How Top Ranking Brands Like Moz and HubSpot REALLY Do SEO

SEO has come a long way since the late 90’s. Algorithm updates and advancements in technology have made it harder and harder for brands to sculpt their search signals in order to gain maximum search engine visibility.

This presentation looks at two highly visible brands and explains what they do to drive copious amounts of search traffic. The explanation just might surprise you, too.

Published in: Business

How Top Ranking Brands Like Moz and HubSpot REALLY Do SEO from Chad Pollitt

Transcript

• 1. How TOP RANKING BRANDS Really Do SEOBy @ChadPollitt & @BradleyGSmith Like & #drSEO
• 2. Content Promotion For Serious Content Marketers Chad Pollitt VP of Marketing 317.575.8852 Extension 256 chad.pollitt@relevance.com Bradley Smith Inbound Consultant 317.575.8852 ext. 225 brad@relevance.com relevance.com | @drelevance
• 3. Cision’s Content Marketing Suite brought to you by • Create & publish content to your customized social newsroom or blog • Share your story with your followers, and pitch it to over 1.6 million media outlets and contacts • Amplify your content, wherever it lives, on over 90k+ top publisher sites including TIME, FastCompany & CNN • Analyze what content performs best and delivers your highest ROI with integration into Google Analytics
• 4. A look at the AGENDA: 1. SEO: A Brief History 2. Google’s View 3. How Moz & HubSpot do SEO 4. How you can do it, too
• 5. SEO has come a long way since the 90’s . . .
• 6. Gone are the days of SPAMMY METHODS like: Keyword Saturation Forum & Blog Commenting Guest blogging at scale
• 7. Caffeine Treasure Map Those who frequently publish good content shall find the hidden treasure
• 8. Google Panda & Penguin ALGORITHM UPDATE
• 9. Panda/Penguin Treasure Map Those who only publish rich, high-quality content cited by authoritative sites will find the hidden treasure
• 10. Keyword ‘Not Provided’ SSL Encryption
• 11. Keyword ‘Not Provided’ Treasure Map Those who write naturally and measure organic traffic & conversions at the page level will find the hidden treasure.
• 12. Hummingbird KNOWLEDGE GRAPH
• 13. Hummingbird Treasure Map Those who write naturally using synonyms and normal language, while catering to mobile users, will find the hidden treasure. X
• 14. What does Google want?!
• 15. What does Google want?!do users
• 16. “I would concentrate on the stuff that people write, the utility that people find in it, and the amount of times that people link to it.“ -Matt Cutts
• 17. “I would concentrate on the stuff that people write, the utility that people find in it, and the amount of times that people link to it. All of those are ways that implicitly measure how relevant or important somebody is to someone else.” -Matt Cutts
• 18. “The philosophy that we’ve always had is if you make something that’s compelling then it would be much easier to get people to write about it and to link to it.” -Matt Cutts
• 19. “The philosophy that we’ve always had is if you make something that’s compelling then it would be much easier to get people to write about it and to link to it. And so a lot of people approach it from a direction that’s backwards.” -Matt Cutts
• 20. “The philosophy that we’ve always had is if you make something that’s compelling then it would be much easier to get people to write about it and to link to it. And so a lot of people approach it from a direction that’s backwards. They try to get the links first and then they want to be grandfathered in or think they will be a successful website as a result.” -Matt Cutts
• 21. In other words . . . WHAT USERS WANT IS MOST IMPORTANT
• 22. But links to COMPELLING CONTENT that provide utility are ALSO IMPORTANT
• 23. But links to COMPELLING CONTENT that provide utility are ALSO IMPORTANT Google has improved at identifying and penalizing links to content it doesn’t find to be a compelling utility.
• 24. “Okay, I’m calling it: if you’re using guest blogging as a way to gain links in 2014, you should probably stop.” -Matt Cutts
• 25. “Okay, I’m calling it: if you’re using guest blogging as a way to gain links in 2014, you should probably stop. Why? Because over time it’s become a more and more spammy practice,” -Matt Cutts
• 26. “Okay, I’m calling it: if you’re using guest blogging as a way to gain links in 2014, you should probably stop. Why? Because over time it’s become a more and more spammy practice, and if you’re doing a lot of guest blogging then you’re hanging out with really bad company.” -Matt Cutts
• 27. Shortly thereafter, hundreds of brands around the world were manually penalized for guest blogging at scale.
• 28. “A guest post is something that a fantastic author has thought deeply about, labored over, polished, put a lot of work into and then publishes on a highly reputable domain name.” -Matt Cutts
• 29. Dozens of the most correlated attributes for optimized search engine visibility are mostly off-page and link related, according to Moz.
• 30. This means off-page SEO has the biggest impact on a brand’s search engine visibility today. Dozens of the most correlated attributes for optimized search engine visibility are mostly off-page and link related, according to Moz.
• 31. According to Moz’s search engine correlation survey, dozens of the most correlated attributes for optimized search engine visibility are mostly off-page and link-related. This means off-page SEO has the biggest impact on a brand’s search engine visibility today. However, links to and from content that do not provide utility (guest blogging at scale) can do more harm than good.
• 32. Grow SEARCH VISIBILITY by promoting helpful content See how ElectricFireplacesDirect.com grew their YOY organic traffic 22% in three months bit.ly/22percent
• 33. How Moz and HubSpot Really Do On-Page SEO (hint: it’s not rocket science)
• 34. How Moz and HubSpot Really Do On-Page SEO (hint: it’s not rocket science) Brands like Moz and HubSpot publish copious amounts of helpful content.
• 35. How Moz and HubSpot Really Do On-Page SEO (hint: it’s not rocket science) Brands like Moz and HubSpot publish copious amounts of helpful content. Their large audiences consume, contribute to, share, comment on and cite their posts, which further helps drive up SERP relevance.
• 36. How Moz and HubSpot Really Do On-Page SEO (some other best practices they do) ª User-Generated Content ª Gamification ª Strategic Internal Linking ª Authorship ª Keyword Research & Optimization ª Site Architecture ª Metadata Conventions ª Blogging & more
• 37. How Moz and HubSpot Really Do On-Page SEO (hint: it’s not rocket science) They’ve built up these large audiences by establishing themselves as some of the first brands in their industries to regularly publish helpful content online in the last decade.
• 38. This is great for them, but most brands don’t have an AUDIENCE OF SIGNIFICANCE to help facilitate this level of engagement today.
• 39. Even if a brand chooses to publish content this often, it’s unlikely to drive the kind of search visibility those brands experience for many years, if at all.
• 40. How Moz and HubSpot Really Do Off-Page SEO
• 41. How Moz and HubSpot Really Do Off-Page SEO Their on-page content ends up driving lots of organic off-page signals today. However, that hasn’t always been the case.
• 42. How Moz and HubSpot Really Do Off-Page SEO They publish guides, studies and other forms of advanced content that are newsworthy to the audience that consumes them.
• 43. Moz published its Beginners Guide to SEO and regularly surveys and publishes the results of its bi-annual Search Engine Ranking Factors questionnaire.
• 44. Moz published its Beginners Guide to SEO and regularly surveys and publishes the results of its bi-annual Search Engine Ranking Factors questionnaire. As a result, they are newsworthy utilities and get cited thousands of times by journalists, marketers and SEOs.
• 45. “. . . the Beginner’s Guide to SEO and the Search Engine Ranking Factors were seminal works.” -Rand Fishkin, Co-Founder of Moz
• 46. “. . . the Beginner’s Guide to SEO and the Search Engine Ranking Factors were seminal works. They helped establish our brand, build an audience, and create credibility in the market.” -Rand Fishkin, Co-Founder of Moz
• 47. “. . . the Beginner’s Guide to SEO and the Search Engine Ranking Factors were seminal works. They helped establish our brand, build an audience, and create credibility in the market. Without them, it’s tough to imagine that Moz could be where it is today.” -Rand Fishkin, Co-Founder of Moz
• 48. HubSpot’s groundbreaking grader.com tool and annual State of Inbound Marketing report are inherently useful and represents a true contribution to the marketing industry – they’re newsworthy.
• 49. HubSpot also publishes hundreds of guides, templates, tools and videos that have provided help, guidance and utility to millions of marketers around the world.
• 50. “. . . grader.com has been our best performing piece of content, ever. This is based on the number of leads it generates on an ongoing basis. ” -Dharmesh Shah, Co-Founder and CTO of HubSpot
• 51. “. . . grader.com has been our best performing piece of content, ever. This is based on the number of leads it generates on an ongoing basis. Of course, like other high-impact content, building a tool does require an investment -- but when it works, it can work really well.” -Dharmesh Shah, Co-Founder and CTO of HubSpot
• 52. “. . . grader.com has been our best performing piece of content, ever. This is based on the number of leads it generates on an ongoing basis. Of course, like other high-impact content, building a tool does require an investment -- but when it works, it can work really well. We can trace millions of dollars of revenue over the years to grader.com.” -Dharmesh Shah, Co-Founder and CTO of HubSpot
• 53. Most brands don’t have this type of inherently useful advanced content.
• 54. Most brands don’t have this type of inherently useful advanced content. And if they do, their lack of audience prevents it from being seen as well as it should.
• 55. Marketers and PR pros need to be proactive and pitch their advanced content to media outlets and niche industry sites to earn the coverage they deserve.
• 56. Understand the power of CONTENT PROMOTION through their success story OVER 2.8 MILLION MEDIA IMPRESSIONS bit.ly/content-promo
• 57. Here’s how you can do it, too! Since most brands don’t have large audiences like HubSpot or Moz,
• 58. Here’s how you can do it, too! Since most brands don’t have large audiences like HubSpot or Moz, it’s important to focus resources on building and growing an audience.
• 59. Here’s how you can do it, too! Since most brands don’t have large audiences like HubSpot or Moz, it’s important to focus resources on building and growing an audience. This helps drive the signals Google uses to determine SERP relevance.
• 60. Here’s how you can do it, too! This is done by tapping into other websites’ audiences and being inherently useful to them.
• 61. Here’s how you can do it, too! This is done by tapping into other websites’ audiences and being inherently useful to them. This is also known as EARNED MEDIA.
• 62. This activity is very similar to the work of traditional PR.
• 63. This activity is very similar to the work of traditional PR. Instead of pitching the media a brand or product story, pitch inherently useful advanced content.
• 64. The multiple media citations can drive SIGNIFICANT brand awareness, website traffic and conversions.
• 65. These links represent some of the most powerful off-page search signals a website can EARN.
• 66. These links represent some of the most powerful off-page search signals a website can EARN. Search benefits resulting from this audience growth strategy is the tertiary benefit after referral traffic and conversions.
• 67. These links represent some of the most powerful off-page search signals a website can EARN. Search benefits resulting from this audience growth strategy is the tertiary benefit after referral traffic and conversions. Notice the word used is “earn,” and not “build.”
• 68. To have the best shot at getting content coverage and driving real marketing returns, you must follow four proven steps.
• 69. ResearchThis is the most important step for earning media coverage and should start before the content is created.
• 70. ResearchThis is the most important step for earning media coverage and should start before the content is created. This helps determine what advanced content to produce, who wants to consume it, and where and who to pitch it to.
• 71. Creative Create the inherently useful content and utility to pitch. It could be an ebook, guide, study, survey results, widget or even a mobile app.
• 72. Promotion Based on the research from step one, marketers and PR pros should have a valuable list of media outlets, journalists and bloggers to pitch.
• 73. Promotion Based on the research from step one, marketers and PR pros should have a valuable list of media outlets, journalists and bloggers to pitch. Native and advertorial paid media placement can help accelerate distribution.
• 74. Conversion Having a clear understanding of the GOALS OF THE CAMPAIGN and making sure its ALIGNED WITH THE BUYER JOURNEY is very important.
• 75. Conversion Having a clear understanding of the GOALS OF THE CAMPAIGN and making sure its ALIGNED WITH THE BUYER JOURNEY is very important. ¿ Marketing Automation ¿ Remarketing ¿ Retargeting ¿ Landing Page Testing ¿ Email Campaigns
• 76. Not all brands can achieve the same type of search success that Moz and HubSpot enjoy.
• 77. Not all brands can achieve the same type of search success that Moz and HubSpot enjoy. Their recipe for success isn’t a mystery.
• 78. Earning real media citations with inherently useful content is the path to optimum search engine visibility, both today and for the foreseeable future. Not all brands can achieve the same type of search success that Moz and HubSpot enjoy. Their recipe for success isn’t a mystery.
• 79. Those benefits, however, are merely tertiary to the ample volume of traffic and conversions the referring media outlets drive.
• 80. Cision’s Content Marketing Suite Brought to you by: • Create & publish content to your customized social newsroom or blog • Share your story with your followers, and pitch it to over 1.6 million media outlets and contacts • Amplify your content, wherever it lives, on over 90k+ top publisher sites including TIME, FastCompany & CNN • Analyze what content performs best and delivers your highest ROI with integration into Google Analytics
• 81. Only 10 campaign slots remaining for Q2 bit.ly/contr-assess @ChadPollitt’s Phone: 317-575-8852 x256