The document discusses in-house SEO strategies and how SEO professionals need to think differently now than in the past. It notes that SEO value is harder to measure directly and that SEO teams need to focus on understanding customer data and search engine optimization from the perspective of customers, business leaders, and search engines themselves. The document provides examples of questions SEO professionals should ask and tools they can use to improve digital audits, testing, and insights.

1. In-House SEO Strategies
Presented by:
James Loomstein, MBA
Digital Space Consulting
@jloomstein

2. Wait, About Me…
• Digital
agency
with
over
10
years
experience
in
content,
crea8ve,
communica8ons,
and
analy8cs
• Passionate
about
the
tools,
pla>orms,
and
technology
used
to
connect
and
engage
consumers
• Focused
on
empowering
brands
and
customers
by
enabling
them
to
research,
relate
and
engage
with
each
other
• Extensive
experience
in
local
search,
PPC,
SEO,
conversion
op8miza8on,
targe8ng/segmenta8on,
and
marke8ng
strategy
@jloomstein

3. Enterprise Experience
Agency level
Client level
@jloomstein

4. So a long time ago (2011) it was like this…
Some
of
the
SEO
traffic
we
get
is
really
valuable.
I
wonder
if
we
could
get
more.
C-LEVEL PERSON
AT CORPORATE
SEO PERSON
I
can
help!
Great.
Here
are
some
resources.
Get
to
work.
I’m
on
it!
Look
at
these
ranking
reports!!!
Whoa.
It’s
working!
We’re
gePng
more
traffic
for
the
keywords
as
you
help
us
improve
rankings,
op8mize
our
lis8ngs,
and
target
content..
Let’s
invest
more.
Agreed!
Source: http://moz.com/rand/first-existential-threat-seo/
CLIENT
@jloomstein

5. And now it’s more like this…
I’ve
heard
good
things
about
SEO,
and
even
though
I
can’t
tell
what’s
helping
us,
it
seems
like
organic
search
is
a
good
channel.
Let’s
make
an
investment.
C-LEVEL PERSON
AT CORPORATE
SEO PERSON
I
can
help!
Great.
Here
are
some
resources.
Get
to
work.
OK,
here’s
the
deal.
We
really
can’t
tell
whether
your
efforts
are
the
ones
driving
value,
or
if
the
keywords
you’re
op8mizing
for
are
even
helping
us.
I’m
on
it!
But
the
rankings
are
clearly
going
up
/
organic
search
is
cri8cal
to
the
funnel.
Yeah,
but
we
think
a
lot
of
that
is
probably
just
branded
search
for
our
name.
@jloomstein

6. And now it’s more like this…
SEO PERSON
But
the
traffic
is
going
to
pages
that
aren’t
ranking
for
branded
terms
alone
–
some
of
that
has
to
be
coming
from
non-­‐branded
keywords
that
I’ve
helped
with.
C-LEVEL PERSON
AT CORPORATE
Well,
that
could
be
personaliza8on,
or
localiza8on,
or
something
else
we
don’t
know
about.
I’m
sorry,
but
we
need
to
invest
our
budget
in
places
where
we
have
solid
data.
Can
you
help
us
increase
our
Facebook
likes?
You’re
making
a
terrible
mistake.
@jloomstein

7. So what are we suppose to do now?
• We
need
to
think
for
ourselves
• Realize
the
data
we
need
–
we
already
have
• Understand
that
our
SEO
efforts
reach
is
far
greater
than
on-­‐page
and
off-­‐page
Internal Technology
Product Technology
External Technology
- Competitive
intelligence
- Campaign Mgt.
- Dashboards
- SEO Analysis
- UGC
- Email
- Social features
- Digital products
-
Landing pages
Interactive page
Search ads
Mobile marketing
- Behavioral targeting
- Video
@jloomstein

8. What questions do we need to be asking?
INTERNAL LEVEL
•
•
•
•
•
•
How
do
we
train
and
support
our
internal
SEO
team?
How
do
we
show
SEO
value
in
the
wake
of
con8nual
Google
algorithm
changes?
How
can
we
show
value
to
other
parts
of
the
organiza8on?
What
should
we
be
measuring
and
who
should
reports
go
to?
What
sec8ons
of
our
site
are
working
harder
than
others?
How
can
we
improve
our
site
structure?
•
•
•
How
do
we
create,
organize,
and
distribute
our
content
strategy?
What
content
are
people
talking
about?
Is
our
link
building
working?
ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL
•
•
•
?
?
Finding
the
right
skills
to
match
in-­‐house
experience
Conflic8ng
interest
and
struggles
for
budget,
work,
and
crea8ve
freedom
Death
by
commi]ee
(“…..It
just
doesn’t
feel
right”)
@jloomstein

9. Think about how we need to THINK
LIKE A CONSUMER
LIKE OUR BOSSES
LIKE A SEARCH ENGINE
– Relevant
pages
matched
to
intent
– Concise/organized
naviga8on
– Quality
up
and
down
the
page
– Off-­‐site
valida8on
– Search
pa]erns
– Efforts
tracked
to
leads,
sales,
calls,
downloads,
etc.
– A]ribu8on
model
– Conversion
path
– Compe88ve
intelligence
– Is
this
is
the
best
place
to
spend
my
dollar
– Is
my
boss
going
to
fire
me
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Crawlability
NAP
cita8ons
Site
speed
Content
op8miza8on
Link
velocity
Page
views
/
bounce
rates
Social
amplifica8on
@jloomstein

10. Dig deeper into our customer data
PAGE
LEVEL
TESTING
– Find
a
product
– Find
a
contact
form
– Read
a
review
– Download
a
whitepaper
DIGITAL
AUDITS
– Direct
visits
– Referral
sites
– PPC
traffic
– Conversion
path
– Heatmaps
– Site
goals
PERSONA
DEVELOPMENT
– Time
of
day
– Loca8on
– Top
content
– Demographic
– Referral
traffic
– Conversion
– Social
engagement
path
– Top
pages
visited
– Likes/dislikes
– Search
intent
Tools for audits/personas
@jloomstein

11. Build the right toolbox
Business
Insights
SEO
Highrise
Pocket
SpyFu
Whitespark
LinkChecker
Basecamp
Trello
Moz
Hi]ail.com
Xenu
Join.me
Callrail
Fliptop
MySeoTool.com
SEOQuake
Evernote
HipChat
Rapleap
Screaming
Frog
PageSpeed
Insights
Rappor8ve
Boomerang
CrazyEgg
Moz
/
Mozbar
Majes8c
SEO
Plugin
Followerwonk
Google
/
Bing
Webmaster
Tools
WooRank
Builtwith.com
@jloomstein

12. Get MORE out of your in-house team
Focus
on
content
Determine
which
sec8ons
of
your
site
are
working
harder
than
others
Hierarchy,
landing
pages,
category
pages,
clicks
to
content,
alt
text,
clean
URLs
evergreen
vs.
local
Review
internal
search
data
Op8mize
page
structure
Learn
what
pages
people
are
talking
about
Inves8gate
your
link
building
Conversion
tracking
Build
on
what’s
working
/
improve
on
what’s
worth
improving
on
@jloomstein

13. What to remember
Select high value
activities – then stay
organized and ontrack
Executing the same
strategy as your
competitor will not make
you successful
Instead, find out
what your competitor
isn’t doing, and do it
better
The research tools you
need are already in your
hands
REMEMBER
Realize that not every
page is an SEO landing page
TAKE AWAYS
-­‐
Use
Google
Analy8cs
(Conductor,
BrightEdge,
etc.)
to
drive
SEO
decisions
-­‐
Always
be
able
to
8e
your
ac8vity
back
to
revenue
-­‐
Keep
reports
simple,
clear,
concise,
brief
and
persuasive
-­‐
SEO
is
as
much
art
as
science
@jloomstein

14. What 2014 holds
•
•
•
•
•
Redistribu8on
of
influence
and
the
further
integra8on
of
search
and
social
Rise
of
the
marke8ng
technologist
Adop8on
of
agile
methodologies
into
marke8ng
opera8ons
and
management
More
educa8on
from
the
ground
up
Pla>orm
partnerships
@jloomstein

15. Stay Smart
SEO
Keyword
Research
Code
Industry
Trends
@jloomstein

16. Stay Smart
Join local
organizations
Sponsor
events
Attend
conferences
@jloomstein

17. Set your in-house teams up for success
Track to metrics that
matter
Complete digital
audits
Create platform
partnerships
Build customer
personas
Stop chasing shiny
objects
Educate & Evangelize
from the ground up
Build on what’s working – improve upon what is worth improving upon
Con8nually
RATE
your
site.
Keep
it:
Reliable
Authorita8ve
Trustworthy
Engaged
@jloomstein

18. Digital Space Consulting
Create. Connect. Engage.
Thank
You.
@jloomstein

19. Contact Information
DigitalSpaceConsulting.com
James@digitalspaceconsulting.com
Linkedin.com/in/Jloomstein
Slideshare.net/jloomstein/presentations
Twitter.com/jloomstein
@jloomstein