PubCon April 2013
•Download as PPT, PDF•
2 likes•551 views
The document discusses 4 elements of a smart growth model for big brand SEO: growth model, hiring, training, and efficiency. It presents examples of how an SEO team grew from 2009 to 2013 by implementing a growth model that focused on hiring qualified candidates, thorough training, maximizing efficiency through succession planning and automation, and minimizing 15% annual tech turnover. The growth model emphasizes hiring based on business needs, leveraging existing resources, and continuous improvement.
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Similar to PubCon April 2013
Similar to PubCon April 2013 (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
PubCon April 2013
- 1. Big Brand SEO: 4 Elements of Smart Growth Presented by: @JonathanBWilson SEO Program Manager Dealer.com
- 4. Growth Model
- 12. 2013
- 17. Question: Which is the best anchor text to go to a car dealer's used inventory page? A."gently owned cars" + geo B. "used cars" + geo C."new cars" + geo D. "pre-owned cars" + geo
- 21. 15 minutes
- 28. 15% Tech Turnover -Nobscot Retention
- 31. Growth Model Hiring Training Efficiency Succession Planning Hire based on Business Need Leverage Existing Resources DIY Testing Build a Newsletter Reclaim that 15 minutes Automate Reporting Normalize Onboarding Build an Internal Wiki
Editor's Notes
- Grow Search business department GROW The number of pages your rank for, whether 1 property or across multiple
- About me SEO program manager DDC largest provider of automotive website in US 40% of market 350 MILLION PAGES 50 search folks, up from 8 5 years ago Presentation focus on best practices around growth we’ve picked up over the years
- To make it easier to digest I’ve identified 4 main areas of growth Focus on relevant takeaways for small and large teams
- Hiring Understanding your organization and hiring the right people
- Training, Making sure that the right people have the right information and know what to do
- Efficiency Optimizing performance
- Sucession Planning We are in a high turnover industry so we want to make sure the right steps are taken to ensure your organization doesn’t skip a beat if someone leaves
- Lets move into hiring
- Assess your business needs and what types of people will fulfill those needs generalists Technical folks Link builders Copywriters strategists Assess existing resources Blogging CEO Graphic designers to make link bait infographics Interns for heavy lifting Put the strategy on paper before you pick someone Realize that this can change over time
- Illustrate how department evolves 2009 – SEO was in the realm of being more technical, and we found that this was suiting our needs What happened between then and now? Google Panda Google Penguin Increased reliance on quality content and shifting away from super technical SEO
- So we changed to look like this More nuanced and granular roles Responsive to client needs Responsive to evolving search landscape SIS Analyst Senior analysts Senior strategists Built copywriting team
- You know what types of help you need now. Next question: where is it going to come from? Outsourcing Versus In-House
- We choose in-house + Training Day to Day QA INTERDEPARTMENTAL COLLAB Culture of SEO - Time intensive expensive Training Sustainability concerns
- If you’re strapped for cash or have a “fast or famine” business model >Freelancer (bidding and writing sites too) + Quickly get help you need Start and stop No training DRAWBACKS Scattered proprietary knowledge Incomplete control Low feeedback Low QA
- Now you have the right people in place Ensuring they’re doing the right things and know the right information Not just in-house : Create a culture of SEO Sales, Dev, SEM, products Important in department and org at large
- Does anyone know the answer to this question? B (1000 to 1) Couldnt find test – built our own Basic SEO ranking factors SEM and SEO Advanced Ranking Factors Baseline Setting - FOR EVERYONE Identify knowledge gaps GIVE training based on test results Ensure everyones pointed in the same direction : CONSISTENT SEO PHILOSOPHY This is heavy on time, light on $$
- In addition to test-based training, here’s TWiS Incentive for seo to stay current Shared throughout organization 100 subscribers Create culture of SEO
- We also have a tip of the week at the bottom Partner with SEM department
- Picked right people and got their skills up, so Now everyone is your organization is an SEO pro More knowledge = more requests This is when efficiency is the name of the game
- We’ve all gotten the request: “ Can you run this quick report for me? It’ll only take ten or 15 minutes” “ Can you do this simple repetitve task, it’ll only take 15 minutes” “ What’s the organix traffic like for the site yesterday? Can you summarize real fast?” If you’re helpful, you’ll say, “well OK itll only 15 minutes” DOES ANYONE KNOW THE TRUE COST OF 15 MINUTES?
- 15 * 5 = 75 minutes 75 * 4 weeks = 300 minutes per month 300 minutes * 12 = 3600 minutes 3600 / 60 = 60 hours Week and a half per year of full time work doing bullshit no one cares about Now think about that 60 hours per person across your organization Now think about that if you add a monetary note THESE NUMBERS HURT Have SEOs focus on doing good work, not reporter monkeys Find that 15 minutes and figure out how to automate
- Let me show you how we applied that concept We track every request to our department to identify trends Review 500 to see trends Coding them out Organizating them Identify trends Trend: confusion on actual SEO performance from both clients and account managers
- Another Issue: confusion over keywords What were they? How were they ranking? How were they trending?
- Dashboard = more work up front, less later Transparency and automation Cheap : custom GA reporting RESULT: 30% decline in support task, saving hours each week
- Succession Planning How to plan for the inevitable
- At DDC we do a lot to keep our employees happy Gym 8 fitness classes per day Tennis court Flexible working times Massages 2 organic cafés barista Good pay Bus pass Other benefits Feedback loop Monthly 1 on 1s to gauge temperature and happiness Quarterly reviews Yearly reviews Ongoing audits STILL HAVE TURNOVER
- Turnover is to be expected 3 years almost half your folks will be gone VT = 600,000 folks Important to ensure seo knowledge doesn’t leave when 1 person does
- Build a Wiki Good Onboarding Knowledge refresh Internal department External department Product – other departments know all the details Process – so a brand new person can understand how something’s done Google Changes – so we all know what’s going on with the algorithm Team meetings NO PAPER Light on $, heavy on time
- Agile training: Solid onboarding process maximize efficiency to get folks ramped up 2 weeks new hire training 5 weeks of SEO- intense training Multiple trainers all from department Adjust training as industry changes Tailor training to your business
- To conclude I’ve got the following takeaways Hire based on business need Leverage existing resources Diy testing Build a newletter Reclaim 15 Automate reporting Normalize onboarding wiki
- AND GROW