Pubcon 2015 - Point Solutions, Platforms and the Politics of In-House SEO Success - Keith L. Goode

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Point Solutions, Platforms, and the

Politics of In-House SEO SuccessPresented by:

Keith L. GoodeChief SEO Evangelist, seoClarity

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Your Presenter

20 years of Online Experience– AMD– HomeAway.com– Builders Digital Experience– SpareFoot.com

Dell (4 years)– SEO Technology Lead, DCS (formerly

eDell)– Technical SEO Instructor

Currently– Chief SEO Evangelist, seoClarity www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

@keithgoode

Keith L. Goode, Chief SEO Evangelist

Picture courtesy @chiropractic

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I’m Not This Guy

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THE INVERTED U MODEL OF SEO DATA

Outlining the Problem

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Data Aggregation33%

Reporting22%

Research / Anal-ysis22%

Execution17%

Education6%

Data Aggregation Reporting Research / AnalysisExecution Education

How In-House SEO’s Spend Their Time

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Data Aggregation1% Reporting

5%Research / Analysis

10%

Execution70%

Education14%

Data Aggregation Reporting Research / AnalysisExecution Education

How In-House SEO’s Should Spend Their Time

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When Will You Know You Need a Platform?

Effectiveness

Time Spent Aggregating Data

?????? – Number of … Pages, Tools, Staff

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Data Aggregation: Paralysis of Analysis

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CHALLENGES FOR SEOS AND THEIR TOOLS

The Politics of In-House SEO Success

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Challenge: Lack of Adoption and the Learning Curve

• Tools and Platforms are only as good as their adoption

• People are Creatures of Habit– Changing those habits can

be a huge challenge

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Solution: Demonstrate Success and Educate

• Don’t limit your reports to your executive team

• Customize Reports for Your Peers

• Organize Lunch & Learn Events

• Individual Sessions

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Challenge: Proving ROI• Many execs unimpressed

with time-saving benefit• They want to see new

revenue• Savings only matter

when there are OPEX challenges

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Solution: Build Your Business Case• Align your business

needs with the benefit of the tool/platform

• Most tools/platforms have a cost/benefit demonstration

• Apply your revenue estimates to that model

Source: https://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/emf-cag/business-rentabilisation/bcg-gar/bcg-gar02-eng.asp

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Challenge: Organizational Consensus and the Selection

Process• Getting Budget Approval• Agreeing on Top

Organizational KPI’s• Surviving the RFP

Process

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Solution: Project Manage the Process

• Determine which KPIs are Most Important

• Determine which data illustrates those KPIs

• Establish thresholds for acceptance

• Communicate timelines and update regularly

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Challenge: Validation of Data• API keys expire• Analytics Integration …

‘nuff said• Different IP Addresses

Can Show Different Data• Inside vs. Outside the

Firewall

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Solution: Combine Vigilance with Democratization

• No doubt – You must be vigilant– Don’t wait for the

surprises to come to you• Democratize

– Others with more specialized skillsets can keep an eye out for problems

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7 HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL SEOS

And Now, I Will Channel Stephen Covey

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Habit #1: Store ALL Data In Perpetuity

• Ranking Data• Content Changes• Global, Page Type and

Page Level Events• Log Files• Click Path• Etc.

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Habit #2: Use Soft Skills (and Bribes) Liberally

• Buying a developer a beer goes a long way

• For teetotalers: Lunch works too

• Lunch and Learns are good ways to democratize SEO

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Habit #3: Democratize SEO In Your Org

Dev / Tech

Content

PR / MKTG

C-Suite

SEO

• Social• Promotion• Industry Outreach

• Drives Corporate Priorities• Company Vision• Voice of the Company

• Proper Merchandising• Content Best Practices• Building Content for the User

• Proper Coding• Responsive Design• Server Uptime and Speed• Adapting to Tech Advancements

• Audits• Analysis• Education• Staying up-to-date

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Habit #4: Set Up Alerts! Lots of Them!

• Alerts for Response Code Changes

• Thresholds for Content Changes – Titles– Descriptions

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Habit #5: Know Your Reporting Audience/Customize Accordingly

• Custom dashboards based on reporting preference– Ask for feedback on

reports– Modify based on feedback

• Custom reports based on persona– Executive – Summary– Specialist - Granular

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Habit #6: Keep Reports Simple• 2-3 KPIs Per Report• Choose the KPIs that are

important to your audience– Revenue– YoY Trending/Comparison– Competitive Landscape

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Habit #7: Crawl Often• Many SEOs don’t

understand the architecture of their site

• <100,000 Pages– Xenu– Screaming Frog

• Enterprise sites

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Bonus Habit: Keep Up To Date• Yes, you should study• Read the Blogs

– [Insert long list of blogs here and hope I don’t offend anyone I missed]

• Test their assertions– 98% of people will be anything

as long as you provide a statistic

– Be an active student of the industry

• Connect locally with other SEOs

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@keithgoode

www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

kgoode@seoClarity.net

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