The Challenge Of Enterprise SEO

Responsibility For Search Performance Belongs In-House

Optimizing the search performance of very large systems requires knowledge and skill sets far more robust than the services provided by most seo agencies. A large portion of that knowledge is often unique to the enterprise's competitive edge. So it's logical that for the protection of proprietary information, continuity, plus the need for accountability, large businesses would prefer to keep the primary responsibility in-house.

Consultants Belong On The Team

But the most robust expertise lies with professionals who are exposed on a daily basis to the kinds of problems and solutions that impact many diverse players. This knowledge and experience are the credentials of competent professionals, and it is essential for large organizations to gain access to this information through consultancy. In addition to improving overall performance, proprietary expertise should be used to discover & mitigate issues, lower advertising costs, pre-empt future problems, evaluate competitors, keep up with compliance changes, etc.

Achieve A Working Balance Between In-House & Consultant Expertise

It's obvious that the enterprise is served best with the strongest possible in-house search manager supported by the most robust consultants. But basic seo is not rocket science and there's lots of valuable information online, so it's not uncommon to find a marketing exec who oversees both paid and organic search. Because natural search ranks and successful text ad strategies rely on common elements, like semantics and engagement, oversight by one manager makes sense, especially if there are resources available for outside support.

The other common models: the seo department is either a stand-alone unit, or a team within marketing. For some, including information sites, search responsibility is considered a pr matter. Because many optimization approaches require code solutions, there are also seo units inside development teams. Achieving success in the search requires a manager who can bring all these diverse players, including consultants, together.

Enterprise Level Responsibilities

Beyond the obvious responsibility for overall search performance, the enterprise search professional should be engaged to mitigate risks and act preemptively to address discoverable vulnerabilities. For example, if the site is suspected of being under a negative seo attack, or if it recently recovered from an unnatural links penalty, a monthly link audit is in order until no link growth is detected.

The requirements for search performance are constantly evolving. Post Panda 4, businesses are required to pay attention to new standards. Even though most of these new standards make for better sites, many businesses have not updated their sites in years. This in combination with the fact that large systems rely on automation, can create huge vulnerabilities amplified by the automation. If the site is generating content using simple templates - something many sites used to do to gain a geo advantage - it's very likely that this implementation needs to be revised. Google is able to detect auto generated content unless the number of variables used is increased significantly. But it is likely more valuable to go with content that is 100% original, created by a human.

Periodic audits of large implementations prevent small issues from becoming unmanageable. Enterprise seos know that websites are complicated, organic entities that require constant attention - effective management attempts to anticipate issues. Complacency forces management into a reactive stance where it can be easily overwhelmed by changing events. Because when large systems fail, they can fail big.

So in addition to addressing the search issues currently facing the enterprise, search professionals need to be anticipating future changes to best practices. The fact that Google tightens the compliance requirements with each successive update is a clue as to what's coming. So expect more ramp ups coming from Panda, Penguin and other yet unnamed edicts thrown down by Google, forcing us to comply with its vision of the internet as it moves away from the idealistic relevancy-is-everything model and toward better packaging. It's very clear that content is now only king if it engages. Our challenge is to anticipate updates to the quality/engagement guidelines and make those improvements now.