Best Practices For Internal SEM Teams

SEM Konferansen

INTRODUCTIONInternal SEM teams

Introduction• There are all these people fighting for budget and

even more importantly, attention– There are product and project managers– The designers– The PR department– And the list goes on...

Then there are the programmers...

Introduction• And if that isn’t bad enough, then there are the

bosses...– The executives– The board of directors– The analysts– The advisors behind the scene– And then that list also goes on....

BASIC UNDERSTANDINGInternal SEM

Being Cluelessis NO Excuse!

Skills• What skills does the team need?

– Marketing– Technology– Analytics– Reporting– Consensus building– Leadership

• Where does the team belong?– Marketing?– Technology?– Design?– C Level?– Elsewhere?

Marketing!

But what happens when you have a team?• What’s the reporting structure?– Embedded?– Placing team members directly within specific product

areas– Helps to improve subject matter expertise– Provides less flexibility

• External internal team?– Act as an “internal” agency when needed

• Matrixed?– Except the SEMs are part of a larger team– Provide an environment for knowledge sharing– Reduces “siloing” (Isolation)

The role of the team• Dedicated practitioners?– Totally focused on SEM, internal

• SMEs mixed role?– SEO is one of several functions– Ensures integration with SEM and the other processes

• Training?– Establish training programs for all stakeholders– Help to establish SEM as a part of the overall process flow– Helps to identify talent within the organization

• Vendor managers / Agencies?– Vendors can be used to backfill for resource gaps– Vendors can be used to backfill for knowledge gaps

The management• There are two types of Managers:– Those who get SEO and those who don’t get SEO!

Being Cluelessis NO Excuse!

The managers that are clueless• Five Types of Managers who don’t get SEO:– Those that don’t understand the impact– Those that have been burned!– Meta, Meta, Meta and Titles– Those that believe it is black magic– Those that think they do get it, and really do not!

Kill the HIPPO!

Create best practice docs

ACCORDING TO SEMPO OVER 40% OF IN-HOUSE SEOS OPERATE SOLO, NO STAFF!

If you are solo... then here are tips• Be the expert• Train as you can• Emphasize SEO in the workflow of marketing within

the company• Spot out your champions• Test tools• Don’t be afraid to outsource!

• Be selective when you hire!

If you are not solo then....• Be the GURU, the person with the knowledge– Train, train .... Train

• Do regular SWOT‘s with your team– Know your team, find champions

• Put SEM in the workflow – Best practices– Don‘t be afraid to get people in to test your workflows

• Test and try tools– Don’t get stuck

• Don’t be afraid of outsourcing– Takes off workload if needed

Resources• http://searchenginewatch.com• http://www.seomoz.org/• http://www.google.com/webmasters/• http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster/• http://searchengineland.com/• Competitive analysis slide show from the same

conference

Q & A!

THANK YOUKristján Már Hauksson