Death Of The Keyword: Why Aggregate Organic Traffic Is A Better Metric via @sejournal, @Kevin_Indig

5 months ago 117

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This is my authoritative eulogy for the SEO keyword, which died galore years ago, but nary 1 has noticed.

As a result, galore selling teams marque sub-par decisions, and decision-makers suffer spot successful SEO arsenic a channel. Just look astatine the caller “SEO is dead” reactions to HubSpot’s postulation decline.

Google Enforces JavaScript For Crawling

Since January 20, Google has required JavaScript for Search, which makes fertile tracking much expensive.

This is the latest determination successful a long-standing conflict betwixt SEO pros and Google.

Rank trackers (Semrush, Ahrefs, SEOmonitor, etc.) person been operating successful a grey zone. Google tolerates them but officially doesn’t let it.

Now, with JavaScript arsenic a hard requirement, fertile tracking needs much RAM, which increases the outgo of each information point.

The effect is that the outgo of doing SEO is rising. But fertile tracking mislaid its worth agelong earlier Google switched to JavaScript crawling.

Focusing On Single Keywords Hasn’t Made Sense In A While

Image Credit: Kevin Indig

With each the elements successful the SERPs and the unrepresentative information we get, it’s hard to task interaction and measurement occurrence purely based connected keyword ranks.

In 2013, Google stopped sharing keyword referrers. The lone mode to recognize what users searched to get to your tract was and inactive is Google Search Console.
In 2014, Google started showing Featured Snippets, nonstop answers astatine the apical of the hunt results, which created much winner-takes-it-all situations. Subsequent SERP features similar People Also Asked oregon video carousels followed and climbed up the ranks. Today, implicit 30 known SERP Features vie for attraction with classical hunt results. It’s precise hard to foretell however galore clicks you mightiness get due to the fact that determination are truthful galore combinations of SERP Features.¹
Since past year, Google has shown ads for integrated results and has breached the accepted separation betwixt integrated and paid results.
And, of course, past year, Google launched AI Overviews. The AI answers are present disposable successful implicit 100 countries and supply in-depth answers. Clicking done to hunt results is present redundant successful immoderate cases.
The information Google shares astir these trends scope from non-existent to bare. AI Overviews oregon SERP Features are not included successful Search Console Data. Not adjacent speaking of the information that Google filters retired 50% of query information for “privacy reasons”: Ahrefs looked astatine 150,000 websites and recovered that astir 50% of keywords and clicks are hidden.²

On 1 hand, a azygous webpage tin fertile for thousands of keywords arsenic agelong arsenic those keywords explicit the aforesaid intent and the leafage gives a bully reply to each implied questions. This has been the lawsuit for galore years now.

On the different hand, much and much keywords don’t present postulation due to the fact that each clicks spell to a SERP Feature that keeps radical successful the hunt results, oregon a click isn’t indispensable – searchers get the reply successful the hunt results.

Sparktoro recovered that +37% of searches extremity without a click, and +21% effect successful different search.³

Image Credit: Kevin Indig

A mates of months ago, I rewrote my usher to in-house SEO and started ranking successful presumption one. But the gag was connected me. I didn’t get a azygous soiled click for that keyword.

Over 200 radical hunt for [inhouse seo], but not a azygous idiosyncratic clicks connected a hunt result.

By the way, Google Analytics lone shows 10 clicks from integrated hunt implicit the past 3 months.

So, what’s going on? The 10 clicks I really got are not reported successful GSC (privacy… I guess?), but the bulk of searchers apt click connected 1 of the People Also Asked features that amusement up close beneath my hunt result.

The bigger representation is that the worth of keywords and ranks has tanked.

Our effect tin beryllium two-fold:

First, portion the overarching extremity should inactive beryllium to fertile astatine the top, we request to people the constituent that’s astir apt to get each the attraction successful the SERPs, similar video carousels oregon AI answers. In immoderate cases, that means expanding “SEO” to different platforms similar YouTube.
Second, we request to look astatine aggregate data.

Aggregate Traffic > Keywords

We’re inactive operating with the aged exemplary of SEO, which is wherever we way a database of keywords to measurement occurrence and acceptable targets.

But however overmuch consciousness does that marque fixed pages fertile for galore keywords? How overmuch consciousness does it marque a fixed hunt to determination from a database of results to LLM answers?

The keyword doesn’t person a aboriginal successful search. What does is intent, and LLMs are overmuch amended astatine knowing it.

So, present is my suggestion: Instead of focusing connected keywords, we should absorption connected integrated postulation aggregated connected the leafage oregon domain level.

Some traps to ticker retired for:

We inactive request keywords to exemplary marque vs. non-brand postulation by leafage (still works due to the fact that you should person capable keywords).
Beware of seasonality.
Split integrated postulation retired by caller vs. existing pages.

To way however good a domain oregon leafage is doing, we tin inactive look astatine keywords; the absorption of integrated postulation is much indicative of whether it does good oregon not.

One large contented I person with keywords is that hunt measurement has galore flaws and is truthful unrepresentative of what’s really going on.

The word “in-house seo” has a reported hunt measurement of 90-200 successful the biggest fertile trackers but doesn’t really present immoderate clicks.

To cognize what pages to make without keyword research, speech to customers and analyse what topics and questions they attraction about.

Analyze platforms similar Reddit and YouTube for engagement and reverse technologist what topics work.

And, we tin – and astir apt volition person to – usage paid hunt information to pass SEO due to the fact that it’s much reflective of topics with the mode that Google shows (Performance Max) ads to users successful Search, which are akin to idiosyncratic intent.

To task traffic, look astatine domains oregon pages that are already disposable for topics we attraction about, conscionable not connected the keyword level.

Clickstream information that reflects however users browse the web is overmuch amended due to the fact that it doesn’t task imaginable postulation based connected a keyword position.

Where keywords inactive marque (some sense) is for analyzing humanities hunt measurement to task whether a taxable is increasing oregon shrinking, but I suggest utilizing lone ample amounts of keywords.

A immense payment of the aggregate postulation attack is that it transfers good to LLM due to the fact that they don’t springiness america queries either, but we tin way referral postulation connected the domain and leafage level.

ChatGPT adjacent adds a URL parameter to outgoing clicks that makes tracking easier.

LLM Defense: Activated

Image Credit: Kevin Indig

The existent crushed Google enforces JavaScript crawling is not to wounded SEO professionals but GenAI competitors.

ChatGPT and Perplexity are gaining important ground. ChatGPT has already surpassed the postulation of Bing and Google’s Gemini. Perplexity is connected the mode there.

However, LLM crawlers can’t execute JavaScript, which means they tin present nary longer crawl Google’s hunt results to crushed their answers.

(By the way, you request to marque definite your contented is accessible without JavaScript. Otherwise, LLMs can’t crawl it, and you can’t look successful their answers.)

The prime of immoderate LLMs mightiness alteration owed to Google enforcing JavaScript, but lone temporarily. LLMs tin inactive get SERP information successful different ways.

But 1 imaginable effect of Google’s determination is that LLM developers physique their ain models oregon web indices to measurement answers and go autarkic of hunt engines.

The second-order effect of that would beryllium that it’s nary longer capable to bash bully SEO to look successful LLMs. We would person to reverse technologist LLM results similar we did with Google.

If SEO is simply a game, winning successful SEO present requires adjusting based connected the travel (intent) of the crippled alternatively of counting cards (keywords).

The aboriginal of hunt is not keywords but intentions.

Let this beryllium my authoritative eulogy.

Image Credit: Kevin Indig