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Bada BING, Bada Boom! The Man at the Center of Microsoft’s Backtrack Heard ‘Round the Search World: Exclusive Duane Forrester Interview

Bada BING, Bada Boom! The Man at the Center of Microsoft’s Backtrack Heard ‘Round the Search World: Exclusive Duane Forrester Interview was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Getting a deal done in two months at a tech conglomerate like Microsoft is the corporate equivalent of a double back handspring. And that’s exactly how long it took Microsoft to fully backtrack on the publicly derided layoff of Duane Forrester.

Duane Forrester was awarded Search Personality of the Year at the 2014 U.S. Search Awards last October. Later that month, his job was cut. Two months after that, Forrester was offered his job back as Webmaster Outreach at Bing. Photo by Search Engine Journal | CC by 2.0

Forrester, a larger than life personality in the SEO world — literally dubbed the 2014 Search Personality of the Year — has been the voice of Microsoft’s Bing search engine to the marketing community since 2011. Last October, Forrester found his name on a layoff list of 3,000. Search marketers who adore Forrester for his straight-talking, webmaster championing, laid-back demeanor were by turns shocked and annoyed. How could the No. 2 search engine spare its most public figure and PR Ace? What did the move say about Bing’s attitude and support for the search marketing community? In December, Microsoft put any doubt of its commitment to search and the online business community to rest by admitting mea culpa and returning Forrester to his previous seat.

Photo by Grant Wickes | CC by 2.0

Forrester is officially Sr. Product Manager of the Bing Webmaster Program, and holds a second title of Webmaster Outreach. He’s spent the last four years improving search for users by way of increased transparency and tools for SEOs and webmasters. He’s the mind who built Bing Webmaster Tools, which gives website owners critical insight into and control over how the search engine appraises their website. As a celebrated speaker, Forrester travels the globe to educate digital marketers on SEO and spread the white hat gospel (oftentimes in a white cowboy hat of his own). Forrester is hitting the road soon to attend SMX West, which we used as an excuse to invite him for a pre-appearance interview, with hopes of gaining a lesson or two on the inner workings of Bing this year.

Read on to hear firsthand what happened behind closed doors to return Forrester to his role at Bing. We also get a peek of big things on the horizon at Bing, including Forrester’s recommended process for a mobile usability audit … and a brand new ad type in the works.

Kristi Kellogg: Last October your name came up for layoffs at Microsoft, and two months later you were back at Bing. How has your role changed? Is there now more awareness at the top levels of Microsoft about the importance of webmaster outreach for Bing?

Duane Forrester: Previously my focus was solely on webmasters and now my remit includes working across groups on business-facing efforts (so, an expansion) and I also work more closely on the API side of things now.

As for awareness, that’s always been in place. No program with the depth and breadth of Webmaster moves forward without senior leaders signing off on the work and investment. Our focus on businesses hasn’t faltered one bit, and let’s keep in mind: I’m only a single person. I might be on stage at conferences, but there were eight guys and gals back in the office making those tools run and adding new features. That didn’t change one bit.

No, its safe to say the decision makers are well focused on the importance of businesses in the bigger picture. The understanding is clear — this is a partnership arena, and it works better when we all work in similar directions. This is why you see us partnering so much, and why you saw the investment in 2012 to dramatically update Webmaster Tools and change what businesses should expect from our tools.

KK: Do you think the outpouring of support by the SEO community changed any opinions of decision makers at Bing and Microsoft?

DF: I have to admit, I was personally humbled by the outpouring of support. I was unprepared for it and it caught me by surprise. You try to do the right things during your career, help others, answer questions, etc. Often we all hit that moment where we realized we’ve had good days, did good things, and days when we’ve failed.

To see the “phone lines light up” as they did was simply inspiring. I literally had tears in my eyes by the end of that Thursday after having to give up responding to the tons of supportive tweets, emails, calls and wall posts. I’m sure I even missed some posts on Ello … I lost count after the 400th moment, and realized I needed to focus on things like looking for work.

It would have been tough for anyone to miss the buzz generated (and I’ll insert a thanks for boosting my Klout score all the way up to 75 gang!, though it’s now stabilized … LOL). I know folks internally came across it. They heard the message that was being sent. Though it helps to keep in mind that decisions are rarely made on a single data point. Let me just say this … the teams here at Bing were extremely fast movers when the conversations started. Supportive, honest, open. I’d be hard pressed to find better folks to work beside.

KK: A 75 Klout score?! That’s legitimate What’s on the horizon for Bing in 2015? What types of initiatives are you planning to drive for Bing this year?

DF: Oh my, well, let’s see. We will be launching lunar advertising, using a laser to scroll ads across the moon’s surface, visible from Earth. It’ll run through Bing Ads, so anyone can bid to have their message scrolled. Obviously no adult or gaming ads, but we’re thinking of opening it up to the general population for special times like Valentine’s Day to let them send that message of love to some special in a galactic way.

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Otherwise, we remain focused on the usual: user experience, mobile, growing share and, of course, providing value to searchers and businesses. This is actually a tough one to answer simply because we can’t give anything away. I will say, though, that we’re always open to ideas, so if you have a feature in mind, sound off and let us know. Can’t promise it’ll get included, but better to build with input than in a vacuum is how we view it.

KK: You have asserted that “ people should start thinking of usability and SEO as one rather than two completely separate entities ” – one should not come at the expense of the other. What are you thinking of when you warn against this? What is the preferred thought process you’d like to see website owners go through when making decisions about SEO and usability?

DF: Specifically, I was thinking about the many, many failed “mobile” experiences I’ve had. You know the one. When you’re on a tablet or smartphone, you try to click on the navigation of a site, only to realize it was built solely for the operation of a mouse, which features “hover.” That moment where you “hover” your cursor over the element and the navigation is then revealed. Except there is no such feature on most mobile devices, and it’s also not on most touchscreens full stop. So what happens? Well, if I can’t navigate on your site, I go somewhere else — easy for me, as a consumer, to solve that problem.

And it’s a clear sign that usability testing was skipped, or it was done in a haphazard manner. In today’s world where mobile experiences are preferred for mobile results and the trend of mobile query growth outpacing desktop queries being the norm, why skip usability testing? For a lot of businesses, it’s seen as an added cost. The fact is, it’s an immediate reduction to most bottom lines. Before you’ve even launched the site, all the small, but numerous failure points that exist around button style, color choices, image sizing, button labeling, workflow grouping are already conspiring to make your new site less than 100 percent.

SEO is about improving a website to help the search engines understand, interpret and rank it’s content. Usability is about pleasing humans, helping them uncover content, find new, useful things and making their experience on your site a positive one. the main problem here is that SEO alone often focuses on the crawler first. The crawler, though, is focused on serving the searcher. Which means your efforts need to shift to “consumer first.” That places SEO and usability side-by-side. They shouldn’t be seen as individual workflows. When you embark on an SEO audit, it should include a Usability audit. If someone suggests a Usability study for their website, that is the moment to start talking about SEO, as well.

KK: You recently stated that SEOs will be hearing more voices from Bing, meaning “more and deeper insights from the various teams within Bing.” Any voices or teams in particular you’re hoping to get involved in speaking to the SEO community?

DF: Any that we feel have something interesting, or impactful, to share with the industry. And any that pop their heads out of their doors as I walk the halls. You’ve seen folks from our Crawl Team, our Index Team, our Spam Team, our Product Leads and myself to date. That’s pretty good coverage, but I’m betting we can find a few more voices to get published on the blog, and if I’m lucky, we’ll be able to convince some of them to visit a conference or two this year as well. We’ll see. Either way, I’ll still be out there.

KK: Should we be gearing up for any special announcements at SMX West when you take the stage?

DF: No plans at this time, but then again, we rarely announce announcements in advance. If I have my way, though, I’ll have a new pair of cowboy boots by then. Not sure that needs a press release.

KK: You speak at a lot of conferences on behalf of Bing. Where will we see you in 2015?

Bing’s Duane Forrester speaking alongside Bruce Clay, Maisha Walker and Manny Rivas at the 2015 GROWCO conference.

DF: Still working out a lot of these opportunities. SMX West, obviously. Maybe SMX East if the timing works, Pubcon if the stars align, DFWSEM in the fall, and I have a few other smaller, local events on the radar. I’ll be blogging on the Webmaster Blog and on my personal blog more, and hopefully appearing in a few other places across the web.

KK: What’s one of your favorite conference memories?

DF: Walking into day one at my first ever SES in New York City and having that deep, soulful feeling that I was among people who understood me, spoke my language. It was like finding the family you were born with, but didn’t grow up with.

Oh, and I’ll add this one — not hero worship, but you might see the oddity: I also met this guy named Matt Cutts at that conference. He was doing his best to be unnoticed, but a crowd formed and hours later it was him and me for a final question. I left that encounter thinking he had a pretty cool gig, and it was something I’d love to do someday. Who knew …

KK: You’re the reigning Search Personality of the Year. Congratulations! Who would you like to see take the crown in 2015?

DF: Loaded question! Far too dangerous to handle! To be honest, there are so many deserving people, it’s impossible to include everyone. Yeah, that’s a political answer, I realize, but the fact is, there ARE so many people across our industry who have made, or continue to make, a positive impact. I think the real key is that people from the industry get involved with the [US Search] Awards. Beyond them being fun to attend, there’s real value here in terms of networking, personal branding and career growth.

KK: What are three of your favorite accounts to follow on Twitter?

DF:

@adage for things marketing/advertising and big company.
@copyblogger because of their sheer ability to get. it. right.
@maishawalker because I know her and she has such a great head for business. I have culled by Twitter “following” list to under 300 now, and getting me to add you requires a steady commitment to usefulness. Not just to me, but it’s gotta be obvious that your usefulness extends readily to others. Otherwise there’s no hope I’ll retweet you, so you don’t make the list.
@bruceclayinc is on my list, obviously — has been for years.
Otherwise, I have a few that are “off-topic” in the realm of future tech, random people and companies.

KK: Gawsh … (blush). New topic! What were the best books (of any kind) you read last year? What’s on your reading list for this year?

DF: I’m going to list titles here and folks can go look them up as they like. They span from fiction to business to what I’ll call reality.

Fiction

Daemon
Kirov
BrainRush
Ready Player One
Freedom (Daemon Book 2)
Final Day at Westfield Arcade
Nexus
Crux
Zodiac
Wired
Amped
(I’ve read over 40 books in the last year, so I’ll stop here with fiction.)

Business

Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact The World
Search: How The Data Explosion makes Us Smarter
The Power of Habit

Reality

Does Anything Eat Wasps
Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence
American Gun: America’s History Told Through The Stories of Ten Guns
Modern American Snipers: From The Legend To The Reaper

KK: What are your personal resolutions for 2015?

DF: Finish book No. 3. Publish more unique content. Maybe try walking on stage at an open mic night at a comedy club. Motorcycle trip to Death Valley. Back to Europe if at all possible. Walk my dogs more. Enjoy — and engage in — the relationships I’ve built across this amazing industry of incredible people.

Duane is a comedian, open mic or not, and we’re honored he took some time impart some laughs and SEO knowledge with us here. Want more of the SMX West 2015 Speaker Series? Discover insights from Google’s Gary Illyes, SEO by the Sea’s Bill Slawski, Bruce Clay, Inc.’s Mindy Weinstein, HubSpot’s Luke Summerfield, aimClear’s Marty Weintraub, Alliance-Link’s Debra Mastaler and Moz’s Pete Meyers. The SMX West 2015 Speaker Series wraps up next week with final interviews with Pushfire’s Rae Hoffman, Stone Temple Consulting’s Eric Enge and Experian’s Bill Tancer on deck.

#SMX Series: The Lowdown on Link Building with Debra Mastaler

#SMX Series: The Lowdown on Link Building with Debra Mastaler was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

All month long, we’ve interviewed select Search Marketing Expo (SMX) West speakers. Each exclusive interview offers a sneak peak of what’s to come when these SEO powerhouses take the SMX stage next month. Today, we welcome president of Alliance-Link Debra Mastaler. She’ll be sharing her insights on link building with the SMX audience in “Link Building Fundamentals” at 10:45 a.m. on March 3.

“I came into the SEO industry in late 1999 by way of owning a directory called TheOrganicWayMarket.com. Within six months of launching it, I dominated almost every organic term being used in the directory. I was practicing SEO, but didn’t know it at the time,” Mastaler explained. “I used the traditional sales, promotions, publicity and special event techniques I learned in my 20 years working for Anheuser Busch and the Civil Service. Once I figured it out, I closed the directory and concentrated on link building full time. It’s been fun and I’ve never looked back.”

Read on to discover Mastaler’s thoughts on all things concerning links, including Holy Grail links, worst nightmare links and more.

Kristi Kellogg: Say you’re doing a link audit for a new client. What’s the scariest “worst nightmare” scenario you could find?

Debra Mastaler: I’m not afraid of what I find as much as I’m afraid of what I don’t see. I have yet to find one tool that reports all your backlinks, so I use multiple tools repeatedly. It never fails; I find new links every time I use them. I need all the information before I can recommend changes or a “fix,” I hate feeling like I’ve missed something or don’t have a crucial piece of information moving forward. I can deal with most of what I do find, but not knowing? Argh!

KK: Is there a repeatable process for building “holy grail” links?

Photo by Wendy Piersall | CC by 2.0

DM: Yes, but it’s less about what you do and more about where. I find you need two things to get the best links:

Something worth linking to and
A list of quality sites to target.

Holy Grail or solid links only happen when a highly trusted site hosts your links. Figuring out what to offer is your challenge; it has to be something that totally exceeds their expectations. Spend time learning about your niche and where you want to place your content, and then launch a full campaign to get there. Remember, Google looks to reward pages that exude trust, authority and expertise — find partner sites with those qualities.

KK: Later this year the Twitter fire hose will turn back on. Do you expect that to have an effect on digital marketing strategy? Does having tweets in the Google index change the value of social links for SEO? 

DM: Tweets weren’t a long-term ranking help the first time Google hosted the fire hose, and I’m pretty sure that won’t change given the fluid nature of Twitter but, there will be benefits for both sides.

Twitter gets to be part of the No. 1 search platform in the world — that is great for advertising dollars and user recruitment. Google gets to host trending information and use tweets to serve ads against, which helps Google’s coffers but isn’t a big deal SEO-wise. I can see Google using tweets to calculate semantic relationships, URL relationships and for click-through metrics; they are helpful in SEO. Until Google and Twitter sort out their issues and Google figures out how to use tweets, I recommend people continue to actively tweet their blog posts and use embedded tweets in offsite content. More exposure can mean more links.

KK: If digital marketing was a pie chart, what percent goes to SEO, paid media, social and content marketing?

DM: If the whole pie = 100%, here’s how I’d break it down:

40% on SEO/keyword research
30% on copywriting
15% on paid advertising
10% on analytics
5% promoting on social networks

The bulk of my funds would go to researching what my audience wants to see/read/listen to and then having it executed. From there you can promote and analyze your results. The dollar amounts may change given the size of the vertical, but the overall emphasis I would place on completing each item would not.

KK: If you could tweak the Google algorithm, what would you change?

DM: There are multiple things I would change, but from a link building point of view? One of my biggest beefs is the way Google bullies us recommends we use nofollow attributes, especially on promotional items like badges and widgets.

Nofollow attributes are supposed to be added if you don’t trust a page you link to, have paid links or are offering widgets/infographics for free. I struggle with the widget/infographic point; not sure why I need to add a nofollow attribute to my linking code. Obviously the people hosting my widget like my site and what it stands for or they wouldn’t be hosting my content. Why am I forced to add code that shouts “don’t trust her” to something I paid to have created? I shouldn’t have to self-censor my links or anticipate someone else’s bad business practice. If Google knows “tons of people are abusing infographics,” why not take action on the sites doing the abuse rather than the site creating good content?

I guess the Better Business Bureau gets a pass because they are a brand.

I don’t usually argue the “brands get preference” spiel — I understand why they do — but in this case, who is Google to say my association widget or expert infographic is any less important than a generic badge from the Better Business Bureau? Widgets and badges are a great branding tool and way to show expertise for a site and yet, I can’t benefit algorithmically for fear of being dinged for Terms of Services violations. Doesn’t make sense.

KK: How do you stay on top of the constant changes to SEO?

DM: I am very lucky to be part of a couple of amazing private forums (SEOBook and SEODojo) and Facebook groups where some very smart people hang out. I’ve met some of my best friends in this business through the forums; they are a life-line for so much.

I also visit Webmaster World, Stack Exchange and Hacker News daily, plus have alerts for up to 250 keywords. My Feedly (RSS reader) has over 100 blogs listed, so I cull through a lot of information daily.

KK: What does your day-to-day look like at work?

DM: I am normally up at 6:30 a.m., send my daughter off to school and am in front of my computer by 7:30 a.m. This gives me time to check in with people in the UK, go through my email and any personal “to-do” list before starting work at 9 a.m. I usually work until about 4:30 p.m. so I touch base with people on the West Coast and then stop until 8 p.m. From 8 to 10 p.m. I work on my personal sites. I do all Alliance-Link work during regular business hours.

KK: So … you stay busy. What are the top seven sites you view the most?

DM: I touch these seven sites daily to help me work and keep me informed:

Twitter
Facebook
Google Communities
SEOBook
Search Engine Land
Jason Hirschhorn’s Media Redefined (best articles)
TechCrunch/Startups

KK: What’s your favorite social platform and why?

DM: I love the ease of broadcast and the way I am able to reach a lot of people quickly on Twitter. But I spend a lot of personal time on Pinterest wishing my pies came out as well as what’s pictured.

KK: What do you think SEO will look like in ten years?

DM: It will look like a memory as I sit on a beach in retirement.

Honestly, I don’t know. If you asked me in 2005 what SEO would look like I would not have been able to imagine Twitter, not using directories to build links, or of being afraid to leave comments on blogs. Life happens, things change. SEO will survive.

Is there a question YOU would like to ask SMX West 2015 speaker Debra Mastaler? Share it in the comments! And if you want more of the SMX West Speaker Series, check out these interviews with Google’s Gary Illyes, SEO by the Sea’s Bill Slawski, Bruce Clay, Inc.’s Mindy Weinstein, HubSpot’s Luke Summerfield, aimClear’s Marty Weintraub and Moz’s Pete Meyers. And still to come next week, we have Duane Forrester, Rae Hoffman, Bill Tancer and Eric Enge on deck.

Free SEO Tool Tuesday: On-Page Optimization Tool Improves Organic Ranking Elements

Free SEO Tool Tuesday: On-Page Optimization Tool Improves Organic Ranking Elements was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Did you know that in addition to our comprehensive SEOToolSet, Bruce Clay, Inc. also has a diverse collection of free SEO tools? To get you acquainted with our 10 free tools, we’ve created the Free SEO Tool Tuesday miniseries. Pop in on Tuesdays to learn more about how our free tools work, and how to apply the data given to your technical and organic SEO strategy. Enjoy!

Today’s Free SEO Tool: SEO Multi-Page Information Tool

Tool type: competitive research, on-page optimization

What you learn: Enter up to six pages and the tool pulls from each: page title, meta description, meta keywords tag and H1. You also learn each page’s canonical tag, should an analyzed page have one.

Why this matters: The metadata and Heading 1 are among the strongest on-page ranking factors. Collect this information for top-ranked pages in your space to understand the language and focus search engines deem relevant for your keywords.

Here’s the SEO Multi-Page Information tool; enter up to six URLs (one per line) and click Get Data below.

Get Data


How to Use It

1. Enter up to six URLs (one per line) and click Get Data. Make sure to use fully qualified URLs such as http://www.bruceclay.com/blog.

The URLs you enter can be high-level competitor URLs, like your competitor’s home page, or deeper web page URLs, like a link to a specific landing page or blog post. You can also look at your own information by entering any of your own web page URLs.

2. The tool will return a list of pertinent information about each submitted web page, including:

Page title tag
Meta description
Meta keywords
H1 text
Canonical URL if one is indicated on a web page

Example results from the Bruce Clay, Inc. Multi-page Information Tool.

 

4 Ways to Use This Data

The SEO Multi-Page Information tool helps you analyze the effectiveness of high-value on-page elements like the meta tags and level-one heading tag.

Use the data supplied in this tool to:

1. Discover new niche-specific keywords: Using keywords in your title tag and H1 is SEO 101. As such, mining you competitor’s meta tags can be a great way to discover the market-specific keyword phrases also relevant to your business.

When you see phrases in your competitors’ H1 and metadata that look like keyword leads, add them to your keyword research spreadsheet and run them through a keyword research tool, like the free Bruce Clay, Inc. keyword research tool.

Look for niche-specific keyword phrases in your competitor’s metadata.

2. Inspire the structure and style of your own meta tags: Since every single page of your website needs a meta title and description, it’s a wise idea to approach the meta tag writing process with a structure and style strategy.

Whether you’ve been tasked with an on-page SEO audit or you’re looking to improve your current approach you can learn a lot from analyzing your competitor’s meta.

What format are your competitor’s using? For instance, are they using pipes or dashes to break up their titles? How do they work in their brand name? Should your meta titles and descriptions take on a similar style and/or structure?
How many characters are they using?
What is their tone?
How and where are they using action words?
What’s their character count?
How are their keyword phrases incorporated into their meta tags?
Are they using keyword synonyms? (Learn more about semantic keywords.)

Think of this step as a part of your competitor analysis strategy. Observe what competitors are doing, feel out how successful their efforts are, then decide if you want to follow suite or try something new.

Get inspired by the smart things your competitor’s are doing right. Here, Zappos uses the H1 tag in a thoughtful way.

3. Uncover weak spots (and ranking opportunities!): If your competitors are doing a good job, consider following their lead, but if they’re doing a bad job, their oversight may be a great opportunity to get one step ahead!

As you’re analyzing their metadata and Heading 1 tag, ask yourself:

Are there any keyword gaps? If they’re not optimizing for high-volume keywords on your list, they’re not ranking for those keywords — which could mean a big opportunity for you. Consider this a part of your competitive analysis.
Is the meta description style lacking? Your title tag is a high-value ranking factor and your meta description contributes to CTR. Do your competitor’s meta descriptions sound dry and formulaic? If so, this is a great opportunity for you to use your meta description to stand out with a personality-rich description that highlights your page benefits and makes a click-inspiring connection. 

4. Pretty data charts make it easy to present competitor metadata to stakeholders: If you are the person tasked with proposing a new meta tag structure/style guide, you may want to present some competitor analysis to your stakeholders at one point or another. The SEO Multi-Page Information tool is a great resource for this type of data collection and presentation; just run the tool and take a screenshot of your competitor information charts. (If you’re using Chrome, I really like the Full Page Screen Capture Chrome extension.) Using the SEO Multi-Page Information tool and screen captures is much easier and quicker than going to View Source on six separate websites and collecting the information into charts by hand.

Explore More Free SEO Tools

The SEO Multi-Page Information tool is a free on-page optimization tool that you can use for competitor research, or to scope out your own on-page meta data and H1 tags. If you find it useful, please bookmark this blog post and run the tool as many times as you want, with as many unique websites as you want. There is no limit; you can enter competitor websites all day long as long as you enter them six at a time. You can also find this tool embedded within the Content Optimization step of our (also free) online SEO tutorial.

If you would like to see more free SEO tools, keep an eye on our Free SEO Tool Tuesday blog series. Or, if you want to play with all 10 of the free tools now, you can access our free SEO tools from our SEO tutorial. All 10 free tools are embedded throughout the online tutorial, and they’re all free, all the time. (Seriously. They’re free. W.)

#SMX Speaker Series: Moz’s Dr. Pete Meyers Talks SERP Science

#SMX Speaker Series: Moz’s Dr. Pete Meyers Talks SERP Science was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Meet Dr. Pete Meyers — Moz’s marketing scientist and the brains behind the MozCast. MozCast reports volatility of Google SERPs as a weather report, measuring the changes in Google rankings daily in an effort to track algorithm changes.

“MozCast was born out of my frustration that Google admitted to hundreds of search changes every year, and we could only name a handful,” Meyers explained. “The project has evolved a lot in the past three and half years, and the one thing I’ve heard from a lot of people is ‘Thanks for letting me know I’m not crazy.’ There are so many times when we think something changed, and we just need that gut-check. I hope MozCast helps fill that gap.”

Running MozCast positions Meyers as a SERP historian. On March 3, Meyers will present Dr. Pete’s Guide To The Changing Google SERPs at Search Marketing Expo (SMX) West. He’ll bring audiences up to date on all the latest changes to the SERP, the Knowledge Graph boxes,  the Local Pack, display carousels and more.

Today, Meyers joins us on the blog for an exclusive interview about all things Google-related. This is the latest in a series of interviews with VIP SMX West Speakers. Over the last month, we’ve heard insights from:

Google’s Gary Illyes
SEO by the Sea’s Bill Slawski
Bruce Clay, Inc.’s Mindy Weinstein
HubSpot’s Luke Summerfield
aimClear’s Marty Weintraub

Now on to the doctor.

Kristi Kellogg: As a SERP historian, what do you see looming on the horizon with Google’s search engine results pages?

Pete Meyers: Google has made a strong shift toward mobile-first design, and I think that means that they’re going to take more and more liberties with the layout of desktop search. We’re going to see more mixing of paid and organic elements, especially in Knowledge Graph entities. The days of organic results in a block with ads on the top, bottom, and right are behind us.

KK: In October, you mentioned MozCast topped a quarter-million visits — why is MozCast so important?

PM: I’ve realized over time that algorithm changes are just one small piece of the puzzle. Google is creating and modifying new SERP elements all of the time, and we built the Feature Graph to track those changes. This is the part of the system that I’m really passionate about these days, and there are other systems in play beyond the public tool that help alert us when Google makes changes. I hope that research is useful to a broader audience than just hardcore algorithm chasers.

KK: How does your role as a cognitive psychologist play into your day-to-day work at Moz?

PM: A lot of what I do involves answering messy questions and designing experiments or finding the data and models that could start to make sense of them. While the ins and outs of cognitive psychology don’t necessarily come into play every day, my training as a research scientist has been critical to the last few years of my work.

KK: Without giving away all the secrets you’re going to share during your SMX West session, what do marketers need to know about the growth of Knowledge Graph boxes? Why are they so important?

PM: If I had to really drill it down into one point, I’d say this —l Google can’t rely on a human-edited Knowledge Graph. It just doesn’t scale. So, Google is going to have to build the Knowledge Graph off of the accumulated knowledge of the search index, and the second-generation answer boxes we’ve seen pop up in the past year are the beginning of that. As it stands right now, Google is essentially competing against us with our own information, and I think that’s a turning point in the relationship between Google and webmasters.

KK: You recently tweeted:

Whether you believe everything Google says or the opposite of everything Google says, you’re still letting Google tell you how to think.

— Dr. Pete Meyers (@dr_pete) January 29, 2015

Can you expand on that?

PM: Sometimes, I think we’ve taken our “white hat” vs. “black hat” mythology to heart. For every person who believes every word that a Google rep says, there’s someone who rails about how that person is naive and thinks that nothing Google says can be trusted. If you automatically disbelieve everything Google tells you, then Google still pretty much controls the game. I think we need to recognize that, while Google is a $60 billion company whose motivations aren’t always aligned with ours, not everything they do is a conspiracy. We have to be able to think for ourselves, collect our own data and learn to interpret what Google reps say effectively.

KK: You wrote about the slight alteration to the Google logo in June. Why would Google make such a seemingly insignificant change such as this?

PM: First off, I should say that that post was really just for fun and came out of my love for minimalism and the occasional absurdity of big corporate branding decisions. I have a feeling that some designer at Google just stared at the logo so long it was making them crazy For some reason, the old kerning wasn’t working quite right for a new use or platform. I wouldn’t read too much into two pixels.

KK: What aspect of the Google algorithm fascinates you the most?

PM: I think it’s the whole ecosystem that fascinates me these days. Organic search is only one piece of the puzzle, and Google has to manage an interplay that somehow provides value to searches, provides value to webmasters, and still makes them billions of dollars. In some ways, I’m sympathetic to the challenge they face, even as I think they wield a lot of power and someone has to keep an eye on them. I don’t think anyone knows where search is headed in the next five years, including Google.

KK: If you could only use one social media platform, what would it be and why?

PM: For me, it would definitely be Twitter. I’m not saying that’s true for everyone or that Twitter is clearly superior — it’s just a good fit to my personality. Personally and professionally, Twitter has let me navigate the six degrees of separation and produced far more value than I ever would’ve imagined when I first tried it out.

KK: What are you five most-used apps?

PM: I have to admit, I’m kind of old-school when it comes to software — I tend to do things the hard way for too long. When the hard way stops working, my next mistake is to start building my own dashboards, when I probably could’ve just installed someone else’s software.

If we’re talking desktop, I spend most of my time in Excel and PHP/mySQL. I’m into some productivity apps, but I change my mind about them roughly weekly. I love making lists, and I recently discovered AnyList. I’m also a huge fan of the Creative Whack Pack app (which is based on a card deck of creativity exercises). I use SoundHound a lot — I love thinking “wait, what’s that song?” and just holding my iPhone up to the air. That just never gets old for me.

KK: What’s on your reading list for 2015?

PM: Most of my reading list from 2014 A ton of fiction, actually — I’m dabbling with the idea of writing something, and I need a break from business books. I’m currently reading Randall Munroe’s (of xkcd fame) “What if?” and “Good Omens” by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I’ve been getting to know a lot of indie authors, so I’m also reading a lot of their stuff, as they release it usually. So, my list tends to change a lot.

Is there a question YOU would like to ask SMX West 2015 speaker Dr. Pete Meyers? Share it in the comments! And check back on the blog all month long — the SMX West Speaker Series will continue with Duane Forrester, Rae Hoffman, Debra Mastaler, Bill Tancer and Eric Enge.

SMX West 2015: The Conference, The Liveblog Schedule and More!

SMX West 2015: The Conference, The Liveblog Schedule and More! was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Search Marketing Expo (SMX), one of the search marketing industry’s biggest events, comes to San Jose next month from March 3-5. The Bruce Clay, Inc. team will be there sharing exciting tools and liveblogging the conference. Below is where you can find Bruce Clay and the rest of the team throughout the conference. If you have yet to register, make sure to use our exclusive discount code to save 10 percent: BRUCECLAYSMXW15.

Where to Find Bruce & Co.

Clay will lead his acclaimed One-Day SEO Training on March 2.
When night falls, it’s time for a party. Join us at the Plaza Terrace of the San Jose Convention Center for some lively networking on March 2 at 6 p.m. Come have a drink on Bruce, literally — Bruce Clay, Inc. and aimClear sponsor the SMX Meet & Greet.


Director of Training Mindy Weinstein will be speak in “Keyword Research for Better Content & Audience Engagement on March 3 at 10:45 a.m.
On March 3, Bruce takes the stage for a Solution Spotlight where he’ll explain how Bruce Clay, Inc. has facilitated recovery for clients who have participated in bad link networks.
Catch Bruce again on March 3 at 11:40 a.m. in the SMX Theater as he talks about SEO tools (including free ones!), backlink detection and link management.
Throughout the entire conference, you can stop by booth #406 in the Expo Hall to meet our team.
Virginia Nussey and I will liveblog key sessions all day, everyday, throughout the conference! Read the coverage as it happens right here on the Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog, and check out our liveblogging schedule below.

Liveblog Schedule

Day 1: March 3, 2015

Time
SMX West Session
Blogger


9 a.m.
The Growth of Direct Answers: How Should SEOs React?
Kristi


10:45 a.m.
Keyword Research for Better Content & Audience Engagement
Virginia


10:45 a.m.
Eye Tracking Update: How Users View & Interact w/ Contemporary Google Search Results
Kristi


1:30 p.m.
Keywords are Dead — Long Live Concepts, Entities & Audiences!
Virginia


3:30 p.m.


Dr. Pete’s Guide to the Changing Google SERP
Extending Search Insights Beyond Your Website
Avoiding Search Marketing Practices


Kristi


3:30 p.m.


SEO Platforms for Large Scale Websites
Injecting SEO into your Organization’s DNA
The Power & Persuasion of Infographics


Virginia

Day 2: March 4, 2015

Time
SMX West Session
Blogger


9 a.m.
Master AdWords Scripts
Virginia


9 a.m.
Things You Don’t Know about Mobile SEO, But Should
Kristi


10:45 a.m.
Penguin Penalty Prevention: Link Acquisition & Auidt Techniques You Need to Know
Virginia


10:45 a.m.
Search Inside the App: From Google to Bing
Kristi


1:30 p.m.
Actionable Insights & Conversion Tactics for SEOs
Virginia


3:30 p.m.
How to Secure Your Site for Google’s HTTPS Algorithm
Kristi


5 p.m.
Keynote with Bill Tancer, author of “Everyone’s a Critic”
Virginia (with Kristi livetweeting!)

Day 3: March 5, 2015

Time
SMX West Session
Blogger


9 a.m.
The Next Generation of Structured Data: Taking Makrup to the Next Level
Virginia


9 a.m.
Better Together: Search & Social
Kristi


10:45 a.m.
What’s in My Analytics Toolbox
Virginia


10:45 a.m.
Social Media Clinic
Kristi


1 p.m.
Expert Excel Essentials
Virginia


1 p.m.
Meet the Search Engines
Kristi

 

We’ll see you at SMX West 2015! In the meantime, check out our 2015  SMX West Speaker Interview Series, featuring interviews with VIP SMX West speakers, including Gary Illyes, Mindy Weinstein, Luke Summerfield, Marty Weintraub, Bill Slawski and more!

SMX West Speaker Series: A Taste of Marty Weintraub’s Contagious Inspiration

SMX West Speaker Series: A Taste of Marty Weintraub’s Contagious Inspiration was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

If you keep tabs on the Internet marketing industry’s thought leaders, you’ve heard of aimClear president Marty Weintraub. Weintraub has written two books, publishes a widely successful blog and was named the 2013 Search Personality of the Year. He’s speaking at Search Marketing Expo (SMX) next month in “Keywords are Dead — Long Live Concepts, Entities and Audiences!” on March 3.

In this exclusive interview, Weintraub candidly discusses:

The death of keywords and the new means of targeting
The biggest marketing mistake that can be avoided in 2015
The origins of his company and its effect on his company’s culture
Advice for starting a blog and being perceived as a thought leader

Kristi Kellogg: Tell us … why are keywords dead? Who killed the keywords?

Marty Weintraub: The search PPC industry is being turned on its ear. Keywords, the traditional targeting mechanism of paid search, are quietly being phased out. Google is methodically eradicating keywords and keyword data, replaced by psychographic audience targeting (which INCLUDES search data), crawling pages and product feeds. What’s fascinating is that some of Google’s new hybrid search/psychographic data layers seamlessly CREATE queries that are not transparent. Google is finally succeeding in its mission to minimize and/or eliminate marketers’ keyword discretion.

KK: What is the biggest mistake you see CMOs making in 2015?

MW: Almost uniformly, CMOs must understand that the division of marketing structure, is obsolete. Social has a crucial psychographic content display amplification component that is separate from performance PPC marketing. Obviously content and creative dovetails into everything from landing pages to blogs, social posts to text ads. PR is often separate from digital marketing, which is ridiculous. The biggest mistakes CMOs will make in 2015: missing the chance to tear outdated corporate structure apart to help the left hand know what the right hand is doing. If you SAY you want integrated marketing … try integrating your marketing teams.

KK: You often tell the story at conferences of how you started your own business while managing PPC from a hospital bed. How did that happen?

MW: We’ve all heard the expression “live like you’re dying.” Well, I’ve experienced closeness to death firsthand and it colored my professional outlook and ambition in profound and intensely beautiful ways. When I could not handle going to my job anymore, my employer essentially became my first client. I literally started our company, aimClear, in a hospital room at Mayo Clinic.

More importantly, the lessons learned battling cancer and struggling for survival permeate aimClear’s counterculture. I founded aimClear on the heels of surviving Lymphoma stage 3B, still handling the effects of chemo and radiation. As a result, our little “company that can” was born to a person ready to embrace the joy of life and work. That was 10 years ago. Every day still I go to the office feeling an invaluable combination of excitement, awe and fear. [Watch Marty speak about beating cancer.]

KK: How did you come up with the name aimClear for your agency? How has it transformed?

MW: Back in 2006 I was researching domain names and registered a bunch like “minnesotaSEO,” “SEOMn,” etc. A friend of mine suggested that I call the company “MovingTarget,” because the digital marketing landscape is always changing. Of course, “movingtarget” was not available.

I plugged “Moving” as the primary keyword and “Target” as the secondary in NameBoy, which was a domain synonym generator back in the day. NameBoy did lateral stemming on keywords input and found combinations for which the domain name was available. “aimClear” was the first suggestion stemmed from movingtarget. Since I knew even then that aimClear’s differentiating strengths were all about targeting, the name fit really well. The rest (as they say) is history.

KK: That is an awesome origin story. If you had to do anything over again in building your search marketing agency, what would it be?

MW: Honestly, I would not change anything major. It’s been a magical ride. That said, I trusted a few individuals along the way that disappointed me. Also, I could have had more faith and relaxed just a bit more to ENJOY that magical ride even more.

KK: What advice would you have for someone who was thinking about starting a blog?

MW: Just go for it! Think of your new blog as FAQ content for services offered. Create content that demystifies, empowers, removes barriers and otherwise facilitates readers.  The best way to be perceived as a thought leader is to actually be one. The research you’ll need to do will make you even more of an expert. Think of links and citations of external thought leaders are true citations to serve your readers.

KK: You were in a rock band and still jam out in the aimClear music studio. Do you have any current jam sessions in action? Can you share a favorite rock photo from back in the day? #TBT

A promotional shot of Shout band member Marty Weintraub in 1980. #TBT

MW: aimClear has a band and we’re about to release a record. Stand by to have your mind freakin’ blown.

KK: Whoa. Standing by. Where do you get inspiration?

MW: I was born inspired. I get it from being alive.

Have a question of your own for SMX West speaker Marty Weintraub? Share it in the comments!

Free SEO Tool Tuesday: KSP Keyword Research Tool

Free SEO Tool Tuesday: KSP Keyword Research Tool was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

In addition to our SEOToolSet suite of diagnostic tools, Bruce Clay, Inc. also has a comprehensive set of free SEO tools. To introduce you to our 10 free tools, we’ve started the Free SEO Tool Tuesday series to highlight what each free tool does and how to use the data it gives you. Here’s the second free tool in the miniseries. Enjoy! 

Today’s Free SEO Tool: KSP Keyword Research Tool

Tool type: keyword research

What you learn: pertinent information about potential keyword search volume and context

Why this matters: The eight fields of data you get from this tool offer a well-rounded view of how your keywords measure up, who’s using them, and whether the keywords mean to the general public what you think they mean. By comparing the stats of up to 12 keyword phrases, you can make cuts and prioritize your keyword list.

Here’s the tool; enter up to 12 keyword phrases to try it out.

KSP Keyword Research Tool
Please enter keywords — comma or line separated (max 12):

SEOToolSet® Keyword Statistics

Keyword
Google
Yahoo
Live
Total
CTR
CPC
Categories









How to Use It

1. Enter up to 12 keyword phrases separated by commas or line breaks into the KSP tool, and click the Run KSP button.

2. The tool will return a list of pertinent information about your keywords:

Google, Bing and Yahoo monthly search volume
An estimate of total search volume across all engines (the Activity column)
The current paid search click-through rate (CTR) percentage and CPC bid amount for each term in Bing
The Bing category associated with each keyword

Use the monthly search volume for all engines and the overall search activity numbers as an indication of relative popularity. For instance, think of a keyword phrase with a search volume of 12,000 as roughly twice as popular as a phrase with a volume of 6,000, and significantly more popular than a phrase with a volume of 1,000 or 50.

3. Mouse over each of the keyword phrases to see demographic information about the individuals searching for your keyword phrases.

7 Ways To Use This Data

The KSP is a great SEO tool if you’re looking for keyword statistics that can help you prioritize and vet a keyword research list.

Use the data supplied in this tool to:

1. Discover potential silo themes: The Categories column tells you what categories Bing associates with your keyword phrase based on its understanding of the keyword’s meaning and searcher’s intention. Sometimes these category suggestions can provide an ah-ha moment that can become a foundation theme for a brand new siloing strategy.

2. Discover more context about your keyword phrases: Just as the Categories column can reveal new avenues for thematic keyword exploration, the info reported under Categories can also clue you in to potential trouble. If you see an unexpected category reported for your keyword, you may be looking at a red flag requiring your investigation.

Here’s an example. If you enter “spiral staircase” into the KSP tool, you’ll see one of the categories reported is “Games & Puzzles.” Turns out that this is because enough people search for “spiral staircases minecraft” (to get more info on the popular and addictive structure-building game Minecraft) that Bing has associated this keyword phrase with the game.

At first glance seeing “Games & Puzzles” associated with your “spiral staircase” query might make you think that the results are way off; instead, unexpected categories should make you think “this query is multidimensional; I should further investigate its context.” Remember, part of the keyword research process is to make sure your keyword means what you think it means, and that its volume is productive converting volume – not tangentially related (or unrelated) volume that is going to bounce. Discovering that “spiral staircase” has a game association gives you a 360-degree understanding of your query and allows you to make a more educated decision about the query’s potential value.

3. Think like a semantic search engine: Using the Categories column to discover the context of your keyword phrases can also help you get into the mind of the semantic search engine. Remember, in the age of semantic search, how the search engine interprets meaning and intention plays a large role when it comes to ranking potential. If there are lots of unexpected categories associated with your keyword phrase, the search engine may have a watered down understanding of that phrase’s meaning/intention, which could mean lower rankings or inappropriate rankings where you end up clumped with the wrong crowd.

4. Vet conversion potential: The CTR (click-through rate) column in this report tells you information about how your keyword phrases are performing in Bing paid search. Use the CTR percentage to get an idea for how many clicks these words have the potential to inspire, then use that data as a clue to help you prioritize your keyword research list. Think of these numbers in relation to one another; for instance, a query with a 5 percent CTR has a relatively stronger conversion potential than a query that only has .87 percent CTR.

The CPC (cost per click) column in this free tool report tells you how much your fellow marketers are currently willing to pay per-click for traffic from this keyword phrase. Or, in other words, how much this keyword phrase is worth to your competitors. This matters because keyword phrases that are worth more per click tend to be keyword phrases that have been proven to convert better.

5. Assess competition: Queries that show high per-click bids in the CPC column convert better – but those high bids also mean that query is more competitive. For example, a CPC of $54 means there are a lot of people fighting to optimize for this term. When you see a high CPC think: “This phrase merits more research. There is potential here (it could be high converting), but who is the organic competition? Do I have a chance to rank on the first page?”

6. Evaluate whether a keyword phrase is a good match for your target market: Hover over your keyword phrases to see demographic statistics about the people who are using your potential keyword phrases. Does the demographic profile you see match the demographic profile of your target market? If not, consider dumping this phrase from your list; you want the right kind of traffic, not just any traffic, after all.

7. See how query keyword volume compares across three search engines: The first three columns of this free report show you how often people are entering your keyword phrases into Bing, Google and Yahoo search engines. This side-by-side view gives you a holistic understanding of each keyword’s popularity, and it can also help you spot anomalies that can help you better understand your keyword’s potential market.

For instance, notice in the example below that the Yahoo and Bing search volume for each query is about the same all the way down the column, until you get to the last query – “tennis shoes.” For “tennis shoes,” Yahoo sees 30,000 more searches per month than Bing; even thinking relatively, that is a pretty significant jump. Anomalies like this are great clues that offer even more insight into who is using the keyword phrase, and accordingly, what kind of traffic a first page ranking for that phrase would attract. In this case I see a disproportionate amount of people using Yahoo to search for this query, so I think: “People who prefer to search using Yahoo, also prefer to use this keyword phrase. How can I use Yahoo demographic statistics to learn more about the type of people using this phrase?”

Explore More Free SEO Tools

The free KSP tool is a free-forever keyword research tool. If you like it, please bookmark this blog post and run the tool as many times as you want, with as many keywords as you want. There is no limit; you can enter a million keywords as long as you enter them 12 at a time. You can also find this tool embedded within the keyword selection step of our SEO tutorial.

If you like free SEO tools, keep an eye on the blog as we’ll be highlighting Bruce Clay, Inc. tools regularly as part of Free SEO Tool Tuesday. Or, if you want more free SEO tools right this very instant, you can see all 10 of our free SEO tools embedded within our SEO tutorial right now. They’re all free, all the time, no exceptions. (Did we mention free? Just checking.)

SMX West Speaker Series: Driving Human Behavior with HubSpot’s Luke Summerfield

SMX West Speaker Series: Driving Human Behavior with HubSpot’s Luke Summerfield was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Luke Summerfield is on a mission to help others achieve their peak level of performance. It’s what he does every day at HubSpot as the partner services manager.

“I’m inspired to help others unlock what they are fully capable of and see the impact that makes on their mindset and life,” Summerfield explained.

For brands and businesses, unlocking potential in the digital realm means healthy conversion rates, which is one of Summerfield’s specialties. He will take the SMX West stage next month to share his strategy and insights in “Conversion Rate Rock Stars.”

In a preview of what’s to come in his March 2 session, he joins us on the blog today for an exclusive interview. He talks about:

Performance coaching
Driving human behavior
Having a growth mindset
Brands that are winning marketing
And more!

KK: You recently moved into a new role at HubSpot, transitioning from a performance coach to the partner services manager. What does your new role entail? What’s on the professional horizon for you in 2015?

LS: Although I’m onto my next adventure, I’m still a peak performance coach. Joining the HubSpot team is a new vehicle for me to accomplish this. At HubSpot, my role is to take an 800-foot view of how we’re working with partner agencies to identify opportunities and engineer the program to hit peak performance. We really want to see our 2,000+ partner agencies growing and succeeding with HubSpot supporting them in any way possible.

I also just launched a new eye tracking service: Easy Eye Tracking. Starting at just $99, marketers and CRO professionals can run an eye-tracking study on real people to gain insights of exactly where their eyes are looking and attention is focused. I’m excited to offer this new level of insights [previously too expensive and difficult to do] to the marketing, CRO and UX community.

KK: “I wake up each morning excited to inspire others to reach their maximum potential.” That’s a powerful statement that you shared last year on Instagram . What makes you so passionate about helping others achieve their maximum potential?

LS: I firmly believe that both people and organizations are capable of accomplishing so much more than they give themselves credit for. Many times it simply takes a clear end destination, organization/structure and someone coaching you to offer a new prospective and push you to reach a little bit further.

Luke Summerfield’s inspirational ink, as seen on his Instagram.

KK: Who has helped you achieve your maximum potential? How?

LS: One of the biggest game changer moments for both my personal and business life was reading Simon Sinek’s “Start With Why.” He provides a framework for discovering, at your core, why you do the things that you do. I’m sure many people reading this are familiar with his world famous TED Talk. If you liked this talk, his book dives much further into the topic and includes other interesting concepts. In the book, Simon applies his framework to the business and marketing context; however, it can be applied to virtually anything including your personal life.

KK: At SMX East last year, you said the goal of a marketer is to drive human behavior . What common mistakes do you see digital marketers making when it comes to the science of driving human behavior?

LS: I’ll give you an easy and quick one. One of the biggest ways marketers are falling short is not incorporating video into their website and marketing. Video is SUCH a powerful format that draws on so many of the psychological factors … I can’t believe more marketers aren’t using video. They should find creative and fun ways to use video on things like website 404 pages, automated lead nurturing emails, social media, video blogging, product/service pages, etc.

KK: What brands are doing it right when it comes to engaging with their audience?

LS: One of my favorite examples is from the P&G Olympics marketing campaign. Their campaign started with a single commercial.

And then spiraled into a much bigger, powerful marketing campaign as they continued to create content around this theme. This series is so effective because they approached it from an emotional context.

I’m also a fan of everything BetaBrand does. Marketing-related companies KISSmetrics and Optimizely are also doing a great job.

KK: You advocate a “growth mindset.” On your website you write “everyone’s abilities, talents and intelligence are not fixed, rather, they can be grown by challenges and learning.” What are the best things digital marketers – and people in general – can do to keep growing?

LS: One thing I would encourage marketers to do is to take your marketing hat off and put on a scientist jacket. Thinking about certain marketing campaigns as experiments that you can run to learn and adapt your marketing is probably one of the best practices as a marketer. Yet, so few do it.

You have to know that not everything you’re going to try is going to work. Things will fail and that’s good. If you’re not failing, you’re likely staying within your comfort zone and not reaching to try new, innovative marketing tactics. But, you must learn when you fail and then adapt.

Additionally, it’s important to invest in your own education and knowledge. One great way to integrate this into your organization is to have each employee set a goal to learn a new marketing tactic/strategy that you’re currently not familiar with.

Have them book recurring time into their calendars for learning and application. Then at the end of the month, have each person put together a short presentation about what they have learned.

KK: What are your chief objectives for 2015?

LS: Above my work at HubSpot, my biggest initiative in 2015 is to refocus my time into developing my blog and content on my website. I just launched a new site and am in the process of creating lots of great video blogs.

I’m also focusing on growing awareness around Easy Eye Tracking so marketers, CRO and UX professionals know about this great service to help them do better work.

KK: What’s your favorite social platform and why?

LS: For business, Twitter is probably my favorite network to use when looking to drive marketing metrics. Additionally, the ability to discover opportunity through monitoring is great for creating new relationships. I also really love Quora. It’s such a valuable network with a ton of hidden gems and offers users the ability to establish themselves as an authority within an industry.

For personal use, Instagram. For those who know how to tell stories with photos, it’s an incredible platform. With one photo you can get a snapshot to someone’s world, emotions and experiences. Not everyone is good at capturing this (myself included), but those artsy minded folks are great to follow. And for the most part, Instagram is unique with that storytelling ability. Facebook and Pinterest have photo sharing, but I find the people using those platforms have a different style and focus.

KK: Can you share one of your favorite Instagram photos?

LS: Yes — this is a photo I took of the skyline of Milwaukee (my hometown) while by the lake writing.

KK: You read one book a week. What were the best books (of any kind) you’ve recently read?

LS: I hit my 2014 New Year’s resolution and finished 60 books in 2014. Here are my top recommendations for marketers:

“Start with Why” by Simon Sinek
“Influence” by Robert Cialdini
“The Buying Brain” by AK Pradeep
“Brainfluence” by Roger Dooley
“Made to Stick” by Dan and Chip Heath
“Switch” by Dan and Chip Heath
“Contagious” by Jonah Berger
“The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries
“Blue Ocean Strategy” by Renee Mauborgne and Chan Kim
“Pitch Anything” by Oren Klaff

Have a question for SMX West 2015 speaker Luke Summerfield? Share it in the comments!

SMX West Speaker Series: SEO by the Sea’s Bill Slawski on Google Direct Answers

SMX West Speaker Series: SEO by the Sea’s Bill Slawski on Google Direct Answers was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

We’re gearing up for Search Marketing Expo (SMX) West 2015 with interviews of key speakers in our SMX West Speaker Series. So far, Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes illuminated Google’s upcoming efforts to deliver features and improve products for the benefit of website owners. And, Bruce Clay, Inc. Director of Training Mindy Weinstein shared an approach to keyword research that starts before tools and tricks.

Today we welcome Bill Slawski, president of SEO by the Sea and director of search marketing at Go Fish Digital.

An SEO for nearly 20 years, Slawski has major experience and knowledge to bring to the table. Slawski takes a technical approach to SEO, unafraid to pore over search engine patents to reveal the gears and levers powering search engine algorithms and technologies. He’s written more than 1,000 blog posts and is a regular speaker at major industry conferences, including Pubcon, SearchLove, Search Engine Strategies conference and, of course, SMX. SMX West attendees can catch him speaking on March 3 at 9 a.m. in “The Growth Of Direct Answers: How Should SEOs React.”

First, a definition. The Google search engine results pages have seen a boom of answer boxes over the last year. These answer boxes, or direct answers, come in the form of a box at the top of a Google results page with information that seeks to satisfy a searcher’s query right from the page — no result click-through by the user necessary. Direct answers commonly show up for queries that seek step-by-step instructions (like “how to tie a tie” or “how to find your ring size”) and conversational queries posed as questions (like “why is the sky blue” or “what is the boiling point of Nitrogen”). You’ll see Google provide direct answers for movie times and sporting event broadcasts and scores, stats about celebrities, definitions of words, and increasingly more queries.

For site owners and SEOs, there’s a question of whether Google’s direct answers are stealing their clicks and credit. The SEO industry is facing an evolution as marketers must extract opportunity from the new answer-box-filled SERP. Bill Slawski is just the SEO to help guide us to the possibilities.

In this interview Slawski illuminates:

Potential threats and problems with Google answer boxes for website owners
How SEOs can approach Google direct answers as an opportunity with schema
The top three trends in search he’d recommend SEOs pay attention to this year

There’s a lot more to it, so let’s get started.

Kristi Kellogg: You have been an Internet Marketer since 1996, that’s pre-Google! If you had to do it all over again as a search marketer, what would you differently?

Bill Slawski: I wish I had learned the value of using the patent office website as a source of information earlier than I had.  And I’ve been focusing upon reading and blogging about only the latest granted patents and published patent applications. I hadn’t been drilling down through the different algorithms that people at Google have written patents about nationally and internationally, and doing very focused crawls through that information, including older patents, until this past summer, when my friend Barbara Starr started doing some investigating of patents with me.

KK: Let’s talk about Google’s direct answers. How are direct answers changing the SEO landscape?

BS: Google provides hybrid answers to natural language questions that not only provide a searcher something that looks like an actual answer to a natural language question, but also a list of query type results pages where searchers can go to look for more information. Given Sergey Brin’s 1999 patent on DIPRE (Dual Iterative Pattern Relation Expansion — quite possibly Google’s first patent, since PageRank was filed for and assigned to Stanford), it’s not a surprise that they would be interested in returning actual answers to questions to people instead of just ranking pages that might contain those answers.

Given the growth of the usage of Schema.org markup and the way searchers appear to enjoy seeing rich snippets and answer box results in their search results, we should expect to see more [direct answers]. And if we are site owners, we should be thankful that our opportunities are growing when it comes to Schema.org becoming richer in how it displays schema markup with things like JSON-LD. It allows us to reinforce the information that we include on our pages in ways that can help Google become more confident with our answers.

KK: What are the threats affiliated with direct answers? What are the opportunities?

BS: I’m going to merge these two questions into one because I like to try to take any threats that might exist to be opportunities as well. Schema markup enables us to tell a search engine like Google or Bing or Yahoo a lot more about our web pages and the things and events upon them. It also potentially creates problems in that the explicit information that is on our pages and is written for people might mistakenly contradict the implicit information on our pages written for computers. That kind of inconsistency is potentially very harmful. Having those two types of information agree with each other can be a boon, if it is consistent.

KK: Who needs to pay the most attention to direct answers?

BS: A site owner who is interested in having his or her site show up for the goods and services that they provide on their pages should care a lot about the Semantic Web, and how schema appears for their pages.

KK: Without giving away all your secrets, can you give some insights on what can be done?

BS: I am pretty open about the kinds of things I am looking at and investigating on seobythesea, so if someone wants to get a taste of the kinds of things I am doing, that would be a good place for them to look.

KK: What are the top three trends in SEO this year that website owners should care about the most?

Understanding how their site could be tied by search engines to knowledge bases and entities using semantic markup.
Getting a sense of how search engines are responding to different queries these days, with a number of rich snippet approaches and answer box results.
That phrase-based indexing still likely has a large role in how Google might boost some sites based upon their content, and how related anchor text might be to terms that those pages are optimized for.

KK: You’ve written more than 1,000 blog posts! What are some of the most memorable Internet marketing posts you’ve written?

BS: It’s hard to choose specific posts because I try to share what I learn as I’m writing most of these posts. I taught an Internet literacy class at a local community college for school teachers, and in preparing lessons for them, I found my style of learning tends to work most effectively for me if I try to teach someone else the material I am learning. So, when I come across new topics, if I can write about them in a way that other people can understand them well, that’s usually when I learn best about them.  Here are some favorites:

Google’s Reasonable Surfer: How the Value of a Link May Differ Based upon Link and Document Features and User Data

Authorship Badges Removed: Still Worth Setting Up

KK: What blogs do you find yourself visiting the most?

BS: I have a good number of blogs in my feed reader and I use Twitter to find a lot of things to read as well …  There are a lot of good ones out there, including Bruce Clay, Inc’s blog.

KK: Why, thank you. I’m glad you think so! When you are not reading blogs, writing or strategizing, what are you doing outside of work?

BS: I like exploring the history of small towns and touring them and taking photos. Especially photos of things that might be unexpected, like a picture of a Gargoyle that I sent in with these answers, taken from a building in Culpeper, Virginia one chilly morning this fall. I haven’t investigated the history of the statue yet, but I will be. Carlsbad, California, where I am now, has a number of murals painted across many buildings, and I’ve made it my personal mission to find all of them and take pictures of them.

Why I moved to California, part 1.

A photo posted by Bill Slawski (@billslawski) on Jan 8, 2015 at 4:42pm PST

KK: What’s your top advice for your fellow Internet marketers?

BS: Build your personal brand in a way that shows that you are unique and memorable, and kind.

KK: Can you leave us with one of your favorite sayings or quotes?

BS: “There’s always something else.”

Have a question of your own for SMX West 2015 speaker Bill Slawski? Share it in the comments!

SMX West Speaker Series: Mindy Weinstein Talks Keyword Research — and the Critical Missing Step

SMX West Speaker Series: Mindy Weinstein Talks Keyword Research — and the Critical Missing Step was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

The Search Marketing Expo (SMX) West Speaker Series continues with Mindy Weinstein — Bruce Clay, Inc.’s own director of training. Alongside Bruce Clay, Weinstein leads the acclaimed SEOToolSet® Training and speaks on the latest digital marketing trends at major industry conferences, including SMX, Pubcon and others.

Bruce Clay, Inc. Director of Training Mindy Weinstein

Audiences are in for a treat when she takes the SMX West stage on March 2 for “Keyword Research for Better Content & Audience Engagement.” Her presentation, entitled “Becoming a Mind Reader First,”  will focus on the steps digital marketers should take — before wielding their favorite keyword research tools. Weinstein will discuss how to use customer and prospect data to begin a keyword list.

“A mistake that some content creators make is that they jump into writing text before they have taken the time to truly think about their target audience. Writers need to think about the concerns, interests and desires of their readers. That is how content becomes more relatable and effective. Part of knowing your audience is also understanding the words they use to describe your products/services. Those are potential keyword opportunities,” Weinstein said.

Weinstein’s interview is the second installment of the SMX West Speaker Series. Last week, Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes joined us on the blog for an exclusive interview. Check back all month for interviews with Bing’s Duane Forrester, Experian Hitwise’s Bill Tancer, Stone Temple Consulting’s Eric Enge, and many more as we gear up for SMX West 2015.

Let’s jump into Weinstein’s interview and discover her thoughts on what’s missing from keyword research, plus the most common SEO questions she encounters, her top tips for creating content, insight into SEO tools, her thoughts on social media and more.

Kristi Kellogg: You recently transitioned into a new role at Bruce Clay, Inc. as the first director of training. Tell us about what that transition means for you and Bruce Clay, Inc. in 2015.

Mindy Weinstein: I’m very excited about the new role. As the director of training, I will focus on internal training, teaching our SEOToolSet Training courses, speaking at conferences, and expanding our education offerings. Our industry is one that is constantly evolving and changing, which means we need to constantly train and update on SEO best practices and search engine guidelines.

KK: In the coming year, you’ll be traveling worldwide to spread the white-hat SEO word with Bruce. Where can people look for you in the coming year?

MW: The year has just started, but my travel schedule is filling up quickly. So far, I am scheduled to speak at the SEJ Summit in Santa Monica, SMX West and Pubcon Austin. I am also in Southern California six times this year teaching our SEOToolSet SEO training courses. Stay tuned for more!

Eric Enge, Brent Csutoras and Mindy Weinstein at the U.S. Search Awards 2014.

KK: Speaking of the SEOToolSet Training, you’ve been presenting with Bruce since 2013. In that time you’ve heard hundreds of questions from digital marketers. What are the most common questions you are asked during training?

MW: One of the most common questions we get is how to optimally structure a website. We teach about siloing, which has to do with site architecture — building themes by grouping related pages together. This concept is one that we have been teaching about for years, as we have seen significant results when people are able to properly silo their websites.

We also hear a lot of questions related to mobile SEO, which prompted us to create a section in our training devoted to this subject.

KK: You’re a big advocate of quality content, and your SEO background comes from the content side of online marketing. For all the content creators out there, can you share three tips to improve their content?

MW: Absolutely.

1. Don’t write anything until you know your audience inside and out.

A mistake that some content creators make is that they jump into writing text before they have taken the time to truly think about their target audience. Writers need to think about the concerns, interests and desires of their readers. That is how content becomes more relatable and effective. Part of knowing your audience is also understanding the words they use to describe your products/services. Those are potential keyword opportunities.

 2. Always be on the lookout for inspiration.

When I write, one of my biggest challenges is coming up with new and unique topics to write about. That was especially true when I wrote content for industries that weren’t overly exciting. I used to keep a folder in my desk that I would use to store newspaper clippings, magazine articles, web pages and even junk mail (yes, you read that right), that I thought could somehow relate to my audience. I would then look for a unique angle I could take that would make the content relevant to the readers.

3. Stay focused on the reader.

Honestly, no one cares about how great you and your business are, at least not at the time they initially arrive on your website. Web visitors first want to know if you have the information they are looking for, so let them know with your content. As humans, it is in our nature to ask ourselves, “How does this message impact me?” Content has to be able to answer that question and right away. That means the message should be tailored to the reader, such as how the products, services or simply the tips given in an article are going to positively impact him or her.

KK: How do you suggest people go about keyword research?

MW: There is a preliminary step in keyword research that not everyone takes, and that is trying to understand what goes on in the searcher’s mind. It is the prior step to validating a keyword list using the various research tools out there. Social media, customer interviews, surveys and talking with your customer service department are all ways you can get a glimpse into the needs, desires and interests of your target audience. Once you know what people think and how they describe things, you can start building your keyword list.

KK: Bruce Clay, Inc. is about to launch its sixth version of the SEOToolSet. What makes this iteration of the SEOToolSet more powerful than ever?

MW: We have incorporated many powerful features that weren’t in the fifth version, including a comprehensive site analysis. You can view a Site SEO report that identifies problem areas that you should address, such as pages with no Title tag, broken links, pages without enough content and so on.

The sixth version of the SEOToolSet even includes a Link Graph, which allows you to visualize the links on your site from the home page into the site. We spider the website and keep track of all of the links from page to page.

There are some other great additions to the latest version that are worth checking out.

KK: What are your 2015 resolutions?

MW: My big 2015 resolution, which applies both professionally and personally, is to spend more time expanding my knowledge. (I recognize that it’s a vague resolution!) Basically, I subscribe to the notion that you can never stop learning, so I plan to read and study more this year — not just topics related to digital marketing, but also general psychology and human behavior.

Oh yeah, I have one more 2015 resolution: do more yoga!

KK: What’s your favorite social platform and why?

MW: LinkedIn has become one of my favorite social platforms. I have joined various groups within LinkedIn that help me stay on the forefront of the “chatter” going on in the digital marketing industry. I also use LinkedIn to learn about someone’s professional background before I meet him or her in person. Not sure if that is something I should admit …

KK: What were the best books (of any kind) you read last year? What’s on your reading list for this year?

MW: I read quite a few great books last year. One of the best books I read in 2014 was “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Dr. Robert Cialdini. Also, I finally read “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference” by Malcolm Gladwell. It was on my reading list for a while, and I can say it will go down as one of my favorites.

I’m currently reading “What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People” by Joe Navarro, which is fascinating. Next on my list is “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping” by Paco Underhill. My reading list will keep growing this year.

KK: What are your three favorite accounts to follow on Twitter?

MW: My three favorite are:

Search Engine Journal
Search Engine Land
USA Today (sometimes you need non-SEO news!)

Have a question for SMX speaker Mindy Weinstein? Share it in the comments.