Optimizing For Google’s New Landscape And The Future Of Search

As AI expands across the SEO landscape, understanding which ranking signals to prioritize is crucial for staying ahead.

Watch as we dive deep into the evolution reshaping Google's search rankings in 2024 and beyond. We’ll show you actionable insights to help you navigate the disruption and emerge with a winning SEO strategy.

You’ll hear:
- The top ranking signals to optimize for increasing your search visibility.
- Expert-level SEO strategies that will improve performance right now.
- Insights on how to optimize your website to win rich search result types.

With Nathan Endres, Sr. SEO Analyst at Conductor, we’ll show you the top ranking factors that still matter in Google's AI-driven algorithm, and how to optimize for them. We’ll also give you tips on where to focus your best content, so you can get optimal engagement and ROI.

Whether you're an SEO expert or a digital marketing novice, this webinar will equip you with the knowledge and tactics needed to thrive in Google's new ranking reality.

Don't miss this opportunity to decode the search giant's latest moves and stay ahead of competitors where it matters most—on SERPs.

1. Future-Proofing Your SEO: The Evolving Search Landscape

October 2024

2. About Me

●Sr. SEO Analyst @
Conductor

●13 Years in SEO

●Packer fan living in enemy
territory (Minneapolis)

3. ●The Evolving Search Landscape
●Navigating the Interactive SERP
●AI & Generative Search
●Creating User-Focused & Intent Driven
Content
●Building a Solid SEO Foundation
●Summary
●Questions?
3
Agenda
Speakers:
Presentation duration
●Nate Endres
60 Minutes

4. Google is a business first and
foremost - updates aren’t just
about delivering a better
search experience, they’re
about keeping users in search
results longer

5. AI will change the search landscape
How people ask questions is changing
Queries to prompts, static links to generative
responses
Quality of answers is changing
Refine in real-time to get exactly what you’re looking
for
Where people are searching is changing
Search engines, social media, chat bots, etc.
How people make content is changing
Explosion of volume with age of generative AI

6. Three ways AI enhances search experience:
AI Snapshot, Conversational Mode, & Vertical
Experiences
How & Where You Show Up is Changing

7. Before SGE With SGE

8. AI is Attempting to Answer User’s Questions &
Prolong Interaction within Google search results
●In May 2024, Google rolled out expanded
AI overviews to US users

●AI overviews display similar to Quick
Answers. Google compiles an answer from
a number of sources then links to those
sires in the ‘Learn more’ section

●Google claims these ‘Learn more’ links
generate more clicks than a traditional
search result

9. AI generated results are far from a finished
product
●Google’s rollout has been far from perfect,
with AI generating misleading and
nonsensical answers for some queries.
Google scaled back its rollout as a response
at the end of May

10. Google’s efforts to keep users
in search go beyond AI. The
Interactive SERP is changing
the way people engage with
search engines.

11. Personalization & Localization is creating a search
landscape that is harder to track
●While personalized search results
have been around since 2004,
increased & improved personalization
has created a more varied search
experience across different locations
and users

●General queries are increasingly
producing local results that share the
SERP with shopping and
informational results

12. Shoppable Results Are Creating an On-Site
Experience in the SERP
●Users able to shop and filter
products directly from SERP
page much like an on-site
product category page with
faceted navigation

13. Interactive SERP Features Allow Users to Take
Action in Search Results
●SERP Features like Flights & Hotels
have allowed users to perform more
actions in search results without
clicking through

●Google & search engines will
continue to expand which queries,
topics, and verticals generate
interactive features

14. “Is my organic traffic going
to go down?
What should I do about it?”
“Does the keyword
still matter?”
“How does personalization
effect my brand showing up?”
We Know You Have Questions…

15. Negative impact
on top-ranking
pages as they
move down
below the fold

The rise of intricate,
natural language
long-tail queries is
anticipated to
influence the
conventional
methods of
measuring Monthly
Search Volume
(MSV).
Potential Impact on Organic Search
The ranking and
presence within
the SGE may
become more
important than
the ranking
outside of it
1 5

16. Different landing
pages on your site
may take on added
importance. For
example, product
pages may be more
common landing
pages for queries that
once aligned to
category pages

Potential Impact on Organic Search
Your ‘competitor’ mix
in the SERP may
change - direct
competitors online
and offline, content
creators, Google’s
own results etc.

Your keyword mix
may change - general
keywords with a
broader intent may be
more difficult to rank
for while more
targeted, longer tail
keywords become
increasingly important

17. Fear not, this isn’t the first time a change in the SERP has
caused people to wonder if SEO is dead

18. AI & the Interactive SERP isn’t
the end of SEO, it simply
changes what we prioritize
and how we measure success

19. Authorship Will Continue
To Increase In Importance

E-E-A-T has become the Googs
mantra and it is permeating into
everything they do.

Helping them understand who is
writing a piece of content and why
they are an authority has become a
necessity vs. a nice to have.



Think About Real Estate,
Not Rankings

Thinking about the SERP as a whole
and how much real estate you take
up vs. where your .com ranks is a
necessary to stay ahead.

●Paid
●Organic
●Social
●Knowledge Graph
●Rich Snippets
●SGE


Specificity Will Be Key
Moving Forward

Google is looking for the best
possible answer to users queries,
which may be in a comment on a
forum, a snippet from an article, or
a post on a site like Quora or
Reddit.
This Is The Next Evolution Of SEO

20. Creating User-Focused & Intent Driven Content

21. Better Decoding Search Intent
●The August 2024 Core Algorithm update
was Google’s latest attempt to better
understand search intent

●Google has a number of ways it attempts to
better understand search intent and deliver
more relevant results
○Past search behavior
○Location
○Freshness - Google identifies queries
that may align to current events or
time-sensitive information and
elevates more recent results

22. A Higher Standard for Content
●In March 2024, Google rolled out its latest update to target low quality
content and manipulative practices

●Google’s efforts include:
○Devaluing low-quality, unoriginal or automated content that
appears to have been created at scale for the purpose of search
rather than users
○Devaluing sites that host low quality 3rd party content in an
attempt to benefit from the 3rd party site’s domain authority
○Sites’ that buy expired domains in attempt to improve their search
visibility by capitalizing on the search equity of the expired domain

23. Trustworthiness
Trust is the mechanism by which raters determine if
the page is “accurate, honest, safe, and reliable.
Raters look for things like:
●Sufficient contact information, content
accuracy and citing of sources and security of
the site.
Authoritativeness
Consider the extent to which the content
creator or the website it known as a go-to
source for the topic. While most topics do not
have one official, Authoritative website or
content creator, when they do, the website or
content creator is often among the most
reliable and trustworthy sources.
Expertise
Consider the extent to which the content
creator has the necessary knowledge or skill
for the topic. Different topics require different
levels and types of expertise to be trustworthy.

What is E-E-A-T?
Experience
Experience means the extent to which the content
creator has the necessary first-hand or life
experience for the topic.

24. Is it self-evident to your
visitors who authored your
content?
Who created the
content?



Sharing details about the
processes involved can help
readers and visitors better
understand how your unique
piece of content was created.

How was the content
created?



The "why" is that you're
creating content primarily to
help people, content that is
useful to visitors. If you're
doing this, you're aligning with
E-E-A-T.
Why was the content
created?



●The content is in-depth,
specific, and helpful to
the human reading it.
●The content is not overly
promotional.
Foundational elements



How to assess your content for E-E-A-T
Content is In-depth & Specific Authorship is self-evident Content process creation details
are shared
Purpose of the content is clearly
to be helpful

25. A well optimized site ranks well for topics, not
just individual keywords
This is content that allows
your potential customers/users
to browse your service
offerings and learn more about
them.
This is content that familiarizes
potential customers/users with
your brand and helps
customers learn about your
services
This is content that allows
your customers/users to take
action - schedule an
appointment, request more
information, contact you, make
a purchase etc.
Consideratio
n Content
Informational Content Transactional Content
High Funnel Medium Funnel Low Funnel

26. Lower Search Volume Doesn’t Always Mean Less
Value

●Relevancy and intent is key! A
general keyword with a vague
intent that gets 100 visits but
only 10 are qualified may have
less value than a keyword that
generates 20 visits, but all 20
are qualified

●Focus on keywords that align to
your site’s offerings & audience
- driving relevant traffic is more
important than traffic volume
alone

27. Think About Real Estate, Not Just Individual
Rankings

●How much space you occupy in the
SERPs is becoming more important
than your individual rank for a keyword

●You may not be eligible for all result
types (like Local Packs) - making
prioritizing and appearing in all the
result types you are eligible for that
much more important

28. Author
Help Google Understand Who Your Authors Are
Link To LinkedIn Profile
Link To / From Wikipedia
Link To Other Articles &
Publications
Who Is This Person?
Why Are They An Expert
In This Industry?
Why Are They An Expert
On This Topic?
Questions Google Is
Trying To Answer
The Person / Expert
How You Can Help
Answer Those Questions
Create An Author Page
Author Schema

29. Prune Low-Quality Content from Your Site
Update or remove
content that is shallow,
incomplete or updated.
Google values
comprehensive content
that answers a range of
questions related to a
topic
Remove content that
violates Google’s terms
of service, was
AI-generated, or created
solely for influencing
search engine results
Review your analytics or
Search Console for older
content that has begun to
lose visibility, traffic or
experienced higher bounce
rates. Can it be updated to
leverage some of its
existing equity and make it
more useful and relevant?
Update or remove thin
or outdated content
Review low performing
content
Remove spammy or
automated content created
at scale

30. What is Ranking Is Our Best Insight Into What
Google (& Users) Value
Review what is ranking for the topic (and related queries)
you’re targeting and let it inform your content creation
○What does the content cover? What questions
does it answer?
○How long is the content?
○What is the content’s voice and who is its
audience?
○How is the page’s meta data optimized - titles,
heading etc?
○How is the content structured and layed out?
○What content types does the page utilize - videos,
tables, numbered lists, etc?
○Where does the content live on the site? How is it
linked to?

31. Be Specific

Google is looking for the
best possible answer to
users queries, which may be
in a comment on a forum, a
snippet from an article, or a
post on a site like Quora or
Reddit.

The more specific you can be
when it comes to your
content the better.


Tell Users Who You
Are

E-E-A-T has become
Google's mantra and it is
permeating into everything
they do.

Helping them understand
who is writing a piece of
content and why they are an
authority has become a
necessity vs. a nice to have.

Educate Your Users

Users are no longer looking
to simply buy something
from you, instead they are
looking for you to educate
them on why they should
buy something from you.
The Pillars of Quality Content

Adopt An “Always
On” Mindset

If a keyword ranks #1 and no
one reports on it, did it
actually happen?

Adopting technology &
automating processes and
reporting is key to creating
agility within your
organization and creating
great content at scale.

32. Building a Solid SEO Foundation

33. 33
Businesses with
photos on their
profiles receive
42% more
requests for
driving
directions and
35% more
click-throughs to
websites than
ones without*
Optimize Your Google Business Profile Listings
Add Photos
Interacting
with customers
helps
perception of
your business
and also
increases your
business’
visibility in
results.
Manage &
Respond to
Reviews
Research
what’s
available for
your business
inside of GBP
and use it!
Leverage
Special
Attributes &
Product
Catalogs
Include your
business hours
and update
them as they
change. Ensure
you have a
process in place
if you have
several locations
for keeping
these updated.
Keep Hours
Up to Date
Like everything
else with SEO,
keywords are
important.
Include them
where possible
in your profile.
Include
Target
Keywords
Make sure
your profile
communicates
what your
business
does, where it
is and how
they can
contact you.
Ensure All
Fields Are
Filled In

34. Optimize Your Product Listings
Optimizing product information includes:
○Ensuring product titles and descriptions include
the keywords potential customers use to find
your products
○Ensure product listings are complete and up to
date, with relevant attributes like size, gender,
specifications etc.
○Use the product_type attribute to categorize
your products
■Ex. Home>Men>Shoes>Boots
○Utilize high quality product images

35. Create a Well-Organized & Intuitive Site Structure
Men
/men
Shoes
/men/shoes
Clothes
/men/clothes
Pants
/men/clothes/pants
Shirts
/men/clothes/shirts
Boots
men/shoes/boots
Sneakers
/men/shoes/sneakers
●A descriptive, nested URL
structures help search
engines understand
where they are on your
site, what your pages are
about, and how they
relate to one another in
your site’s hierarchy

●Well thought out internal
linking also helps pass
PageRank across different
pages on your site

36. Prioritize User Experience & Site Speed
●User Experience & Site Speed can be the
difference maker in search verticals, like
eCommerce, where content between
competitors may be very similar

●Your site experience directly impacts how
users interact with your site and these signals
also impact your organic visibility. Page speed
and UX impact important metrics like:
○Clickthrough Rate
○Bounce Rate
○Dwell Time

37. Off Page Signals Still Matter
●Backlinks still serve as upvotes for your site
and help boost your domain’s authority.
Factors that matter include
○# of unique referring domains
○link authority
○link relevancy
○anchor text

●Brand Mentions

●Reviews

●Social Shares & Engagement

●Local Citations


Source: Backlinko

38. Key Takeaways
1.While AI, new result types, and an ever changing search
algorithm are altering user behavior, there is still tremendous
value in organic search.

1.Many of the factors we’ve optimized for in the past - like content
and off-page signals - still matter. Their weight and the way we
think about them strategically has changed.

1.Creating well-researched, authoritative content that meets
E-E-A-T standards and aligns to the various stages and search
intents of your audience is more important than ever.

1.How we measure success must change, it’s not just about
ranking for individual keywords and driving more traffic - it’s
about ranking for topics and driving more relevant, qualified
traffic