[Latest SEO marketing] "Search interaction model" proposed by JADE. Approaching the future of SEO

Along with the evolution of search engines, the direction of SEO (search engine optimization) measures has also changed rapidly. From the era of link building, where the number of backlinks was important, to the era of content overproduction, we are now in an era where content quality and user experience are more important. Due to these changes, SEO is becoming increasingly important in content marketing.

If you’re a marketer involved in SEO, you’ve probably heard of JADE Co., Ltd. With the mission of being a company that makes the Internet better, the company is responsible for the business strategies of companies in a variety of fields through consulting services such as search engine optimization, web advertising operations, content marketing, and web analysis.

This time, we asked Ichishi Nagayama, the company’s founder and former Google chief strategy officer who leads SEO consulting, to talk about the latest SEO marketing.

JADE brings together top-class human resources in various fields of digital marketing.

–JADE has a solid track record in SEO consulting and is today known as a synonym for SEO marketing. I remember that the company received a lot of attention in the industry from the beginning, but what was the process behind its establishment?

Ikseki Nagayama

(hereinafter referred to as Nagayama) First, I would like to talk about my own background. I originally worked at Google for many years in outreach activities for webmasters. This job provides support for creating websites that comply with Google’s guidelines and policies. Utilizing the experience I gained at that time, I founded JADE in 2019 with Masahiro Tsuji, CEO of so.la Inc., one of Japan’s leading SEO authorities.

The following year, in 2020, Shuaki Ito, who had been leading content marketing for Gurunavi such as “Minna no Gohan” and “Meshikore,” was appointed as representative director, and the current structure was roughly in place.

–I’m sure some of our readers don’t know about JADE yet, so could you tell us more about the service?

Nagayama

Yes. Our company mainly provides consulting and SaaS in the field of digital marketing. Our specific consulting services include “Search Engine Optimization,” as well as “Web Advertising Operations,” “Content Marketing,” and “GA4 Consulting.”

“Search engine optimization” is a core service of JADE. As mentioned above, I utilize the knowledge and know-how that I have cultivated through my work as a web master outreach worker for Japan at Google to provide SEO support that is easily evaluated by the Google search engine.

“Web advertising management” is a service based on the knowledge of Kazuhoshi Konishi, our director and CCO (chief consulting officer). He is an expert among experts who has been certified as a Google Ads Community Gold Product Expert (formerly AdWords Official Help Forum Top Level User) and handles a wide range of web advertising such as Google Ads, Yahoo! Ads, Meta Ads, and X Ads. We provide effective web advertising management services.

“Content marketing” is a service in which Ito, the COO (chief operating officer), is in a leading position. We provide accompanying consulting services based on a long-term perspective, including planning support, monitoring design, and improvement support.

In recent years, the need for “GA4 (Google Analytics 4) consulting” has been rapidly increasing. The access analysis tool provided by Google has been updated from Google Analytics (Universal Analytics) to GA4 to meet needs such as environment migration to GA4. Our company has many of Japan’s leading experts, and we develop and provide services with a team centered around them.

–It’s reassuring to have people with top-class achievements in various fields of digital marketing such as SEO, web advertising, content marketing, and web analysis gathered together.

Nagayama

: Originally, the company was founded with the theme of “What can we do to raise the overall level of SEO in Japan?”, but in addition to SEO, we also provide comprehensive services such as web advertising, content marketing, and GA4 consulting. If you don’t approach digital marketing, the level of SEO itself will not improve. To this end, we have decided to bring together top-class human resources with advanced knowledge and achievements in various fields to provide more comprehensive digital marketing services.

Additionally, one of our company’s characteristics is that our consulting team and engineering team work closely together. This allows us to provide advanced consulting services, and our great strength is that we can develop our own tools to maximize consulting effectiveness.

The SaaS product born from this system is “Amethyst,” an SEO analysis and monitoring tool. It is a tool that uses Google’s Search Console and search-related APIs to visualize and analyze access information to your site, allowing you to understand the SEO status and take strategic SEO measures.

“Amethyst” was originally based on an analysis platform used internally, and it was turned into a product after its effectiveness was proven.

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Conducting SEO consulting based on the framework of search interaction model

–By approaching digital marketing from multiple perspectives, the quality of SEO consulting, which is the core of your service, will also improve.

Nagayama:

Another way of thinking is that today’s SEO requires measures from both “search engine optimization” and “search experience optimization.”

For example, even if you have a perfectly optimized site for search engines, if the user experience is not optimized, it will not be truly useful. JADE believes that the true purpose of SEO is to create a site that is not only accessible to search engines, but also useful to searchers.

JADE’s unique framework called the “Search Interaction Model” was devised to realize this idea. In consulting, we provide SEO support based on this framework.

Reference link:

Introduction to search interaction model – Story about the SEO analysis framework that JADE uses on a daily basis

This framework consists of two parts: “DCIR” (Search Engine Optimization Model) and “QCLS” (Search Experience Model).

“DCIR” is a coined word taken from the initials of the words that describe the series of actions that search engines take when evaluating websites. It models how search engines interact with web pages.

QCLS, on the other hand, is a model of how users interact with websites via search engines.

We provide SEO consulting based on a framework consisting of this search engine optimization model and search experience model.

Traditionally, SEO has tended to be talked about only in terms of limited elements processed by search engines, such as “Rank” and “Click.” However, it is difficult to approach the essential part of SEO with just that. Therefore, by looking at issues using the DCIR model and QCLS model, you will be able to think about things in more detail, such as “how the site is viewed by search engines” and “how the site is viewed by search users.” .

For example, when a problem such as “a sudden decrease in search traffic” occurs, it becomes easier to determine in which phase of this model the problem lies, and it becomes possible to have a more detailed discussion.

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Changes in SEO: The end of link building and content building, and a return to high-quality content creation

Nagayama:

Until the 2000s, the mainstream SEO strategy was to increase search rankings through link building. This is a method of acquiring many links to your own site from external sites, and the so-called “cheating method” was widespread.

Although this method violates current Google guidelines, it is also true that at the time, Google had not established a system to detect and expose unfair link building, and it was difficult to improve search rankings without link building. . Therefore, from the late 2000s to the early 2010s, Google frequently made large-scale updates to crack down on link spam. As a result, link building methods have become obsolete, and instead, “content building” has become mainstream, which involves creating large amounts of long-form content to gain traffic.

In this context, the WELQ problem occurred in 2016. The curation media “WELQ” operated by DeNA published a large amount of inaccurate and unreliable medical content, which developed into a social problem. This incident has once again brought into question the responsibility of disseminating information on the Internet and the reliability of articles. At the same time, Google also took strict action against the overproduction of low-quality content, and the era of content spam came to an end.

–The world of SEO marketing is changing rapidly.

The series of uproar stemming from

the Nagayama

WELQ issue and Google’s core algorithm update, which can be said to be interrelated, are a major turning point for not only SEO but also those involved in content marketing to return to the basics of “creating the right content.” It has become. Measures that align with the original objectives, such as optimizing the search experience without violating guidelines and SEO from the user’s perspective, are now being reconsidered.

However, there are still many people who only know about the era when link building and low-quality content building were mainstream, and it is also true that it is difficult to see a concrete path to proper SEO measures. The above framework provides a clear path to improvement in an easy-to-understand manner for those who are aware of SEO based on past knowledge and those who are new to SEO.

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SEO hacks that create loopholes are quickly busted.

–SEO that takes advantage of search engine loopholes is quickly dealt with.

Nagayama:

That’s right. For example, a technique called “subdirectory lending” has become popular recently, but is already becoming obsolete. In this method, a major company that is highly rated by Google sells a subdirectory of its own site, and an external company that purchases the directory operates a “rental site” such as an affiliate site.

Google has noticed this trend and has clearly established a policy that prohibits “site reputation abuse” (misuse of a site’s reputation), and is steadily taking measures to close loopholes.

In other words, even if new hacking methods are discovered, they will be countered within a few months at the earliest, or within a year or two at the latest. Rather than playing cat-and-mouse like this, implementing SEO measures based on a legitimate framework will have greater benefits in the medium to long term. JADE’s mission and service is to support such proper SEO.

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Many sites suffer from lower rankings and fewer accesses due to overproduction of content.

–Please tell us about the most common cases of SEO consultation.

Nagayama

: We often receive complaints that the SEO measures we implemented in the past have had the opposite effect and caused our rankings to drop, but the next most common complaint is, “I worked hard to create a lot of content and keep it at the top of the search rankings.” However, it has gone down due to the core algorithm update of Google search.”

For such customers, we provide advice on consolidating and organizing content that has been overproduced or spread out too much. Producing too much content that generates unnecessary traffic may temporarily improve your search rankings, but it often does not lead to conversions such as inquiries or requests for materials. If this happens, the search engine will determine that the site is not valuable to the users who visit it, and the ranking will drop after the update.

Google regularly updates its core algorithm, so ranking drops are a common occurrence. This problem can be quickly resolved by focusing on essential SEO measures based on the framework mentioned above.

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Recommendations for “search journey” design

–What should I keep in mind to be more aware of “legitimate SEO measures”?

Nagayama:

In addition to implementing the search interaction model framework that I introduced earlier, I recommend designing a “search journey.” Just as you create a “customer journey” in your marketing strategy, you also create a journey in your search behavior.

Reference article:

How to think about content based on “search journey” rather than search volume

Nagayama’s

“Search Journey” is a document that summarizes how search queries and search behavior change at each stage, with prospective customers aware of the process from information gathering, comparison/consideration, to purchase. . By distributing the optimal content for each stage based on this material, effective marketing can be achieved.

For example, let’s simulate a case where a mail-order site operator for “mushroom cultivation kits” creates content to increase traffic through natural search.

A common method is to include suggestions for direct keywords such as “mushroom cultivation” and “shiitake mushroom cultivation.” However, if you do this alone, you will quickly reach your limit due to the small number of searches or the large number of competitors.

Therefore, before purchasing a mushroom cultivation kit, people who are likely to purchase a mushroom cultivation kit should think about what they want and what kind of life they usually lead.

We focus on direct search queries that are linked to the mail-order operator’s main purpose of “purchasing mushroom cultivation kits,” and then

Think of related keywords. We will create and distribute content suitable for these keywords.

In this way, if you design the necessary content at each stage and provide all the information that users need on your site, users will spend more time on your site because they will not return to the search engine results page. I’ll go. This is the idea of ​​effective content based on the “search journey.”

–I see. The Search Journey is an effective tool that can be applied to any site.

Related materials:

Specific methods and procedures for support to resolve issues

――Please tell us how you specifically support customers who have contacted us, and the steps involved.

Nagayama:

We begin by diagnosing the customer’s website by applying it to the framework based on the “Search Interaction Model” that we introduced earlier, and then creating a prescription (investigation report) based on the identified issues.

Next, based on that prescription, we create a roadmap for solving the problem. The main pattern is to accompany the customer while implementing total consulting measures centered on SEO, but also including other services such as web advertising operations, content marketing, and GA4 consulting as needed. hey. It goes without saying that we will check the progress of the roadmap one by one and make adjustments such as modifying the map and measures.

Our clients range in size from national clients to companies listed on the TSE Prime Market and TSE Growth Market, as well as companies at the start-up stage.

What is JADE’s unique recruitment process “Structured Interview” and the type of human resources that JADE is looking for?

— Among the SEO marketers reading this interview with Mr. Nagayama, I would definitely like to join JADE to make further progress! I think there are many people who think so. Therefore, please tell us in detail what recruitment methods JADE uses.

Nagayama

: I’m glad that you think so. At JADE, the skill sets and mindsets required for each job are clarified, and we conduct “structured interviews” to ensure we hire people who possess these skills.

Specifically, four to five interviewers each ask questions on a different theme and evaluate the applicant’s skills and experience from multiple angles. The interview style is to deepen mutual understanding through each interview, and all interviewers score the candidates, and pass/fail is decided based on the total score.

The examination items are divided into two parts: “core skills” that all consultants should have, and “specialized skills” that are not necessary for all consultants to have, but that can be used as a weapon.

The four core skills are “web technical knowledge,” “communication skills suitable for consulting,” “understanding search queries,” and “web marketing strategy,” and all of these skills must be met at a certain level.

On the other hand, as for specialized skills, it is necessary to have one of the advanced knowledge and skills, such as knowledge about web advertising operations and search engines. In other words, it is essential to have both an understanding and knowledge of search users and an understanding and knowledge of web technology.

Also, before joining the company, it may be a good idea to consider whether the company will fit into the organizational culture. When talking about organizational culture, JADE often talks about “bubuzuke.”

It is famous that if you are asked in Kyoto, “Do you want to eat Bubuzuke?”, it means “Go home early.” However, if you were asked at JADE’s office, “Do you want to eat Bubuzuke?” Explain that all you have to answer is “I eat” or “I don’t eat.”

In internal communication, the culture is such that there is no need to guess what is not being said, there is no need to read behind the words, and there is no need for condescension. On the other hand, we also place importance on not forcing communication in a way that can be perceived by others.

Reference article:

Culture valued at JADE – Blog – JADE Co., Ltd.

Evolution of search experience and future predictions for SEO

–Today’s web searches are changing the search experience by displaying richer information along with search results based on the query. Based on this, how do you think SEO will change in the future?

Nagayama

Amit Singhal, who laid the foundation for today’s Google search, said at SXSW (South by Southwest) in 2013, “The future of search is to become the computer in the movie Star Trek. That’s what we’re creating.” This refers to something like AI that asks a computer questions in natural sentences and responds in natural sentences.

More than 10 years have passed since this statement, and search results have been enriched with features such as “AI Overview,” which displays a summary text generated by AI, and “Featured Snippets” and “Knowledge Panel,” which display search results in an easy-to-understand manner. Functions have been implemented one after another. As Singhal said, the search experience is moving closer and closer to the computer world of Star Trek.

In these times, our role at JADE is to guide our customers’ business strategies to success with the theme of “optimizing the search experience.” Based on our mission of being a company that makes the Internet better, it is also important that we contribute to the evolution of digital marketing.

We can’t help but look forward to what kind of experiences we will have in the future through our work.

*SXSW (South by Southwest): One of the world’s largest technology conferences held every year in Austin, USA.