How to Survive Google's Trojan Horsing of the Web
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The document discusses Google's growing dominance in search and its impact on web traffic, highlighting a decrease in referrals for other platforms and the challenge for web marketers. It outlines strategies for survival in a changing landscape dominated by Google, emphasizing the importance of understanding searcher intent and creating unique, high-quality content. The author provides ten tactical tips for businesses to thrive, including prioritizing complex queries and leveraging branded content to retain traffic control.
How to Survive Google's Trojan Horsing of the Web
- 1. Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz | @randfish | rand@moz.com How to Survive Google’s Trojan Horsing of the Web
- 2. What Has Google Been Up To?
- 3. Breaking Into Job Listings
- 12. But Google is Still the Unquestionable Behemoth
- 17. GoogleCore Oct2016 May2017 GoogleImages Yahoo Bing GoogleMaps Amazon Facebook Gained/Lost 58.9% 27.7% 2.6% 2.3% 2.2% 1.9% 0.7% YouTube 3.8% 64.8% 21.8% 2.4% 2.4% 1.2% 2.3% 1.5% 3.6% +5.9 -5.9 -0.2 +0.1 -1.0 +0.4 +0.8 -0.2 We think this is Halloween
- 18. GoogleCore Oct2016 May2017 GoogleImages Yahoo Bing GoogleMaps Amazon Facebook Gained/Lost 58.9% 27.7% 2.6% 2.3% 2.2% 1.9% 0.7% YouTube 3.8% 64.8% 21.8% 2.4% 2.4% 1.2% 2.3% 1.5% 3.6% +5.9 -5.9 -0.2 +0.1 -1.0 +0.4 +0.8 -0.2This is compensated for by a rise in web search clicks to local results
- 19. GoogleCore Oct2016 May2017 GoogleImages Yahoo Bing GoogleMaps Amazon Facebook Gained/Lost 58.9% 27.7% 2.6% 2.3% 2.2% 1.9% 0.7% YouTube 3.8% 64.8% 21.8% 2.4% 2.4% 1.2% 2.3% 1.5% 3.6% +5.9 -5.9 -0.2 +0.1 -1.0 +0.4 +0.8 -0.2 I’m keeping an eye on these two
- 20. Google’s Growth So far, 2017 is trending ~10-15% higher than 2016, not including voice or Apple devices
- 21. TotalSearchers vs.Active Searchers UnitedStates Canada UnitedKingdom AverageSearches/Month %ofSearchersw/10+ Searches/Month 103-119 120-139 120-135 ~39% ~40% ~41%
- 22. Google CTRBreakdown Relatively flat excluding seasonality = SEO not being cannibalized by Google’s own results
- 23. What are the Web’s Top Traffic Referrers?
- 25. Google.com Oct2016 May2017 Facebook.com Reddit.com YouTube.com Imgur.com Bing.com Wikipedia.org Gained/Lost 59.2% 6.5% 5.4% 4.5% 2.2% 2.2% 1.4% Yahoo.com 6.0% 62.6% 5.9% 4.1% 4.7% 1.5% 2.1% 1.4% 5.0% +3.4% -0.6% -1.3% +0.2% -0.6% -0.1% +0% -1.0% Amazon.com 1.3% 1.4% +0.1% This is when Reddit stopped using Imgur for all its image hosting
- 26. Google.com Oct2016 May2017 Facebook.com Reddit.com YouTube.com Imgur.com Bing.com Wikipedia.org Gained/Lost 59.2% 6.5% 5.4% 4.5% 2.2% 2.2% 1.4% Yahoo.com 6.0% 62.6% 5.9% 4.1% 4.7% 1.5% 2.1% 1.4% 5.0% +3.4% -0.6% -1.3% +0.2% -0.6% -0.1% +0% -1.0% Amazon.com 1.3% 1.4% +0.1% In 7 months, Google gained more share than all but the top 5 even have
- 27. Top 10 11-100 101-1K 1K-10K 10K+ Google 22.2% 14.9% 18.0% 18.7% 26.2% Facebook 42.7% 17.7% 15.3% 12.9% 11.3% Yahoo 39.2% 15.8% 15.6% 14.0% 15.4% Reddit 75.2% 11.0% 7.2% 4.4% 2.2% Youtube 80.1% 7.2% 5.4% 4.1% 3.2% NotAllReferrers SendTrafficEqually (databelowfromMay2017)
- 28. Top 10 11-100 101-1K 1K-10K 10K+ Google 22.2% 14.9% 18.0% 18.7% 26.2% Facebook 42.7% 17.7% 15.3% 12.9% 11.3% Yahoo 39.2% 15.8% 15.6% 14.0% 15.4% Reddit 75.2% 11.0% 7.2% 4.4% 2.2% Youtube 80.1% 7.2% 5.4% 4.1% 3.2% NotAllReferrers SendTrafficEqually (databelowfromMay2017) Google distributes traffic pretty evenly
- 29. Top 10 11-100 101-1K 1K-10K 10K+ Google 22.2% 14.9% 18.0% 18.7% 26.2% Facebook 42.7% 17.7% 15.3% 12.9% 11.3% Yahoo 39.2% 15.8% 15.6% 14.0% 15.4% Reddit 75.2% 11.0% 7.2% 4.4% 2.2% Youtube 80.1% 7.2% 5.4% 4.1% 3.2% NotAllReferrers SendTrafficEqually (databelowfromMay2017) Facebook is strongly biased to the top
- 30. Top 10 11-100 101-1K 1K-10K 10K+ Google 22.2% 14.9% 18.0% 18.7% 26.2% Facebook 42.7% 17.7% 15.3% 12.9% 11.3% Yahoo 39.2% 15.8% 15.6% 14.0% 15.4% Reddit 75.2% 11.0% 7.2% 4.4% 2.2% Youtube 80.1% 7.2% 5.4% 4.1% 3.2% NotAllReferrers SendTrafficEqually (databelowfromMay2017) Reddit & YouTube even more so
- 31. Web Marketers Live in Google’s World…
- 32. And That’s Becoming More Dangerous
- 35. Via TheOutline
- 36. DICK MOVE!
- 38. Local Events Eventbrite and Meetup… Huh. Via TheVerge
- 39. Job Listings Via Techcrunch Something tells me this will not go well for them…
- 40. Weather
- 41. Sports Seems like a fair deal…
- 43. Google: “Doagreatjob answering the searcher’s query &we’llrankyou high*” *Unlesswehaveourownresults;then wegettobefirst.
- 44. Google: “Structure data likethis&we’llmake your listings morevisible!” Via Google
- 45. Google: “These results arebest forourusers. (They fellfor itagain!)” NBC has, BTW, put the proper video markup on their pages.
- 46. Site Operators Face a Prisoner’s Dilemma
- 48. …andrisk Google using your data tobuildafeature that killsyour traffic
- 51. Fear Isn’t the Only Thing Stopping Publishers
- 52. Some Queries Deserve More thana SimpleAnswer (evenifthat’swhatsearcherswant)
- 53. e.g. Climatechange searches Via Quartz
- 55. e.g. Dangerously incomplete answers
- 56. e.g. Misleading “instantsolutions” I do have some feedback; this sucks! It’s incomplete, wrong, & frustratingly reductive.
- 57. This is what a mortgage calculator should do:
- 60. Measured by:Traffic Driven Examples inAction: HowsomesitesavoidthedangerousdancewithGoogle’sdevilish proposition
- 61. Index.co
- 63. Redfin
- 66. Eater
- 69. Shutterstock
- 71. TheMuse
- 73. 10 Tactical Tips to Thrive in Google’s World
- 74. #1:Prioritize buckets ofKWs w/complex task completion requirements These are easy to answer. Google could do it with a snippet or a voice answer.
- 75. #1:Prioritize buckets ofKWs w/complex task completion requirements But underwater zombies? That’s a query that demands more attention.
- 76. #2:Serve“instantanswer”contentwhilesimultaneously enticingtheclick “and heck…” what? I must know!
- 77. #3:InvestincontentGoogleeithercan’tshowin SERPsorthatbuildsyourbrandwhentheydo Even if Google launches their own Lyft competitor, being included here builds Lyft’s brands & customers in the meantime.
- 78. Interactive content is deviously hard to steal in a SERP, & immensely valuable to those who are seeking to solve this problem. Via LetsCrunchIt
- 80. This should scare the $#%^ out of Eater
- 81. Memeorandum offers a navigational UX that Google can’t truly compete against
- 82. By serving conscious & unconscious needs, Etsy provides a UX that Google can’t compete with
- 83. #5:Drivevisitors toowned,subscription channels For as long as Google offers ways to drive traffic to your site (vs. host content with them), we’ll take it!
- 84. No matter what channel you use to broadcast or distribute, make sure the traffic always goes back to a domain & UX you own+control
- 86. #7:Bias search suggest inyour favor through linguistic branding
- 87. Hat tip to Gianluca Fiorelli for spotting this campaign & its influence on search suggest + related
- 88. #8:Use influencer marketing tobecome the brand searchers recognize
- 89. Mainstream Foodies Fancy-Pants Types Sous Vide Aficionados Paleo Foodies Relevant Locavores
- 91. #9:Innovate attheproblem-level vs.the solution-level (b/c Googledoesthereverse) Google solves this query at the solution level
- 92. Youwantahigh%ofvisitorstocomeaway fromyourexperiencethinking: Why wouldIever Google ___________ when___________ solves thisproblem socompletely and elegantly? search query your site
- 93. Dribbble solves it at the problem level
- 94. Before your audience needs a solution, they have a problem. BeatGoogle tothepunch. Bethere forthe problem’sdiscovery.
- 97. #10: IfGoogle’s already inyourspace, findwhattheyfailto deliver &double-down Fine for a quick answer, but lacks depth…
- 98. What are all those deeper, next questions folks have AFTER they search for weather? Wunderground knows, and nails ‘em.
- 100. Measured by:Traffic Driven Don’t Just Fight Off the Dragon…
- 101. Measured by:Traffic Driven Make it bring you to the skies.
- 102. Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz | @randfish | rand@moz.com You Got This!