This document provides guidance for content managers working with editorial teams. It emphasizes building trust and respect with editorial staff through active listening, understanding their responsibilities, and proving your value through education. Quick wins include updating underperforming content based on search data and addressing gaps in topics covered by competitors. Long-term success requires planning new content strategically based on thorough keyword, competitive, and audience research to ensure the content meets user needs. Both failures and successes will provide learning experiences to improve results over time.

1. Guiding Content Strategies for Editorial Teams
Melissa Fach – Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader
@SEOAware

2. About me...
@SEOAware
Been editing for over 10 years in the SEO space.
• Search Engine Journal
• Moz Blog
• Authority Labs Blog
• Semrush Blog
Been in SEO since 2005.
• Owned my own SEO agency since 2006
• Worked as consultant until this year
• Was the Community Manager for Pubcon for 5 years
• Been a writer since 2005
Sr. SEO Content Manager for Kelley Blue Book & Autotrader
Melissa Fach

3. YOU WERE HIRED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
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4. AS WITH ANYTHING…
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To make a difference for the long term,
lay the foundation for success now.

5. IN MY EXPERIENCE
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Relationships and trust determine whether or
not editorial and SEO are successful.

6. THREE ROLES, DIFFERENT SKILL SETS.
@SEOAware
• Writers – They are creative people and excel at a task most can’t do.
• Editors – They deal with the creatives, work extremely hard on
tedious work, & have lots of stress.
• SEOs – Out of the box thinkers, but focused on data, search engines,
and logic reign.

7. THE THREE ROLES NEED TO WORK AS ONE

8. RESPECT
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Writing good content is not easy.
Editing content in mass is a pain in the butt.
There is too often a lack of respect for these roles.

9. THINGS TO KNOW WHEN YOU START
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10. MANAGING/WORKING with CONTENT TEAMS – NOT FOR EVERYONE.

11. EDITORIAL MAY HAVE SOME WALLS UP - with good reason.

12. EDITORIAL WALLS
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Some teams have been told wrong or conflicting
information by different managers or SEO teams.
Lack of consistency by managers and bad SEO advice – 2
biggest issues.

13. EDITORIAL RESPONSIBILITIES SHIFT WITH SEO RECOMMENDATIONS

14. EDITORIAL WALLS
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You are adding to their work-load and changing up how
they see things – give them time to process.

15. BREAK THROUGH EDITORIAL WALLS
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Lack of respect is the foundation that holds this wall.
Respect and appreciation should be a priority from day 1.
You must earn their trust to break down the wall.

16. YOU ARE NEW - WHAT TO DO

17. EASE IN AND
OBSERVE
• They are essentially a family unit.

18. MEET WITH EACH TEAM MEMBER
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Goal – Bond with each team member.

19. LOTS OF PERSONALITIES!

20. MEET WITH EACH TEAM MEMBER
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Goal – Establish communication style.
(For each person and the team as a whole)

21. MEET WITH EACH TEAM MEMBER
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Goal – Fully understand their responsibilities.

22. MEET WITH EACH TEAM MEMBER
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Goals – Determine how you can best work with them.
• Meaning discover what you need to know to aid this new working relationship.

23. FIRST QUESTION
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“What do you want me to know?”

24. MEETING WITH EACH TEAM MEMBER
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What you will hear is what is important to them.
This is the most important part of the conversation.

25. MEETING WITH EACH TEAM MEMBER
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You will learn where and what their roadblocks are.
You will learn what recommendations they were given that
conflict with your plans.
You will learn if and how they do not feel appreciated.
You will learn what they want in the future.

26. MEETING WITH EACH TEAM MEMBER
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This initial period of listening, is the first step of
building a working relationship.
Tip: In meetings, you can integrate what is important to them
in planning – this is a huge trust builder.

27. TIP ON FIRST MEETINGS
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Take handwritten notes:
• Tasks and responsibilities.
• Strengths.
• Personality traits.
You will need this info later and note taking shows them you are interested.

28. PRESENTING YOURSELF

29. PRESENTING YOURSELF
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• Explain how you see your role going forward. Discuss.
• Answer questions.
• Determine how you will work together in this initial meeting.
Expectations are already set, win-win.

30. PRESENTING YOURSELF
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Make it clear that you are not there to ruin anything or make
things harder – you are there to make things better.

31. PRESENTING YOURSELF
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Let them know that their success is your success.

32. NEXT STEP – PROVE YOURSELF

33. WHY SHOULD ANYONE TRUST YOU?

34. EDUCATE
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• DON’T JUST TELL PEOPLE WHAT THEY SHOULD DO.
• Explain the “why” with facts and information.

35. GUESS WHAT?
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You need to do this EXACT same thing with every new member
of the editorial team.
Consistency of information, relationships and work-flow with
the SEO team is CRITICAL.

36. BE THEIR
ADVOCATE

37. HOWEVER…

38. YOU STILL GUIDE
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• Don’t do their work for them.
• Do point out problems that must be fixed.
• Do follow up.

39. WHAT NOT TO DO

40. DON’T BE THIS PERSON

41. BIGGEST FAIL
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Walking in an assuming you know better than everyone.

42. TRUTH
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You know your craft, but you don’t know enough about
the team or their processes to be successful yet.

43. DON’T OVERWHELM THEM!

44. NO BLAME AND NO ASSUMPTIONS

45. NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING – ASK!
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46. BLAME FRACTURES TEAMS & RELATIONSHIPS
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47. DON’T FAIL TO UNDERSTAND SITUATIONS

48. GUIDING STRATEGIES

49. EDUCATION
What will help them see your perspective?
What will make them think back, and say,
“this is why I must do X”?
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50. EDUCATION: FIRST THINGS I COVER
• Aug. 2018 – Classifying websites “expert, apprentice, and layperson”, and “rank pages based
on the authoritativeness of the content found on those pages​.”
• Sept. 2018 – “we’ve now reached the point where neural networks can help us take a major
leap forward from understanding words to understanding concepts.”
• Sept. 2018 – “we can intelligently show the subtopics that are most relevant to what you’re
searching for.”
@SEOAware

51. EDUCATION: FIRST THINGS I COVER
• Sept. 2018 – “For these subtopics, we can identify the most relevant articles and videos - the
ones that have shown themselves to be evergreen and continually useful.”
• BERT Oct. 2019 – “particularly useful for understanding the intent behind search queries.”
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52. EDUCATION: FIRST THINGS I COVER
E-A-T - Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness:
“For all other pages that have a beneficial purpose, the amount of expertise,
authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) is very important. Please consider:”
• The expertise of the creator of the MC.
• The authoritativeness of the creator of the MC, the MC itself, and the website.
• The trustworthiness of the creator of the MC, the MC itself, and the website.
http://www.google.com/insidesearch/howsearchworks/assets/searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf

53. EDUCATION: FIRST THINGS I COVER
• YMYL – Your Money or Your Life:
“Some types of pages or topics could potentially impact a person’s
future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety.”
“remember that a high level of expertise is required for YMYL topics.”
http://www.google.com/insidesearch/howsearchworks/assets/searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf

54. Google’s Examples of YMYL pages

55. EDUCATION: FIRST THINGS I COVER
• Explain the importance of Needs Met:
“The Needs Met scale encompasses all aspects of “helpfulness,”
http://www.google.com/insidesearch/howsearchworks/assets/searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf
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56. PUBCON AUSTIN: FEB 2020
Google’s Gary Illyes Keynote – @Methode
“Paragraphs should flow. Word to word, sentence to sentence,
paragraph to paragraph. If it doesn’t flow for the reader, it won’t
flow for us either.” ​
@SEOAware

57. GOOGLE CORE UPDATES
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• Google Core updates: “We suggest focusing on ensuring you’re offering the best
content you can.”​
• Core updates - May 2020 and Dec. 2020

58. EXAMPLE
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59. FOR MANY TEAMS, THIS IS ALL NEW

60. QUICK TIP: SCHEMA FOR AUTHORS
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Make sure you have this set up.
And make sure there is a bio page for your authors.
https://schema.org/author

61. CONTENT CREATION
• Expertise Level
• Authoritative
• Subtopics
• Intent Part of Planning
• QUALITY Content
• Keep E-A-T in Mind
• Who are you helping?
• YMYL
• Needs Met
• Flow and Grammar
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Guide and help them until it is second nature.

62. UNTIL GOOGLE CHANGES SOMETHING ELSE

63. GETTING STARTED WITH CONTENT
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64. YOU CAN’T FIX IT ALL RIGHT NOW
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• What can you do now? - Quick wins!
• 3 months from now?
• 6 months from now?
• 12 months from now
• 18 months from now?
• Etc.

65. LOW HANGING FRUIT

66. QUICK WINS
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67. CHECK GSC AND ANALYTICS
Find articles/pages that were working and have suddenly dropped –
work with SEO on how to update.
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68. FINDING QUICK WINS: SEMRUSH
Semrush Organic Research Tool
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69. QUICK WINS
Semrush Organic Research Tool – Positions Tab
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70. QUICK WINS
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71. A BIT HARDER TO WIN: GOALS
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72. QUICK WINS
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• Look at your content – take an inventory on what it contains.
• Look at all competitors:
• What subtopics did they cover that you didn’t?
• How authoritative, helpful and evergreen is the content?
• How did they optimize their content?

73. CHROME EXTENSION
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SEO META in 1 CLICK for quick competitive review.

74. CHROME EXTENSION
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75. NOW YOU HAVE ALL THIS INFO
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• Update/rewrite (check with SEO before you start).
• To beat competitors:
• Cover all the subtopics competitors in the top 3-5 positions covered.
• More facts and information in an easy-to-read format. (remember flow)
• Work with the SEO team!

76. GOOGLE RANKS YOU FOR WHAT NICHE?
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Capitalize on that!

77. GOOGLE RANKS YOU FOR WHICH TOPICS?
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Cover/enhance all the subtopics that make you money.
Create evergreen pieces that support the subtopics that make you
money.

78. NEW CONTENT: CREATED WITH PURPOSE
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79. NEW CONTENT IDEAS
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• Ranking for new subject areas takes work.
• Lots of research and planning.
• Lots of effort writing – E-A-T, YMYL, Needs Met.
• Time and Patience.
• SEO – link building, monitoring, modifications.

80. HELP THEM AVOID
FEELING LIKE THEY
FAILED
HELP THEM PLAN
WELL!

81. PLANNING MUST CONSIDER…
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Trends.
When it is needed – creation and ranking:
3 months, 6 months, 12 months, etc.

82. RESEARCH EVERYTHING FIRST
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Search volume by keyword.
Overall search volume by topic.
Current website saturation of topic.

83. RESEARCH EVERYTHING FIRST
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Current rankings of specific keywords.
Current traffic for keywords and topic.

84. COMPETITIVE RESEARCH
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Semrush Keyword Gap Tool

85. COMPETITIVE RESEARCH
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Semrush Keyword Gap Tool

86. COMPETITIVE RESEARCH
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Semrush Keyword Gap Tool

87. SCHEMA
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Which structured data will be used?

88. COMPETITOR SERP FEATURES
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Back to the Semrush Organic Research Tool

89. NEW IS SIMILAR TO UPDATING
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• Keyword, Trends, and Competitive Research
• Review the competitors in the top 3-5 positions
• To beat competitors:
• Cover all the subtopics competitors in the top 3-5 positions covered.
• More facts and information in an easy-to-read format. (remember flow)
• Work with the SEO team!

90. TRAFFIC & RANKINGS
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Align editorial with company goals.

91. RANKINGS
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Ask – “Why do you want to rank?”

92. YOU MAY BE SURPRISED AT THE ANSWER YOU GET!

93. IF RANKINGS ARE NOT MAKING YOU MONEY THERE IS NO
POINT IN RANKING!

94. FINAL THOUGHTS
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95. REALITY CHECKS
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96. YOU CAN’T BE SUCCESSFUL 100% OF THE TIME

97. LACK OF SUCCESS/FAILURES = LEARNING EXPERIENCES

98. YOUR WINS NEED TO OVERSHADOW YOUR LOSSES

99. @SEOAware
Thanks for listening.
Melissa Fach