This document discusses strategies for building an SEO program without dedicated resources. It begins by outlining common challenges faced by SEO teams, such as lack of understanding of SEO's value. It then provides tips for wearing multiple hats and gaining organizational buy-in through education programs, reporting, and aligning SEO with business goals. The document concludes by emphasizing the importance of quantitative metrics in making the case for a dedicated SEO resource.
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Building for SEO without a Dedicated Resource | Missi Carmen – VP of SEO, M&T Bank
1. BUILDING FOR SEO WITHOUT
A DEDICATED RESOURCE
Missi Carmen
VP, SEO
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SEO BROKEN RECORD
Do any of these statements sound familiar?
1. There is no way we can address all of your requests for go live?
2. I didn’t know you needed to be involved.
3. Do you need to be involved?
4. We didn’t have SEO include in the original project scope
5. I don’t know SEO so I didn’t include it in the project brief.
6. We went with that product name because it was “brand-right”. Who cares
what the customers call it?
7. I just don’t understand the value of SEO
8. Can you teach me quick SEO?
9. Can you put some numbers behind that?
10. They’ll never go for it.
11. This is how it’s always been done.
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COMMON CHALLENGE FOR ALL ORGANIZATIONS
SEO is still the least understood area of marketing today
• Misconception:
– SEO is a job description, a person or a team.
• Reality:
– SEO is a process.
– SEO is a team culture.
– SEO is any input that engines use to rank
pages.
– SEO is anything that people or technology do
to influence ranking elements.
Ultimately, everyone is responsible for and can
contribute to SEO.
http://partnerwithsheena.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/internet-marketing-terms-glossary.png
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MY STORY
Who is Missi? What is she really like?
• My Background:
– Marketing meets IT.
– ESTJ (Extravert, Sensing, Thinking, Judging)
• ESTJ is outspoken, a person of principles, which
are readily expressed. ESTJ is not afraid to
stand up for what he/she believes is right even
in the face of overwhelming odds.
• My Work:
– Construction Engineer
• Deals with the designing, planning, construction,
and management of infrastructures (highways,
bridges, roads)
– Detective
• Collects forensic evidence to solve crimes.
Interviews informants, suspects and witnesses.
• Keeps detailed records. Follow up on leads.
Prepare investigative reports.
http://s392.photobucket.com/user/DryKid/media/NoirDetective.jpg.html
http://milhouseinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Construction-Engineering-large-July-5.jpeg
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WEARING MULTIPLE HATS
Have our responsibilities and priorities changed?
• Study*: Respondents asked to
identify all of the job functions
they were involved with.
• Findings: “Most search marketers
perform an average of five job
functions in addition to their core
responsibilities.”
Takeaway: Many SEO responsibilities
that are successful come with
increasing appreciation and
awareness within the organization.
How SEOs Really Spend Their Time
Fighting
for SEO
Channel,
Voice,
Budget,
65%
http://moz.com/blog/4-essential-seo-infographics
Social
Media,
6%
Surviving,
6%
SEO
Tactics,
25%
*2006 Study by iProspect and Juniper Research
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WHERE IN THE WORLD IS SEO
Organization placement could impact SEO productivity and awareness.
• 2011: SEO in Marketing, Product,
Technology and Web Operations
— SEO on Product teams more successful
• 2012: SEO has matured in the
organization, with increased
resources, budget and technology
adoption
— 16% had SEO in its own department
— 65% say natural search is influences
revenue strategy
(SEW & Conductor study “Why 2013 is the
Year of the SEO”)
http://chameleon.conductor.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2011/08/SEO-in-the-org-350.png
http://www.conductor.com/blog/2011/08/thoughts-on-where-seo-belongs-in-the-organization/
http://ww2.conductor.com/rs/conductor2/images/Conductor-Why_2013_Year_SEO.pdf
8. MAKING THE CASE
Shifting Organization Perspectives to Include SEO
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SEO maintenance
ATTACK THE LOW-HANGING FRUIT
High value things you can do in the least amount of time
1. Prepare monthly reporting (high-level)
2. Conduct keyword research
– Striking distance and emerging
3. Stay on top of duplicate content issues
4. Maintain good site structure & speed
5. Local SEO (if applicable)
6. Conduct or get a site audit
– Create an easy to read scorecard or roadmap
of current SEO on/off-page priorities
http://magazine3.magazine3.netdna-cdn.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/SEO-tips.png
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BUILD AN SEO EDUCATION PROGRAM
No introverts allowed! Start on an SEO quest.
SEO awareness
1. SEO Office Hours: Great way for people to come and ask questions.
– Be the guru! Be the go-to person.
– HOW SEO impacts them and WHAT can be done about it collaboratively.
2. SEO News Resource: Filter relevant news, add your spin and tailor it
for team priorities or business goals.
– Send out SEO articles in-house.
– Outline HOW changes impact departments and WHAT can be done about it.
3. SEO Education Activities: Invest time in regular SEO activities to
keep the topic alive.
– Meetings with a Purpose, SEO Task Force (Seasonal), Training, SEO Coffee Talk
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SEO audience
SAMPLE SEO EDUCATION PROGRAM
SEO Coffee Talk: 15-minute download of what happened in the
world of Search and how those changes impact Teams.
Focus: Five Ws (who, what, where, when, why)
Schedule: Piggy back on existing team meetings
SEO Coffee Talk Agenda (example):
1. New “Pigeon” Algorithm (impacts to Retail, Social & Local SEO)
2. Foursquare to Swarm & Yelps New Video Feature (impacts Social & Retail)
3. Google Adds Images to Quick Answers (impacts Media, Investors, Social & Retail)
4. Paid Search Spend in Q2, Mobile Up 98% (by Covario) (impacts Marketing)
5. SEO Strategy: What Is Really Needed (impacts everyone)
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BUILD AN INTERNAL ARMY OF SEO’S
Create goal alignment to help others understand and embrace the impact of SEO.
1. Get out of your chair!
2. Identify key stakeholders: Ask questions and listen.
– Share the SEO why behind the what, because understanding builds a sense of ownership.
3. Discover internal advocates: Those an interest can be your allies, eyes and ears.
– Make them co-trainers. Give them kudos and brag about a job well done to their boss.
4. Get SEO involved: Early in development process.
– Example: If UX/UI team has a style guide, ask if you can incorporate SEO guidelines for
internal linking, ALT text, and headlines.
5. Create department internal “aids”: Documentation or best practices early on to
avoid repeating mistakes.
– Jessica Bowman, founder and CEO of SEO In-House uses the word “aids” not checklists
because they are not always definitive.
SEO impact
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DON’T ALWAYS PITCH YOUR PROJECTS AS “SEO”
Building a case for that dedicated resource
1. Align with Department Goals:
– Know what matters to the business.
– Map projects to goals/KPIs by presenting SEO
techniques and initiatives that can help.
– Position projects that benefit the customer or
other teams before someone has a chance to
push back on a pure SEO project.
2. Align with Reporting:
– Know what matters to the business…again!
– Choose tools that give you actionable info and
show executives how SEO initiatives contributed
to the bottom line.
– Synch SEO reporting into other teams metrics.
Make your job easier not harder.
http://seodoze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/seo_1.jpg
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OUTSOURCING & CONTRACTORS
An extension of your SEO initiative.
1. Great for Short-term projects:
— Wireframes, code review, copywriting, link building,
training.
2. Outsource Recommendations:
– Create a relationship with an agency that offloads
workload.
3. Outsourcing cons:
– Dependent on individuals and agency turnover.
– Limited access to full business scope or access based on
your availability.
Follow through: You’re going to get busy. Don’t
assume that just because you’ve hired them that
things are being handled well.
“top three reasons for using
an outside provider for
search engine optimization as
opposed to doing it in-house
are lack of in-house skills
(44%), too-time consuming
(41%) and lack of in-house
tools and technology (38%).”
SEMPO’s 2011 State of Search
Marketing Report
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EXECUTIVE BUY-IN: 5 KEYS TO CREDIBILITY
Gaining the channel recognition for the needed SEO resource
1. Executive sponsorship
for building SEO team
– Educate and empower
your Executive Sponsor
with high-level SEO
insights that are or will
direct impact a project, a
team or a campaign.
– Their initial impression
with you and SEO is key
to the success of the
program sponsorship.
SEMPO’s 2011 report: Challenges for Managing SEO
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EXECUTIVE BUY-IN: 5 KEYS TO CREDIBILITY
Gaining the channel recognition for the needed SEO resource
2. Use objective measures for comparisons (Goobly-gook!)
– Score campaigns or business lines with a search score using measurements
based on competitive research, geo, site performance, pre & post.
– Prove the SEO impact to the business by translating SEO initiatives into
revenues or success metrics
3. Establish concrete milestones throughout the project/campaign
– Provides team and executives with paced channel performance against
established objectives. If SEO succeeds, attention is gained.
– Visible progress and success measurement are critical to communicate
expectedly, on a consistent basis; not by request.
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EXECUTIVE BUY-IN: 5 KEYS TO CREDIBILITY
Gaining the channel recognition for the needed SEO resource
4. Make SEO part of the regular workflow with ease
– Understand current workflow within other departments and merge SEO
activities into their existing process.
– Incorporate your SEO reporting with their dashboard for an all up
executive view.
5. Create a sense of SEO comradery
– A little competition never hurt anyone! SEO achievements that gain the
recognition of a C-Suite with a little fun can go a long way.
– Even weekly report cards on performance with gold stars for top
performing business units brings a new take on weekly reports.
• Example: Zebra report card
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ESTABLISHING THE CASE FOR A DEDICATED RESOURCE
Summing up the components to build a case.
1. SEO Success
– Much of SEO success lies in the perception of the current SEO program and
the current resources at play… evaluate yourself
2. Uphill Battle
– Embrace that SEO is never easy. Many teams face a battle when looking to
add a dedicated resources.
– Reach out to your SEO community for feedback and support.
3. Structure and Workflow
– Make SEO part of everyone’s jobs. Get SEO involved early and find your
internal army (product managers, developers, key stakeholders).
4. Avoid SEO Pitfalls
– Not speaking up. Not communicating wins & losses. Spread the love to
those who have helped you succeed!
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EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS NUMBERS
Building a case for that dedicated resource
5. Be Aware of Politics!
– Be aware of it and either try to avoid the conflict OR…
– Bring organization to the table and merge ideas.
6. Align with Departments Goals
– How they are measured? Don’t forget to explain the opportunity SEO
offers.
7. SEO Channel Contribution
– Focus on the HOW, the approach taken, the impact and WHAT was done.
– Show traffic improvement can be attributed to particular tasks or projects,
give those teams credit when it’s appropriate publicly.
8. Executive Perception
– Show management the opportunities and competition in natural search.
22. MISSI CARMEN, VP OF SEO
mcarmen@mtb.com
linkedin.com/in/missicarmen
@missmktr
Notas del editor
So SEO has come a long way in terms of visibility within the organization but perhaps you are still facing the misconception.
How do you bring reality to your organization?
Next we’re going to talk about some of the low-hanging fruit, the high-value tactics to bring SEO appreciate and awareness to your organization.
2006 Study by iProspect and Juniper Research. Participants in the study reported the following job functions included “search engine optimization (88%) and paid search advertising (77%), fully 58% also said that they were involved in web site design and 57% with email advertising.”
Will there be a continued evolution for SEO job responsibilities?
Where are you spending your time?
Infographics (Rand Fishkin) paints the picture of the many SEO responsibilities that come with increasing appreciation and awareness within the organization.
Based on my keen intuition and math skills, I’ve broken down Rand’s pie chart even farther65% of time spent trying to give SEO a voice, a budget and a seat at the table
25% of time actually doing SEO (monitoring, keyword research, onsite and link building)
6% on Twitter/FB/Google+
6% trying to survive
2011: SEO is found in Marketing, Product, Technology and Web Operations
SEO on Product teams was more successful (strong Senior Exec belief, SEOs were empowered, agile and productive implementing SEO tactics)
(Seth Besmertnik “Organizational Structure for Paid and Natural Search Teams”)
2012: SEO has matured in the organization, with increased resources, budget and technology adoption
2nd most common place (16%) for SEO was its own department
6 out of 10 organizations expect to increase SEO headcount
63% of executive teams are more familiar with SEO metrics than 12 months prior
65% say natural search is influences revenue strategy
(SEW & Conductor study “Why 2013 is the Year of the SEO”)
Nice survey results but who can really relate?
Despite the evolution of SEO’s placement in the organization, there is still the usual suspects of challenges:
Executive Buy-In
Insufficient understanding of SEO within the organization
Having a seat or voice at the table
We already know you’re strapped for time and resources or that you’re wearing multiple hats. But you know the organization needs SEO. You’ve got to continue to attack the low-hanging fruit and monthly reporting to set a baseline for success when you do build the SEO program.
While there are checklists just about everywhere on the web or recommendations in your enterprise tool of choice, the point of a site audit is to give you, a resource, or vendor, a snapshot or roadmap of SEO activities that need to be addressed.
Commentary…
Don’t use parameters in places where they’ll get indexed.
Consistent URLs for both mobile/desktop versions of your site.
Can’t fix a wrong link? Use 301 redirects.
Can’t get rid of duplicate content, can’t redirect, then use the meta tags like rel=canonical or noindex.
If you can’t do that, then just fight it any way you can.
Commentary…
Ask yourself: Should I link to every page from the homepage or just the main ones? Should I repeat everything in the footer or should I cut the footer all together? Can I hide the homepage text?
While good site structure typically falls more into the UI/UX category, it’s also an SEO concern. When you design a site with the intention of getting a visitor to the right page or right information they’re looking for, you’re inherently creating a page that does the same for the search engines.
Commentary…
Claim your listings, check your NAP, and monitor your reviews.
Create storefront pages and make sure they are associated with your local listings.
And if you don’t have a storefront, create a page(s) that talks about the area you serve.
So with reporting and SEO low-hanging fruit running in the background and you know your internal stakeholders, the most important thing to craft time for: Bringing SEO out of the shadows and into the light! How? Build your internal SEO education program.
Commentary…
Here’s where the “multiple hats” comes into play.
Make all news items actionable - This part is key. If individuals don’t care about SEO, the org won’t. Time management is key here as is respecting others inboxes. Don’t just forward a mass amount of emails. Instead pull the synopsis and create a catchy headline IF there is an impact that’s easy to understand and appreciated in less then 2 minutes. Think of an elevator speech.
SEO Coffee Talk is a 15-minute download of what happened the previous month in the world of Search and how those changes impact our Marketing Teams. In this brief presentation, July game changers will be highlighted including how these changes can and will impact M&T Bank’s digital marketing efforts, social profile and reach, Retail team, campaign data interpretation and Analytics. Questions? Sure! 5-10 minutes will be open at the end of Coffee Talk for questions.
Take the first 15-minutes of an existing meeting
Relate the topics to initiatives that affect the attendees
Try to include 3-5 talking points per month that touch all departments
If you’re not a morning person, you could always do SEO Chocolate Talk for those afternoon sessions
Example: Under Armour, R2i
To build your internal army, you’ve got to get out of your chair and into other departments. Don’t sit on a silo. Be a fly on the wall every meeting your calendar allows
Talk to key stakeholders about their big initiatives, their current challenges with achieving goals (revenue, conversion). The point here is to shut your mouth and open your ears. Figure out how SEO can be of value to them. Be a detective. Investigate, document, interview.
Example: If designers or product teams are revamping pages or updating wireframes, get involved.
Get out of your chair: Make SEO and yourself known. Don’t sit in a silo.
Identify key stakeholders: Learn to talk with confidence. Ask questions. Listen.
Share the SEO why behind the what, because understanding builds a sense of ownership.
Discover internal advocates: Those with an interest to be your allies, eyes and ears.
Make them co-trainers. When you impart knowledge, you gain evangelists.
Give them kudos and brag about a job well done to their boss.
Get SEO involved: Don’t bring SEO in after the fact. Early in development process.
Example: If UX/UI team has a style guide, ask if you can incorporate SEO guidelines for internal linking, ALT text, and headlines.
Create department internal “aids”: Documentation or best practices early on to avoid repeating mistakes.
Jessica Bowman, founder and CEO of SEO In-House uses the word “aids” not checklists because they are not always definitive.
Commentary: drive qualified search traffic
Commentary: Try to ensure each release includes a fixed allocation for small maintenance tasks.
Commentary: Under Armour – dedicated hours a month from IT for SEO
Department Goals:
Map projects to others common goals and KPIs by presenting the SEO techniques and initiatives that can help.
Position ideas that benefit other teams before they have a chance to push back on a pure SEO project.
May help drive your project forward (Internal army)
Your ideas may align with customer needs but could also support other business goals.
Reporting: Know what matters to the business.
Choose tools that give you actionable info and show executives how SEO initiatives contributed to the bottom line.
Synch SEO reporting into other teams performance metrics. Make your job easier not harder.
Commentary…
If you do bring in a vendor, scope out the project fully. Make sure you’ll receive what you’ll expect and that you’ll pay what you expect.
Commentary:
Training - No brown bags because it feels squeezed in.
Get an executive sponsor who is at a level where he/she can reach across teams and organizations to ge things done and to get other folks to cooperate with you
Respondents: 210
Break out SEO into projects (even with names), seasonal campaigns, quarterly phases.
4. Asking departments to do something different than they’re currently doing will be like pulling teeth. Work SEO requests into what they’re already doing to win well with an internal army of SEOs.
5. Executive reporting. In fact, at UA we created the Zebra report card, it was a project partnered with SEO, inventory planning and merchandising. Every week we’d use our dashboards from Conductor to monitor the product pages that not only partnered with SEO on and off-page activities but were also top performers for revenue and inventory depletion.
As an SEO, you’re bound to upset someone somewhere.
Commentary: Don’t simply demand that colleagues meet your SEO goals
Creating an understanding of the commercial ecosystem that you work in is core to developing a long-term SEO strategy. SEO should be able to show genuine insights into the website, and company revenue model.
Example: Help your PPC team by targeting terms that are unprofitable from a paid perspective. Then let PPC return the favor by informing your SEO team about which ad copy drives the highest CTRs and which keywords convert the best.