3 OTHER Things Your SEO Team Should Be Doing

With more businesses integrating SEO into their marketing teams (and with it increasingly becoming mainstream), SEO has moved beyond just keywords and links and it’s now, in fact, influencing all facets of marketing. It’s even creeping into other departments like IT.

While that opens the door for overlap, it also introduces full coverage and a better overall marketing program. And…just like SEO is influencing other departments, other departments should be influencing SEO.

I’ve talked previously about how the SEO team can use PR strategies to build links but there is much more that can be done to help a business be successful. Here are 3 other things your SEO can be doing right now:

1. Brand Monitoring

If you have a PR team, they are already doing this. But opportunities can be missed and with the SEO team already engaging in link building activities, they are likely signed up for alerts, tracking social mentions, visiting forums, and perhaps involved in places the PR team isn’t.

In this new age where the customer wants a response and they want it fast, having multiple people looking out for your brand isn’t a bad thing.

For many of our clients, we send over weekly brand mentions we find in forums, communities, and blogs. While these aren’t always high priority sites, responding to a question quickly or thanking a customer/potential customer for talking about your brand can go a long way toward establishing goodwill and overall business value.

Don’t have time to respond to comments? Ask your team to send you suggested responses or respond on your behalf. They already know your business and brand messaging, so by having them provide a response or simply respond for you, you can be freed up to focus on other priorities.

2. Conversion Optimization

Much of what the SEO team does is focused around content and on-page opportunities. This means they are consistently on your site, assessing your competitors’ sites, and in Analytics, so they likely know what works and what could be improved.

While the SEO team doesn’t need to be in charge of your testing program, they should contribute ideas and provide recommendations. This can include headings, calls to action, images, and forms.

One of the first things we do for clients is align their pages with the proper audience and keywords. This often means providing content edits or even new content recommendations. If we think it’s necessary, we’ll also provide CTA or usability recommendations geared toward making the visitor take an action.

We’ve also provided email recommendations, suggested A/B testing ideas, and implemented cart abandonment programs and call tracking solutions for clients. There’s no one right answer but there are a number of tactics that can be tested out.

Remember, the purpose of a good SEO program isn’t to drive traffic; it’s to drive sales. 

3. Project Management

When you are first starting an SEO program, you’re probably getting a ton thrown at you. From technical changes to keyword research to link opportunities and more, it can be overwhelming.

One aspect of the SEO’s job that’s often overlooked is the project management side. Your SEO team should be ensuring that everything is organized, each task is being assigned, scheduled and completed, and that there is no confusion about what’s happening. After all, no one wants to be given a list and just have to figure it out.

Tools like Basecamp and even Google Drive are perfect for this and can be shared with various members of the marketing team. Have something that your team uses internally? Set your SEO team up as a user so it’s all in one place.

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With marketing tasks and departments blurring, the role of the SEO is evolving. Think beyond just keywords, content, and links, and make sure your SEO team is being utilized to its fullest.