The document provides 9 tips for managing SEO as a solo practitioner or small team. The tips include becoming the in-house SEO expert by sharing knowledge, training others, leveraging tools, building relationships with key stakeholders, defining SEO processes, providing detailed guidelines, outsourcing non-core tasks, and setting company-wide SEO goals. Managing SEO alone requires evangelizing SEO principles throughout the organization to distribute responsibilities and ensure SEO remains a priority.

1. THE ONE-MAN BAND
9 TIPS ON MANAGING IN-HOUSE SEO
WITH A TEAM OF ONE

2. ALLISON FABELLA
Twitter: @alli12
• Digital Audience Development Manager
• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
– The south east’s largest newspaper
– One of the top 10 regional papers in the US
• Manage all strategic and tactical SEO & social
– All done solo

3. DO YOU EVER FEEL LIKE THIS GUY?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXMuWi0dUBc

4. FACT:
Over 40% of in-house SEO’s
*
operate without a staff
*SEMPO 2010 Salary Survey

5. QUICK SURVEY

6. 9 TIPS
1) Be the guru
2) Deputize your
champions
5) Buddy up with key
players
6) Define SEO in the
workflow
3) Train, train, and
train some more
7) Provide checklists
4) Leverage tools
8) Outsource
9) Set company goals

7. TIP #1
BE THE GURU

8. DEFINITION
Guru /ˈgooroo/ (noun): A teacher;
͝ ͞
intellectual guide

9. Regularly EMAIL
SEO articles

10. EMAIL EXAMPLE

11. Contribute to company
NEWSLETTER

12. NEWSLETTER EXAMPLE

13. HOLD SEO OFFICE HOURS

14. TOOT YOUR HORN...
& YOUR COLLEAGUES’

15. TIP #2
DEPUTIZE CHAMPIONS

16. ID YOUR CHAMPIONS
• Look for folks who:
• Send you Search or social articles
• Utilizes your SEO office hours
• Like to talk Search
• Your eyes, ears, and advocates
• Every office has them

17. DEPUTIZE YOUR CHAMPIONS
• Make them co-trainers
• Involve in SEO
– Forward them articles
• Make them feel special
• Reward them
• Publicly send kudos; CC their boss

18. EXAMPLE: HOOK YOUR
CHAMP
2. DEPUTIZE
1. IDENTIFY
3. REWARD

19. TIP #3
TRAIN, TRAIN, TRAIN
(... and train some more)

20. Must be MANDATORY
NO BROWN BAGS!

21. TRAINING
• EVERYONE gets SEO 101 primer
• Crucial stakeholders get additional tailored training
• Dev, designers, project mangers, content producers
• Peer to peer training is effective
– Tap your champions
• Bring in guest speakers & consultants
• “SEO” developers, designers, content producers
• In-house experts (i.e. Jessica Bowman
• Leverage webinars, videos (Fishkin’s White Board Friday)

22. PEER TO PEER TRAINING

23. TIP #4
USE ENTERPRISE TOOLS

24. ENTERPISE TOOLS
• Customizable
• Scalable
• Dashboards
• Should make your job easier – not harder

25. ENTERPRISE TOOL FEATURES
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Keyword research
Backlink analysis
Ranking data (universal search)
Workflow management
Analytics & Reporting
Competitive data
Social media integration

26. TIP #5
MAKE KEY PLAYERS YOUR
BEST FRIENDS

27. FRIEND #1:
PROJECT/PRODUCT MANAGER
• Your first line of defense
• Can help make sure SEO makes it into and REMAINS in the
project cycle
• Controls the meeting invite list

28. FRIEND #2:
LEAD DEVELOPER
• Holds the keys to the code
• Can watch for critical SEO elements
• Tip: Give them the keys to Webmaster Tools accounts
• Provides ownership of SEO

29. FRIEND #3:
LEAD DESIGNER/UX
• Can create placeholders for SEO elements in wireframes
• Can combat SEO-killing design concepts
• i.e. HTML5 vs. Flash
• Can prevent spider trap site architecture

30. TIP #6
DEFINE SEO IN WORKFLOW

31. SEO IN THE WORKFLOW
• Written documentation of SEO in lifecycle
• Saves time, frustration, money
• Work with project managers & developers
• Training is key

32. CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE SEO
(Courtesy of SEOMoz)

33. TIP #7
PROVIDE DETAILED
CHECKLISTS

34. EVERYONE GETS GUIDELINES
• Developers:
–
–
–
–
Details about 301 vs. 302 redirects
Canonical code
Robots.txt syntax - Do’s and Don’ts
XML sitemap syntax
• Designers / UX specialists
– Wireframe examples
• Content producers
– Good AND bad examples of SEO-friendly content

35. TIP #8
OUTSOURCE

36. OUTSOURCING
• Good for workload “swells”
• Use for quickie needs
• Keyword research, content creation
• Use one-man (or woman!) shops
• Lower cost, no long-term obligations

37. TIP #9
SET COMPANY-WIDE
SEO GOALS

38. COMPANY-WIDE GOALS
• ALL have skin in the game
• Helps create an SEO culture
• Relieves the sole burden on the SEO
• Less likely to have SEO requirements bumped from
project list

39. FINAL THOUGHTS

40. FINAL THOUGHTS
• You can’t do it alone!
• The buck STARTS – not stops – with you
• Everyone in your organization needs to own SEO
– Together you succeed or fail
• Your job is to:
*Train* *Evangelize* *Deputize* *Delegate* *Support*
*Inspire*... and do some SEO too

41. THANK YOU
ALLISON FABELLA
@alli12
Digital Audience Development Manager
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
afabella@ajc.com