Scaling SEO Within an Agency

Copyright © 2013 PM Digital.
All rights reserved. This information is deemed PROPRIETARY
and CONFIDENTIAL by PM Digital. Unauthorized use or disclosure is prohibited. 1
SCALING SEO WITHIN AN AGENCY
BY RICHARD CHAVEZ, VICE PRESIDENT OF SEO
SEPTEMBER 26, 2013

2
and CONFIDENTIAL by PM Digital. Unauthorized use or disclosure is prohibited.
Creating a SEO practice in an already 20-year established agency was the
biggest challenge of my career. Creating a practice that is competitive,
profitable and scalable is the holy-grail. With limited resources this took a lot of
planning, trial-and-error, time and patience.
 About PM Digital
 About Me
 Creating a SEO Practice in an Established Agency
• Benefit to the Agency
• Challenges
 Journey to Success
• Understanding Strengths and Weaknesses
• Initial Success and More Investment
• More Success / Greater Recognition / Integration / Further Advancement
• Continuum of Development and Improvement
 Case Studies
OVERVIEW

3
ABOUT PM DIGITAL
 Digital Agency servicing clients in
retail, financial services, non-profit, CPG
and more
 Primary service offerings:
SEO, SEM, Display, Email
Marketing, Social Media and Creative
 Clients include The North
Face, Kirkland’s, Steve Madden, Burt’s
Bees, Cricket Wireless and many more
 8 clients in the Internet Retailer Top 100
 Based in New York with offices in
Scottsdale, AZ, Minneapolis, San
Francisco and Columbia, SC

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ABOUT ME
 Vice President of SEO at PM Digital
 14 years of SEO experience (client side
and agency side)
 Cloaking to Today’s Best Practices
 World Traveler
 Visited over 20 countries and speak
four languages
 Rockin’ Guitar Player 
 Shared the stage with Kenny Wayne
Shepherd, Robin Trower, Big Head
Todd and Blackberry Smoke
 I’m also the “nerd” that wrote the
very first SEO rock song
“Bot, Bot, Bot Let Me Show You
What I Got” in 2006

5
Creating a SEO
Practice in an
Established Agency

6
 SEO can be a very valuable revenue stream for
agencies and enables them to deepen client
relationships
 SEO on average drives 30% of total client site
traffic1
 Investment in SEO continues to grow and at a
faster pace than SEM and other channels
 With 85% of Search Engine Result Page
(SERP) real estate allocated for natural search2,
SEO is a very powerful channel that cannot be
ignored
BENEFIT TO THE AGENCY
1. Avg. SEO contribution to total site traffic, PM Digital Study
2. Comscore

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CHALLENGES
Sounds like a “no-brainer” – right? Wrong!
 Agency and a lot of SEO talent was in NY
 I was in Scottsdale, AZ
 This significant and new investment
brought-on a lot of pressure to show ROI
and prove the model for the agency
 Other divisions (ex. SEM) had established
client budgets, resources and trust
 I inherited a mess of dated deliverables
(SEO products) and few resources (one
employee and free SEO tools)
 These limitations took a lot of planning, trial-
and-error, time and patience to persevere

8
Journey to Success

9
JOURNEY TO SUCCESS
How PM Digital grew a thriving SEO practice and more importantly, the steps
taken to financially sustainability and scalability.
Understanding
Strengths &
Weaknesses
Initial Success
& More
Investment
More Success /
Greater
Recognition /
Integration /
Further
Advancement
Continuum of
Development &
Improvement

10
Understanding Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
• Enthusiastic team
• Current staff adapted quickly to new direction
• Support from Sr. management
• New product & pricing
• Created products based on real client need and competitor
weaknesses
• Overhauled several SEO products (tech, optimization, reporting, link
building, etc.) to add greater value
• Developed retainer model (very common with client renewals – sign of
client trust)
Understanding
Strengths &
Weaknesses
Initial Success &
More Investment
More Success /
Greater
Recognition /
Integration / Further
Advancement
Continuum of
Development &
Improvement

11
Understanding Strengths and Weaknesses
Weaknesses
• Created all client strategy, new bus pitches
• Executed and presented all advanced deliverables
• Used free tools and excel for all reporting
• 40 hrs./month minimum on reporting
• Silos within the agency
In the Weeds
Understanding
Strengths &
Weaknesses
Initial Success &
More Investment
More Success /
Greater
Recognition /
Advancement
Continuum of
Development &
Improvement

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INITIAL SUCCESS & MORE INVESTMENT
 Hired experienced Biz Dev Support
 Won new accounts and grew existing accounts
• Thorough client review during pitch and renewal with biz dev
 Recruited experienced talent, some from out of geo area
• Hired a manager to handle day-to-day activities
• Developed team structure and career path
 Invested in team training and education programs (SEMPO, team training[
account management, innovation/knowledge transfer])
• Team’s overall SEO expertise grew
– Promoted strong performers
• Requiring less of my time on client work
Analyst
Strategist
Sr.
Strategist
Manager
Director
Understanding
Strengths &
Weaknesses
Initial Success &
More Investment
More Success /
Greater
Recognition /
Integration /
Further
Advancement
Continuum of
Development &
Improvement

13
 Invested in SEO analytics/reporting
technology (SEO Clarity)
• 400% increase in productivity with
reporting/analytics
• Agency partner contributing to product
roadmap to fit agency model
– Automated SEO reporting
 Time is spent on analysis and
insights vs. producing charts
– Client dashboards
– Blended reporting: partner with SEM
(secured increase in client SEM spend)
 Shared success upstream (sr. mgmt.)
 Moved to bigger office
• Now in third office space due to constant
growth
Understanding
Strengths &
Weaknesses
Initial Success &
More Investment
More Success /
Greater
Recognition /
Integration /
Further
Advancement
Continuum of
Development &
Improvement

14
Understanding
Strengths &
Weaknesses
Initial Success &
More Investment
More Success /
Greater
Recognition /
Integration /
Further
Advancement
Continuum of
Development &
Improvement
SEO’s Contribution
to Total Site
Performance
Automated SEO KPI
Reporting
Automated SEO /
SEM Blended
Reporting

15
MORE SUCCESS / GREATER RECOGNITION /
INTEGRATION / FURTHER ADVANCEMENT
 Won several new accounts and grew/retained existing accounts
• Agency/SEO became competitive with bigger agencies
– Won several RFPs against competitors
 Developed New / Advanced SEO Products and Client Strategy
• Local SEO
• Search Behavior Research
– Search Informed Strategies
 Taxonomy
 Content marketing
– SEO/SEM/Social Collaboration & Action Items
• Cross-Channel Reporting (greater collaboration)
– SEO / SEM (ecommerce and lead-gen)
– SEO / PLA
• SEO as a Multi-Channel Hub
– In-market campaigns influence online behavior (top down)
– Search-Informed Strategy
 Growth & Success is recognized throughout the agency
Understanding
Strengths &
Weaknesses
Initial Success
& More
Investment
More Success /
Greater
Recognition /
Integration /
Further
Advancement
Continuum of
Development &
Improvement

16
Understanding
Strengths &
Weaknesses
Initial Success
& More
Investment
More Success /
Greater
Recognition /
Integration /
Further
Advancement
Continuum of
Development &
Improvement
Blue = thermoball
Red = better than naked
Source: Growth in search demand, Google Insights

17
 Continued team investment
 Acquired competing agency
• Integrated SEO team and accounts
• Increased staff in NY and AZ
• Continued to promote strong performers (AZ and NY)
 Launched Account Management Team
• Reduces communication issues from previous silos
• Enables SEO team to focus on SEO work (fewer hats)
– Team focuses on core competencies
 Continued investment with SEO Clarity
• More advanced SEO reporting and client insights
– Term Not Provided
– Share of Voice Rankings
– Forecasting Model
– Industry Performance Benchmarks (retail)
– Data analysis for industry insights
• Advance SEO products and selling capabilities
– Local, Schema
Understanding
Strengths &
Weaknesses
Initial Success
& More
Investment
More Success /
Greater
Recognition /
Integration /
Further
Advancement
Continuum of
Development &
Improvement

18
Understanding
Strengths &
Weaknesses
Initial Success
& More
Investment
More Success /
Greater
Recognition /
Integration /
Further
Advancement
Continuum of
Development &
Improvement
1. % of natural search traffic by page one rank (top PMD client trafficked sites, June 2013)

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CONTINUUM OF DEVELOPMENT & IMPROVEMENT
 Reporting and analytics continue to evolve
• Based on current and future client needs
• Based on perpetual changes in SEO
• Continued efficiencies (increased productivity)
– Site clarity
– Share of Voice
– Integration of 3rd party data (GWT, Majestic,
Moz)
 Requires team to use fewer tools
 SEO product offering continues to expand and
evolve
• Innovation of current products with regular
review (reality check)
• Develop new products, business intelligence
and thought leadership
Understanding
Strengths &
Weaknesses
Initial Success &
More Investment
More Success /
Greater
Recognition /
Integration /
Further
Advancement
Continuum of
Development &
Improvement

20
CONTINUUM OF DEVELOPMENT & IMPROVEMENT
 Business model and processes are evangelized throughout the agency
• Measured growth, profitability, workflow
• Established hiring model
• Process is integrated/replicated in other channels
• SEO is now the fastest growing division within PM Digital
• PM Digital is now becoming a SEO employment destination
– Growth path is readily available for strong performers
 Over 2/3 of SEO team has been promoted in less than three years
Understanding
Strengths &
Weaknesses
Initial Success & More
Investment
More Success /
Greater Recognition /
Advancement
Continuum of
Development &
Improvement

21
KEY TAKEAWAYS
 Share successes when they occur
 Reinvest success early-on to create greater efficiencies for the future:
• Staff
• Technology
 Recognize and reward team contribution
• Success alone is not sustainable
 Partner with other channels and make them aware of the benefit to
them (WIIFM)
• Helps reduce silos
• Deepens client relationships
• Access to valuable data
 Be humble
• There is always something to learn

22
CASE STUDY
Challenge:
 A PM Digital Search Behavior Study of non-branded western wear revealed
that the SEM campaign only had coverage for 2% of the terms analyzed in
the study
 With little SEM support, the SEO performance of these terms was low even
though rankings were strong
 Client competitors received a lot of traffic from these terms
Solution:
 New SEM non-brand campaigns and increased spend (yearly budget was
already sealed, but client did approve additional spend)
Results:
 The increased coverage and spend led to a 25% increase in competitive
SEM clicks in Q4 2012

23
CASE STUDY
Challenge:
 Bedding retailer carried multiple brands and had
strong sales and rankings for the brands at the carried
 While the SEO success was strong, it was limited to
top and bottom levels of the sales funnel
 Blended SEO/SEM data showed strong SEM traffic
and high consumer search demand, but low
conversions for mid-tier searches (sub-category /
brand + product type), content did not exist
Solution:
 PM Digital created sub-category pages at the
Narrowing Stage for three top-selling brands
• Pages went live in early October 2012
Results:
 SEO orders increase: Q4 YOY: 32%
 SEO revenue increase: Q4 YOY: 27%
General Interest
(bedding)
Investigational
(brand + bedding)
Narrowing
(brand +
product
type (fitted
sheet)
Conversion
(brand +
product
name

24
THANK YOU!
Richard Chavez
Vice President, SEO
PM Digital
212-851-8681
rchavez@pmdigital.com
www.pmdigital.com
Blog: http://blog.pmdigital.com/
Twitter:
 @PMDigital
 @richardachavez

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