Keith Goode discusses the Five Steps to democratizing SEO across your Development organization, including tips and tricks for getting executive priority and developer cooperation in the ever-changing landscape of SEO. This presentation was given at noon on January 20th, 2014 at the Austin Flying Saucer for the Austin SEO Meetup Group (http://www.meetup.com/Austin-SEO/).

1. 5 Steps to Guiding
and Trusting Your
Developers
Keith L. Goode
SEO Technology Lead
DCSG, Dell

2. Your Presenter
Keith L. Goode
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15 years of Online
Experience
Prior employment
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Dell (2 ½ years)
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AMD
HomeAway
Builders Digital
Experience
SEO Technology
Lead, DCSG (formerly
eDell)
Technical SEO Instructor
Presentations
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Clarity „13
Pubcon Vegas
Pubcon Austin
Twitter: @keithgoode

3. Standard Presentation Statement
The ideas and statements in this presentation do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of Dell Inc. but are based on
my personal experience in the SEO Industry.
Tl;dr: Keith is not Dell.

4. The Challenge of
Current-state SEO

5. The Challenge of Current-state SEO
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Do More With Less
– Budgets are always an issue
and generally only get worse
– Algorithm shifts have generally
eroded what “direct” control we
have over ranking
– Quality and technical capability
expectations are higher amidst
decreasing budgets

6. The Democratization
of SEO

7. The Democratization of SEO
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Content
– You get what you pay for
– Cheap content = Bad
Rankings, Poor
Engagement, No Social
Promotion
– Use your internal SME‟s to
promote your product or service

8. The Democratization of SEO
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Development/Architecture
– Prepare
– Teach
– Communicate
– Monitor
– Recognize

9. Prepare
THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF SEO

10. Prepare
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To Teach, You Must First Learn
– If you‟re not technical, become
technical
– Start with HTML as a basic
skillset, then CSS, XML, etc.
– Learn about your site‟s architecture
– Understand and plug in to the
development process
– Brewskis work, but so does
food, snacks, and banter

11. Teach
THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF SEO

12. Teach
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Get Executive Buy-in, Approval, and Prioritization
– Show the financial benefit
– Get prioritization
– Integrate into Individual
Development Plans

13. Teach
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Develop Your Training Materials
– Customize your training
materials per specialization
– Use real-world examples
– Update regularly

14. Teach
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Establish your Classes
– Medium and Large Businesses
• Full course curriculum
• Lunch and Learn refreshers
– Small and Medium Businesses
• Lunch and Learn Classes
• Individual Sessions

15. Communicate
THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF SEO

16. Communicate
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Update your knowledge regularly
– Blogs
(moz.com, Inbound.org, search
engineland.com, etc.)
– Webmaster Help Videos
– Google Developer and
Webmaster Blogs
– Forums (WebmasterWorld.com)
– Meetups and Conferences

17. Communicate
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Share your updated knowledge
– Filter industry updates to what‟s
meaningful
– Relate industry changes to
existing or future projects
– Communicate regularly but
meaningfully
• Updating to just update can
devalue your communication
efforts

18. Monitor
THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF SEO

19. Monitor
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Use Analytics to look for sudden, unseasonal
changes
– Google Analytics
– Omniture

20. Monitor
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Monitor Indexation and Ranking
– Google Webmaster Tools
– SEO Platforms (seoClarity, Brightedge,
Conductor)
– Ranking Software (Advanced Web Ranking, Rank
Tracker, etc.) – USE WITH CAUTION

21. Monitor
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Recognize that mistakes happen. It’s not personal
or intentional.

22. Monitor – Bonus Tip
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Plug In to Regular (Core) Development Team
Meetings
– Attend Project Scrum sessions, if necessary
– Even if you‟re just listening mostly, listen for
potentially impactful issues
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Work with your Product Manager
– Prioritize technical requests
– Look for new opportunities
– Share learnings

23. Recognize
THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF SEO

24. Recognize
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… In Personal Thank-You Notes
… In Your Post-Launch Notes
– You are doing post-launch notes … right?
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… In Quarterly Recognition Awards
– In lieu of recognition awards, comment to the
developer‟s manager or director
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… In Your Regular SEO Updates

25. Conclusion

26. Conclusion
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Meet Your Developers / Architects Where They
Are
Customize and Personalize Training Materials As
Necessary
Communicate Industry Changes as Well as
Success Metrics Around Updates
Monitor for Issues and Successes
Recognize the Effort to Encourage Future
Participation

27. Conclusion
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Questions?
Follow Me Here:
– twitter.com/keithgoode
– google.com/+KeithGoode
– linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode