MozCon 2023 – Recap

On August 7 & 8, colleagues Nicky, Vincent, and Stijn traveled to Seattle on behalf of Follo to attend MozCon 2023. After attending 22 presentations on SEO, we have summarized the most useful presentations and insights for you here.

Why SEOs Need to Start Playing Offense Instead of Defense

– Chris Long

This session is mainly focused on thinking differently about SEO. This is especially because our industry is flooded with tools, data, changes in the form of algorithms, etc. This makes it very difficult to prioritize. And it mainly causes us to reactively respond to these changes. In this presentation, practical examples were given on how to move from reactive SEO to proactive SEO.

There are plenty of examples of defensive SEO:

• Responding to algorithms
• Fixing errors in Google Search Console
• Fixing everything ScreamingFrog indicates in terms of errors and warnings
• Checking a developer's to-do list on the website

Instead, you should play offensive SEO. Practical examples were given for this.

Identify new content:

• A keyword gap between two websites is actually a form of defensive SEO. Essentially, you are following your competitor or looking at where they are coming close.
• Instead, you can better identify which keywords belong to a particular topic. You can cumulatively add up the search volumes + calculate a Traffic Uplift.

Choosing which pages to optimize:

• Looking at which pages are declining in traffic in Analytics is a form of defensive SEO.
• Instead, you can better look at which pages generate revenue. These pages can be linked to the right keywords in Google Search Console with a regular expression. From that perspective, you attack the market on keywords that have proven to generate revenue for you.

Technical SEO Prioritization:

One of the life struggles of an SEO specialist is to get technical implementations carried out by a developer. Often, it is due to communication and explaining why you want to implement an optimization.

• Fixing Google Search Console Errors is not an SEO strategy. This is defensive SEO
• Talk in percentages to play offensively. What percentage of the total pages is affected by issues? A large percentage (40% of all pages) indicates that it affects a large portion of the website. Very high priority, therefore. These numbers can also be obtained from the Coverage reports of Google Search Console.

Get Data for Initiatives:

Not only in Technical SEO does demonstrating with data work, but also in your overall SEO recommendations.

• Indicating that you need internal links is a form of defensive SEO. It gives no reason
• Demonstrating that if you don't add internal links, you will miss out on a certain amount of revenue for an entire section, is a form of offensive SEO.

These are some practical examples of how you should not and how you should approach SEO. Of course, there is hardly any presentation complete without AI / ChatGPT. Some practical examples were also given for this:

• Let ChatGPT expand your keywords. Provide a list of keywords and let ChatGPT generate a table under which Topic this keyword falls. Or what search intent the keyword has. This way, you can easily enrich your keyword data.
• ChatGPT can analyze and summarize large pieces of text for you. Don't feel like reading large blog posts? Fine, let ChatGPT do that for you and give you the summary. Tip from Follo: use the Webpilot Plugin for this.

The Evolution of Content & the Future of Our Industry

– Ross Simmonds

With Ross, we took a look ahead at where SEO is heading. With developments like ChatGPT and AI, we have entered a new phase of SEO. People are worried about their jobs, budgets being cut, etc. But how can you make these technological developments work for you? Ross Simmons: Challenge Your Beliefs. Embrace Experiments.

To keep up with the speed of AI, he has set up a framework: Content Growth Framework. This framework is divided into 4 phases.

Experiment in all these phases with tools like ChatGPT. They can also make your work faster and more efficient. Use it, for example, to make an analysis. “Which backlinks do we not have that competitor X has already used?” You can then take action faster because the research has already been done for you.

AI-written content can also contribute well to your SEO results and has the potential to rank. The 'basics' of good content also apply to AI-generated content. Therefore, always keep these rules of thumb in mind.

• Educate your audience to build trust.
• Entertain your audience to build connection.
• Engage your audience to build community.
• Empower your audience to build a tribe.

But don't just use AI for textual content. Images and videos can also be created by ChatGPT (with integrations from other tools). Make sure these other types of content align with the message you want to convey.

And above all, have patience! Formulate hypotheses about what you think you can achieve. Challenge yourself in this and take on the experiment!

Lower Your Shields: The Borg Are Here

– Dr. Pete Meyers

This – somewhat humorous – presentation was about the status and impact of AI in Google. Specifically, Google SGE: Search Generative Experience. Talking to Google.  

The biggest question asked was: will AI cause SEO to be killed?

The presentation mainly focused on the current status of Generative AI and SGE within Google. This feature is currently only available in the United States.

AI is good and bad at certain things.

First, it delves into what Generative AI is and where it falls short. The fact remains that Generative AI, like ChatGPT or Google Bard, predicts one word at a time. The biggest risk here is hallucination, or falsehoods.

Google’s Search Generative Experience also hallucinates. When asked how many flavors Dr. Pepper has, Google lists all the flavors, only to say that they are top secret.

But Generative AI is also good at things. And that is not so much in the facts, but more in inspiration. A search query like ‘what can I make for lunch with the ingredients avocado, potato, and jack daniels’ lends itself well to Google Search Experience (or ChatGPT).

Search queries like ‘how can I train for a 42 km marathon?’ are sometimes better answered by Generative AI than by a regular Google result (like a video). You get a good step-by-step plan with it.

Search and Chat are two different things. You use Chat for different search queries than you use Search. This can be divided into Factual keywords, Fluid keywords, and the combination in between: Fusion keywords.  

Factual Keywords:

Factual keywords refer to search queries aimed at obtaining specific, objective information. These keywords aim to find factual facts, data, or definitions.

Examples:

• “Google Analytics”
• “Buy a laptop”
• “What does AI stand for?”

These search queries have a clearly defined goal: they want to obtain factual information, such as understanding the term “AI” or finding the best laptop to buy.

Fusion Keywords:

Fusion keywords refer to search queries that combine different concepts to find connections or discover insights.

Examples:

• “How do I set up GA4?”
• “What are the key AI trends?”
• “CNET’s best laptop picks in 2023”

These search queries go beyond simply requesting factual information. They try to make connections between different topics, such as setting up GA4 (which may involve technical and strategic steps), understanding current AI trends, and consulting sources for laptop recommendations.

Fluid Keywords:

Fluid keywords refer to search queries that are open and exploratory in nature. These keywords have no set goal and can explore different topics and directions.

Examples:

• “Help me explore this GA4 data to find my best-performing topics”
• “How can I best use generative AI to automate these tasks?”
• “What should I consider when buying a laptop for my home office?”

These search queries are flexible and exploratory. They allow room for different approaches and information, such as exploring the use of generative AI, understanding considerations when buying a laptop, and discovering effective ways to analyze GA4 data.

SEO is not going anywhere. It will continue to be present in the search queries that the user types.

"In this brave new world of AI search, remember one thing: SEO isn't about pleasing algorithms, it's about anticipating humanity."

Dr. Pete Meyers

Mind the Gap: Bridging Generational Differences in SEO

– Jes Scholz

Jes, in this inspiring presentation, talks about the shift of Google from a search engine to a whole ecosystem where Google has transformed into a social network, online shop, news network, etc.

Too often, web pages are optimized for ranking instead of for readers. As a result, Google is flooded with a sea of sameness. However, Google has changed significantly over the years, as evidenced by the examples Jes gives in her presentation. It is no longer just a search engine. Three fundamental shifts have occurred: answers have turned into customer journeys, queries have turned into queries without specific questions (query refinement), and there has been a shift from text to visuals.

Google has evolved into a social network, as evidenced by the examples Jes shows of YouTube and web stories, following celebrities, topics via knowledge panels, and the Discover feed. But Google has also become an online store. It replaces e-commerce websites, as evidenced by shoppable images and the use of the shoppable Google lens. Google dominates the e-commerce SERPs and replaces local business websites and informational sites.

Jes shows an overview of the Google ecosystem, which shows how dominant Google is everywhere. Google Search is just a small part of this. Google changes the conversion path and reaches people before they need to search. Google ensures that its visitors no longer leave and convert within its ecosystem. Web pages are no longer the product; content is the product. Therefore, distribute your content across Google's ecosystem to gain more visibility. However, do not base your results solely on what you see in analytics. Analytics data is misleading because everything is scaled under organic, and much traffic is scaled as direct/none, and off-site value is not counted. The conclusion is that reporting only 'google / organic' traffic underestimates the value of your SEO strategies. The solution is a marketing data warehouse!

We no longer optimize websites because Google has evolved beyond URL ranking factors. An important part of your brand is the knowledge graph, Jes clearly points out. The knowledge graph connects and contextualizes all things. A Knowledge Graph works with certain entities (topics). Google can clearly identify this concept. These entities also have connections with each other and are linked. These 'connections' describe the relationships between the entities. By using schema.org to clarify and connect these kinds of connections and entities, it helps Google understand the meaning behind queries, which means more relevant results for searchers. Is your brand a known entity in the knowledge graphs? If not, you are not known to Google. So make sure you become friends with Google and Google knows everything about you. The better your friendship, the more Google trusts your website and the information you provide. And this, of course, has a positive impact on your ranking. Her advice is to create such a brand entity in the knowledge graph, define your brand entity bio, and mark your entity with markup and have at least 30 connections with Google. Become friends with Google in the knowledge graph, make connections with as many Google channels as possible, and become a true BRANDFLUENCER!

Google’s Just Not That into You: Intent Switches During Core Updates

– Lily Ray

Several times a year, Google implements a major update in the search engine algorithm. The well-known core updates. In this presentation, Lily Ray took us through what the consequences of a core update can be and how to deal with it. Google uses feedback from over 16,000 ‘search quality evaluators’. The feedback from these quality raters is used, among other things, to improve the algorithm. Google continuously weighs the ranking factors, adds new ones, or removes certain signals.

But what exactly can change in a core update:

1. The quality of the website is assessed less favorably
2. Aggressive ads that affect the usability of the website
3. Thin or duplicate content
4. Doorway pages (common with location pages where no location is established)
5. The lack of EEAT content on the page.
6. Poor quality backlinks
7. Too ‘salesy’ on a YMYL website (financial services, healthcare websites, etc.)

2. Change in user behavior
Due to a change in user behavior, it may be that your keyword is no longer relevant (enough) to continue optimizing for. This can have various reasons that are sometimes beyond your control. Use a data-driven method to keep SEO profitable. For example, use PPC data to see which search terms convert well.

3. World events & crises
Google can adjust the SERP results based on the intent people have at that time. For example, during the corona crisis, Google started rewarding e-commerce websites more because consumers could safely buy products this way. Informative websites like Wikipedia disappear on various search terms.

4. Revision of search
A good example of this is the medic update (core update) where Google started rewarding the quality, experience, and reliability (EEAT) of a website more for YMYL topics. Think, for example, of information about diseases and medications where blog websites have fallen out of the rankings and institutions like the RIVM have started ranking better. For your content, it may be interesting to include a quote (with backlink) from an expert.

5. Relevancy Shifts & QDF
A search term can take on a different meaning due to developments. A good example is the search term “barbie” when we search for it now, we get a lot of info about the new movie. A year ago, we would get e-commerce platforms to buy the plastic dolls.

6. Intent Switching
User behavior can be decisive and cause intent shifts. Intent shifts often occur during core updates. Google can determine that a keyword requires a new “intent” and adjusts the rankings accordingly.
For example, during corona, where on a term like “conference room” the platform Zoom started ranking much better and all physical locations lost their rankings.

But how should you respond to a core update?
Don't just think in textual content, more internal links, and more link building. Find out what changed during the core update. What type of content is performing well now? Are there other features visible in the SERP? Adjust your strategy accordingly. Also think about Video, images, reels, podcasts, knowledge graphs, etc. Ensure content (in a broad sense) that meets all possible intents that Google uses for your queries.

Own Search: Work Outside of the Google Box

– Carrie Rose

That we, as SEO specialists, are in a rapidly changing world is no secret. Not only is the world of Google changing, but search behavior is also changing. The SERPs are changing. People are starting to search outside of Google. What does such a Customer Journey look like and how do you deal with it?

Sometimes it can happen that as an SEO specialist, after years of hard work, you hold the market leader position. But if you then analyze what that does to the traffic, you can see declines, the same with conversions. Then it can happen that you lose customers/visitors in the Consideration Stage.

Why?

“Brands are seeing search volumes decline. And it's not always because demand is declining, they're just now searching on other channels”

Carrie Rose

The traditional funnel goes from Awareness to Consideration and then Conversion. In other words, from Branding (Awareness and Consideration) to Performance (Conversion).

This is an important one. Customers can search differently. An example is the keyword Lodges in the UK. This has 15,000 monthly views on TikTok and ‘only’ 11,000 monthly searches on Google. They search on other channels.

TikTok and Google go hand in hand. Because certain topics are ‘pushed’ on TikTok, it can be that search volume on Google goes up. In the Netherlands, we also see this with recipes.

That is the game between Drive Demand (influencing demand) and Capture Demand (capturing demand). For Demand, channels like Advertising or TikTok, influencers, branding, and PR are great. For Capturing, you are more in the SEO area. You are there as soon as someone searches.

"In advertising they push brands or products not knowing if it's something customers want, but we work in search, we know exactly what people want"

Carrie Rose

As an SEO, you can influence that. But sometimes it goes wrong. As an example, Zara. Due to PR campaigns about the Zara Pink Jeans, the search volume increased by +112% on pink jeans (without Zara). However, Zara does not visibly rank on that term… while they do determine/influence the search volume. People want a pink pair of jeans because of Zara, but presumably don’t buy them at Zara. They can’t find it on Google.

The other side can also happen. The case shared is as follows:

1. Determine which keywords/topics you rank number 1 on (for example, wrap tops)
2. Make a list of influencers on Social and have them wear this product
3. You get picked up by PR because it is relevant

The result is more search volume on TikTok and Google, free links through PR, more followers, more traffic to your PDPs, and an increase in traffic. Although it seems like a PR campaign, it is all driven by SEO.

The problem currently is that we are chasing Google, while Google is chasing users. On other platforms, there is more searching than Google for some topics:

• +200% growth on Pinterest for festival outfit. On Google, only +3% growth
• Search volume on lingerie is declining on Google but increasing on Instagram and TikTok
• The same for Garden furniture

"We need to spend our marketing budget, where our customers are spending their time".

Carrie Rose

Is Google then dying? Absolutely not. Search behavior on Google is influenced by platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest. From there, they go to Google to deep dive into the products they are looking for. Like Perspectives.

Where the target audience searches depends on the topic and even the keyword. Both Glimpse and Exploding Topic are suitable tools for this.

Again: is SEO dying? No, because Google even promotes Short Videos in SERP. You can also optimize for that. It strengthens search behavior on platforms, both ways.

"We work in search, we know exactly what people want"

Carrie Rose

Beyond the Written Word: Future-Proofing Your Content Strategy by Leveraging Multimedia Formats

– Azeem Ahmad

Azeem took us in a short pitch on how we as marketers need to think beyond just content. We want to measure too much and create a lot of content in very little time. In doing so, we lose sight of the ROI of SEO. Creating content in the form of blogs, etc., is insufficient to keep up with developments in SEO. Therefore, he works with the “BBA framework”. Basic – Better – Advanced. Work from the basics to advanced. And Google Analytics 4 will help us with that.

Basic: Topic X performs best. Therefore, we build our framework.
Better: UA data shows that the longest path has no less than 9 touchpoints
Advanced: We have split our 5 markets and now have better insight into which country prefers textual content, audio, or video, etc.

Further analyze your data on engagement and conversions to get a good insight into ROI. How far do visitors scroll down a page? How long do they watch a video? You need to know where to bring back the message you want to convey.

This brings you into a game between reliability and performance. The holy grail is high reliability and high performance. This takes a lot of time to achieve.

Low reliability but high performance often works only for a short period. The most important thing is to work on reliability to benefit from performance in the long term.

It is important to gain trust. Provide a lot of information. Not only in the form of text but also in instructional videos, podcasts, images, etc.

And make it personal. Share your own experiences to make it more tangible for the consumer.

The SERP Is Dead, Long Live the SERP

– Tom Capper

In his presentation, Tom Capper sheds an interesting light on the current and future state of SEO. For years, it has been said that SEO is 'dead', but time and again, the market disproves these claims with steady growth. Capper emphasizes that even now, with the rise of SGEs (AI), Google and SEO are not in danger.

He begins with a look back at the history of SEO and how critics have always claimed that SEO is nearing its end. These claims date back to an article from 2007 in The Vault. Over the years, there have been various arguments for the 'death' of SEO, such as ads displacing SEO, knowledge graphs making SEO redundant, and even that SEO would kill Google by outranking original sources. The rise of zero-click searches, where Google 'steals' traffic and keeps users within the SERP, was also seen as a threat to SEO. However, in 2021, Google responded to these discussions by stating that there is a misconception about ‘how people search’ and that it all has to do with search intent.

Capper goes further into the behavior of SERPs. There are more and more features that ensure you no longer have to click through to a website. Not for all queries is this necessary, such as questions about ‘the best tea brands’, ‘flights to Seattle’, ‘the weather’, or ‘famous people’. Despite all the 'SEO killing' and SERP changes, the SEO industry is bigger than ever, as evidenced by the growing market of SEO tools.

He then delves deeper into Google's motives. There are many queries for which you don't need to visit a website, so it makes sense that Google doesn't always direct you to a website. Google values the searcher's experience highly because their business model depends on it. After 2016, there have been more and more algorithm updates to retain users and maintain a competitive advantage. This doesn't have to be negative; what is good for search engines is also good for SEOs. However, in many cases (queries), there are better tools than a search engine; think of ChatGPT. Google's goal is to retain current users and not to be better than ChatGPT.

But how far can the SERP 'bend' before it breaks? In other words, how much can Google still adapt? Tom has conducted several experiments. If Google were to implement AI, it would not work well for Google for various reasons. AI takes up too much space, and the organic results become less visible. He also shows some statistics. SGE SERPs (search generative experience; text pieces at the top of the page which are an early step in adapting the search experience with AI) are now shown less than a third of the time, and the impressions are significantly declining. The question is whether this is to save costs, as this does not generate anything for Google! Further tests show that the links in the SGE do not appear in the top 100 of the organic search results. SGE ranking does not appear to come into the organic search results. The 'Ask a follow-up' corresponds to a 'people also ask' snippet. Maps are also shown in both. This shows that SGE was made and rolled out in haste. Additionally, only 30% of the SGE SERPs are made to generate revenue, and the ads are never shown in the SGE itself but are pushed down. This cannot have much commercial value for Google. There are limits to a viable Google server; it must be legal, user-friendly, and commercial. Google then made a shift to linking out to websites again, even more than the regular SERP. Google is very much searching. Just as web search does not always give the right answer, AI does not either.

Conclusion: SGEs cannot be rolled out on a large scale; this is disadvantageous for Google. ChatGPT is completely different from Google. It is a specialized tool and will never be a replacement for general search. SGEs cannot be rolled out in their current form because they often do not meet search intent. Google was forced by investors and competition to respond to ChatGPT and Bing, which is why SGE was rolled out. We do not need to expect drastic changes to the SERP, but SEOs must certainly learn to work with the new developments and make as much use of them as possible. The opportunities that remain important now and in the future are related searches, PAAs, videos, carousels, images, local listings, and Google Shopping. Just as web search does not always give the right answer, AI does not either. Google continues to train and change itself to give the right answer. But for now, it is not what it should be.

The Great Reset

– Wil Reynolds

In this presentation, Wil Reynolds (founder of Seer Interactive) zooms in on the fact that we have been hearing in the SEO industry for years that SEO is ‘dead’. Since 1997 (the advent of online ads) to other developments in the industry, such as Voice Search, TikTok, and now, of course, all developments around AI and ChatGPT.

The goal of his presentation was to think differently than your competition does. Everyone uses the same tools (Ahrefs, SEMrush, etc.), so everyone can make the same analyses. He also specifically refers to the power of AI.

Example 1:

Wil gave the example of the search query ‘black primary care physician’. He showed examples that mainly Ads results do not match that search query at all. No black doctors on the page and Ads in Google for ‘black primary doctors’ in Harlem (New York), while the search query was performed in Philadelphia. This causes friction among Google’s users. AI (ChatGPT) can help you avoid that friction by simply asking which images you should show on such a landing page that matches this search query.

Example 2:

Another example is Google Ads showing the homepage on search queries like ‘does Monday have a desktop app’. Of course, a homepage does not match. Use Big Data to find out on which terms your CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) goes up. With N-grams, you can easily see which parts of a search query have high costs, often due to the fact that the Ad + landing page does not match, like this example.

A third example is the search for a car under $25K. Google often shows large blocks of text here, displaying information that is incorrect or landing pages where you end up in carousels and have to click through 20+ times. These pages are often surrounded by banners. This causes friction. The bottom line is that a platform like ChatGPT can perfectly answer such search queries. By simply asking which cars are under $25K and asking about the specifications that are important to you, this provides answers that may hallucinate, but lead to the least friction.

That development is very interesting because it may be that part of your audience leaves Google and searches elsewhere, most likely in ChatGPT. You can check this because your rankings remain the same and your conversions, but the monthly search volume drops. Most likely, your audience is searching elsewhere (ChatGPT). Then it is important to formulate hypotheses. The standard SEO specialist would say there is no rank tracking for ChatGPT. The modern SEO specialist tracks this by scraping all the questions from the People Also Ask box on keywords with ‘best/which/etc.’, asking these questions to ChatGPT, and finding out the percentage in which you as a company are shown. For keyword suggestions, use ChatGPT again (!).

The power of a platform like ChatGPT is endless, as long as you ask the right questions and hypotheses. Without coding skills, you can use APIs in a Data Warehouse. ChatGPT does that for you with certain plugins.

Notable & WebPilot are plugins that help you with coding or can do research for you. Webpilot in combination with ChatGPT can help you read pages, assess if they match the query, and even give suggestions on how your page should look.

Bottom line: use data (from all channels, for example, Ads) to give a good answer for your potential customer and to rank higher in Google.

"Take an old NO and make it a YES"

Wil Reynolds

Views on Views of Video SEO – Crystal Carter

Crystal Carter, head of SEO at Wix, gives a presentation on Video SEO and why on-page video SEO differs from regular SEO. She begins by emphasizing that users increasingly want videos because they are looking for a richer content experience.

With various examples, Crystal illustrates that users increasingly want video for the experience and perception of a brand. Social media formats are already displayed in Google, and Google places YouTube videos at the top of the page with key moments and related topics. She points out that one video can rank in multiple positions on the same SERP. This is possible because you can watch videos in Google before going to YouTube. Google knows that users want this content and has therefore introduced more tools to measure video performance, such as GSC video indexing and GA4 ‘organic video channel’.

The growth of video in the SERP is 45% year on year. But why is that actually so? According to Crystal, this is due to the rise of TikTok. So to answer the question of why on-page video is different: on-page video helps Google achieve strategic objectives. And therefore, it also helps you achieve these strategic objectives! Moreover, it is a hybrid activity.

Crystal continues with some tips on how to optimize videos. She recommends using a high-quality file and a high-quality thumbnail image. It is also important to include keywords in your script because Google understands the words used in the video. The most important thing is to meet the user intent. She also explains that you have different types of content but that videos have a 2.5 times higher CTR than other types of content.

Finally, she discusses the different types of platforms you can use. She advises using YouTube and optimizing for it, linking from there, and being engaged on it. YouTube already solves many indexing issues, such as the correct pixel format, supported formats, full video schemas, and title consistency. She also recommends using chapters with keywords, checking them with competitors, and including competitive keywords in tags and video tags. By linking from Google, Google makes connections. Videos can be indexed within 2 hours, so if you place a video on a page, it is also immediately indexed. It is important to connect two pieces of content with each other. On the video web page, she recommends ensuring a good technical SEO foundation, including a transcript (in natural language), using a prominent position (above the fold), and having a lot of interaction with your audience (reviews with keywords in the text do well, for example).

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