Keith Goode's discussion of SEO strategy in the changing landscape of SEO. His discussion covers his predictions for the future of SEO, how to prepare your team for that future, and how to build a strategy from the ground up. #pubcon #pubcon155

1. Prophets of Shaky Ground
Future-proofing Your Organization and Search Strategy in an EverEvolving Landscape
Presented by:
Keith L. Goode
SEO Technology Lead, Dell
#Pubcon #Pubcon155
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

2. About Me
Keith L. Goode
Position: SEO Technology Lead
Company: Dell
Experience:
• 15+ years in online
• Formerly with:
– Sparefoot, Director of SEO
– Builders Digital Experience,
SEM Manager
– HomeAway, SEO Team Lead
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

3. Prior Presentations
www.slideshare.net/AustinOtaku
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
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4. My Goals for this Discussion
• Prognostication: What is the
future of in-house SEO
teams?
• Preparation: How do you get
ahead of the curve?
• Prescription: What are the
best techniques for
developing a strategy?
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

5. My Goals for this Discussion
Protection: 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: Be kind, and remember that:
Keith
Is
Not
Dell
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
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6. Goal #1:
PROGNOSTICATION
@keithgoode
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7. Prognostication
My Common Thread:
The Democratization of SEO
• Traditional SEO Orgs
represent cloistered
knowledge and activities
serving the company
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

8. Prognostication
My Common Thread:
The Democratization of SEO
• Traditional SEO Orgs
represent cloistered
knowledge and activities
serving the company
• Companies will become
“SEO-Conscious
Organizations,” replacing
many operational SEO roles
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

9. Prognostication
Ye Olde Search Team Structure
SVP, Marketin
g
Business
Intelligence
Search Guru
Director of
Search
SEO Manager
Paid Search
Manager
Social Media
Manager
SEO Analyst
PPC Analyst
Social Media
Analyst
SEO Analyst
PPC Analyst
Social Media
Analyst
SEO Analyst
PPC Analyst
Social Media
Analyst
Courtesy: Paul Bruemmer “Building an Enterprise-Level Search Marketing Team” Part 1 and Part 2.
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

10. Prognostication
Search Moves from a Cloistered Group to an Embedded Function
Marketing
Director
IT /
Development
Business
Intelligence
SEO Guru
Development
Manager
Business
Intelligence
Architecture
Manager
Social Media
Guru
Design
Manager
Product
Marketer
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
Services
Marketer
SEO Guru
Solutions
Marketer
Paid Search
Manager
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

11. Prognostication
Why do I think this will happen?
• Proactive Link Building is history.
• Writing SEO copy is history.
• Keyword data in analytics is history.
• Inauthentic social promotion could be next.
Conversely, the following have increased in importance:
• Site speed and performance
• Mobile readiness
• Local optimization (geo-targeting, etc.)
• User interaction with your site (social promotion, search relevance,
UGC, etc.)
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

12. Prognostication
Good site architecture, coding, design and usability are not
distinct from SEO-recommended best practices. As organizations
begin to see them as synonymous, architects, designers,
developers and content writers will become SEO practitioners,
and SEO practitioners will become guides, responsible for ongoing
assessment and instruction.
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

13. Goal #2:
PREPARATION
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
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14. Preparation
Training for Your Company
• SEO becomes Educator
• Develop your training
approach
– Full curriculum (Med-Lg)
– Lunch & Learns (Sm-Med)
– Individual sessions
• Customize your training
– Development Track
– Content Track
– Social Track
Watch my interview with SEOInhouse.com’s Jessica Bowman at
https://www.youtube.com/user/SEOinhousevideo/videos
*See my previous Slideshares for more information
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

15. Preparation
Transforming Your Team
• From Operational to
Functional
• From Cloistered Knowledge
to the Dissemination of
Knowledge
• From Passive Reporting to
Active Monitoring and
Testing
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

16. Preparation
Inspiring Curiosity and
Creativity
• Your team should be:
–
–
–
Reviewing blogs daily
Looking at site ranking and
analytics
Asking why things happen
• Your team should not be:
–
–
–
Waiting for instructions from
you.
Lacking in curiosity
If they’re any of these, fire
them! They’re dead weight.
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

17. Preparation
Embedding Your Assets
• Insert your SEOs into:
–
–
–
–
–
Core Development Teams
Scrum Sessions
Major Project Teams
User Acceptance Testing
Roadmap Planning Teams
• Require SEO Sign-off on site
changes
• Codify Site-wide Guidelines
and Standards and Update
Them Often
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

18. Goal #3:
PRESCRIPTION
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
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19. Prescription
Requisite Questions for Building a Strategy:
• What is my goal?
– This quarter?
– The next 6 months?
– This fiscal year?
•
•
•
•
•
Where am I now in relation to those goals?
How will I measure my progress?
What can I control?
What things outside of my control will affect my progress?
What small, digestible mini-goals will lead me to my goal?
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

20. Prescription
Requisite Kick-off Activities:
• Site Audit
– Architecture (Internal link
equity)
– Coding (Geo-targeting,
semantic markup, clean
code, The Basics)
– Content (Evergreen vs.
Fresh, UGC)
– Sitemaps and Robots
– Inbound Link Assessment
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

21. Prescription
Requisite Kick-off Activities:
• Establish your baseline
Analytics
• Fetch your baseline keyword
ranking data
• Do a competitive analysis to
see what your competitors
are doing right
• Look for low-hanging
fruit/quick wins
–
This legitimizes your efforts
quickly and gives you ammo for
additional efforts
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

22. Prescription
My Toolkit:
• seoClarity
• Omniture
• GWT & BWT
• Moz Pro Dashboard
• MajesticSEO
• Open Site Explorer
• Screaming Frog
• Excel
• Notepad++
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

23. Prescription
Setting Expectations
• Incorporate technical fixes
into IT Roadmap
• Modify your goals for the
scenarios in which:
– All of your IT Requests are
fulfilled
– Some of your IT Requests
are fulfilled
– None of your IT Requests
are fulfilled
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

24. Prescription
Recruiting your SME’s
• If content is king, awesome
content is king-ier
• Engage your SMEs to write
about their area of
expertise
– Example: Google’s
Developers Blog or its
Webmaster Help videos
• Incorporate incentives for
participation and social
promotion
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

25. Prescription
Rinse and Repeat
• Once you know what you
need to do, when you plan
on doing it, and who’s going
to help, set your quarterly
and annual goals
• Review your goals and
reassess your site and your
team regularly and update
appropriately
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

26. Conclusion
• SEO as an industry is evolving away from operational activities.
–
–
Evolve your team accordingly.
Modify your expectations (and those of your executives) accordingly.
• As SEO changes, the organizations that wish to participate online
need to develop “SEO Consciousness.”
–
–
–
Train your organization to understand SEO best practices.
Democratize SEO responsibilities where appropriate.
Embed your SEOs into site processes to monitor for areas of improvement.
• Your strategy should be a living document.
–
–
Nurture it with continuous site improvement and great content.
Update it as necessary to account for internal and external changes to the
search landscape.
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode

27. The End
THANK YOU!
@keithgoode
+KeithGoode
www.linkedin.com/in/keithlgoode