The document discusses the changing landscape of SEO from 2009 to the present. It highlights key algorithm updates like Penguin, Panda and Hummingbird and how they have impacted SEO. It also outlines focus areas for SEO practitioners going forward like structured data, content and social strategies, and preparing for advances in conversational search and voice interactions. The key takeaways are to leverage structured data and the knowledge graph, analyze organic performance holistically, focus on engaging content and social strategies, and get ready for more advanced queries and augmented reality in search.

1. THE CHANGING FACE OF SEO
Sophie Tosone and Kris Tait

2. Penguin
Above the fold
Knowledge Graph
Caffeine
Social Signals
Microsites
2009
2013
2011
2012
2010
Exact match domains
200 words of content
Black Hat Linkbuilding
?
Panda
+1s
schema.org
Google +
Freshness Update
2014
Hummingbird
Semantic SEO
Quality Links
Social SEO
Not Provided

3. WHAT SHOULD YOU BE CONSIDERING
Structured
Data
Not
Provided
Knowledge
Graph
Content
/
Social
Future
of
Search

4. Structured
Data
» Helping Google to help you
!
» Rich Snippets 2009
!
» Google made a joint alliance with Schema.org in June 2011
!
» Provide search engines with more information about your site and its products
services
!
» Said not to improve rankings but to enhance CTR and improve relevancy to
search queries = better chances of ranking anyway

5. Not
Provided
» Moving towards landing page analysis
» Look at organic traffic growth as a whole - visitor distribution
» Rankings more important for reporting
» Site Search Data - content
» Make more use of your data - Adwords, Analytics & Webmaster tools still
provide rich data and other SEO metrics to show us what content works.

6. Knowledge
Graph
» Building the next generation
of search…
!
» Displays entities rather than
just query level results
!
» Aligning your site with Google
interprets data in the future

7. Hummingbird
Allows Google to understand user intent more closely (who,
what, where, why, how), and in turn longer tail queries.
!
Better understanding = more use of the ‘answer engine’.
!
!
» Conversational Search
» Decline of short tail
» Content rather than Keywords
» Greater segmentation
» More importance on social content and conversations

8. Conversa@onal
Search
Who
is
Brad
PiC…
Who
is
he
married
to…
What
movies
has
she
been
in…

9. Content
/
Social
» Google making it easy - not hard
» Create something different
» Visually engaging
» Focus on the user

10. Future
of
Search
“Book me a flight to Paris on friday morning”
» Voice Search
» Google Now
» More advanced queries
» Augmented Reality

11. KEY TAKEAWAYS
Structured
Data
Not
Provided
Knowledge
Graph
Content
/
Social
Future
of
Search