Many years ago, I interviewed the director's role in managing paid search marketing for agencies. During the interview, the recruitment manager noticed that my experience with SEO was stronger than my paid search experience. I was handed over to meet the CEO of the company. The CEO's most pressing question was, "How do you get your clients to work?" My answer: "Find a champion in your organization." The question and my answer ring in my head every day. When working with (and for) a company, it's important to find out what SEO is and (or a few) people who spark the value that SEO brings to the company.
SEO champions come in many forms and ghost mannequin effect service needs, such as agency support champions, stakeholder champions, or someone on another team who knows enough SEO to be at risk. One of the keys to enterprise SEO success is identifying and working with champions. advertisement Continue reading below Agency SEO Champion The biggest problem the agency has is to complete the work recommended by the client. A lot of time and money is spent on the weeks of writing reports and the tools needed to analyze the site and identify client opportunities. Too common scenario: An agency is hired. SEO audit is complete. Recommendations are made. Nothing is done. Agencies have been accused of not improving SEO. If you are an in-house SEO of a company or an agency working for a company's clients, you have experienced this many times.
Agencies almost expect client engagement to be limited to months or years. They know the signs that the contract is about to be canceled, as described in Clark Boyd's article "Why Clients Dismiss SEO Agencies (and Easy Ways to Avoid them)". I'm preparing. advertisement Continue reading below However, it doesn't have to be. While Clark talks about communication, number reporting, and being proactive, he missed the part about finding your champion within the organization. In my article, Partnering with an Enterprise SEO Agency: What You Need to Know, I'll show you the best partnerships with an agency and how to become its enterprise SEO champion. “The key to managing a company's SEO agency is to maintain a level of communication. It provides the tools and access you need to succeed and helps you get the job done.