links to whom? If your competitors are ranking on time.com and you aren’t, then Google will see your competitors more favorably and rank them higher in the SERP.
Amanda reminds us that these gaps are opportunities. If your competitor can get a link on Time.com, then so can you!
Amanda jumps straight to Moz Pro’s Link Intersect — “This tool was made for this kind of analysis!” — measuring up Chewy.com to competitors Petco.com and Petsmart.com to reveal the places where Chewy’s competitors link, but Chewy doesn’t.
One such article on CNN.com links to Petsmart and Petco and features a very cute guinea pig in a suit of armor — is it possible for Chewy to obtain a link to CNN? Yes!
Developing the content is only half the battle. Once you have something you think will resonate, it’s time to start pitching, which is arguably “where many link builders fall short.” In the pitching process, Amanda offers a fool proof plan of attack: “Pitch your content exclusively at first, and then once published, you can begin to take it elsewhere.” Publishers love exclusive content because they can leverage it to drive more views to their own content.
Amanda also drives home another link building golden rule: make sure you research and position your pitches and tailor them to the publisher. Gone are the days of mass outreach, and that won’t serve you well in the long run.
Once you’ve done the work, it’s time to track and record your progress. Take note of all the places your content shows up (anchor text, images, etc.) or whether it is do-follow or not.
Finding & filling gaps in your link strategy:
1/2
Finding
- Identify brands building great links
- See who links to them, but not to you (use a tool like Moz's link intersect)
- Analyze the types of content earning links
- Consider similar angles@millanda#MozConpic.twitter.com/lsH0DcbVfk
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Check out Amanda’s Whiteboard Friday on crafting the perfect pitch email for more tips!
Lily Ray — From the Medic Update to Now: How the E-A-T Ecosystem Has Transformed Organic Search
Lily Ray has been studying the evolution of Google and E-A-T for a few years now, and in this presentation, she outlined key changes in how Google perceives content – specifically when it comes to the rise of misinformation.
Since 2016, and especially in the last year, more people turn to Google for information on things like politics, vaccines, COVID, and other important topics. This makes it increasingly necessary for Google to surface reliable information. In times of crisis, things become even more critical, and according to the data, Google begins to favor more authoritative sources versus relevant sources. We don’t know exactly how this is determined, but in her study, the data shows that Google favorably ranks content from reputable sources for potentially controversial keywords.
If there is one thing that Lily wants us to walk away with, it's the “E-A-T matters in crisis”, and is Google’s quality standard for evaluating content, authors, and websites.
As a result of this, Google saw a sharp decline in search visibility for questionable news sources, which then expanded to include health and science sites, regardless of the technical optimization on those sites.
@lilyraynyc explains E-A-T at #MozCon
E-A-T was created in 2014 to make sure the quality of the content they are surfacing is meeting the needs of the users.
@Moz
In 2017 many of the fake news were wiped off the SERPs. Then this continued in 2018 with the YMYL sites pic.twitter.com/6PUCFwKrbV
— TurnDigi (@TurnDigi) July 14, 2021
Lily digs into keyword comparisons, showing how more authoritative sites became increasingly more visible between 2018 and 2021.
If you are wondering how E-A-T impacts search results - these slides by @lilyraynyc showing real life examples are sooo good #MozConpic.twitter.com/eQux45kKmm
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
Most of the sites that lost visibility were doing some questionable things including:
Leveraging questionable authors
Had poor reputations
Published deceptive content
Lacked sufficient sources
Published dangerous medical advice
Included hate speech
Included excessive affiliate or sales links
“Winning sites make it really clear who they are, who writes for them, how they make money on the sites, why they should trust them […]—all of these great things that really instill trust in the user.” @lilyraynyc#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
From there, Lily dug into 10 key ways Google has changed, and we encourage you to check out her slides and take a look for yourself.
What do all these changes mean for SEO? The landscape is more complex and competitive than ever, so it’s important to be reasonable with your organic search goals and always put E-A-T at the forefront of your SEO Strategy.
Learn from the winners investing in EAT over the last few years of Google’s evolution: @lilyraynyc#mozcon@Healthline@NerdWallet@[email protected]/0TfFAoNWqc
— Amsive Digital (@Amsive_Digital) July 14, 2021
Kameron Jenkins — The Content Refresh: How to Do More With Less
Kameron Jenkins is no stranger to content. She manages multiple blogs and currently works for e-commerce powerhouse, Shopify.
When it comes to content, she knows that the best way to regain lost traffic and give your content new life is through a content refresh. In her presentation, she walked us through her exact process for identifying and updating old content. Surprisingly, most content marketers only dedicate 10-25% of their time to content refreshes, even though a content refresh can lead to more ROI in the long term.
Content people! About what % of your team's publishing calendar is *refreshes (vs. brand new content)?
*taking something that was previously published and updating it.
— Kameron Jenkins 👋 (@Kammie_Jenkins) May 11, 2021
How do you identify the content that could benefit from a refresh? Look at your Google Analytics Landing Page report alongside Google Search Console, and prioritize content based on goal conversions, trending topics, and business priorities.
@Kammie_Jenkins Great deck and congrats on #mozcon!!! We're totally aligned on using the biggest movers for analysis. I love including impressions too to see the scope of opportunities.
Kind of like this: pic.twitter.com/5hoaova2zL
— Noah Learner (He/Him) (@noahlearner) July 14, 2021
Oh heck, I loooove anyone who has a favorite GA view. But add in GSC data exports... I think I'm in heaven.
Pageviews going down in GA
+
Losing rank for specific keywords in GSC
=
Opportunity for content revamp#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Next, it’s time to refresh. When moving into the execution, you’ll want to ask yourself three key questions:
What’s table stakes?
What will give you the competitive advantage?
And what will maximize conversions?
Other content refresh opportunities to look out for are consolidation, query targeting, and internal linking.
How can you stand out from the competition in your content refresh? Incorporate original research and expert quotes to beef up the authority and originality of your post.
Lastly, maximize your conversions by testing out your CTA placement and make your offers relevant to your audience.
She left us with some wise words of wisdom, “SEO is like owning a car. Even when the car is paid off, you still need to conduct regular maintenance to keep that engine running.”
Some tips for getting more value from your existing content:
- Refresh decaying content to rank faster, increase ROI & maintain brand credibility
- Remember session loss ≠ Traffic loss
- Leverage GA & GSC data
- Prioritize by trend, conversions & value@Kammie_Jenkins#MozConpic.twitter.com/SAVTtAFMIC
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Best quote of #MozCon by @Kammie_Jenkins of @Shopifypic.twitter.com/tNb6qvwRO6
— Barb Davids 🤓🏃♀️🍻 (@BarbDavids) July 14, 2021
Wil Reynolds — The 3 Most Important Search Marketing Tools…Your Heart, Your Brain, & Your [Small] Ego
Wil brought the energy yet again for his ninth MozCon presentation, closing out the conference with a bang. His message was simple yet powerful: Your top three tools are your heart, your brain, and your small ego. But what does that mean, exactly?
Small ego
Wil began by introducing the concept of intellectual humility, or the recognition that some of the things you believe just might be wrong. He urged us to listen to the people around us who say there's a better way — even brand-new coworkers or recent college grads whose ideas you might otherwise discount.
Sharing this with everyone I know 👏 #mozconhttps://t.co/f1x5gDp5is
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
And don't feel badly that you might be wrong — Wil posits that not knowing your own ignorance is just part of the human condition. He shared a quote from Upton Sinclair that was especially poignant:
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Heart
A hundred years ago, no business needed SEO. They needed customers, profits, and sales. And as true then as it is now, they needed to know their customers.
One slide stood out loud and clear: The less you understand your customer, the more you spend to acquire them. And as Wil said, reports that lack dollar signs don't land on real decision makers' desks. Here's where your brain comes in.
“Best practices are a great start for those who lack data, or have data but can’t process it.” - @wilreynolds#MozCon#IntellectualHonestypic.twitter.com/91QiMy4ZDq
— Michael Tolosa (@TolosaSEO) July 14, 2021
Brain
Wil presented a bit of a conundrum: making decisions based on your gut may be easy and comfortable, but it's the data that gets you the insights you need to create and test hypotheses. However, exhaustive data — the kind of data where opportunity lives — is probably too big for your laptop to handle. What's an SEO to do?
Of course he had answers! Wil's suggestion was to harness the power of ngrams. With the help of a tool like PowerBI or BigQuery and using ngrams to examine all the search terms, you can find all your ranking results and see where your search term isn't in the title.
Transform your SEO data into winning insights:
- Shrink your ego & question assumptions
- Don't rely on best practices.
- Tools are a start, not an end.
- Business is about $
- Understanding your customer saves $
- What people do & say are different@wilreynolds#mozconpic.twitter.com/IB7CcQ4IpN
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
There's too much goodness to cram into a short recap, so you'll definitely want to get yourself a copy of the MozCon video bundle when it's ready for purchase. Until then, a few final suggestions from Wil:
Examining all your data is the only way to capture all your opportunities; resist the urge to pare it down to the top 20%. Every time you shrink your data down, you're missing out on opportunities that someone else can see.
See every data set through a competitive lens: if all else is the same, how do you create value?
Combine your paid and SEO data together — get the dollar signs in those reports and get in front of key decision makers
Learn SQL. You'll be able to search for exactly what you need within your own data, you won't have to rely on others, and your hypotheses will benefit from your newfound data freedom.
Be brave enough to suck at something new. Stop doing the thing that you feel comfortable with. Run your own experiments and validate your hypotheses. It'll be worth it in the end!
Hey #MozCon thank you!
Remember:
1 - Surround yourself with people willing to show you a new way (show >> tell) - its easy to find people to tell you you are doing it wrong, find the people who build stuff to show you a new way.
— Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) July 14, 2021
Thanks everyone for a wonderful show! And we’ll see you in person next year!
#MozCon was freaking awesome! I learned so much and enjoyed meeting so many new colleagues! Thank you @Moz for such a wonderful event!
— Taylor Berg (@taylorannberg) July 15, 2021
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Thesis: all birds can be divided into three categories –
Looks majestic when viewed from the front and ridiculous when viewed from the side
Looks majestic when viewed from the side and ridiculous when viewed from the front
Ridiculous regardless of viewing angle
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Pack Up the Big Top: Insights from MozCon Virtual 2021's Grand Finale
And just like that, MozCon Virtual 2021 has come to an end. Over the past three days, we’ve seen incredibly insightful presentations on everything from content marketing, to machine learning, to new and exciting SEO tips and tricks. A big thank you to all our speakers, emcees, attendees, and volunteers in front of and behind the camera. It wouldn’t be MozCon without you!
Check out our recaps from day one and day two, and if you missed day three, read on for top-level takeaways! But to get the most out of this year’s MozCon content, make sure to access the video bundle when it goes on sale Friday, and stay tuned for details on MozCon 2022 —
You heard it here first, folks: #MozCon 2022 is slated to be LIVE in Seattle, in person! 🎉 https://t.co/3CKcI0N9l7
— Moz (@Moz) July 14, 2021
— that’s right! We’ll be back live and in-person next year in Seattle. Can’t wait to see you all there!
Tom Capper — The Fast & The Spurious: Core Web Vitals & SEO
“What if I told you that Core Web Vitals, and this update, are a bluff?”
Tom sure did kick off day three by blowing our minds with his opening line — the update everyone has been obsessing over for the last year isn’t actually all it’s cracked up to be?
Well, sort of.
It turns out we can’t afford to call Google’s bluff, but we can “sort of cheat”. Tom went on to lay out the flaws of Core Web Vitals, which all add up to the fact that they actually encourage terrible optimizations.
Core Web Vitals are all the rage, but do they live up to the hype?
Here's @THCapper's take
- SEO is like the prisoner's dilemma
- Prioritize high traffic pages & page speed
- Metrics can be gamed
- Drop, delay unstable elements or move below fold
- Rethink hero images#mozconpic.twitter.com/hgqeUZzKTP
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
So what’s taking so long? As we all know, this roll out has been delayed multiple times. Tom uses a brilliant example of the classic prisoner’s dilemma to explain why:
@THCapper pulling a #ChidiAnagonye by bringing moral philosophy into an SEO talk. #MozCon#TheGoodPlacepic.twitter.com/A7cx1GtKVy
— Sandi Pope Griffin (@sandpoper) July 14, 2021
As it turns out, Google has been contradicting themselves when talking about CWV because they can’t actually roll out updates that undermine the quality of their services — they’re relying on us, the SEOs, to act as the prisoners in their big dilemma of rankings.
On Google’s “There appears to be some confusion”: “Well, yes, you will notice some confusion if you directly contradict yourself.” @THCapper#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
Tom advised SEOs to take advantage of Google Discover, which is actually a massive, untapped traffic opportunity as it’s more responsive to speed than organic search.
"For most sites I see that are taking Google Discover even remotely seriously, they are getting more traffic from Discover than from organic search." - @THCapper dropping shocking stats. #MozConpic.twitter.com/kJSPDKCTTn
— Rob Ousbey (@RobOusbey) July 14, 2021
Before he signed off, Tom reiterated:
Prioritize high traffic pages
Metrics can be gamed/optimized
Don’t do any of this at the expense of speed
We won’t dig into the how for all of this here, so definitely check out his presentation in the video bundle!
Luke Carthy — The Ultimate How-To for Faceted Navigation SEO in E-Commerce
After an introduction that got the whole chat laughing (“Hi, I’m Morgan Freeman. Welcome to the afterlife.”), Luke Carthy showed us how he generated a 25% increase in organic traffic using faceted navigation.
Wait, what’s faceted navigation? You’ve definitely run into it if you’ve ever shopped online. Think about the stores that allow you to filter and sort your search. Behind that search is a faceted nav, defining, filtering, and sorting URLs on a website.
If it’s so common, what’s wrong with it? As Luke explains, faceted navs generate hundreds of long, parameterized, filtered URLs. It’s messy, it’s bloated, and bots can’t easily crawl them.
SEOs tend to counteract this bloat by “nofollowing the shit out of” faceted URLs. But when we do that, all of that long-tail gold disappears.
So what’s the solution? As Luke says, “It’s all about balance!”
(Side note: how cute is this photo??)
Luke shared some ways to “make facets sexy” by:
Understanding your site’s taxonomy
Using filters only to add granularity
Using “-” (dash) instead of “_” (underscore)
Filtering parameter URLs in GA to spot opportunities
Using a consistent structure
Limiting indexable parameter options
There were a bunch more actionable tips in this presentation, but we won’t spoil it all for you!
Okay, wow, this presentation is EXTREMELY actionable for anyone who handles e-commerce sites.
But also, if you handle a blog - maybe try and use it for tags, categories, etc. Just a thought off the top of the dome 🤷♀️@MrLukeCarthy#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Miracle Inameti-Archibong — Harnessing the Natural Language Toolkit for More Productive SEO
In her quick presentation, MozCon newcomer Miracle walked us through ways to use Natural Language Processing to do our SEO tasks — like keyword research — and even shared some of her own resources to help us do it!
With Miracle’s comprehensive Natural Language Processor with Python, you can analyze up to 10,000 keywords with the click of a button and group them based on category, frequency, and search intent. Don’t worry — even if you aren’t a programmer, Miracle’s scripts are easy enough to plug and play so you can start analyzing immediately.
If you're not following @mira_inam yet, what are you doing?
Miracle just shared SO many actionable keyword research takeaways!!! Thank you!!! 🤯🤯🤯 https://t.co/ESStpcLt5I
— Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) July 14, 2021
Miracle then walked us through how to get the script up and running step-by-step. The results were mind-bending. In just a few short clicks, she produced a wealth of keyword data sure to fuel some brilliant strategies and ideas.
To be honest, there was so much information in such a short time frame, this is one we’ll have to revisit again to absorb every tip possible, but click below to access Miracle’s scripts:
http://bit.ly/keywordclassification
http://bit.ly/keywordcluster
Amanda Milligan — A Live Guide to Finding & Filling the Gaps in Your Link Strategy
Amanda kicked off her first MozCon presentation by reiterating the importance of quality over quantity, to the tune of enthusiastic cheers from the MozCon chat box. In today’s climate, quality content is what will get you that authority and trustworthiness today’s marketers (and Google) crave. Quantity may give you a short term boost, but it won’t last and it won’t compound.
@millanda on creating link-worthy content:
"Always remember that it's not just about the link juice, but about the excellence you've created and the value you've provided as a result." #mozcon#SEO#linkbuildingpic.twitter.com/yT7uqIS7OL
— Katie Bradley (@KtBee21) July 14, 2021
But Google is just a robot and they base their assumptions on links: Who owns them and who links to whom? If your competitors are ranking on time.com and you aren’t, then Google will see your competitors more favorably and rank them higher in the SERP.
Amanda reminds us that these gaps are opportunities. If your competitor can get a link on Time.com, then so can you!
Amanda jumps straight to Moz Pro’s Link Intersect — “This tool was made for this kind of analysis!” — measuring up Chewy.com to competitors Petco.com and Petsmart.com to reveal the places where Chewy’s competitors link, but Chewy doesn’t.
One such article on CNN.com links to Petsmart and Petco and features a very cute guinea pig in a suit of armor — is it possible for Chewy to obtain a link to CNN? Yes!
Developing the content is only half the battle. Once you have something you think will resonate, it’s time to start pitching, which is arguably “where many link builders fall short.” In the pitching process, Amanda offers a fool proof plan of attack: “Pitch your content exclusively at first, and then once published, you can begin to take it elsewhere.” Publishers love exclusive content because they can leverage it to drive more views to their own content.
Amanda also drives home another link building golden rule: make sure you research and position your pitches and tailor them to the publisher. Gone are the days of mass outreach, and that won’t serve you well in the long run.
Once you’ve done the work, it’s time to track and record your progress. Take note of all the places your content shows up (anchor text, images, etc.) or whether it is do-follow or not.
Finding & filling gaps in your link strategy:
1/2
Finding
- Identify brands building great links
- See who links to them, but not to you (use a tool like Moz's link intersect)
- Analyze the types of content earning links
- Consider similar angles@millanda#MozConpic.twitter.com/lsH0DcbVfk
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Check out Amanda’s Whiteboard Friday on crafting the perfect pitch email for more tips!
Lily Ray — From the Medic Update to Now: How the E-A-T Ecosystem Has Transformed Organic Search
Lily Ray has been studying the evolution of Google and E-A-T for a few years now, and in this presentation, she outlined key changes in how Google perceives content – specifically when it comes to the rise of misinformation.
Since 2016, and especially in the last year, more people turn to Google for information on things like politics, vaccines, COVID, and other important topics. This makes it increasingly necessary for Google to surface reliable information. In times of crisis, things become even more critical, and according to the data, Google begins to favor more authoritative sources versus relevant sources. We don’t know exactly how this is determined, but in her study, the data shows that Google favorably ranks content from reputable sources for potentially controversial keywords.
If there is one thing that Lily wants us to walk away with, it's the “E-A-T matters in crisis”, and is Google’s quality standard for evaluating content, authors, and websites.
As a result of this, Google saw a sharp decline in search visibility for questionable news sources, which then expanded to include health and science sites, regardless of the technical optimization on those sites.
@lilyraynyc explains E-A-T at #MozCon
E-A-T was created in 2014 to make sure the quality of the content they are surfacing is meeting the needs of the users.
@Moz
In 2017 many of the fake news were wiped off the SERPs. Then this continued in 2018 with the YMYL sites pic.twitter.com/6PUCFwKrbV
— TurnDigi (@TurnDigi) July 14, 2021
Lily digs into keyword comparisons, showing how more authoritative sites became increasingly more visible between 2018 and 2021.
If you are wondering how E-A-T impacts search results - these slides by @lilyraynyc showing real life examples are sooo good #MozConpic.twitter.com/eQux45kKmm
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
Most of the sites that lost visibility were doing some questionable things including:
Leveraging questionable authors
Had poor reputations
Published deceptive content
Lacked sufficient sources
Published dangerous medical advice
Included hate speech
Included excessive affiliate or sales links
“Winning sites make it really clear who they are, who writes for them, how they make money on the sites, why they should trust them […]—all of these great things that really instill trust in the user.” @lilyraynyc#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
From there, Lily dug into 10 key ways Google has changed, and we encourage you to check out her slides and take a look for yourself.
What do all these changes mean for SEO? The landscape is more complex and competitive than ever, so it’s important to be reasonable with your organic search goals and always put E-A-T at the forefront of your SEO Strategy.
Learn from the winners investing in EAT over the last few years of Google’s evolution: @lilyraynyc#mozcon@Healthline@NerdWallet@[email protected]/0TfFAoNWqc
— Amsive Digital (@Amsive_Digital) July 14, 2021
Kameron Jenkins — The Content Refresh: How to Do More With Less
Kameron Jenkins is no stranger to content. She manages multiple blogs and currently works for e-commerce powerhouse, Shopify.
When it comes to content, she knows that the best way to regain lost traffic and give your content new life is through a content refresh. In her presentation, she walked us through her exact process for identifying and updating old content. Surprisingly, most content marketers only dedicate 10-25% of their time to content refreshes, even though a content refresh can lead to more ROI in the long term.
Content people! About what % of your team's publishing calendar is *refreshes (vs. brand new content)?
*taking something that was previously published and updating it.
— Kameron Jenkins 👋 (@Kammie_Jenkins) May 11, 2021
How do you identify the content that could benefit from a refresh? Look at your Google Analytics Landing Page report alongside Google Search Console, and prioritize content based on goal conversions, trending topics, and business priorities.
@Kammie_Jenkins Great deck and congrats on #mozcon!!! We're totally aligned on using the biggest movers for analysis. I love including impressions too to see the scope of opportunities.
Kind of like this: pic.twitter.com/5hoaova2zL
— Noah Learner (He/Him) (@noahlearner) July 14, 2021
Oh heck, I loooove anyone who has a favorite GA view. But add in GSC data exports... I think I'm in heaven.
Pageviews going down in GA
+
Losing rank for specific keywords in GSC
=
Opportunity for content revamp#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Next, it’s time to refresh. When moving into the execution, you’ll want to ask yourself three key questions:
What’s table stakes?
What will give you the competitive advantage?
And what will maximize conversions?
Other content refresh opportunities to look out for are consolidation, query targeting, and internal linking.
How can you stand out from the competition in your content refresh? Incorporate original research and expert quotes to beef up the authority and originality of your post.
Lastly, maximize your conversions by testing out your CTA placement and make your offers relevant to your audience.
She left us with some wise words of wisdom, “SEO is like owning a car. Even when the car is paid off, you still need to conduct regular maintenance to keep that engine running.”
Some tips for getting more value from your existing content:
- Refresh decaying content to rank faster, increase ROI & maintain brand credibility
- Remember session loss ≠ Traffic loss
- Leverage GA & GSC data
- Prioritize by trend, conversions & value@Kammie_Jenkins#MozConpic.twitter.com/SAVTtAFMIC
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Best quote of #MozCon by @Kammie_Jenkins of @Shopifypic.twitter.com/tNb6qvwRO6
— Barb Davids 🤓🏃♀️🍻 (@BarbDavids) July 14, 2021
Wil Reynolds — The 3 Most Important Search Marketing Tools…Your Heart, Your Brain, & Your [Small] Ego
Wil brought the energy yet again for his ninth MozCon presentation, closing out the conference with a bang. His message was simple yet powerful: Your top three tools are your heart, your brain, and your small ego. But what does that mean, exactly?
Small ego
Wil began by introducing the concept of intellectual humility, or the recognition that some of the things you believe just might be wrong. He urged us to listen to the people around us who say there's a better way — even brand-new coworkers or recent college grads whose ideas you might otherwise discount.
Sharing this with everyone I know 👏 #mozconhttps://t.co/f1x5gDp5is
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
And don't feel badly that you might be wrong — Wil posits that not knowing your own ignorance is just part of the human condition. He shared a quote from Upton Sinclair that was especially poignant:
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Heart
A hundred years ago, no business needed SEO. They needed customers, profits, and sales. And as true then as it is now, they needed to know their customers.
One slide stood out loud and clear: The less you understand your customer, the more you spend to acquire them. And as Wil said, reports that lack dollar signs don't land on real decision makers' desks. Here's where your brain comes in.
“Best practices are a great start for those who lack data, or have data but can’t process it.” - @wilreynolds#MozCon#IntellectualHonestypic.twitter.com/91QiMy4ZDq
— Michael Tolosa (@TolosaSEO) July 14, 2021
Brain
Wil presented a bit of a conundrum: making decisions based on your gut may be easy and comfortable, but it's the data that gets you the insights you need to create and test hypotheses. However, exhaustive data — the kind of data where opportunity lives — is probably too big for your laptop to handle. What's an SEO to do?
Of course he had answers! Wil's suggestion was to harness the power of ngrams. With the help of a tool like PowerBI or BigQuery and using ngrams to examine all the search terms, you can find all your ranking results and see where your search term isn't in the title.
Transform your SEO data into winning insights:
- Shrink your ego & question assumptions
- Don't rely on best practices.
- Tools are a start, not an end.
- Business is about $
- Understanding your customer saves $
- What people do & say are different@wilreynolds#mozconpic.twitter.com/IB7CcQ4IpN
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
There's too much goodness to cram into a short recap, so you'll definitely want to get yourself a copy of the MozCon video bundle when it's ready for purchase. Until then, a few final suggestions from Wil:
Examining all your data is the only way to capture all your opportunities; resist the urge to pare it down to the top 20%. Every time you shrink your data down, you're missing out on opportunities that someone else can see.
See every data set through a competitive lens: if all else is the same, how do you create value?
Combine your paid and SEO data together — get the dollar signs in those reports and get in front of key decision makers
Learn SQL. You'll be able to search for exactly what you need within your own data, you won't have to rely on others, and your hypotheses will benefit from your newfound data freedom.
Be brave enough to suck at something new. Stop doing the thing that you feel comfortable with. Run your own experiments and validate your hypotheses. It'll be worth it in the end!
Hey #MozCon thank you!
Remember:
1 - Surround yourself with people willing to show you a new way (show >> tell) - its easy to find people to tell you you are doing it wrong, find the people who build stuff to show you a new way.
— Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) July 14, 2021
Thanks everyone for a wonderful show! And we’ll see you in person next year!
#MozCon was freaking awesome! I learned so much and enjoyed meeting so many new colleagues! Thank you @Moz for such a wonderful event!
— Taylor Berg (@taylorannberg) July 15, 2021
https://ift.tt/2UgE5L9
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Pack Up the Big Top: Insights from MozCon Virtual 2021's Grand Finale
And just like that, MozCon Virtual 2021 has come to an end. Over the past three days, we’ve seen incredibly insightful presentations on everything from content marketing, to machine learning, to new and exciting SEO tips and tricks. A big thank you to all our speakers, emcees, attendees, and volunteers in front of and behind the camera. It wouldn’t be MozCon without you!
Check out our recaps from day one and day two, and if you missed day three, read on for top-level takeaways! But to get the most out of this year’s MozCon content, make sure to access the video bundle when it goes on sale Friday, and stay tuned for details on MozCon 2022 —
You heard it here first, folks: #MozCon 2022 is slated to be LIVE in Seattle, in person! 🎉 https://t.co/3CKcI0N9l7
— Moz (@Moz) July 14, 2021
— that’s right! We’ll be back live and in-person next year in Seattle. Can’t wait to see you all there!
Tom Capper — The Fast & The Spurious: Core Web Vitals & SEO
“What if I told you that Core Web Vitals, and this update, are a bluff?”
Tom sure did kick off day three by blowing our minds with his opening line — the update everyone has been obsessing over for the last year isn’t actually all it’s cracked up to be?
Well, sort of.
It turns out we can’t afford to call Google’s bluff, but we can “sort of cheat”. Tom went on to lay out the flaws of Core Web Vitals, which all add up to the fact that they actually encourage terrible optimizations.
Core Web Vitals are all the rage, but do they live up to the hype?
Here's @THCapper's take
- SEO is like the prisoner's dilemma
- Prioritize high traffic pages & page speed
- Metrics can be gamed
- Drop, delay unstable elements or move below fold
- Rethink hero images#mozconpic.twitter.com/hgqeUZzKTP
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
So what’s taking so long? As we all know, this roll out has been delayed multiple times. Tom uses a brilliant example of the classic prisoner’s dilemma to explain why:
@THCapper pulling a #ChidiAnagonye by bringing moral philosophy into an SEO talk. #MozCon#TheGoodPlacepic.twitter.com/A7cx1GtKVy
— Sandi Pope Griffin (@sandpoper) July 14, 2021
As it turns out, Google has been contradicting themselves when talking about CWV because they can’t actually roll out updates that undermine the quality of their services — they’re relying on us, the SEOs, to act as the prisoners in their big dilemma of rankings.
On Google’s “There appears to be some confusion”: “Well, yes, you will notice some confusion if you directly contradict yourself.” @THCapper#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
Tom advised SEOs to take advantage of Google Discover, which is actually a massive, untapped traffic opportunity as it’s more responsive to speed than organic search.
"For most sites I see that are taking Google Discover even remotely seriously, they are getting more traffic from Discover than from organic search." - @THCapper dropping shocking stats. #MozConpic.twitter.com/kJSPDKCTTn
— Rob Ousbey (@RobOusbey) July 14, 2021
Before he signed off, Tom reiterated:
Prioritize high traffic pages
Metrics can be gamed/optimized
Don’t do any of this at the expense of speed
We won’t dig into the how for all of this here, so definitely check out his presentation in the video bundle!
Luke Carthy — The Ultimate How-To for Faceted Navigation SEO in E-Commerce
After an introduction that got the whole chat laughing (“Hi, I’m Morgan Freeman. Welcome to the afterlife.”), Luke Carthy showed us how he generated a 25% increase in organic traffic using faceted navigation.
Wait, what’s faceted navigation? You’ve definitely run into it if you’ve ever shopped online. Think about the stores that allow you to filter and sort your search. Behind that search is a faceted nav, defining, filtering, and sorting URLs on a website.
If it’s so common, what’s wrong with it? As Luke explains, faceted navs generate hundreds of long, parameterized, filtered URLs. It’s messy, it’s bloated, and bots can’t easily crawl them.
SEOs tend to counteract this bloat by “nofollowing the shit out of” faceted URLs. But when we do that, all of that long-tail gold disappears.
So what’s the solution? As Luke says, “It’s all about balance!”
(Side note: how cute is this photo??)
Luke shared some ways to “make facets sexy” by:
Understanding your site’s taxonomy
Using filters only to add granularity
Using “-” (dash) instead of “_” (underscore)
Filtering parameter URLs in GA to spot opportunities
Using a consistent structure
Limiting indexable parameter options
There were a bunch more actionable tips in this presentation, but we won’t spoil it all for you!
Okay, wow, this presentation is EXTREMELY actionable for anyone who handles e-commerce sites.
But also, if you handle a blog - maybe try and use it for tags, categories, etc. Just a thought off the top of the dome 🤷♀️@MrLukeCarthy#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Miracle Inameti-Archibong — Harnessing the Natural Language Toolkit for More Productive SEO
In her quick presentation, MozCon newcomer Miracle walked us through ways to use Natural Language Processing to do our SEO tasks — like keyword research — and even shared some of her own resources to help us do it!
With Miracle’s comprehensive Natural Language Processor with Python, you can analyze up to 10,000 keywords with the click of a button and group them based on category, frequency, and search intent. Don’t worry — even if you aren’t a programmer, Miracle’s scripts are easy enough to plug and play so you can start analyzing immediately.
If you're not following @mira_inam yet, what are you doing?
Miracle just shared SO many actionable keyword research takeaways!!! Thank you!!! 🤯🤯🤯 https://t.co/ESStpcLt5I
— Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) July 14, 2021
Miracle then walked us through how to get the script up and running step-by-step. The results were mind-bending. In just a few short clicks, she produced a wealth of keyword data sure to fuel some brilliant strategies and ideas.
To be honest, there was so much information in such a short time frame, this is one we’ll have to revisit again to absorb every tip possible, but click below to access Miracle’s scripts:
http://bit.ly/keywordclassification
http://bit.ly/keywordcluster
Amanda Milligan — A Live Guide to Finding & Filling the Gaps in Your Link Strategy
Amanda kicked off her first MozCon presentation by reiterating the importance of quality over quantity, to the tune of enthusiastic cheers from the MozCon chat box. In today’s climate, quality content is what will get you that authority and trustworthiness today’s marketers (and Google) crave. Quantity may give you a short term boost, but it won’t last and it won’t compound.
@millanda on creating link-worthy content:
"Always remember that it's not just about the link juice, but about the excellence you've created and the value you've provided as a result." #mozcon#SEO#linkbuildingpic.twitter.com/yT7uqIS7OL
— Katie Bradley (@KtBee21) July 14, 2021
But Google is just a robot and they base their assumptions on links: Who owns them and who links to whom? If your competitors are ranking on time.com and you aren’t, then Google will see your competitors more favorably and rank them higher in the SERP.
Amanda reminds us that these gaps are opportunities. If your competitor can get a link on Time.com, then so can you!
Amanda jumps straight to Moz Pro’s Link Intersect — “This tool was made for this kind of analysis!” — measuring up Chewy.com to competitors Petco.com and Petsmart.com to reveal the places where Chewy’s competitors link, but Chewy doesn’t.
One such article on CNN.com links to Petsmart and Petco and features a very cute guinea pig in a suit of armor — is it possible for Chewy to obtain a link to CNN? Yes!
Developing the content is only half the battle. Once you have something you think will resonate, it’s time to start pitching, which is arguably “where many link builders fall short.” In the pitching process, Amanda offers a fool proof plan of attack: “Pitch your content exclusively at first, and then once published, you can begin to take it elsewhere.” Publishers love exclusive content because they can leverage it to drive more views to their own content.
Amanda also drives home another link building golden rule: make sure you research and position your pitches and tailor them to the publisher. Gone are the days of mass outreach, and that won’t serve you well in the long run.
Once you’ve done the work, it’s time to track and record your progress. Take note of all the places your content shows up (anchor text, images, etc.) or whether it is do-follow or not.
Finding & filling gaps in your link strategy:
1/2
Finding
- Identify brands building great links
- See who links to them, but not to you (use a tool like Moz's link intersect)
- Analyze the types of content earning links
- Consider similar angles@millanda#MozConpic.twitter.com/lsH0DcbVfk
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Check out Amanda’s Whiteboard Friday on crafting the perfect pitch email for more tips!
Lily Ray — From the Medic Update to Now: How the E-A-T Ecosystem Has Transformed Organic Search
Lily Ray has been studying the evolution of Google and E-A-T for a few years now, and in this presentation, she outlined key changes in how Google perceives content – specifically when it comes to the rise of misinformation.
Since 2016, and especially in the last year, more people turn to Google for information on things like politics, vaccines, COVID, and other important topics. This makes it increasingly necessary for Google to surface reliable information. In times of crisis, things become even more critical, and according to the data, Google begins to favor more authoritative sources versus relevant sources. We don’t know exactly how this is determined, but in her study, the data shows that Google favorably ranks content from reputable sources for potentially controversial keywords.
If there is one thing that Lily wants us to walk away with, it's the “E-A-T matters in crisis”, and is Google’s quality standard for evaluating content, authors, and websites.
As a result of this, Google saw a sharp decline in search visibility for questionable news sources, which then expanded to include health and science sites, regardless of the technical optimization on those sites.
@lilyraynyc explains E-A-T at #MozCon
E-A-T was created in 2014 to make sure the quality of the content they are surfacing is meeting the needs of the users.
@Moz
In 2017 many of the fake news were wiped off the SERPs. Then this continued in 2018 with the YMYL sites pic.twitter.com/6PUCFwKrbV
— TurnDigi (@TurnDigi) July 14, 2021
Lily digs into keyword comparisons, showing how more authoritative sites became increasingly more visible between 2018 and 2021.
If you are wondering how E-A-T impacts search results - these slides by @lilyraynyc showing real life examples are sooo good #MozConpic.twitter.com/eQux45kKmm
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
Most of the sites that lost visibility were doing some questionable things including:
Leveraging questionable authors
Had poor reputations
Published deceptive content
Lacked sufficient sources
Published dangerous medical advice
Included hate speech
Included excessive affiliate or sales links
“Winning sites make it really clear who they are, who writes for them, how they make money on the sites, why they should trust them […]—all of these great things that really instill trust in the user.” @lilyraynyc#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
From there, Lily dug into 10 key ways Google has changed, and we encourage you to check out her slides and take a look for yourself.
What do all these changes mean for SEO? The landscape is more complex and competitive than ever, so it’s important to be reasonable with your organic search goals and always put E-A-T at the forefront of your SEO Strategy.
Learn from the winners investing in EAT over the last few years of Google’s evolution: @lilyraynyc#mozcon@Healthline@NerdWallet@[email protected]/0TfFAoNWqc
— Amsive Digital (@Amsive_Digital) July 14, 2021
Kameron Jenkins — The Content Refresh: How to Do More With Less
Kameron Jenkins is no stranger to content. She manages multiple blogs and currently works for e-commerce powerhouse, Shopify.
When it comes to content, she knows that the best way to regain lost traffic and give your content new life is through a content refresh. In her presentation, she walked us through her exact process for identifying and updating old content. Surprisingly, most content marketers only dedicate 10-25% of their time to content refreshes, even though a content refresh can lead to more ROI in the long term.
Content people! About what % of your team's publishing calendar is *refreshes (vs. brand new content)?
*taking something that was previously published and updating it.
— Kameron Jenkins 👋 (@Kammie_Jenkins) May 11, 2021
How do you identify the content that could benefit from a refresh? Look at your Google Analytics Landing Page report alongside Google Search Console, and prioritize content based on goal conversions, trending topics, and business priorities.
@Kammie_Jenkins Great deck and congrats on #mozcon!!! We're totally aligned on using the biggest movers for analysis. I love including impressions too to see the scope of opportunities.
Kind of like this: pic.twitter.com/5hoaova2zL
— Noah Learner (He/Him) (@noahlearner) July 14, 2021
Oh heck, I loooove anyone who has a favorite GA view. But add in GSC data exports... I think I'm in heaven.
Pageviews going down in GA
+
Losing rank for specific keywords in GSC
=
Opportunity for content revamp#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Next, it’s time to refresh. When moving into the execution, you’ll want to ask yourself three key questions:
What’s table stakes?
What will give you the competitive advantage?
And what will maximize conversions?
Other content refresh opportunities to look out for are consolidation, query targeting, and internal linking.
How can you stand out from the competition in your content refresh? Incorporate original research and expert quotes to beef up the authority and originality of your post.
Lastly, maximize your conversions by testing out your CTA placement and make your offers relevant to your audience.
She left us with some wise words of wisdom, “SEO is like owning a car. Even when the car is paid off, you still need to conduct regular maintenance to keep that engine running.”
Some tips for getting more value from your existing content:
- Refresh decaying content to rank faster, increase ROI & maintain brand credibility
- Remember session loss ≠ Traffic loss
- Leverage GA & GSC data
- Prioritize by trend, conversions & value@Kammie_Jenkins#MozConpic.twitter.com/SAVTtAFMIC
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Best quote of #MozCon by @Kammie_Jenkins of @Shopifypic.twitter.com/tNb6qvwRO6
— Barb Davids 🤓🏃♀️🍻 (@BarbDavids) July 14, 2021
Wil Reynolds — The 3 Most Important Search Marketing Tools…Your Heart, Your Brain, & Your [Small] Ego
Wil brought the energy yet again for his ninth MozCon presentation, closing out the conference with a bang. His message was simple yet powerful: Your top three tools are your heart, your brain, and your small ego. But what does that mean, exactly?
Small ego
Wil began by introducing the concept of intellectual humility, or the recognition that some of the things you believe just might be wrong. He urged us to listen to the people around us who say there's a better way — even brand-new coworkers or recent college grads whose ideas you might otherwise discount.
Sharing this with everyone I know 👏 #mozconhttps://t.co/f1x5gDp5is
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
And don't feel badly that you might be wrong — Wil posits that not knowing your own ignorance is just part of the human condition. He shared a quote from Upton Sinclair that was especially poignant:
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Heart
A hundred years ago, no business needed SEO. They needed customers, profits, and sales. And as true then as it is now, they needed to know their customers.
One slide stood out loud and clear: The less you understand your customer, the more you spend to acquire them. And as Wil said, reports that lack dollar signs don't land on real decision makers' desks. Here's where your brain comes in.
“Best practices are a great start for those who lack data, or have data but can’t process it.” - @wilreynolds#MozCon#IntellectualHonestypic.twitter.com/91QiMy4ZDq
— Michael Tolosa (@TolosaSEO) July 14, 2021
Brain
Wil presented a bit of a conundrum: making decisions based on your gut may be easy and comfortable, but it's the data that gets you the insights you need to create and test hypotheses. However, exhaustive data — the kind of data where opportunity lives — is probably too big for your laptop to handle. What's an SEO to do?
Of course he had answers! Wil's suggestion was to harness the power of ngrams. With the help of a tool like PowerBI or BigQuery and using ngrams to examine all the search terms, you can find all your ranking results and see where your search term isn't in the title.
Transform your SEO data into winning insights:
- Shrink your ego & question assumptions
- Don't rely on best practices.
- Tools are a start, not an end.
- Business is about $
- Understanding your customer saves $
- What people do & say are different@wilreynolds#mozconpic.twitter.com/IB7CcQ4IpN
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
There's too much goodness to cram into a short recap, so you'll definitely want to get yourself a copy of the MozCon video bundle when it's ready for purchase. Until then, a few final suggestions from Wil:
Examining all your data is the only way to capture all your opportunities; resist the urge to pare it down to the top 20%. Every time you shrink your data down, you're missing out on opportunities that someone else can see.
See every data set through a competitive lens: if all else is the same, how do you create value?
Combine your paid and SEO data together — get the dollar signs in those reports and get in front of key decision makers
Learn SQL. You'll be able to search for exactly what you need within your own data, you won't have to rely on others, and your hypotheses will benefit from your newfound data freedom.
Be brave enough to suck at something new. Stop doing the thing that you feel comfortable with. Run your own experiments and validate your hypotheses. It'll be worth it in the end!
Hey #MozCon thank you!
Remember:
1 - Surround yourself with people willing to show you a new way (show >> tell) - its easy to find people to tell you you are doing it wrong, find the people who build stuff to show you a new way.
— Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) July 14, 2021
Thanks everyone for a wonderful show! And we’ll see you in person next year!
#MozCon was freaking awesome! I learned so much and enjoyed meeting so many new colleagues! Thank you @Moz for such a wonderful event!
— Taylor Berg (@taylorannberg) July 15, 2021
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Pack Up the Big Top: Insights from MozCon Virtual 2021's Grand Finale
And just like that, MozCon Virtual 2021 has come to an end. Over the past three days, we’ve seen incredibly insightful presentations on everything from content marketing, to machine learning, to new and exciting SEO tips and tricks. A big thank you to all our speakers, emcees, attendees, and volunteers in front of and behind the camera. It wouldn’t be MozCon without you!
Check out our recaps from day one and day two, and if you missed day three, read on for top-level takeaways! But to get the most out of this year’s MozCon content, make sure to access the video bundle when it goes on sale Friday, and stay tuned for details on MozCon 2022 —
You heard it here first, folks: #MozCon 2022 is slated to be LIVE in Seattle, in person! 🎉 https://t.co/3CKcI0N9l7
— Moz (@Moz) July 14, 2021
— that’s right! We’ll be back live and in-person next year in Seattle. Can’t wait to see you all there!
Tom Capper — The Fast & The Spurious: Core Web Vitals & SEO
“What if I told you that Core Web Vitals, and this update, are a bluff?”
Tom sure did kick off day three by blowing our minds with his opening line — the update everyone has been obsessing over for the last year isn’t actually all it’s cracked up to be?
Well, sort of.
It turns out we can’t afford to call Google’s bluff, but we can “sort of cheat”. Tom went on to lay out the flaws of Core Web Vitals, which all add up to the fact that they actually encourage terrible optimizations.
Core Web Vitals are all the rage, but do they live up to the hype?
Here's @THCapper's take
- SEO is like the prisoner's dilemma
- Prioritize high traffic pages & page speed
- Metrics can be gamed
- Drop, delay unstable elements or move below fold
- Rethink hero images#mozconpic.twitter.com/hgqeUZzKTP
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
So what’s taking so long? As we all know, this roll out has been delayed multiple times. Tom uses a brilliant example of the classic prisoner’s dilemma to explain why:
@THCapper pulling a #ChidiAnagonye by bringing moral philosophy into an SEO talk. #MozCon#TheGoodPlacepic.twitter.com/A7cx1GtKVy
— Sandi Pope Griffin (@sandpoper) July 14, 2021
As it turns out, Google has been contradicting themselves when talking about CWV because they can’t actually roll out updates that undermine the quality of their services — they’re relying on us, the SEOs, to act as the prisoners in their big dilemma of rankings.
On Google’s “There appears to be some confusion”: “Well, yes, you will notice some confusion if you directly contradict yourself.” @THCapper#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
Tom advised SEOs to take advantage of Google Discover, which is actually a massive, untapped traffic opportunity as it’s more responsive to speed than organic search.
"For most sites I see that are taking Google Discover even remotely seriously, they are getting more traffic from Discover than from organic search." - @THCapper dropping shocking stats. #MozConpic.twitter.com/kJSPDKCTTn
— Rob Ousbey (@RobOusbey) July 14, 2021
Before he signed off, Tom reiterated:
Prioritize high traffic pages
Metrics can be gamed/optimized
Don’t do any of this at the expense of speed
We won’t dig into the how for all of this here, so definitely check out his presentation in the video bundle!
Luke Carthy — The Ultimate How-To for Faceted Navigation SEO in E-Commerce
After an introduction that got the whole chat laughing (“Hi, I’m Morgan Freeman. Welcome to the afterlife.”), Luke Carthy showed us how he generated a 25% increase in organic traffic using faceted navigation.
Wait, what’s faceted navigation? You’ve definitely run into it if you’ve ever shopped online. Think about the stores that allow you to filter and sort your search. Behind that search is a faceted nav, defining, filtering, and sorting URLs on a website.
If it’s so common, what’s wrong with it? As Luke explains, faceted navs generate hundreds of long, parameterized, filtered URLs. It’s messy, it’s bloated, and bots can’t easily crawl them.
SEOs tend to counteract this bloat by “nofollowing the shit out of” faceted URLs. But when we do that, all of that long-tail gold disappears.
So what’s the solution? As Luke says, “It’s all about balance!”
(Side note: how cute is this photo??)
Luke shared some ways to “make facets sexy” by:
Understanding your site’s taxonomy
Using filters only to add granularity
Using “-” (dash) instead of “_” (underscore)
Filtering parameter URLs in GA to spot opportunities
Using a consistent structure
Limiting indexable parameter options
There were a bunch more actionable tips in this presentation, but we won’t spoil it all for you!
Okay, wow, this presentation is EXTREMELY actionable for anyone who handles e-commerce sites.
But also, if you handle a blog - maybe try and use it for tags, categories, etc. Just a thought off the top of the dome 🤷♀️@MrLukeCarthy#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Miracle Inameti-Archibong — Harnessing the Natural Language Toolkit for More Productive SEO
In her quick presentation, MozCon newcomer Miracle walked us through ways to use Natural Language Processing to do our SEO tasks — like keyword research — and even shared some of her own resources to help us do it!
With Miracle’s comprehensive Natural Language Processor with Python, you can analyze up to 10,000 keywords with the click of a button and group them based on category, frequency, and search intent. Don’t worry — even if you aren’t a programmer, Miracle’s scripts are easy enough to plug and play so you can start analyzing immediately.
If you're not following @mira_inam yet, what are you doing?
Miracle just shared SO many actionable keyword research takeaways!!! Thank you!!! 🤯🤯🤯 https://t.co/ESStpcLt5I
— Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) July 14, 2021
Miracle then walked us through how to get the script up and running step-by-step. The results were mind-bending. In just a few short clicks, she produced a wealth of keyword data sure to fuel some brilliant strategies and ideas.
To be honest, there was so much information in such a short time frame, this is one we’ll have to revisit again to absorb every tip possible, but click below to access Miracle’s scripts:
http://bit.ly/keywordclassification
http://bit.ly/keywordcluster
Amanda Milligan — A Live Guide to Finding & Filling the Gaps in Your Link Strategy
Amanda kicked off her first MozCon presentation by reiterating the importance of quality over quantity, to the tune of enthusiastic cheers from the MozCon chat box. In today’s climate, quality content is what will get you that authority and trustworthiness today’s marketers (and Google) crave. Quantity may give you a short term boost, but it won’t last and it won’t compound.
@millanda on creating link-worthy content:
"Always remember that it's not just about the link juice, but about the excellence you've created and the value you've provided as a result." #mozcon#SEO#linkbuildingpic.twitter.com/yT7uqIS7OL
— Katie Bradley (@KtBee21) July 14, 2021
But Google is just a robot and they base their assumptions on links: Who owns them and who links to whom? If your competitors are ranking on time.com and you aren’t, then Google will see your competitors more favorably and rank them higher in the SERP.
Amanda reminds us that these gaps are opportunities. If your competitor can get a link on Time.com, then so can you!
Amanda jumps straight to Moz Pro’s Link Intersect — “This tool was made for this kind of analysis!” — measuring up Chewy.com to competitors Petco.com and Petsmart.com to reveal the places where Chewy’s competitors link, but Chewy doesn’t.
One such article on CNN.com links to Petsmart and Petco and features a very cute guinea pig in a suit of armor — is it possible for Chewy to obtain a link to CNN? Yes!
Developing the content is only half the battle. Once you have something you think will resonate, it’s time to start pitching, which is arguably “where many link builders fall short.” In the pitching process, Amanda offers a fool proof plan of attack: “Pitch your content exclusively at first, and then once published, you can begin to take it elsewhere.” Publishers love exclusive content because they can leverage it to drive more views to their own content.
Amanda also drives home another link building golden rule: make sure you research and position your pitches and tailor them to the publisher. Gone are the days of mass outreach, and that won’t serve you well in the long run.
Once you’ve done the work, it’s time to track and record your progress. Take note of all the places your content shows up (anchor text, images, etc.) or whether it is do-follow or not.
Finding & filling gaps in your link strategy:
1/2
Finding
- Identify brands building great links
- See who links to them, but not to you (use a tool like Moz's link intersect)
- Analyze the types of content earning links
- Consider similar angles@millanda#MozConpic.twitter.com/lsH0DcbVfk
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Check out Amanda’s Whiteboard Friday on crafting the perfect pitch email for more tips!
Lily Ray — From the Medic Update to Now: How the E-A-T Ecosystem Has Transformed Organic Search
Lily Ray has been studying the evolution of Google and E-A-T for a few years now, and in this presentation, she outlined key changes in how Google perceives content – specifically when it comes to the rise of misinformation.
Since 2016, and especially in the last year, more people turn to Google for information on things like politics, vaccines, COVID, and other important topics. This makes it increasingly necessary for Google to surface reliable information. In times of crisis, things become even more critical, and according to the data, Google begins to favor more authoritative sources versus relevant sources. We don’t know exactly how this is determined, but in her study, the data shows that Google favorably ranks content from reputable sources for potentially controversial keywords.
If there is one thing that Lily wants us to walk away with, it's the “E-A-T matters in crisis”, and is Google’s quality standard for evaluating content, authors, and websites.
As a result of this, Google saw a sharp decline in search visibility for questionable news sources, which then expanded to include health and science sites, regardless of the technical optimization on those sites.
@lilyraynyc explains E-A-T at #MozCon
E-A-T was created in 2014 to make sure the quality of the content they are surfacing is meeting the needs of the users.
@Moz
In 2017 many of the fake news were wiped off the SERPs. Then this continued in 2018 with the YMYL sites pic.twitter.com/6PUCFwKrbV
— TurnDigi (@TurnDigi) July 14, 2021
Lily digs into keyword comparisons, showing how more authoritative sites became increasingly more visible between 2018 and 2021.
If you are wondering how E-A-T impacts search results - these slides by @lilyraynyc showing real life examples are sooo good #MozConpic.twitter.com/eQux45kKmm
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
Most of the sites that lost visibility were doing some questionable things including:
Leveraging questionable authors
Had poor reputations
Published deceptive content
Lacked sufficient sources
Published dangerous medical advice
Included hate speech
Included excessive affiliate or sales links
“Winning sites make it really clear who they are, who writes for them, how they make money on the sites, why they should trust them […]—all of these great things that really instill trust in the user.” @lilyraynyc#MozCon
— Melina Beeston (@mkbeesto) July 14, 2021
From there, Lily dug into 10 key ways Google has changed, and we encourage you to check out her slides and take a look for yourself.
What do all these changes mean for SEO? The landscape is more complex and competitive than ever, so it’s important to be reasonable with your organic search goals and always put E-A-T at the forefront of your SEO Strategy.
Learn from the winners investing in EAT over the last few years of Google’s evolution: @lilyraynyc#mozcon@Healthline@NerdWallet@[email protected]/0TfFAoNWqc
— Amsive Digital (@Amsive_Digital) July 14, 2021
Kameron Jenkins — The Content Refresh: How to Do More With Less
Kameron Jenkins is no stranger to content. She manages multiple blogs and currently works for e-commerce powerhouse, Shopify.
When it comes to content, she knows that the best way to regain lost traffic and give your content new life is through a content refresh. In her presentation, she walked us through her exact process for identifying and updating old content. Surprisingly, most content marketers only dedicate 10-25% of their time to content refreshes, even though a content refresh can lead to more ROI in the long term.
Content people! About what % of your team's publishing calendar is *refreshes (vs. brand new content)?
*taking something that was previously published and updating it.
— Kameron Jenkins 👋 (@Kammie_Jenkins) May 11, 2021
How do you identify the content that could benefit from a refresh? Look at your Google Analytics Landing Page report alongside Google Search Console, and prioritize content based on goal conversions, trending topics, and business priorities.
@Kammie_Jenkins Great deck and congrats on #mozcon!!! We're totally aligned on using the biggest movers for analysis. I love including impressions too to see the scope of opportunities.
Kind of like this: pic.twitter.com/5hoaova2zL
— Noah Learner (He/Him) (@noahlearner) July 14, 2021
Oh heck, I loooove anyone who has a favorite GA view. But add in GSC data exports... I think I'm in heaven.
Pageviews going down in GA
+
Losing rank for specific keywords in GSC
=
Opportunity for content revamp#MozCon
— Brie E Anderson (@brie_e_anderson) July 14, 2021
Next, it’s time to refresh. When moving into the execution, you’ll want to ask yourself three key questions:
What’s table stakes?
What will give you the competitive advantage?
And what will maximize conversions?
Other content refresh opportunities to look out for are consolidation, query targeting, and internal linking.
How can you stand out from the competition in your content refresh? Incorporate original research and expert quotes to beef up the authority and originality of your post.
Lastly, maximize your conversions by testing out your CTA placement and make your offers relevant to your audience.
She left us with some wise words of wisdom, “SEO is like owning a car. Even when the car is paid off, you still need to conduct regular maintenance to keep that engine running.”
Some tips for getting more value from your existing content:
- Refresh decaying content to rank faster, increase ROI & maintain brand credibility
- Remember session loss ≠ Traffic loss
- Leverage GA & GSC data
- Prioritize by trend, conversions & value@Kammie_Jenkins#MozConpic.twitter.com/SAVTtAFMIC
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
Best quote of #MozCon by @Kammie_Jenkins of @Shopifypic.twitter.com/tNb6qvwRO6
— Barb Davids 🤓🏃♀️🍻 (@BarbDavids) July 14, 2021
Wil Reynolds — The 3 Most Important Search Marketing Tools…Your Heart, Your Brain, & Your [Small] Ego
Wil brought the energy yet again for his ninth MozCon presentation, closing out the conference with a bang. His message was simple yet powerful: Your top three tools are your heart, your brain, and your small ego. But what does that mean, exactly?
Small ego
Wil began by introducing the concept of intellectual humility, or the recognition that some of the things you believe just might be wrong. He urged us to listen to the people around us who say there's a better way — even brand-new coworkers or recent college grads whose ideas you might otherwise discount.
Sharing this with everyone I know 👏 #mozconhttps://t.co/f1x5gDp5is
— Casie Gillette (@Casieg) July 14, 2021
And don't feel badly that you might be wrong — Wil posits that not knowing your own ignorance is just part of the human condition. He shared a quote from Upton Sinclair that was especially poignant:
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Heart
A hundred years ago, no business needed SEO. They needed customers, profits, and sales. And as true then as it is now, they needed to know their customers.
One slide stood out loud and clear: The less you understand your customer, the more you spend to acquire them. And as Wil said, reports that lack dollar signs don't land on real decision makers' desks. Here's where your brain comes in.
“Best practices are a great start for those who lack data, or have data but can’t process it.” - @wilreynolds#MozCon#IntellectualHonestypic.twitter.com/91QiMy4ZDq
— Michael Tolosa (@TolosaSEO) July 14, 2021
Brain
Wil presented a bit of a conundrum: making decisions based on your gut may be easy and comfortable, but it's the data that gets you the insights you need to create and test hypotheses. However, exhaustive data — the kind of data where opportunity lives — is probably too big for your laptop to handle. What's an SEO to do?
Of course he had answers! Wil's suggestion was to harness the power of ngrams. With the help of a tool like PowerBI or BigQuery and using ngrams to examine all the search terms, you can find all your ranking results and see where your search term isn't in the title.
Transform your SEO data into winning insights:
- Shrink your ego & question assumptions
- Don't rely on best practices.
- Tools are a start, not an end.
- Business is about $
- Understanding your customer saves $
- What people do & say are different@wilreynolds#mozconpic.twitter.com/IB7CcQ4IpN
— Ọla King (@justolaking) July 14, 2021
There's too much goodness to cram into a short recap, so you'll definitely want to get yourself a copy of the MozCon video bundle when it's ready for purchase. Until then, a few final suggestions from Wil:
Examining all your data is the only way to capture all your opportunities; resist the urge to pare it down to the top 20%. Every time you shrink your data down, you're missing out on opportunities that someone else can see.
See every data set through a competitive lens: if all else is the same, how do you create value?
Combine your paid and SEO data together — get the dollar signs in those reports and get in front of key decision makers
Learn SQL. You'll be able to search for exactly what you need within your own data, you won't have to rely on others, and your hypotheses will benefit from your newfound data freedom.
Be brave enough to suck at something new. Stop doing the thing that you feel comfortable with. Run your own experiments and validate your hypotheses. It'll be worth it in the end!
Hey #MozCon thank you!
Remember:
1 - Surround yourself with people willing to show you a new way (show >> tell) - its easy to find people to tell you you are doing it wrong, find the people who build stuff to show you a new way.
— Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) July 14, 2021
Thanks everyone for a wonderful show! And we’ll see you in person next year!
#MozCon was freaking awesome! I learned so much and enjoyed meeting so many new colleagues! Thank you @Moz for such a wonderful event!
— Taylor Berg (@taylorannberg) July 15, 2021
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The Three Types of Republicans Donald Trump Created
Donald J. Trump departed the White House on Wednesday and left a Republican Party turned upside down.
Many Republicans tried not to let Mr. Trump change things, vowing never to vote for him or work in his administration — and to publicly shame those who did. Others bit their tongues and looked past his erratic behavior and racial grievances, justifying their indifference by pointing to the conservative policies he championed.
And there were others — comprising the most vocal segment of elected Republicans and a considerable portion of the voters who helped Mr. Trump win 10 million more votes than he did in 2016 — who are still with him, defying every last-straw prediction about the end of the iron grip Trump has on the G.O.P.
Here is a taxonomy of the types of Republicans Mr. Trump leaves in his wake.
Never Trumpers
They wrote open letters, boycotted the Republican National Convention twice, started podcasts and websites and raised millions of dollars for their efforts to defeat him.
The prospect of a Trump presidency was always unsettling to some Republicans who feared that his high self-regard and his nonchalance about the limits of political power were a recipe for disaster. But as his term wore on, this group came to include some surprising names like George Conway, whose wife, Kellyanne Conway, was one of the strategists who helped run Mr. Trump’s first campaign and remained loyal to him until the end of his presidency.
Mr. Conway found company with other Republicans whom the Trump wing of the party branded as “establishment” — a pejorative that recalled their work for previous presidential nominees like Senators John McCain and Mitt Romney. And their group, the Lincoln Project, worked for the past two years to convince Republican voters that Mr. Trump was a stain on their party.
The New ‘RINOs’
The term RINO used to mean “Republican in name only,” and it’s not a description that anyone was likely to use for Mark Brnovich, the conservative attorney general of Arizona.
That was before Mr. Trump and his loyalists redefined the term to mean any party official who dared to cross him.
Mr. Brnovich is a former Maricopa County prosecutor who has fought for Arizonans’ right to attend church during the pandemic and argued against relaxing rules for casting absentee ballots. Still, he drew the ire of Trump supporters when he made what he thought were two entirely reasonable decisions as his state’s chief law enforcement officer.
First, after investigating complaints about ballots that were supposedly ruined by bleeding marker ink, a conspiracy theory that became known as “Sharpie-gate” in the right-wing media, he determined there was nothing to it. Then, Mr. Brnovich refused to sign onto a far-fetched lawsuit by the state of Texas that called on the Supreme Court to throw out millions of votes in four swing states, including Arizona.
“It’s as simple as this,” Mr. Brnovich said in an interview. “It’s about the rule of law, not the rule of political expediency.”
Mr. Brnovich is not alone. Politicians whose names were once synonymous with the party’s hard right are now ridiculed as spineless and soft by Mr. Trump’s most faithful followers because they did not support his efforts to push state legislatures and Congress to declare Mr. Trump the winner.
In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger are now being targeted for defeat by Trump loyalists after Mr. Trump attacked them for refusing to go along with him.
Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, daughter of the former vice president and liberal arch-villain Dick Cheney, now faces a challenge to her leadership post in the House Republican conference for her impeachment vote against Mr. Trump. Vice President Mike Pence, who has been so loyal to Mr. Trump that his critics mocked him as a subservient yes man, was attacked as a traitor by people who called for his execution after he refused to interfere with the formal certification of the election.
After four years of keeping most of their disagreements with Mr. Trump private, a growing number of Republicans have taken a stand against the nominal leader of their party. And they say they worry about setting a precedent for elected officials to disregard the law if it suits them politically.
“I’m very concerned that we’re using the sophisticated and subtle tools of the law to bend what should not be bent in a direction we find politically preferable,” said Dave Yost, the attorney general of Ohio. As office holders whose power over the electoral process is significant though often overlooked, Mr. Yost said that officials like him “have to accept that there are constraints on their preferred outcomes.”
Like Mr. Brnovich in Arizona, Mr. Yost was one of only seven Republican state attorneys general who did not join an amicus brief in support of the ill-fated case brought by their colleague in Texas, Ken Paxton. They were among the small but pivotal minority of state and local office holders whose opposition helped thwart Mr. Trump and the Republicans who aided him in an attempt to deny Joseph R. Biden Jr. his victory.
The system held, but just barely.
Trump Republicans
Nowhere was Mr. Trump’s hold on Republican lawmakers as evident as it was in Washington on Jan. 6 at the demonstrations leading up to the storming of the Capitol. Republican state legislators from Missouri, West Virginia, Tennessee and other states were among those who gathered to cheer on Mr. Trump. Mr. Paxton, the Texas attorney general, was also there.
In one episode that many Republicans said was especially troubling, a political arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association, known as the Rule of Law Defense Fund, paid for a robocall before Jan. 6 that called on “patriots like you” to “march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal.”
The existence of the call, which several Republican attorneys general have since disavowed and said they were unaware of, underscored the extent to which Mr. Trump’s die-hard supporters were leaning on elected officials to support his spurious fraud claims. Two people with direct knowledge of tense discussions that took place among the attorneys general after word of the call leaked said that a donor had demanded it and made a contribution contingent upon its release.
“We’ve come to a point where there are so many individuals with great wealth who will support even the most fringe ideas and candidates,” said Richard F. Holt, a Republican who has raised money for presidential candidates dating back to Richard Nixon.
“Now just about anybody, no matter how far out, can come up with half a million dollars,” Mr. Holt said. Party leaders and major donors now see threats that Republicans could face from obscure but well-funded candidates whose primary motivation for seeking office is that they are aggrieved over Mr. Trump’s defeat.
Geoffrey Kabaservice, a historian and the author of “Rule and Ruin,” which documents the waning influence of moderates in the Republican Party, said that while the far right had always been an important constituency for Republicans in elections, its power was usually diluted by mainstream influences. But that is much less the case today.
“The Republican Party needed those people at the grass roots so it could win,” Mr. Kabaservice said. “But it also knew it needed to keep those people under control so it could attract some moderate, business-friendly people.”
“And that’s fallen apart,” he added.
Who Wins?
The future of the party isn’t the Never Trumpers; they abandoned ship. It’s the war between the New RINOs and the Trump Republicans.
The anger and vitriol directed at lawmakers who broke with Mr. Trump has left few willing to speak up on even the most seemingly straightforward matters.
After Mr. Brnovich declined to challenge the Arizona results, commenters on far-right message boards said that he had destroyed any hope of a future in the Republican Party.
One Republican state legislator claimed to have secured $500,000 from a donor to fund an investigation of her own into Arizona’s ballots and also vowed to hinder the attorney general’s office in future election investigations by stripping it of the necessary funding.
Alex Jones, the far-right purveyor of disinformation, showed up at a rally in Maricopa County and warned of “another 1776” if Mr. Trump weren’t declared the winner.
At the Capitol riot, Trump supporters urging Congress to overrule the 81 million Americans who had voted for Mr. Biden were waving the yellow Gadsden flag — once a ubiquitous sight at Tea Party rallies where conservatives railed against government tyranny.
Mr. Brnovich said he couldn’t get past the hypocrisy of it. “We all claim that we’re federalists, and we don’t want overreach,” he said, adding in reference to his fellow Republican attorneys general: “I don’t know why anyone thought it would be a good idea to get involved in a federal election. It’s a stupid idea.”
Mr. Yost, the Ohio attorney general, initially opposed Mr. Trump in 2016 but eventually got past his misgivings for the sake of party unity. Now, he said, he is still thinking about the consequences of the robocall before the riot.
“There’s a guy named Brian Sicknick — he’s dead,” Mr. Yost said, referring to the Capitol Police officer who died after being hit in the head when the pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol. “I don’t know who swung that fire extinguisher, but I lie awake at night wondering whether or not it was one of the people who got that call.”
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