5 Trends Defining Google SEO in 2020 - Optimization 2019

5 Trends Defining
Google SEO in 2020

Who is Cyrus Shepard?

• SEO Consultant since 2010

• Currently with

• Develops Software at        Cyrus Shepard
                              SEO Consultant

                              @cyrusshepard

• Tweets at @cyrusshepard

1
Zero Click
Searches

Google Images is the
world's 2nd largest search
         engine.

     YouTube is #3

2004: Google Co-founder Larry Page

"We want you to come to Google and quickly find
what you want... We want to get you out of Google
and to the right place as fast as possible."

For the first time in Google's history, more searches result in zero clicks
                 than searches that produce a website visit.

No need to click,
and none of these
 results link to a
     website

This will earn
many clicks, but
 clicking isn't
  necessary.

DOUBLE featured
#1    snippets reduce
     clicks even more.

#2

Searches with clicks down 16% since 2016

Desktop searches still result in a majority of clicks

On mobile, the situation is reversed, with no-click searches
                far outpacing website visits

Notice the trend with mobile ad clicks. Up over 300%!

2015
Clear Ad +
 Organic

       2019
      All Ads

The result is less overall browser traffic sent by Google
            (mobile apps likely compensate)

What hasn't decreased?
 Google Ad Revenue

             https://searchengineland.com/google-ad-revenue-growth-popped-back-in-q2-319960

What This Means to Marketers?
• Publishers competing for Visibility > Clicks
• More Transactions / Brand Marketing Moving to Google
• "Traffic" may not be your best success metric

2
Regulation

2012
Google escapes US
Government Action

Does Google unfairly
 preference it's own
     properties?

Back to Google
  Properties

Google uses your
content to link to other
   Google results

12% of all clicks (6% of
searches) lead back to
   a Google-owned
       property

Google
 Google News
 Google Maps
    Gmail
  YouTube
Google Images

Does Google fairly cite
      sources?

Does Google unfairly
use Android + Chrome
     to keep out
    competitors?

https://www.ovrdrv.com/google-world-infographic/

New US Regulatory
Actions Taking Place

The 2020 Presidential
Election Could Have
 Major Implications

What This Means to Marketers?
• Google could be broken up
• More credit to publishers
• Google may be forced to reveal information on its algorithm

3
Facts As A Ranking Factor

Google has a trust
    problem

Lots of work on
algorithms that bias
towards "Scientific
       Truth"

Dr. Mercola once ranked for millions of keywords, but now is only
               visible if you search for it by name.

The domain is now effectively invisible in Google

Google using "Consensus" algorithms to evaluate trustworthiness
                  of fact-based information

What This Means to Marketers?
• YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) queries receive extra scrutiny
• Sites that deviate from expert consensus may rank lower
• Trusted "seed" sites may carry more authority in consensus algorithms

4
Paid Links 2.0

2012: Google "solved" paid links with Penguin

2019: Most SEOs believe Google has lost the war

Marketplaces

               Paid link marketplaces
                are ubiquitous and
                       growing

Even well-known "brand" websites face little risk in buying
               massive amounts of links

Google's disavow tool
provides an immediate safety
   net for any site caught

Lots of evidence that
 Google's Disavow Tool may
benefit even when no manual
        action applied.
          https://twitter.com/Marie_Haynes/status/1186629570499416068

What This Means to Marketers?
• Paid link opportunities continue to grow
• Experimentation with Google's Disavow Tool is justified
• Risk: Google could take away the Disavow Tool (or change the rules)
at anytime - paid links are still risky!!!

5
Schema Explosion

On the surface, this looks like a terrific keyword

Even ranking #3 is no
 guarantee of traffic

Traditionally, SEOs looked at volume, but low click-through
      rates (CTR) make this a less-than-useful metric.

We need to move shift
away from rank
optimization and fully
embrace SERP
optimization

Nearly 600 words of content using
          FAQ Schema!

Only use FAQPage if your page has a list of
         questions with answers.

         https://saijogeorge.com/json-ld-schema-generator/faq/

Can cause changes in impressions/clicks

        https://twitter.com/lilyraynyc/status/1139173634638045184/photo/1

Bonus Tools
SEO Tactics + Tools to Try Now

Problem: Slow Speed

Edgemesh.com

Free for 100,000
  hits/month

Automatic Image
 Classification

What is this?

Google Vision API

https://cloud.google.com/vision/

It can read text (which means we know Google can read it too)

On-Page Optimization

Inlinks.net

Identifies topic pages on your site, and automatically
     creates links from the most relevant pages

Automatically applies relevant schema to each page.

Link Building
Opportunities

Link Intersect - https://analytics.moz.com/pro/link-
                 explorer/link-intersect

Finds specific pages that link to my competitors,
                  but not to me

Link Building Outreach

Linkbuildr - https://ftf.agency/tools/linkbuildr/

https://ftf.agency/tools/linkbuildr/

More favorite free SEO tools here:

https://moz.com/blog/best-free-seo-tools

LET’S DO THIS

Thanks