Speaker: Larry Kim, Founder of Wordsteam | @larrykim

1. h
HACKING RANKBRAIN &
MACHINE LEARNING-ENABLED
ALGOS:
The 5 SEO Strategies You’ll Need to Survive
SEO Judgment Day

2. AN AVERAGE DAY IN
THE NOT TOO FAR OFF
FUTURE…

3. BOOM!

4. SEO JUDGEMENT DAY:
Google Core Search
Algorithms All Based on
Machine Learning

5. Algos for Spam Detection, Image
Search, Video Search, Query
Interpretation, Core Ranking Algo
(etc.) All Machine-Learning
Enabled

6. MILLIONS OF WEBSITES
IMPACTED

8. JOHN CONNOR,
Leader of the SEO
Rebellion in 2020.

10. WHAT IS MACHINE
LEARNING?

11. GOOGLE SEARCH TODAY: HEURISTIC
ALGORITHMS
Not Based on Machine Learning (Yet)
Google Algorithm Change
History

12. • Machine Learning / AI-
Powered
• Checks if the search
results met user
expectations
• Make adjustments to query
& rankings based on the
outcome
Google Search In The
Future:
MACHINE-LEARNING
BASED

13. WHERE DOES GOOGLE
USE MACHINE
LEARNING?

14. Ran

15. Google Cloud Vision API
Google Cloud Speech API
Google Cloud Translate API

17. Certain Search Verticals
Like Porn?

18. Google AdWords Entirely
Based on Machine Learning
for Ad Targeting

19. FACEBOOK NEWS FEED & AD
TARGETING

20. TWITTER ADS USE MACHINE
LEARNING

21. Machine Learning Systems
Pretty Much EVERYWHERE

22. Core Algo Changing?
Validation Signals?
WHO CARES! GET IN!

23. if
You Want
Your
Website
Rankings
To Live

24. Why Didn’t
They Just
Send Rand?

26. Three Random
Facts ABOUT ME

27. 1. FOUNDER OF WORDSTREAM, INC.
2008 2016

28. 2. STUDIED ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING FOR 5
YEARS

29. 3. Built Suite of Long Tail Keyword
Research Tools

30. What is RankBrain??

31. Google: “RankBrain Used on Long
Tail Queries”… “Query
Interpretation ... That Changes
Rank”

32. How Does RankBrain REALLY Work??

33. Long Tail Query
Entered
RankBrain Makes a Guess and Re-Writes
The Query into Something it
Recognizes (Query Interpretation)
Did The
Result
Satisfy
The User?
Great. Next
Time I See
Queries Like
This, I’ll
Put This
Page at the
Top.
Larry’s Greatly Simplified
RankBrain Diagram*
Rats. Next
Time I See a
Query Like
This, I’ll
Try Some
Other Page

34. Searching For
RANKBRAIN

35. CTR vs. Organic Search Position
Long Tail vs. Head Terms in
Organic Search:
Higher CTRs
in Top
Positions
Similar CTRs
in Lower
Positions

36. In Paid Search:
CTR vs. Position for Paid Search Ads
Long Tail &
Head Terms
Have the
Similar CTR
at Top
Large
Differences in
CTR of Head Vs.
Long Tail at
Lower Positions

37. POSSIBLE EVIDENCE OF
RANKBRAIN??
WHY?
PAID SEARCH ORGANIC SEARCH
Top Spots
(1–2)
Long-tail and
head terms have
similar CTR
Long-tail and
head terms
have large
differences
in CTR
Lower Spots
(3-7)
Long-tail and
head terms have
large
differences in
CTR
Long-tail and
head terms
have similar
CTR

38. What Came First:
The CTR or the Ranking??

39. +/- 3%
Increase in
Post
Engagement
+/- 1 Spot in
Organic
Position
RankBrain Rewards &
Penalties?

40. Key Takeaway: ML (in General) Makes
Stuff Increasingly Winner-Take-All.
Larry’s RankBrain Theory: High CTR
Long Tail Rankings Get *Additional*
Bonus Ranking Boost

41. If True, What Should SEOs Do To
Prepare For RankBrain and Other ML-
Enabled Algos?

42. They’re Not Going To Tell
You Everything…

43. He’s Delusional. Do Nothing.

44. We Need To
Crush More
Auditions.

45. New ML-Algos
Tougher Than
Previous Ones…

46. Five SEO Weapons to
Survive SEO
Judgement Day

47. LARRY’S #1 SEO WEAPON
Mobile
Donkey/Unicorn
Detector

48. WHAT’S MY ORGANIC
CTR?

49. DOWNLOAD THIS QUERY DATA

50. What’s a Good Click Through
Rate?

51. CTR Study (2014) by. Philip Petrescu
for Moz.

52. SERP Differs
Greatly By
Industry

53. Use Your Own Data To Plot The Average CTR
for YOUR Industry!
Unicorns
Donkeys
CTR vs. Average Position

54. DONKEYS VS.
UNICORNS.

55. Unicorns are Up To 6x Better
Than Donkeys.
Avg. CTR
Donkey CTRs (Bottom 10%) = 3x Worse Than Avg.
Unicorn CTRs (Top 10%) = +2x Better Avg.

56. DONKEYS DETECTED.
How to Convert to Unicorn??

57. Larry’s #2 SEO Weapon:
DONKEY TO UNICORN
CONVERTER

58. These SEO
Title Tags
All Suck:

59. “SEO”
Headlines are
Like Dynamic
Keyword
Insertion
(DKI) for PPC

60. Keyword Headlines Using
Dynamic Keyword Insertion Do
OK, Not Great
Relative
Frequency
Average
CTR
Top 15% Top 5% Top 1%
Ads without
DKI
Ads with DKI

61. Keyword-y Headlines Less Likely To
Be UnicornsRelative
Frequency
Top 5%
Ads without
DKI
Ads with DKI
Top 1%
Relative
CTR

62. Larry’s Unicorn
Research Lab

63. Leverage Emotional Triggers
I Know Now Why You Cry…

64. The Top 9 Emotions
That Make People
Click Like Crazy:
Step 1: Pick One of These
Emotional Triggers
• Laughter
• Amusement
• Curiosity
• Awe
• Anger
• Fear
• Joy
• Empathy
• Sadness

65. Step 2. Write Headline
Copy From Perspective of
One of These Personas
The Bearer
of Bad News
The
Hero/Villai
n
The
Comedian
The Feel
Good Friend

66. 3. Use This Title Template
Commonly Employed By
‘Viral’ Articles
Format
List post, quiz,
Infographic
Emotional
Hook
Emotional word or
superlative
Content Type
Images, quotes, pictures,
facts
Topic
Love, cats, dogs, fitness,
health, Donald Trump
4 AWESOME SEO STRATEGIES TO DEFEAT
RANKBRAIN

67. The Same Emotions
That Make People to
Share Things Cause
High CTR.

68. Unicorn Headlines = Top
10%
Odds of Finding Unicorn =
1:10
So Test 10 Different
Headlines

69. Quiz: How Many Headlines Do You
See Here?

70. It’s the Same Headline with
Different Capitalization,
Punctuation
Are We Learning Yet??

71. You Need 10 *Different*
Headlines!
How to Spot the Unicorn?

72. Use AdWords to Test
Headlines

73. Bid to Position (eg: Top
Spot)

74. OK To Target Cheaper Markets
Average Cost Per Click Around
The World
Greater than US Average CPC
Average US CPC
1-20% Less than Average US CP
21-40% Less than
Average US CPC41-60% Less than Average US C
61-80% Less than
Average US CPC>81% Less than Average US CPC
Limited Data

75. Use Broad Match Keyword
Match Type

76. • Identify Donkeys (Bottom 10%)
• Write 10 Different Headlines
• Test 10 Ads on AdWords
• Replace Old Headline With Winner
Larry’s Donkey to Unicorn
Converter: Summary

77. A Note of Caution

78. Don’t Use Spam Sites Like
CrowdSearch.me

80. We’ve Got RankBrain By The
Balls

81. They Have a Back-Up
System…

82. We’ve Got Rankbrain By The
Balls
Seems to Have a Back-Up
System…
We’re Gonna Need Bigger
Guns..

83. LARRY’S #3 SEO WEAPON
Engagement Rate Unicorn/Donkey
Detector

84. Bounce Rate vs. Organic
Position
Pass:
Bounce
Rate Low
Enough
Fail:
Bounce
Rate Too
High

85. We Know Google Measures Dwell
Time

86. We Know Google Measures Dwell
Time

87. Time on Site vs. Organic
Position
PASS: Good
Enough
Time On
Site
Fail: Time
on Site
not Good
Enough

88. Key Takeaway: “Task
Completion Rates” Used
To Validate CTR

89. Engagement Rate Unicorn/Donkey
Detector

90. Search Conversion Rate Distribution
Median: 2.35%
Top 25%: 5.31% and Above
Top 10%: 11.45%
and Above
SHAREOFALLACCOUNTS
SEARCH CONVERSION RATE. (WordStream Customer Data – Not Official Google Data)
What’s a Good Conversion
Rate?

91. Distribution Point Conversion Rate Vs. Average Comments
AVERAGE 2.35% - DONKEYS
TOP 25% 5.31% 2X AWESOME
TOP 10% 11.45% 5X UNICORNS
Donkeys vs. Unicorns
Unicorns Convert 5x Better Than
Donkeys

92. How to Turn
Conversion Rate
Donkeys into
Unicorns?

93. Higher CTRs = Higher
Conversion Rates

94. The Great A/B Testing Fairy
Tale
We Changed The..
• Font Type
• Spacing
• Button Color
• Image
• Etc.
“We Got a 5% Increase in
Conversions”

95. Typical A/B Test
Early Lead Disappears. Gains
Don’t Persist.

96. Your Current
Offer
A Completely
Different,
Better Offer
Big vs. Little Changes
Unicorn
Hill
Donkey
Hill

97. Change Your Offer To Dramatically
Increase Conversion Rates

98. RankBrain
Terminated
Now What?

99. Time Travel to Past:
Before Users Do Searches

100. Larry’s #4 SEO Weapo
FACEBOOK ADS and
Google Display
Network

101. How Advertising REALLY Works
STEP
1:
Promote Inspirational / Memorable Content about Your Brand
to your Target Market
STEP
2:
People See The Ad, But Don’t Necessarily Take Action Right
Away. (But Become Biased)
STEP
3:
Later when the Need Arises,
People either:
Do a Branded
Search for Your
Stuff
Do Un-Branded Search
but Biased Towards
Clicking & Buying
From You.

102. Wait.. Advertising Impacts
Organic CTR and Conversion
Rates??

103. Facebook Ads
Impact
Clicks,
Conversions
from
Paid/Organic
Search

104. Warning: Facebook Ads Employ Machine
Learning Tech: So You Can’t Promote
Junk

105. Interests Targeting

106. Demographic Targeting

107. Behavioral Targeting

108. Custom Affinity Audiences in
Google Display Network

109. Clone Existing Customer Lists

110. Time Travel to FUTURE:
Ensure Subsequent Searches
Go Your Way

111. I’LL BE
BACK
Larry’s #5 SEO
Weapon:
Remarketi
ng

112. LovePop
Cards:

113. 3-Dimensional Pop-Up Cards

114. Unicorn Video Ads!

115. Returning
Visitors:
1. Existing Customers
2. 1-Day Remarketing
Audience
3. 7, 30, 180-day
Remarketing
Audiences
New Visitors:
1. Lookalike
Audiences
2. Interest, Behavior
& Demographic-
Based Audiences.
Note: Exclude the overlap (duh).
arry’s Ad Targeting Stack (Powered By Tim
Travel)

116. Delete Your “Bad
Neighborhoods”
Self Destruct Sequence
Initiated

117. Mission
Complet
e

118. What Does it All Mean?

119. Old SEO Tactics Clearly Don’t
Work Anymore

120. They Might Even Make Things
Worse!

121. Don’t Just Wait for RankBrain
& ML-Algos.

122. Better CTR & Conversion Rates -> More Clicks
& Conversions.
Improved CTR & CVR -> Better Rankings.
Better Rankings -> Even more clicks and
Virtuous Cycle of
Unicorn Land:

123. Terrible CTR & Engagement Rates -> Less
Clicks, Leads, Sales, etc.
Crappy User Engagement -> Terrible Rankings.
Terrible Rankings -> Even Fewer Clicks &
Sales.
Vs. Death Spiral of
RankBrain and Other ML-
Algos

124. How Advertising REALLY Works
STEP
1:
Promote Inspirational / Memorable Content about Your Brand
to your Target Market
STEP
2:
People See The Ad, But Don’t Necessarily Take Action Right
Away. (But Become Biased)
STEP
3:
Later when the Need Arises,
People either:
Do a Branded
Search for Your
Stuff
Do Un-Branded Search
but Biased Towards
Clicking & Buying
From You.

125. Be a Unicorn in a Sea of
Donkeys

126. Thank You, MnSearch
Summit!