6 things I learned about building an internal SEO team

My first six years SEO career Spend in the same house SEO team. During that time, the team has undergone many changes, constantly evolving and adapting in the process of continuously pursuing the most effective operation method.

At first, we were a small junior team, mainly in a Silo.

But by 2020, our team has been composed of 7 people, including senior positions and expert positions. We are fully integrated into the digital department through processes and working methods.

From my first day in SEO to what I did Leadership team, I was part of all the ups and downs, and learned a lot about what it takes to prove the value of investing in SEO-and make that investment pay off.

Here are the most important lessons I learned.

1. Nothing will happen without buying

If you get one thing from this article, please make sure it is like this: no matter how good you are, or how desperately you need more manpower.

You won’t have a chance Develop your team Or increase your budget without getting support from people who can provide you with these things.

For this, you need credibility.

Over time, this stems from good subject knowledge, insight, judgment, and the ability to consistently demonstrate these qualities.

But there are things you can do to put yourself in a good position accelerate Build this reputation.

2. Structure is your friend

First, you need a structure in three key areas:

• Reliable data And consistent approach Report.
• A comprehensive, prioritized strategy Based on a complete on-site audit, outline the work you will be dealing with and, most importantly, the problems that you cannot solve yet (due to dependencies, budget or resources).
• Regular rhythm Communicate your progress.

The benefits of creating this structure around you Search Engine Optimization Plan It is possible to protect you from accidental changes in the organization.

For example, if the leadership of your department changes and the new manager wants to stick to his own approach, then a solid foundation and clear plan usually mean that any turbulence requires a stronger justification.

It can even create an opportunity for your team to increase its influence and accelerate its development.

3. You must “move the needle”

The next thing you need is tracking records.

If you are At a loss And understaffed.

Trying to make progress in all areas, spreading yourself too finely, and ultimately failing to make a real impact anywhere, does not prove that you need more resources for anyone besides yourself.

instead, comminicate Explain to your manager which projects you will prioritize, and clearly indicate areas that you will not be engaged in due to capacity constraints.

With a more focused scope, you can show the impact you can have with the right amount of work, and let them infer the return on investing in the SEO team.

This step allows more projects to be processed at the same time.

4. Build a compelling business case

You must also be able to use this foundation to ask what you need and persuade people to give it to you.

Search engine optimization is by nature extensive and growing. It is difficult to know if you are really under-resourced or just overwhelmed by endless possibilities and clues.

By estimating the potential return on investment of the projects that will be unlocked by increasing capacity, you will be able to confirm that you really need more people and provide a strong reason for expanding your team.

Of course, as with many aspects of SEO, King It can be complicated and difficult to calculate. The results cannot be guaranteed like other digital marketing channels.

In addition, many of the initiatives we need to implement are not necessarily about incremental growth, but about following best practices and protecting performance in the long-term.

Two main strategies helped us add some numbers to items that we deem important, and justified the need to increase capacity.

Use the projected return on investment as a range

In the best case, what impact will this activity have?

What if its results are milder than expected?

Reality may be somewhere in between, but communicating a series of results allows you to remain transparent and truthful without over-promising or underestimating the potential results.

For example, one method is:

• Define keyword list Your project will affect.
• For each term, predict the number of potential clicks By multiplying the monthly search volume and the estimated click-through rate of different locations (for example, three locations higher; five locations higher).
• Subtract any current flow Driven by these items in the total of these forecasts, to calculate the upper and lower estimates of the increase in traffic volume.
• (Optional) Application conversion rate And average expenditure data to calculate the revenue increase.

Calculate the cost of inaction or the opposite of the return on investment

If the purpose of a project is to protect Search engine optimization performance From future algorithm updates or to stay ahead of your competitors, use the same method as above, but based on location loss.

Being able to quantify the benefits of improving capabilities will not only help convey the value of what your team does (and can do), but also help build your authority and credibility.

By the way, it is also very valuable when prioritizing with your organization’s development team, etc.!

Hire the right people

Therefore, you have been approved to increase the number of employees. what to do?

Based on the salary you can offer, you need to be realistic about the level of experience you can expect from applicants.

With this in mind, your business case and strategy begin to align the job description with the type of responsibilities that the role will involve.

When hiring for entry-level positions, consider whether specific SEO experience is really important.

It is possible to learn SEO at work, but the qualities that make someone a good SEO practitioner—curiosity, love of learning and problem-solving, toughness, diplomacy—may be more difficult to teach.

For roles that require more experience, you still need to make sure you are looking for Soft skills Above, but you should also set up tasks that require candidates to demonstrate the required skills and subject knowledge responsibility They will accept it.

Ensuring that the interviewer is qualified to conduct the assessment is critical-if necessary, hire experts from outside the organization.

When the candidate’s expertise exceeds the interviewer’s expertise, it is almost impossible to try to evaluate it, and a bad recruitment will create a very difficult situation that is very difficult to solve.

Finding a candidate who strikes a balance between current experience and knowledge and accepting the humility required for further learning and genuine collaboration can be very difficult-in the words of Dan Patmore, senior group SEO manager at Sainsbury’s Group,

“Some SEOs want to be right. I want people who want to learn.”

Most importantly, when bringing any newcomer to your team, always put the importance of internal support first.

Can this person increase the credibility and authority of your team in the business, instill confidence in your leadership team, and promote cross-functional collaboration?

Or are they likely to damage your team’s reputation and relationships?

Leading a growing team

There are hundreds of books dedicated to how to manage a team.

But for me, the ultimate goal of developing a team is to make it beyond the sum of its parts.

The way the individuals in the team work together should enhance the skills and abilities of each person, beyond the skills and abilities they bring.

Shared values

The method required to achieve this goal is consistent with the recruitment method outlined above: put value first, treat SEO as a continuous learning experience, and emphasize the importance of honesty and collaboration.

In order to create this environment, you need to practice guidance in micromanagement, focus on developing and guiding your colleagues through their careers, and manage a substantial and effective team in which the individual feels valued.

This is especially important in SEO teams, because the many qualities that make someone very suitable for the discipline can also make them resist more domineering leadership.

Lifelong learners tend to question assumptions and draw their own conclusions, while problem solvers prefer to improve the process rather than being forced to do things the way they always do.

Those with inner curiosity like to be allowed to investigate tangents and discover new insights.

Killing these instincts in order to better control your team will not only make them miserable, but you will also lose their thoughts and opinions (and miss opportunities).

Alliance

So how do you make sure everyone is working in the right direction?

Like everything else, this boils down to support, except this time, you need to get support from the SEO team itself. In practice, this means you should:

• transparent Share your strategy with your team, just as you share it with more senior stakeholders.
• As the experience of the individuals in the team continues to grow and brings their own valuable views and areas of expertise, Let them participate in the creation Strategy.
• Make sure everyone knows where the focus is, What is the goal and why. Agree on expectations for results and milestones, including deadlines. This structure is essential to keep things on track while allowing creativity.
• Maintenance project backlog The scope and priority will be determined later. This enables your team to bring you new ideas and be heard without deviating from current priorities.

In the end, the North Star I built and led the team has always boiled down to trust. I want to hire people I can trust, and I want to earn their rewards.

I want to encourage my team to trust each other, and I hope everyone feels that they are trusted.

If you can do this, you will eventually have a team, they work together for a common goal, challenge themselves to be the best, develop their strengths and expertise, learn from each other, and generate ideas and innovations, thereby developing your SEO plans for the future.

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