Semantic search isn't just about structured data. The way we write can help Google to understand content and, if you know what you're doing, allow you to land your content in an AnswerBox. Find out how to turn unstructured content into structured data and why SEO is all about reducing friction.

1. Optimizing Unstructured Data

2. @ajkohn
@SEMpdx
#SearchFest

3. My name is AJ Kohn

4. Blind Five Year Old
Since 2007

5. Making the complex
simple

6. Semantic Search

7. We have a problem

8. Ugh, as if!

10. WHAT?!

12. WHAT?!

14. Semantic search is about understanding meaning

15. OKAY!

16. OKAY!

17. Context

18. Context matters

19. Context matters

20. Natural
Language
Processing

21. Finding all expressions that refer to
the same entity in a text
Coreference Resolution
Part of Speech (POS) Tagging
Assign a part of speech to
each word in a text

22. The word quiet isn’t spelled wrong but Google knew
that I probably meant to write quite awesome instead

23. Machine learning

24. Making predictions based on
patterns and rules from prior data

26. Google is better at getting
meaning from text because
of access to more data

28. Entities

29. Letters and Words

30. Things

31. “New York”
hasPopulation: 8.046 Million
hasPointsofInterest: Empire State Building
hasAddress: 350 5th Avenue hasHeight: 1,250 feet

32. The Knowledge Graph

33. Connections and relationships
between entities and documents

34. Named Entity Recognition (NER)

35. One size doesn’t fit all

36. Context-Dependent Fine-Grained Entity Type Tagging

37. Not just any entities but
salient entities

38. 66 entities on a page and
less than 5% are salient
http://bit.ly/bigdealentities

39. How do you train a
machine learning model to
identify salient entities?

40. Hello McFly!

41. Word up

42. Word to your
mother

43. Words

44. “Keywords don’t matter anymore”

45. Ice Bear cried,
but just inside

46. I love structured data but optimizing
unstructured data is far more powerful

47. Text on the page is
more important now

48. Words = Entities ^ Context ^ Meaning

49. We can turn unstructured content
into structured data

50. How much do
you trust Google?
How much do you trust Google?

51. Stop writing for people
and start writing for
search engines
http://bit.ly/focusedwriting

53. 28%

54. Most users don’t read but
skim and scan instead
http://bit.ly/usersdontread

55. First you looked here
Then here

56. A penny for a paragraph return

57. Mirroring

58. Not only do we mirror body language
we seek it out when searching

60. Keyword rich text and
subheads allow users to
resume reading at any time

61. Keyword is not a
four letter word

62. Better to you
query syntax call it

63. But what about user
delight?

64. Could you not

65. Task Completion > Aesthetics

66. Our job is to
reduce friction

67. After writing your content go back and find
where you can replace pronouns with nouns
Remember that readers won’t often ‘see’ these
nouns but will use them as visual signposts

68. “It’s such a gorgeous work of art”
“Lobster and Cat is a beautiful painting”
ArtworkType: paintingArtworkTitle: Lobster and Cat
hasArtist: Pablo Picasso

70. Intent

71. Google may better understand the meaning of
my query but do they know why I’m searching?

72. Why are they really searching?

73. Why are they really searching?
Common Problems with the Eureka 4870
Eureka 4870 Troubleshooting Tips
Local Vacuum Cleaner Repair Shops
Eureka 4870 Replacement Parts
Guide to Buying a New Vacuum Cleaner

74. Why are they really searching?
Common Problems with the Eureka 4870
Eureka 4870 Troubleshooting Tips
Local Vacuum Cleaner Repair Shops
Eureka 4870 Replacement Parts
Guide to Buying a New Vacuum Cleaner

75. Our job is to decode the
intent from the query syntax
http://bit.ly/aggregatingintent

76. Target the
keyword
Optimize the
intent

77. What are we really
talking about?

78. This is a factbox
triggered by entities and
the Knowledge Graph

79. This answerbox is
triggered by
semi-structured data

80. This answerbox is
triggered by specific
patterns of text

81. Answerbox triggered by
patterns of text and
specific understanding

82. Answerbox triggered by
patterns of text and
specific understanding

83. Answerbox triggered by
patterns of text and
semi-structured data

84. Answerbox triggered by
patterns of text and
specific understanding

85. Game's the same,
just got more fierce

86. Skate to where the puck is going
to be, not to where it has been

87. The Link Graph

88. The Link Graph
+
Scored Entities
<entity A>
<entity B>
<entity C>
<entity B>
<entity C>
<entity A>
<entity A>
<entity D>
<entity B>
<entity D>

89. Entity authority could
flow through links
similar to anchor text

90. TL;DL

91. We can help Google to find structure, entities and
meaning in our content
The easier we make it, the more likely we are to
satisfy robots and humans

92. AJ Kohn
Owner, Blind Five Year Old
www.blindfiveyearold.com
aj@blindfiveyearold.com
@ajkohn