Search engine optimization (SEO) is an integral part of digital marketing.
It contributes to the discovery of the brand. When done right, SEO can create the most consistent and by far the most qualitative source of traffic, requiring no ongoing maintenance.
Yet SEO is usually the most isolated part of marketing. Whether it’s an in-house team or a third-party department in charge of your SEO campaigns, it usually exists in isolation, without really communicating objectives, progress or results to the whole company.
This creates silos that can lead to poor results and even reputational crises. How does SEO work in digital marketing and how can a company improve it?
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a set of tactics (content, technique, link building, even website security and usability) that ensures your website is easy for search engines to understand.
Basically, it lets a machine know that your page will be easy to find for a human being looking to solve a related problem.
Search engine traffic is one of the highest quality traffics for many reasons:
- Unlike PPC (paid) traffic, it doesn’t require ongoing investment.
- Unlike social media traffic, it doesn’t require continuous work to renew.
- Unlike social media traffic, you don’t interrupt users’ browsing experience. Instead, you give them what they’re really looking for.
In other words, it’s consistent and converts well. No other digital marketing tactic can match this.
In addition to generating direct traffic, search engine optimization helps build brand awareness by increasing the likelihood of your brand being found organically.
Make sure your whole team understands the importance of SEO.
The great thing about today is that everyone understands the importance of ranking well on Google! Unfortunately, many people only know that they “need SEO” without really understanding what that means.
These days, SEO is too difficult for any digital marketer to do alone. Many SEOs find themselves in situations where an executive simply comes up to them and says: “Why aren’t we ranking well for ‘dingwobble’?”.
Continue to work hard with teams so that they understand how they contribute to the SEO process:
Product marketers, who are responsible for activity, personas and messaging, understand that SEO is key to getting the revenue figures they’re looking for. Part of the persona development process should be the development of the “digital persona”: what websites and search terms are these people looking for?
This helps the product marketer when it comes to crafting the message, as this will be essential for content development, so the right search terms must be present!
Field marketers responsible for campaigns need to know how SEO fits into their campaign, how it’s actually at the heart of our demand generation, and how to make sure campaigns stay integrated.
Marketing communication managers create content.
SEO should therefore be a priority for them, as the content itself will have a decisive influence on SEO success.
But that’s not all! Often, other groups create content (press releases, blog posts, presentations, etc.) that also ends up on the web and has an impact on SEO.
Whether it’s corporate communications, investor relations or even legal teams, working with them is essential. IT manages the infrastructure and can be very important for the technical aspects of SEO. Sales and customer support teams are on the front line of marketing to talk to your current and future customers, so they need to be involved in the SEO strategy.
Creating relevant content goes beyond keywords. It needs to address real problems and answer real people’s questions, and your customer-facing teams will be your best source of inspiration in this respect. This also applies to executives!
While they can’t often influence SEO on a day-to-day basis, they do care a great deal about the bottom line, to which SEO contributes.
Informing all these people about SEO helps them to take responsibility and position themselves, as the SEO, as the subject matter expert who is not just a back-office person who gives very little insight into the black box of SEO, but someone who actively educates and contributes to the success of the organization.
Review and discuss common KPIs early and often to make sure everyone knows what winning looks like for the team.
In addition, SEO should be an integral part of every project launch, as it has an impact on every stage of product positioning. From choosing a business name to selecting a website builder, your initial efforts should be guided by SEO best practices.
What is the key to SEO success in a constantly changing environment?
As an SEO practitioner, I think you have to make sure you’re looking to develop both depth and breadth of knowledge. A major danger, in the name of information or membership of the SEO community, is to spend all one’s time debating tactics and practices rather than testing them.
What’s more, SEOs, like all employees, need to look outside their field to expand and learn to be more complete. This could mean learning to code, or training in another area of the company you work for. This will expose you to ideas that others may not have.
As a personnel manager, success depends on a diversity of expertise. The people you hire and the type of people you hire will be far more valuable than what people invest in when it comes to SEO programs. You need people who can cope with difficulties and develop skills in self-management and personal development.
Finally, I think the key to long-term success lies in knowing what your real goals are when it comes to SEO programs. The reality is that you can get more traffic, but if that traffic doesn’t come from qualified prospects and doesn’t generate real income, the benefit can be very small.
Having well-defined goals and metrics will also help you avoid chasing algorithm changes and focus on the bigger picture.
Conclusion
SEO is the most essential long-term digital marketing strategy, but for it to be truly effective, you need a knowledge team that’s well integrated into the life of the business. Good luck!
