Putting Momentum Behind Enterprise SEO

By: Dan Kuthy, Account Strategist

As search engine marketing matures, more and more enterprise SEOs find themselves entrenched in projects with complex technology infrastructures and diverse constituents. On top of the strategic analysis and execution of an enterprise SEO program, search marketers are challenged to understand a range of departmental perspectives.

Executing against natural search requirements can involve buy-in and support from marketers, business analysts, analytics specialists, I.T., legal, copywriters, media managers and often, public relations and corporate communications representatives.

Other major challenges that undoubtedly face the enterprise SEO are legacy content management systems, analytics tools, ecommerce platforms and a host of proprietary solutions that all play crucial roles in making and executing on Web decisions. An enterprise SEO must understand how legacy systems play a role in long-term business objectives and the human resources that are tied to them.

Assuming an SEO has gathered relevant information about the technology and business objectives at hand, they should look to their own communication skills—not their SEO blogs and keyword tools for inspiration.

An enterprise SEO needs to educate cross-departmental groups to create an environment that fosters long-term natural search success. Best practices should be customized and respectful of legacy systems, to balance natural search impact with resource requirements and implementation time.

If an SEO can motivate and empower designers to cast-off JavaScript for keyword-rich content, convince a server administrator to implement a 301 redirect solution, and encourage a copywriter to consider the ways they are using keywords on the page, long-term SEO success becomes a reality and not an ideality.

An SEO shouldn’t be an agent of marketing or of eCommerce, but instead, someone who focuses on understanding the unique needs of each part of the organization to build a solution that maximizes marketing impact while minimizing strain on corporate resources. An enterprise SEO is an ambassador and a leader, relying on communication skills and passion just as much as title tags and link popularity.

One of the presenters at SES Chicago 2007 made an insightful comparison between an enterprise SEO and the Buddha… He/she subscribes to a doctrine of non-attachment, bringing people together and rallying them around a central idea.