John Denny's presentation from the Kelsey Interactive Local Marketing East Conference in Boston, March 2012.

1. The Basics of Building An In-House
SEO Organization
John Denny
@johnhdenny

2. Who I am (and how I traveled down
the path of creating an SEO Dept)
• 25 years in marketing, early career spent at NY
ad agencies leading brands like
Staples, Sony, Royal Caribbean cruise lines
• Spent tens and hundreds of millions for these
brands on mass media– primarily broadcast
TV
• First search experience: AltaVista in 1996

3. Who I am (and how I traveled down
the path of creating an SEO Dept)
• Currently head up marketing for Advance
Digital (division of Advance Publications, Inc)
• Wear 2 hats
– As a Marketer (in
many cases spending
$$ with media
companies)
– As a Media Seller (helping to develop strategies to
sell products & services to people like me)

4. Our Path To Creating An SEO Dept.
• 10 years ago team used
many media channels to
promote
– TV, Radio, Newspaper,
Online Display
• Began experimenting with paid search
• Learned key role search marketing plays as
part of overall marketing mix.
• But…. Paid Search expenditures started rising
rapidly- started exploring SEO

5. Paid Search vs Organic Search
• Renting a house (PPC) vs Owning
a house (SEO)
– Paid search is immediate, but once you stop paying, the
results end. In contrast, SEO is an investment you own.
– Paid search = market pricing (your costs can go up at any
time).
– 56% of Google Queries don’t show any paid ads at all
(source: comScore).
– Organic listing on page 1 is between two and six times
more visible than a paid listing (source: Enquiro).
– 77% of search users choose organic over paid listing when
searching (source: Content Marketing Institute)

6. 33% of the
clicks go here

7. 33% of the
clicks go here
67% of
the clicks
go here

8. 33% of the $19.1 Billion
clicks go here spent here
67% of
the clicks
go here
Search spend source: Forrester US Interactive Marketing Forecast, Sept ‘11

9. 33% of the $19.1 Billion
clicks go here spent here
67% of
the clicks
go here
$2.2
Billion
Spent
Here
Search spend source: Forrester US Interactive Marketing Forecast, Sept ‘11

10. Organic Search is Still
Undiscovered Country

11. Building an SEO team: Finding Talent
• Finding the right SEO talent is both the critical
factor in driving results, and incredibly difficult
• Recommend you have partners in the recruitment
space to help you.
• The way you work with them dictates what you
get out of the relationship.

12. Building an SEO Team:
Finding The Right Talent
• Challenges to hiring the right team
members:
– There are so many aspects to SEO
(content, link-building, site architecture) a
candidate might know one, and think he
knows all he needs to know about SEO
– Typically only 10% of candidates are fully
qualified (no matter how many buzzwords
they use).

13. Building an SEO Team:
Finding The Right Talent
• You have to find people who have a passion
for the craft

14. Building an SEO Team: Budgeting
• Very useful: Salary Guide by Onward Search
– http://www.onwardsearch.com/SEO-Salary/

17. Building an SEO Team:
Structuring The Department
• Two broad ways to approach the dept.
– Hire people capable of doing the majority of
work in-house
– Bring in experienced “Quarterbacks” to identify
and manage vendors.

18. Local Media: Thoughts on Shifts in
Spending in local Markets

19. Thank you!
Follow me on Twitter: @johnhdenny
Blog: JohnHDenny.com