Training and Enablement for Enterprises - Pubcon Pro 2023

Presented at the 2023 Pubcon Pro conference in Austin, Texas at the AT&T Conference Center by Keith Goode.

From being able to discover new opportunities and enact effective changes to a site to addressing older issues and dealing with new issues as they arise, the work of SEO is never complete. And it seems being able to hire a solid team that can handle those ambitious plans requires a large budget and often doesn't pan out due to a lack of candidates.

How can we overcome these challenge? Embedding SEO Awareness into the organization through training, enablement, and open office hours may increase your effectiveness without increasing your headcount.

In this session, Keith Goode covers how to identify problem areas and opportunities for training, how to align goals and get buy-in, and how to set a cadence for live training that will effectively increase the number of people in your organization being aware of SEO best practices.

Transcript

1. Creating SEO Awareness Using Live Sessions to Build a Larger Search Organization
2. Introduction
3. X: @keithgoode Mastodon: mastodon.social/@keithgoode Keith Goode • SEO Product Director for Dealer.com, Cox Automotive • Over 15 years In-House SEO • Vrbo • Dell • IBM • Cox Automotive Group • Various startups • Conference speaker • Podcast host/guest • Austin Otaku • Webcology • Search Engine Journal • … and many more • Certified Scrum Master • Featured in Majestic’s SEO for 2022
4. Dawn of the Internet Moved to ATL – Internet Startup Graduated University NewEra Co. Job First Layoff Second Layoff Learned more tech Third Layoff Holy crap! I know SEO! Moved to AUS Fourth Layoff HomeAway BDX SpareFoot Dell seoClarity NewEra Co. Job, Part 2 Started speaking at conferences Fifth Layoff IBM More speaking gigs SEJ Master Class My Journey in Search AMD CAPG First Patent Freelance Copyediting and Technical Writing Computerjobs.com
5. Presentation Disclaimer Opinions expressed herein are my own. No forward- looking statements regarding Cox Automotive, Dealer.com or any subsidiary of Cox Enterprises have been included. None of Cox’s data, revenue, or secret sauce have been revealed. Statements made in this presentation have not been tested by the FDA. Use at your own discretion.
6. My Goals for this Session • Identifying opportunities for training for consistent problem areas • Selling and setting cadence for live training and open office hours • Establishing SEO Awareness as a first line of defense
7. When you have no budget to do so, the greatest way to build an SEO team is to create interdepartmental allies and build SEO Awareness into your organization with training, open office hours, and regular updates
8. Identify Your Consistent Problem Areas Where Is Training Most Desperately Needed?
9. Technical Issues Changes to the site are released without SEO involvement These may show up after the fact as blips in: • Crawl reports • Changes and Errors in GSC • Inexplicable changes in traffic and conversions
10. Content Issues Content is released without intent analysis, optimizations, or keyword focus These issues may show up as • An increase in pages being crawled but not indexed (Quality issues)* • An increase in pages receiving little to no traffic • An increase in traffic but a drop in conversions Search Off the Record: The effect of quality on Search: https://youtu.be/6JdbDdjnbkg
11. X: @keithgoode Mastodon: mastodon.social/@keithgoode PR and Linking Issues • Promotions, press releases, and announcements are released with generic links to the homepage • These represent lost opportunities to get legitimate links to the most valuable pages
12. Selling and Setting Cadence for Enablement Live Training and Open Office Hours
13. Sell the Need by Aligning Goals • With the right executive backing, you COULD force training on other departments • OR, you could align your objectives to their goals • Alignment with best practices and standards • Mutually beneficial revenue goals • More traffic and conversions • A rising tide lifts all boats
14. Establishing SEO Awareness The First Line of Defense
15. Open Office Hours • Regular Cadence (Monthly) • Invite the teams who you know have had questions in the past • In the absence of questions, bring news and updates • These can be discipline-specific or open to anyone
16. Live Training Sessions • Discipline Specific • Technical • Content • PR • Prepare with pertinent real-world issues you’ve seen • Let your audience edify your training • Cadence • Technical (Annually or Semi- annually) • Content (Quarterly or Monthly) • SEO (Monthly) • PR (Quarterly)
17. Building Your Front Line Increase the Number of People Avoiding Potential SEO Pitfalls
18. The Goal of Enablement and Training • We’re not looking to convert people to SEOs (Although some people may want to switch disciplines after being trained.) • The goal is to expand the company’s SEO Awareness so that: • In the beginning, people may simply ask, “Could this affect SEO?” And then reach out to you to forewarn you • As time goes on, people will know what to do and what not to do
19. Key Takeaways
20. X: @keithgoode Mastodon: mastodon.social/@keithgoode Recap: Demystifying SEO with Enablement • Identify consistent problem areas and teams that need some help • Sell and set cadence for training and open office hours that work for each team’s needs • Reduce your own headaches by increasing vigilance across the company
21. Thank you! Keith Goode