Watch the full webinar at http://www.stickyeyes.com/videos/building-a-brand-for-digital-success SEO, as a marketing discipline, has taken on an entirely new role and has become a critical component of a brand’s entire digital strategy. It’s no longer possible to see search engine optimisation as an isolated activity, kept separately from a brand’s other core marketing and communication channels. Instead, SEO has become an integral part of that marketing and communications strategy. But established brands are finding it difficult to align the multiple stakeholders and skillsets needed to deliver a digital strategy that will succeed in engaging online audiences, provide a coherent customer experience and drive return on investment. Mike McDougall, Head of SEO at Stickyeyes, explains what it takes for enterprise level organisations to succeed in digital, and shared his top tips for developing an organisational culture in which digital can thrive.

1. Building a Business
Culture for Digital Success
Mike McDougall - Head of SEO
March 9th 2016

2. With over 14 yearsin digital,I’ve helpedbuild
teams and worked in a varietyof rolesin agencies
in the UK & NorthAmerica.
I have led and built search marketingteams for a
numberof leadingagenciesand have also
worked client-sidefor a number of prominent
onlinebrands,includinglastminute.com.
In my current role I head up the Searchteam,
ensuringStickyeyes’clientsare leadingthe way
with forward thinking,content-leddigitalstrategies
and drivingdigitalchangewithintheir businesses.
A bit about me

3. SEO out of the Silo
• Delivering great SEO is harder now
that it’s ever been
• No longer a “Bolt-On”
• Search must be considered in the
planning stage
• Let data and insight drive decision
making
Can you guys “SEO” this
for me please?
We need some “SEO”
copy
Make sure “SEO” are ok
with it

4. Digital as a disruptive force
• More customer-focused and digitally agile businesses are winning
• Long-established brands have been over-taken
• Brands like Netflix are a prime example
• ESPN lost an estimated 7.2 million subscribers as more people
“cut the cord”*
• Uber shows how a brand can solve consumer problems and
change traditional behaviours
• Relying on your brand strength, operational scale and reputation
could be disastrous
*Source:Nielsen

5. Are we approaching a
“Search Singularity”?

6. On-Site
Technicals
Functional
Content
Engaging Content
Brand Authority
Link Profile
Quality
User Engagement
Mobile Capability
Machine
Learning
Google is changing
• Google serves as an example of digital evolution
and change.
• Constant change and flux has drivenit forward.
• It has sought to hone the search engine
experience.
• The elements that effect organic rankings are
hugely diverse.
• Machine learning &AI key to the future of
algorithm.

7. What is “RankBrain”?
• “RankBrain” is Google’s machine learning
technology.
• Google set to announce that “RankBrain” will soon
be the key component of it’s ranking algorithm.
• Expected to “dial down” human tweaked elements of
their algorithm.
• Machines are starting to understand context and
think like humans.
• This contextual layer will change and personalise the
search experience.

8. Historically Divergent Strategy
It wasn’t abnormal for site’s to have different strategies and content for
end users and search engines.
Customer Strategy Search Engine Strategy
• Flash / Ajax elements
• Image driven
• Focus on Search
• Offer / campaign pages
• Link lists in footer
• Hidden / buried content
• Keyword stuffed text
• Thin / dupe content

9. A Singularity of Purpose
• Needs of search engines & end users have never
been closer!
• 9 times of 10, if something is good for end user
then it’s likely to be great for search engines.
• This leaves the algorithm less open to
manipulation.
• Links, and content that existed only for search
engines, is now irrelevant and even damaging.

10. Changing Ranking factors
The last 18 months have seen a significant shift in the Google algorithm placing much
greater emphasis on user engagement factors. Time on site is now #1.
240
260
280
300
320
15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
AverageTimeonSite(s)
Ranking Position
Average Time on Site – Ranking Correlation

11. What does this mean for
you as digital experts?

12. A new digital practitioner
• SEO’s are losing the “techie” image and coming out of the
basement.
• Digital practitioners need to be well rounded marketers
with acute business acumen.
• Demands on SEO professionals have become more
broad covering content, UX, PR as well a technical bread
and butter.
• This new practitioner is geared up to evolve with digital
change.

13. The evangelist and teacher
The role of the “SEO guy” is a million miles away from what it used to be.
• An evangelist – can they sell the digital dream internally and win hearts and minds?
• Inspirational presenter and good orator.
• A teacher – vital to be able to educate internal teams and stakeholders to create a new
legion of digital believers.
• Convincing senior stakeholders is not easy – force of personality needed

14. A shift in language and vocabulary
• Antiquated concepts like “white hat” no longer part of a modern digital
language
• Demystification of SEO as a “dark art” or a “black box” – it’s not
• Losing the obsession with Google and “gaming the system” – quit trying to
outsmart the smartest people on earth
• Replacement of phrases like “link building” with classic marketing concepts
like “owned, earned and paid”

15. Adapt your hiring strategies
• Need to think about how they’re going to fit your
organisation – will they mesh with other departments.
• Technical skills alone won’t cut it!
• Acatalyst for change – will they have the passion and
drive to “evangelise” digital?
• Tenacity and commitment – organisational change is
hard, faint hearts need not apply.

16. Organisational
Culture holding
Digital back
It’s not easy – operational complexity &
structure, large staff headcounts across
multiple languages, cultures & time
zones, multiple external agencies and
stakeholders all cloud the waters.
The challenges facing organisations
can be categorised into 4 key areas.

17. Technical – “it’s too difficult
to do”
• Technical challenges can slow down transition within large
organisations.
• Legacy platform limitations, system infrastructure, out-dated CMS
systems and e-commerce platforms.
• Systems not build to meet the demands of modern digital strategy.
• Developing them is hard, time consuming and expensive.
• Code freezes and Dev queues make business unresponsive.

18. Resource – “There’s nobody
to do it until…”
• Digital now spans the breadth of organisations – touching most
departments.
• Digital now everyone’s remit – traditionally not the case.
• Department collaboration is much more necessary.
• SEO, e-commerce, PR, Content, UX – all key players for
digital projects.
• Schedules are already stacked – adding digital responsibility
can meet resistance.

19. Vision – “We don’t see the
value in doing this”
• Making the business case for digital strategy is one of the
biggest challenges.
• Not everyone is a digital native who “gets it”.
• Getting executive level buy-in is vital.
• Change is part of the process in creating a digitally focused
brand.
• Failure to convince leads to delays and poor digital performance

20. Corporate Inertia – “That’s
not how we do things here”
• Inertia leads businesses to remain in a state of normality.
• Challenge existing processes, structures and visions to adapt to
modern consumer habits.
• Lack of digital proficiency within the business.
• Many brands are led by people from traditional, non-digital
backgrounds.
• Natural to focus on areas where they feel most comfortable.

21. The Centre of
Excellence Concept
Companies aren’t in a position to necessarily hire 10 specialists
across multiple sites so how can we ensure this knowledge is at
the heart of business-wide decision making?

22. The Centre of Excellence
Concept

23. Purpose 1: Education
• Absolutely key to the success of the Centre of
Excellence model.
• Market the Guardian role as one to develop &
broaden skills.
• Tailor training levels to suit your audience.
• Make education programs engaging and accessible.

24. Purpose 2: Process
• Place digitally trained eyes and ears in key
positions within your business.
• Put a clear communication and issue
escalation process in place.
• Onus is on Guardians to flag issues and
communicate departmental news /
projects.
• Don’t over-load Guardians responsibility
outside of day to day work.

25. Purpose 3: Collaboration
• Break down walls & ensure inter-department communication.
• Get regular meetings in place with COE members.
• Keep the focus and ensure that
issues are caught in timely fashion.
• Understand where issues are likely
to occur – learn from previous
mistakes.

26. Case in Point: Adidas
Excerpts taken
from an Adidas
presentation
delivered in 2014.

27. Case in Point: Adidas
Excerpts taken
from an Adidas
presentation
delivered in
2014

28. Takeaways and Next
Steps

29. Creating A Digital Roadmap
• You need to know exactly what you’re trying to achieve – build a detailed plan.
• Breaking down into bite-sized chunks makes change less daunting.
• Use data and projections - what does that digital
opportunity look like in 6, 12 and 18 months?
• Communicate this to a high level – create robust
business cases for the “why”.
• Search is sometimes intangible.

30. Build a team for success
• Use training & education to Identify key talent and stakeholder to convince.
• Identify traditional blockers and put a plan in place to remove and open up comms.
• Gear up for change – long term plans will shift in the
digital space so be agile.
• New digital converts will help to push through change
& combat natural inertia.
• Open your eyes an consume information – follow
Moz, set up a tweet deck of search influencers etc.

31. Thanks for listening
If you have any additional questions feel
free to get in touch:
Email: mike.mcdougall@Stickyeyes.com
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=7370476
Tweetme: @mikeymcdougall