Xmas in the shed with Jon Earnshaw – Talk roundups and slides

We had so much fun at Jon Earnshaw's first ever SEO in the Shed event! We heard from two amazing speakers about the power of SERP Features, Jon showcased his groundbreaking findings on Voice Search and we rounded-off a great day with some neon ping pong!

Thank you to everyone who attended Jon's SEO in the Shed Xmas party! We hope you had a fantastic time and got some great takeaways to inform your SEO strategies! If you missed out, or simply want to re-live the day, we've got the top tips and slides from each talk below, along with some pics 📷

[metaslider id=28741]

The SERPs Whisperer: How to Learn All You Need to Know About Google from Google

Chris Green, Head of Marketing Innovation at Footprint Digital

Chris Green, Head of Marketing Innovation at Footprint Digital, showed us how to gauge intent direct from the Google SERPs when planning our content and SEO strategy.

Top takeaways:

• • • How Google understands intent changes over time, particularly within a specific niche or vertical.
    • Think in terms of your user journey progressing; once you've understood the SERP intent, match your content to this.
    • Go upstream from your competitors; people don't tend to focus on the top of the marketing funnel, so that leaves room for you to take the space at the top of the funnel and begin users journeys through you.
    • Continue to review SERP intent overtime; use tools such as Pi's SERP Radar to understand the SERP features that make up your space, and take a birds eye view of SERPs overtime to plot intent shift.

#Lifegoals, got a round of applause for a terrible pun #seointheshedhttps://t.co/PxqIa0UoYb

— Chris Green (@chrisgreen87) December 4, 2019

[icon-cta-banner colour='blue' headline="Subscribe to Shed News" icon='/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Jon-Earnshaw-Talk_icon.svg' cta_action='/jon-earnshaw-shed-news/' cta_text='Subscribe now']

Enter the Answer Engine and the Way of the Intercepting SERP Feature

Matthew Hunt, SEO Consultant at Builtvisible

Matthew Hunt, SEO Consultant at Builtvisible, shows us how Google takes with one hand, stealing our traffic and taking over our industries, but gives with the other, offering us invaluable real estate and new conversion opportunities.

Taking us through the multitude of SERP features Google serves, Matt implores us to think about the changing SERPs differently...

Top takeaways:

• Google may seem evil, as it makes businesses like Indeed and Skyscanner obsolete, but they're solely interested in providing the best search experience. This means becoming an 'Answer Engine'.
• SERP features don't mean fewer opportunities, they mean *new* opportunities. It's becoming about search experience optimisation!
• Make use of Yoast, Schema, AMP and Google Tag Manager to land yourself a lucrative SERP feature.

[icon-cta-banner colour='blue' headline="Subscribe to Shed News" icon='/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Jon-Earnshaw-Talk_icon.svg' cta_action='/jon-earnshaw-shed-news/' cta_text='Subscribe now']

Why We Shouldn't Forget About Voice Search

Jon Earnshaw, Chief Product Evangelist at Pi Datametrics

Jon Earnshaw, our Chief Product Evangelist here at Pi Datametrics, took us through his groundbreaking voice search SEO research undertaken alongside the University of Hertfordshire. Jon shared his surprising findings, whilst highlighting the growing importance of voice as a marketing consideration...

Top takeaways:

• • • Interest in 'Voice search SEO' has been declining YoY since 2016 - we are no longer prioritising this in our marketing
    • However, in just five years, 50% of us have adopted smart speakers, faster than we've ever adopted any other technology including TV, computers and smart phones.
    • In his research, Jon showcased a direct correlation between the length of a search query and the level of a user's satisfaction; whilst voice queries are longer and can be more ambiguous, Jon's research revealed that 26% of users were more satisfied with the SERP of a voice search query over a typed one.
    • One of the most important takeaways that Jon revealed was that voice and typed query SERPs are becoming more dissimilar; the research showed the SERPs are different and even richer for voice queries than that of their typed counterparts - even when intent is the same. What does this mean? That just because you position well for keywords, doesn’t mean you will for voice equivalents!
    • Google has been focusing its attention on conversational search; just a week after this conclusion was made, BERT was announced and it all made sense. Google finds it easier to understand conversational queries than keyword queries.

[report-download-cta id=28560 cta_title="Download now" colour="blue" icon="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/icon-reports.svg" headline="Voice search findings & developments"][/report-download-cta]

26% of people were happier with the SERP they received from a voice search, than a typed one #seointheshedpic.twitter.com/LAiA3xQIFj

— Pi Datametrics (@PiDatametrics) December 4, 2019

"Schema isn't always a prerequisite anymore. The number of unstructured answers populating SERP Features is definitely increasing." #SERPFeatures#SEO#SEOintheShed@PiDatametricspic.twitter.com/xC17Zo1XM1

— Louise Linehan (@Lou_Linehan) December 4, 2019

[metaslider id=28806]

[icon-cta-banner colour='blue' headline="Subscribe to Shed News" icon='/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Jon-Earnshaw-Talk_icon.svg' cta_action='/jon-earnshaw-shed-news/' cta_text='Subscribe now']