Enterprise SEO and the art of the pushback
July 8, 2008 – 9:01 am by Hugo GuzmanWhen you run your own site, life is good. There’s no argument or compromise. You simply implement what SEO elements you deem necessary.
When you work as an in-house SEO or render optimization services for a small company, it’s relatively easy to get your way in terms of implementation because you will rarely deal with individuals who are well-versed on either technical implementation or marketing/branding considerations. It’s not that such scenarios don’t occur - just that they are less likely and easier to overcome when dealing with small business SEO.
Unfortunately, when you’re delivering recommendations to stakeholders at medium to large companies, virtually every decision you make is met with antagonism of some sort. Worse still, at the Fortune 500 level, you’re facing a literal labyrinth of marketing, public relations, IT, and legal decision makers.
It’s enough to make some SEO practitioners simply hand over their recommendations (and their white flag) in disgust.
Sadly, many SEO shops have adopted an “if you can’t implement these recommendations, that’s your problem” mentality in response to this corporate climate of antagonism. Instead of pushing forward (or pushing back depending on how you look at it) they reconcile themselves by blaming the client for implementation issues.
This one issue is often what separates the elite from the also-rans.
So the next time one of your clients shoots down one of your recommendations, push back. You’ll be surprised at the mountains that can be moved by simply following up with solid business cases and value proposition.
And building some rapport with the development/implementation stakeholder doesn’t hurt either.
Mind you, when I say “push back” I’m not referring to a singular effort to get your way. I’m referring to a consistent and sustained follow-up with the client - in a respectful and professional manner of course- in which you continually point out the value of the specific recommendation you are trying to push through.
A good example of this was a big-name hospitality client that insisted on site-side implementation at the expense of link-building outreach. Over the course of months, and literally dozens of exchanges between my team and the client, we have gradually turned the tide and now have the client actively participating in the facilitation of link-building outreach with content owners in his business vertical.
Now some might read all of this and think to themselves, “there’s no way that I’m going to go head-to-head with my client in this manner. I want the client to like me.” Ironically enough, though, this very client that I’m referencing has actually grown to respect and appreciate our team even more as a result of our sustained pushback efforts. In the end, no matter how hard they battle, a client will appreciate a service provider that takes ownership over their recommendations and has a mind of their own. That’s what they’re paying for in the first place.
Still, this is just one example.
In my next post, I’ll chronicle a Fortune 500 client that went without implementing for months, until our team got their foot in the development stakeholder’s door, allowing for a literal flood of implementation.
10 Responses to “Enterprise SEO and the art of the pushback”
Very good perspective and points, Hugo. You are correct - enterprise level SEO is a whole-nother animal. At this level, I dont see myself as “an SEO” anymore. I am more of a relationship manager and project manager than anything! The skills your team has in client relationship management and ‘effective convincing’ will often dictate the success of the campaign over plain SEO knowledge.
Two of the biggest obstacles I’ve come across are when client implementation expectations are not in line with reality and when we only have direct contact with marketing people instead of creative and IT people and there is a distinct lack of communication.
Client Expectation Problems
- Marketing and IT are not aware or dont want to understand implementation requirements
- Other priorities arise that trump SEO efforts
- Corporate or management changes effect the prioritization of SEO efforts
- IT politics create a whirlwind of roadblocks to even the most minute changes
Poor Communication with Creative and IT
- Marketing people feel they should be the main liaison between the agency and other internal constituencies and they fail at it
- Marketing people do not want to relinquish any possible control to other departments due to political issues
- Marketing thinks that IT is solely responsible for SEO and the lack of internal communication inhibits any such efforts
Often times, almost all of these issues can be presented at once. The great point you made is what separates the legitimate players in the SEO industry versus those that will simply leave the onus of implementation on the client. By becoming a true partner to clients, you will ensure a long and successful relationship.
By Gennady on Jul 8, 2008
Thanks for the detailed feedback, Gennady! I think that you hit it right on the head, especially your point about Marketing stakeholders attempting to lead dev-related interaction.
By Hugo Guzman on Jul 8, 2008
A lot of inhouse SEO’s for small/medium sized businesses will also handle the online marketing themselves, but obviously they’ll still be problems with developers and other decision makers.
From my experience if you can start with the basic SEO stuff - fixing title tags and the like - you will get less pushback for other plans as your prior work will have shown instant and measurable results.
By jaybong on Jul 9, 2008
Great point, jaybong! We were just talking about that yesterday.
I’ll have to write a follow-up entitled “Enterprise SEO and the art of baby steps”
I’ll make sure to cite you!
By Hugo Guzman on Jul 9, 2008
It’s one thing to go head to head and it’s another to build client education and stakeholder empowerment into the overall enterprise SEO engagement.
Working with the client side contact to identify potential internal assets for the SEO cause that have influence should be in place from the start. Energizing those who “get it” with communication tools and reporting that makes them look good to superiors will do wonders right along with ongoing training.
Making logical arguments is no longer enough to get interdepartmental SEO efforts implemented. You have to combine the ability to associate SEO implementation for each stakeholder to how it will help them and the organization at large with the value created both personally and organizationally.
By Lee Odden on Jul 9, 2008
I find that the hardest part is not so much the push back, but the time it takes to actually get things implemented. It can become ridiculous at times.
By Brandon on Jul 9, 2008
Thanks for the feedback, Lee and Brandon!
Lee - I left you a detailed response over at Sphinn.com.
By Hugo Guzman on Jul 9, 2008
I think Jessica Bowman said it well, when she said (something like) “In-house SEO is 80% relationship building and 20% of actual SEO.” Truer words have never been spoken.
By Dan Perry on Jul 9, 2008
Absolutely. I learned that first-hand in my CBS Interactive days.
The ethic also applies to agency SEO, especially when you deal with Fortune 1000 companies that have multiple divisions, multiple stakeholders, multiple websites, and multiple disciplines (SEM, Dev, Email, etc…) that intersect with SEO.
By Hugo Guzman on Jul 9, 2008
It’s a good thing.
I think big companies have gotten too big for their britches. If they can’t compete with the little guys on SEO, that’ll knock ‘em down a notch!
By Cure Dream on Jul 9, 2008