It’s not enough just to rank highly and drive keyword traffic these days (if you can even do that after Google’s Panda algorithm update). You also need to win over the customer by providing breakthrough experiences that anticipate their needs while providing real, tangible value. The new generation of SEOs understands this, which is why they’re also focused on information architecture and user experience. In this session, you’ll see world-class examples of how you can bring these disciplines together in your companies and organizations in order to delight your users, plug holes in your conversion rate, and drive more qualified traffic. No “best practices” or baseless theories here – just real-life tactics that solved problems and drove conversion. SEOs and IA/UX pros don’t need to butt heads (or headbutt!) when they can collaborate together to improve the cross-channel experience. Are you having trouble meeting the needs of your users while growing your traffic? This is the panel for you. Originally presented by Jonathon Colman, John Goad, Mike Pantoliano, Michael King, and Ben Lloyd at the first-ever Seattle Interactive Conference (SIC 2011) in Seattle, Washington. You can learn more about Jonathon Colman at http://www.jonathoncolman.org/

2. SEO + UX
A Brief Introduction
Jonathon Colman
In-house SEO at REI
about.me/jcolman
Twitter @jcolman

4. Converge
SEO UX

5. Converge
Design
for people
Account
for robots

6. Humans
design
robots.
So there’s
part of us
inside them.

9. Speakers
 John Goad [AddThree]
@JohnGoad
 Mike Pantoliano [Distilled]
@MikeCP
 Michael King [Publicis Modem]
@iPullRank
 Ben Lloyd [Amplify Interactive]
@Blizzle

10. Speakers
 John Goad [AddThree]
@JohnGoad
 Mike Pantoliano [Distilled]
@MikeCP
 Michael King [Publicis Modem]
@iPullRank
 Ben Lloyd [Amplify Interactive]
@Blizzle

11. SEO is UX for Robots
John Goad
SEO
@johngoad
AddThree.com

12. Users
5000 Searches Monthly 5000 Searches Monthly Billions of Monthly
Conversion Rate 5% Conversion Rate 5% Searches
*Conversion Rate Varies
*it depends

13. Humans
Humans leverage robots everyday looming for
your content.
Publisher to Computer to Computer to Human.
We’re #1
Know how your humans are using computers and
language to find content discovered by robots….
Good

14. Robots
Robots have limitations.
Robots don’t read.
Robots don’t see.
But they have tons of friends and
they love to make high quality
introductions.

15. Balance

16. How
Think like a bot ….
Some of the same “human” rules apply* on a
high level.
Be the robot …
Humans first… then robots.
* not all

17. Client
Well established internet based insurance provider
(that does not want me to use their name).
I am in insurance …
I need credibility but have fallen
off of page 1 to page 6.
Last SEO’s IA and content
recommendations lost 75% of my
organic traffic.

18. Problem
At first meeting client stated….
“I have a team in India buying links for
me is that bad?”
UH OH…..
Real Problem
Client created over 20,000 pages of 3rd
party veterinarian listings that watered
down the main site content.
Lost Authotity

19. Solution
Re-Focus
With Robot.txt file we excluded the directory
that contained the veterinarian listings.
This increased the strength of the
main content.

20. Results
Client bounced back with better than
original visibility.
• Credibility restored …. back on page 1.
• Organic traffic back up to pre engagement
levels.
75%
Total increase in Organic referrals.

21. Win
Robots help you…
Make new friends and influence
people.
People find you.
People link to you.
People talk about #you.
Help them help you.

22. Thanks
@johngoad
John Goad
Director of Free Traffic
john@addthree.com

23. Speakers
 John Goad [AddThree]
@JohnGoad
 Mike Pantoliano [Distilled]
@MikeCP
 Michael King [Publicis Modem]
@iPullRank
 Ben Lloyd [Amplify Interactive]
@Blizzle

24. Not Just More Traffic,
Better Traffic
Smart IA and Site Navigation
Mike Pantoliano This presentation is available here:
@MikeCP http://dis.tl/sic-seo
Distilled

25. In An Ideal
World
• Clean Slate
• Map out sitemap
for UX/SEO

26. IA / SEO
Competitiveness
Sure, this is nice, but large sites can really struggle

27. Faceted
Navigation
TrendToGo.com Amazon.com BestBuy.com

28. Our
Example
• Large eComm site
• 100,000+ High End Stationary
Products
• Faceted Navigation
• Great User Experience
• Awful for SEO

32. The Big
Problem
AJAX does not create new pages!

33. The Big
Problem

34. Result
Missing out on tons of longer-tail traffic!

35. Other
Problems
JavaScript isn’t the only potential culprit
• Poor IA leading to weak indexation
• iFrames
• Dropdown Sorting

36. Solution
How to preserve UX but allow
crawlability?
Fall back to static HTML pages when no JS
detected

39. Results
Organic traffic increased 72%
SEO
Conversions up 76%
UX
Sales up 136%

40. Take Away
Export your navigation into Excel
Get search volume from GKT
Brainstorm/mine for new keywords

41. Take Away
Are you missing out on organic
landing page opportunities?

42. Thanks!
Mike Pantoliano
@MikeCP
Distilled
http://dis.tl/excelninja
http://dis.tl/xenu-excel
http://dis.tl/faceted-nav

43. Speakers
 John Goad [AddThree]
@JohnGoad
 Mike Pantoliano [Distilled]
@MikeCP
 Michael King [Publicis Modem]
@iPullRank
 Ben Lloyd [Amplify Interactive]
@Blizzle

44. Let’s Be Friends
Michael King
SEO Manager
@ipullrank
Publicis Modem
Download these slides http://slidesha.re/uxplusseo

45. Building a user experience
without SEO in mind is like
building a car with no engine.

46. I don’t believe in bad
user experience for
the sake of SEO.
Stop making ugly sites and blaming it on the need for SEO

47. Do Less of this Do More of this
Make compelling experiences with utility

48. Any Creative that thinks SEO will
limit their abilities to deliver a
quality product isn't very (ahem)
creative.
Yeah, it’s an orphan.
What you gonna do
about it?!
SEO is a springboard not an anchor

49. User Experience is only
compromised by SEO when it is
retrofitted to the design process
Inject SEO into the design process as early as possible

50. SEO absolutely MUST be an active
consideration and ideally the driver of
every step of a site build
SEO = DNA

51. UX is very important to SEO because
there is evidence that Googlebot and
Bingbot may be headless web
browsers.
See: http://ipullrank.com/googlebot-is-chrome and http://bit.ly/sT0Vvj
Google also just revealed that they can crawl AJAX

52. Most importantly SEO is about
helping people find what they want
and presenting it to them in a way
that they expect.
Need States
Navigational Business Goals
Informational Navigational
Transactional Informational
Transactional
The old keyword classes are dead; identify need states

53. I’m done ranting, let’s talk about the mistakes that I’ve learned from

54. Your development and Creative
teams will just do what works. To
them building for Search is
utterly unnatural. Don‘t let them
build anything before you see it.
Cheech & Chong’s Magic Brownie Adventure was an awesome
campaign developed by my team but the site was built with no
SEO considerations at all. Not even a page title.
Never leave your Creative or Tech team to their own devices

55. LG’s site is a nightmare for a variety of
reasons but one of my favorite is the 1997
frames-inspired navigation that features over
200 links and is impossible to mouse over
properly.
Faceted navigation is an option when handled properly

56. Giant flash videos
are cool, right?
Sometimes your team or the
client will be so far off the mark
that there is nothing you can do
but wait for the redesign.
What do you
mean navigation
should be text?
Some battles you cannot win.

57. Use expandable DIVs to keep large blocks of text from being obtrusive to design
The Expandable DIV is your best friend.

58. Drive the Content Strategy by preparing an SEO Copy Brief that thoroughly
outlines the information architecture with regard to target keywords and
identify the objectives and target audience.
Keyword-relevant information architecture MUST come from SEO

59. Adding considerations at the
wireframe stage allows everyone to
be on the same page about how
and why SEO is to be accomplished.
Apply pressure during the Wireframe phase to ensure success.

60. Social Listening/
Keyword Push Live /
Need State Creative / Copy /
Mapping / Conversion Rate
Determination/ Tech
Information Optimization /
Keyword Development
Architecture Measurement
Research
SEO Defines SEO Validates SEO Drives
Info Architecture User Experience Measurement
Get involved throughout the lifecycle from strategy to measurement

61. Scout Labs
Alterian SM2
Social Mention
Mine the conversation in social media for personas and keywords

62. Here comes a case study!

63. 1. 2. 3. 4 5. 6. 7.
Motivation Decision-
Research Booking Pre-flight Travel Post-travel
to travel making
How do I crystallize my
Need States
What is out there that travels so that they are
I want to collect new Of the options available, Who’s going to help me What do I need to do to Who can I rely on to help
would be fun and easy to share, and
experience, add to my what is feasible given fine tune and make the activate my trip so that me make the most of my
interesting to do alone provide inspiration to
personal story, and time & budget plan possible? it’s as easy as possible? trip?
and/or with the people I me and others
create special memories constraints?
care about? evermore?
Occasion: Get Ideas: Search for: Search for: Locate: Connect: Organize:
Examples of What’s happening
-Season/Holiday Key trip info: -With local info -Memories/events
From friends, family,colleagues, Activity and experience options -Cheapest flight options based
-NY’ eve -Luggage rules -With resources (guides, gurus) -Evidence you’ve been there/
extended social media network, at different destinations on timings
-Valentine’s D -Check in time -Activity ideas Memorabilia
bloggers, TV personalities, - Cheapest flight options based
-Honeymoon -Terminal to go to -New ideas
movies, activity groups & forums on destination (look for promos
-Birthday gift and time suggestions) -Currency exchange
-Anniversary Compare: -Ways to and from airport
-Stag do Destination options based on -Travel tips Record: Package:
-Reunion Search for: timings, costs, and ease of -Experiences
-Accomplishment Occasion or experience sought getting there Compare: -Memories Trip takeouts so as to extend the
benefits gained from the trip
-Time off on google, publications, forums,
social media groups,etc
Time options vs. budget across
key providers
Book: -New ideas, contacts, knowledge
-Car hire
-Accommodation
Experience: -Airport bus Share:
-Broaden horizon Commit: To build on and showcase who
-Hobby/skill To a scenario you are
-Well-being/R&R
-Adventure
Manage:
-Landscape (sea, mountain, Info updates, efficient and easy
plant) task completion
-Weather (sun, snow, wind)
Research Commitment Experience
Inspiration
Discoveries in social listening must dictate the SEO, content strategy and UX
We used social listening to identify need states and build personas

64. 1. 2. 3. 4 5. 6. 7.
Motivation Decision-
Research Booking Pre-flight Travel Post-travel
to travel making
Occasion Activity Destination Offering Simplify Connect Remember
Core Semantic Groups We identified the need state
Flights
matched the client’s business
goals and mapped them to
semantic groups to dictate the
information architecture.
Country/Region Logistics
Timing
City/Airport
Cheap Flights
Map need states to core semantic groups to develop site maps

65. Identify what people want and present it in a way that matches their
expectations using the language they expect in order to provide the best
user experience to your target audience and improve conversion.
We mapped those to our keyword research and developed content

66. Navigation and sub-
navigation reflect need
states
UX and content
developed with the
concerns of our
personas
We built a user experience indicative of these considerations

67. We improved rankings and
conversions dramatically by
marrying these concepts.
Bookings
Organic Traffic
Turns out we’re pretty good at this.

68. So what else can we do?

69. Search Keyword-Level
FB:Admin Demographics
Referrers
Placing a site on Facebook’s OpenGraph and having a user opt-in allows
you to get their FB data whenever they come to your site. Matching that
with search referrers gives you demographics at a keyword-level.
KLD Source Code: http://ipullrank.com/code/keyword-demographics/

70. OWNER
Curious George Gamer Film Purist Tech Geek
• 18-32 • 18-32 • 22-40 • 22-40
• Male • Male • Male • Male
• Loves indie rock • Loves all music • Loves film soundtracks • Loves Techno
• Wishes he had a beard • Wishes he could move out • Wishes he could live in the • Wishes you would stop
his mom’s basement movie Avatar invading his online privacy
• 5000 Searches Monthly • 600 Searches Monthly • 1000 Searches Monthly • 100 Searches Monthly
• Conversion Rate 5% • Conversion Rate 2% • Conversion Rate 0.5% • Conversion Rate 0.2%
This data allows you to determine which of your target personas dominates
traffic and conversions for a given keyword.
For more applications of KLD see: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/keyword-level-demographics

71. What Normal Users See What Curious George Sees
Curious George
• 18-32
• Male
• Loves indie rock
• Wishes he had a beard
Using the FB data user experiences can be tailored dynamically to
reflect properties of the persona when they visit.
Use social data to improve the user experience and conversion

72. UX and SEO are good buddies
now and they are going places!
UX SEO

73. Michael King
SEO Manager
www.ipullrank.com
michael.king@publicismodem.com
@iPullRank

74. Speakers
 John Goad [AddThree]
@JohnGoad
 Mike Pantoliano [Distilled]
@MikeCP
 Michael King [Publicis Modem]
@iPullRank
 Ben Lloyd [Amplify Interactive]
@Blizzle

75. Navigation, Links & SEO
How Much is Too Much?
SEO & User Experience

76. Quotes
“I like having a selection, I just don't like
making a choice”
-Carrie Renee Mathews
Jam Study:
“The presence of choice might be
appealing in theory… in reality, people
might find more & more choice
debilitating”
-Professor Sheena Iyengar, Columbia University

77. Choices
Ever try to pick a paint color?
Did you know there were
THAT MANY shades of
white?
How about order from a
restaurant menu that’s 5
pages long?

78. Links
•SEO Says: “Too many on-page links”
•Designer should hear: “The Navigation is Overwhelming”
•Site Owner/Client freaks out about cutting down user options
- SEO Benefit: Improved spidering = more pages available
for search
- Design & U/X Benefit: Contextual navigation = improved
usability
- Site Benefit: more visitors, better usability = ROI

79. Case Study

80. Internal
Links
1. Major duplicate content issue resolved
2. Nav change to news
3. Nav change to events
4. Nav change to posts
5. Minor duplicate content issue resolved

81. Template
Changes
Example:
Simple Template Changes
 Sidebar links
 Number of posts

82. Directory
Changes
Example:
Simple Template Changes
 Cut down on columns
 Sidebar links are
contextual

83. Post
Changes
Example:
Post-Level Changes
 Keep the links contextual

84. Organic
Search
URLs Receiving Entrances from Search
Q3 2010 Q4 2010 Q1 2011 Q2 2011 Q3 2011

85. Organic
Search
1. Major duplicate content issue resolved
2. Nav change to news
3. Nav change to events
4. Nav change to posts
5. Minor duplicate content issue resolved

86. SEO & UX?