How To Accelerate Your SEO Career via @sejournal, @Kevin_Indig

Advancing your in-house SEO career can be incredibly lucrative and fulfilling. But most advice is theoretical, too high-level, and comes from people who haven’t done it.

I had the good fortune of a very fruitful in-house career, leading large organizations at companies like Atlassian, G2, or Shopify.

Over the recent years, I have had the honor of helping companies like Ramp, Hims, Nextdoor, and many others hire top-tier talent and design effective teams.

But my experience is subjective, so I asked four of the most accomplished SEO pros in the world to share their insights as well (you can find their full answers at the end of the Memo):

Image Credit: Kevin Indig

Thank you so much for sharing your valuable insights!

The 5 Core Competencies Of SEO

SEO professionals need five core competencies to succeed in the long-term, that I broke down into three skills each.

I created the framework based on John’s, Malte’s, Jordan’s, Tom’s, and my own experience.  Each skill is critical. You cannot just be strong in four. You need to be strong in all of them to succeed in the long term.

Image Credit: Kevin Indig

Skill 1: Communication

Communication is made up of alignment, collaboration, and outward communication.

1. Creating internal alignment means helping everyone understand what matters in SEO to get buy in, but also contemplate what’s happening in a crisis. For example, when an algorithm update hits your site.
2. Since SEO is a recommended discipline, it’s critical to collaborate effectively with supporting teams like engineering, design, content, etc., and adjacent teams like legal or procurement.
3. Outward communication, the way you present yourself and the company at events or on social media, matters it comes to hiring new talent and raising your company’s reputation.

Skill 2: Learning

Learning  breaks down into adaptability, experience, and filtering information.

1. Adaptability is important because Google’s algorithms and design change a lot. Just think about the shift we’re going through with AI search right now. So, you need to be able to shift gears, leave old mental models behind, and develop new ones. You can learn about SEO, but doing it is a different kind of beast. To learn, you can have one or more side projects to tinker with or analyze and reverse engineer other sites.
2. It’s also important to at least know the basics of other disciplines because they all impact SEO: copywriting, positioning and messaging, conversion optimization, design, web development, and product development.
3. Lastly, get good at filtering information. What do you read? How do you learn from experiments, and how well are you connected to the industry so you can learn from peers?

Skill 3: Business Savviness

Business savviness breaks down into planning, focus, and execution.

1. Planning is a crucial skill for almost anything in life. You need to be good at setting goals, priorities, timings, and responsibilities. Planning also includes knowing what resources you need and pitching for them. Also, develop proficiency in forecasting and projecting impact.
2. Focus is the skill of working on the most important projects while tuning out the noise. It’s measuring the right data to know whether you’re successful and to report upwards and sideways.
3. Good execution is really hard. In my experience, it comes down to good project management but also understanding how your business and industry work.

Technicality doesn’t mean technical SEO but the skills of automation, data analysis, and a general technical understanding.

1. Automation is about doing work more efficiently while controlling for dependencies and liabilities. This skill is rapidly becoming more important as AI gets better. It used to be about proficiency with Excel, Google Sheets, SQL, web analytics, etc. But in the future, a lot of it will come down to prompt engineering and workflow automation.
2. Data analysis is the skill of getting and analyzing data, i.e., knowing which data to look at and how to interpret it well.
3. A good technical understanding comes down to learning how Google works but also being “technical” enough to talk to engineers and product managers. For example, you want to learn what tech stack your company’s site and application is built on, how the engineering team works, etc.

Leadership is the result of advocacy, hiring, and relationship building. To be clear, you should develop leadership qualities, whether you have management responsibility or not.

1. Advocacy means representing SEO where it matters. It demands you to proactively find out where conversations happen that impact SEO and how to influence them.
2. Good hiring skills come down to whether you have a high bar and if you can bring in good talent. Who do you know, and how do you evaluate them for the job?
3. Relationship building is critical for rapport with your manager and peers. You need allies and “friends” to lean on and learn from. Part of this is getting good at coaching others and finding a good coach.

The five core competencies offer you a helpful overview of what you need to develop. But without understanding how to apply them, they’re only half as useful.

General Vs. Specific Skills

Everybody needs to be proficient in the five core competencies, but you need to adjust the emphasis of your skills based on the industry and business model of the company you work for.

I have three tips for you:

1. Learn more about technical SEO and product development when you work on larger sites, usually in B2C. Get better at demand generation and content marketing for smaller sites, usually in B2B. The reason is that you want to align your skills with the biggest growth levers of the business.
2. Develop expertise in SERP Features that matter for your industry. For example:
   • News: top stories.
   • Ecommerce: product grids.
   • SaaS: video carousels.
   • SMB: Map Packs.
3. Tailor your skills to the size and maturity of a company. For example, in startups it’s more important to execute fast while you need to invest more time into creating alignment at large enterprises.

Hard Vs. Soft Skills

Hard skills are not as important as soft skills in SEO because you need to constantly adapt to Google changes and learn new hard skills as tech and consumer behavior evolve.

I recommend writing down and refining your mental model about how Google works and what drives success.

Forcing yourself to explain and think about why things are the way they are allows you to truly refine your approach to SEO.

You need to balance two things at the same time: being confident in your approach but open to new insights. Jeff Bezos: “Strong opinions, loosely held.”

Career Planning

This is hard, but most people never think about where they want to be and what it takes to get there.

But without focus, it’s easy to dabble in too many areas and waste time. What are you optimizing for?

Think about your endgame and what you need to get there. Remember, you can always change your goal. But have one.

I love Ray Dalio’s five-step framework for endgame planning ¹:

1. Have clear goals.
2. Identify and don’t tolerate the problems that stand in the way of your achieving those goals.
3. Accurately diagnose the problems to get at their root causes.
4. Design plans that will get you around them.
5. Do what’s necessary to push these designs through to results.

I want to finish by leaving you with some top-notch resources you can use to keep developing yourself.

1. Malte suggests Learning SEO by Aleyda Solis,  probably the most comprehensive repository of SEO learning material.

2. Jordan recommends three books:

3. Tom suggests the SEO MBA, especially the SEO maturity matrix, and the Lethain article, A forty-year career.

4. John mentions Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO, WIX SEO Guide, Semrush Academy, Ahrefs Academy, Harvard Business Review Case Studies, and two books:

1. “Leaders Eat Last” by Simon Sinek.
2. “Lost and Founder” by Rand Fishkin.

Full Answers

I present to you the raw inputs I got from John, Tom, Jordan, and Malte:

What core skills and knowledge areas are essential for success in SEO today, and how do you recommend developing them?

Jordan Silton: If I were recreating my personal career path, I would emphasize technical expertise, data analysis, communication skills, and business acumen.

However, SEO roles today are so varied across different business types, industries, and strategies that a multitude of skills are valuable and relevant.

Malte Landwehr: I think SEO has become so diverse that there is no longer one set of skills.

A technical SEO needs very different skills from a content-marketing-focused SEO. A director of SEO needs very different skills from a principal SEO consultant. The SEO work for a B2B SaaS looks totally different from the SEO work for a marketplace or aggregator. News SEO is completely different from ecommerce SEO.

If I had to pick the traits that helped me the most, I would say:

• The ability to simultaneously hold multiple, contradicting frameworks and mental models in your head. Two SEOs might tell you two completely different models, how they implement SEO. Both might be wrong – but you might still learn something from both approaches.
• Embrace uncertainty. When reverse engineering the Google algorithm, there are many unknowns. You need to get comfortable with that.
• ELI5 & ELIPhD. You need to be able to explain SEO to everyone. During your career, you might talk to a CEO, CFO, CMO, CTO, CPO, Head of Web Product, Product Manager, Content Editor, Software Developer, Analyst, and many other roles. Each of these people needs different information. And to convince them, you need to tell different stories. You must develop the ability to talk to each of them.

John Shehata: Today’s SEO landscape has evolved from a generalist approach to a more specialized one. We now see technical SEOs, content SEOs, commerce SEOs, and many more.

The most critical skill right now is adaptability. Google’s algorithms are becoming more sophisticated, advanced, and complex, requiring SEOs to maneuver through frequent changes and quickly pivot strategies when necessary.

Developing this skill involves staying informed through industry updates, engaging with the community, and experimenting to see what works in real time.

Equally important is the ability to think with a business mindset. Historically, SEOs have been focused heavily on driving traffic, but generating traffic for traffic’s sake is no longer enough.

SEOs today need to align their strategies with business goals and revenue streams, focusing on attracting the right audience that converts rather than casting the widest net possible. This shift requires optimizing content not just to attract visitors but to support key business objectives.

Additionally, leveraging AI is essential – not just for automating tasks but for enhancing your analysis and decision-making.

AI can streamline workflows, handle complex data analysis, and support content optimization, allowing SEOs to focus on strategic tasks.

To build these skills, SEOs should learn about AI tools, experiment with them, and stay updated on new developments.

However, none of these skills will be fully effective without strong communication abilities. Being able to translate complex SEO insights into clear, actionable recommendations for non-technical stakeholders is invaluable.

This involves bridging the gap between technical teams and business units, ensuring that all departments are aligned and moving toward shared objectives.

Lastly, data analytics is a foundational skill that ties everything together. A deep understanding of data helps uncover hidden opportunities and supports informed, strategic decisions.

Mastery of tools like Google Analytics, BigQuery, and Looker Studio will allow SEOs to extract meaningful insights that can shape strategies, validate recommendations, and ultimately drive better business outcomes.

Tom Critchlow: This will be no surprise to those who know me, but business skills are critical.

The ability to first understand the full revenue profile and mechanics of the companies you work with, and then being able to communicate confidently, credibly, and clearly.

SEO is more than ever a cross-functional activity and so what we consider “soft skills” are actually critical to be able to convince teams, stakeholders, clients and organizations to invest appropriately in SEO.

Of course, you need some knowledge of SEO too! I think the ideal career experience is a role that allows you to invest in your technical and analytical SEO skills while getting a front-row seat to the wider business context and communication.

What pivotal experiences contributed most to your professional growth?

Jordan Silton: I’ve been fortunate to keep learning different roles, and each shift into a new context accelerated my growth.

Starting in paid search/SEM taught me to monitor KPIs, optimize for ROI, and use an experimental approach to improvement.

Evolving a reporting team into a data science and experimentation team expanded my understanding of how teams and metrics connect across the entire business.

Becoming a product leader was transformational in teaching me how to build consensus and influence to move a business forward.

Malte Landwehr: For me personally, it was a combination of three things:

• I started tinkering with websites in my early teen year. I did everything on my own, from repairing corrupted SQL databases, to editing .htaccess files, creating content, attracting visitors, and former partnerships for monetization. This allowed me to understand the full picture of running a website.
• I studied Computer Science with a focus on graph algorithms, web scraping, machine learning, information retrieval, and NLP. This allowed me to form a deep understanding of Google’s algorithms and patents.
• I worked in Management Consulting. One thing I oversaw was making sure our PowerPoint slides can be read on a BlackBerry in the backseat of a car. This gave me the skills to talk to the C-level and craft proper proposals.

John Shehata: My career growth has been shaped by a diverse range of experiences.

Coming from a technical background as a software engineer and transitioning to marketing has given me a strong foundation.

One key moment was learning to translate complex SEO concepts into a language that editorial, PR, and marketing teams could understand, which helped bridge the gap between SEO needs and business objectives.

Another pivotal decision early in my career was to become a well-rounded marketer instead of specializing only in SEO.

I gained expertise in social media when platforms like Twitter and Facebook were in their infancy, built one of the first social media teams for a major news publisher, and developed a deep understanding of newsletters and partnerships. This diverse experience allowed me to eventually lead global audience development strategies for large organizations.

Managing cross-functional teams was another formative experience.

Working closely with development and engineering teams taught me to speak their language, advocate for SEO needs, and propose technical solutions that accelerated our initiatives.

While working with Editorial teams taught me how to respect the craft and appreciate all the due diligence that goes into writing content.

Working with all these different teams and understanding their strengths and needs, strengthened my ability to push back when necessary and collaborate effectively, which is crucial for driving SEO projects forward within complex organizations.

One of the most fulfilling aspects of my career has been mentoring and team building. I’ve had the privilege of hiring hundreds of SEOs and mentoring some of the best SEOs in the industry, helping them develop their own skills and grow into leadership roles.

Watching them succeed has been one of the most rewarding parts of my journey.

Finally, a turning point in my career was the conscious effort I made to build my personal brand.

Early on, I had supportive managers who encouraged me to refine my public speaking skills and present within the company.

I took these opportunities seriously, which eventually led to my first speaking engagement at SES 18 years ago, the largest SEO conference at the time with thousands of attendees.

From there, I focused on establishing my presence both online and offline, which not only advanced my career but also opened doors for me to promote my own software solutions.

Building a personal brand has proven invaluable in expanding my influence and credibility in the industry.

Tom Critchlow: My first job in digital was as an account manager for a digital agency. The first week on the job the account director and the SEO director both quit!

So, I was left speaking directly to clients about SEO with zero experience. Great way to learn both sides of the equation.

After that, working at Distilled, my brother Will taught me everything I know. I am forever indebted to his guidance.

What are the biggest mistakes you made or have seen others make in developing their career?

Jordan Silton: Most of my early career success was predicated on finding an issue or problem or opportunity and shining a light on it to get others to rally and fix it.

That approach worked well in a world of technical audits and a focus purely on what to do, rather than how to get it done.

I wish I had understood earlier how crucial it is to build up the people and relationships along the way.

In larger organizations (and small ones, too), success is almost exclusively driven by teamwork and communication rather than individual expertise.

Recognizing the value of people in the process transformed my approach, and I believe it has made me a more effective leader.

Malte Landwehr: For a long time, I underestimated the impact a good coach can have. Mindset and manifestation sound like a scam. But they work – also beyond career topics.

John Shehata: One mistake I made early on was focusing too much on rankings as a primary metric. While rankings are a great indicator, they are not the ultimate measure of success.

As I matured, I evolved to focus on traffic, and ultimately how SEO metrics align with overall business goals.

Now, my primary focus is on understanding how each SEO activity impacts revenue and long-term business growth.

I’ve also seen many SEOs panic over algorithm updates. While these changes can be disruptive, a better approach is to remain calm, evaluate the impact, and create both immediate and long-term action plans.

Sometimes, Google reverses its changes, so it’s important not to overreact.

Another common mistake is made by managers transitioning into director roles. Many struggle with balancing tactical and strategic thinking. They might dive into tactical details when speaking with C-level executives instead of focusing on strategy.

Mastering the art of switching between tactical and strategic conversations is crucial for career growth at this level.

Tom Critchlow: Not giving yourself access to context. Whatever role you’re in, if you’re not in the room where budgets are discussed and decisions are made, then you’re missing so much context.

So much of this comes down to your manager and how much they invite you into conversations “above your pay grade,” so to speak.

How do you think strategically about your career?

Jordan Silton: My favorite question about career aspirations is, “What’s your endgame?”

While it’s not crucial to stick to the same endgame, having a clear vision of what you want to achieve is vital.

My aspiration has been fairly consistent in helping businesses turn themselves around and accelerate growth, but my approach has evolved.

Initially, I thought that meant becoming a management consultant, but I was able to reframe this early in my career by realizing that agencies had significant leverage in this area.

This mindset guided my career decisions, including transitioning in-house to gain insight into internal business dynamics and knowing when to leave a successful, industry-leading business to explore opportunities with companies focused on reimagining and rebuilding their brands.

Having an end state to point toward – no matter how much you zigzag to get there – helps ground you in your professional journey.

Malte Landwehr: I am in the incredibly lucky and privileged position that I found something that I thoroughly enjoy doing, happen to be very good at it, and that companies are willing to pay a lot of money for.

I just show up every day at work and focus on whatever task sounds reasonable (and fun) to me.

John Shehata: I’ve always focused on becoming a well-rounded digital marketer rather than a specialist. My strategy was to gain experience across different channels – SEO, social media, newsletters, partnerships, etc. – so I could integrate these areas into a cohesive strategy.

This approach has paid off as I moved into senior leadership roles, where I was able to oversee not just SEO but broader audience development strategies.

Now, as the founder of an SEO software company, my focus has shifted significantly.

Running a SaaS startup requires wearing many hats – product development, sales, support, and client relations – each demanding its own set of skills.

My strategy now is centered on building long-term relationships, and deeply understanding my customers, identifying their pain points, and positioning our software as a long-term solution rather than just a tactical tool.

This means continuously evaluating how our products can deliver real value and helping publishers see the impact through clear, actionable insights.

It’s a constant balance between addressing immediate customer needs and aligning those solutions with their long-term business goals.

In addition, I place a strong emphasis on long-term skill building. I focus on developing skills that I anticipate will be critical in the next 5 to 10 years, such as AI, automation, and business development.

Staying ahead of the curve is essential in such a fast-evolving industry, and it’s important to proactively build expertise in emerging areas.

Another crucial element of my strategy is networking. Building a strong network has consistently opened new doors and opportunities for collaboration.

It’s not just about who you know, but ensuring that the people in your network know the value you bring to the table.

By fostering genuine relationships and contributing to the community, I’ve been able to establish connections that have proven invaluable throughout my career journey.

Tom Critchlow: There’s a great post on a 40-year career that uses a framework of “pace, people, prestige, profit and learning” where different career/life stages require different focus. I like that a lot.

Personally, I’ve always been motivated by learning primarily – the ability to learn new skills and new industries.

Can you suggest any resources or material for career growth?

Jordan Silton: Three books that come to mind immediately are “Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers Into Leaders” by L. David Marquet, “The Checklist Manifesto” by Atul Gawande, and “Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It” by Christopher Voss and Tahl Raz.

Each of these challenges traditional norms and presents innovative approaches grounded in science and contemporary insights.

Additionally, I’m excited about what Evan LaPointe is building at CORE Sciences. His team leverages clinical insights from neuroscience to evolve business thinking, addressing the many counterproductive norms that persist in the workplace. It’s time to upgrade our understanding, thinking, and practices for better outcomes.

Malte Landwehr: https://learningseo.io/ is the only resource you need to advance your SEO career.

John Shehata: The resources you should focus on depend on where you are in your career.

For early-stage professionals, I recommend mastering tactical skills using resources like Aleyda’s Learning SEO, Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO, WIX, Semrush, or Ahrefs’ Academy.

As you progress, start exploring strategic resources like Kevin’s Growth Memo newsletter.

For more experienced professionals and SaaS owners, I suggest diving into leadership books like “Leaders Eat Last” by Simon Sinek or exploring resources that help you develop a business mindset, Rand Fishkin’s “Lost and Founder,” case studies from Harvard Business Review.

Additionally, staying connected with the SEO community through conferences, webinars, and podcasts is invaluable for continuous learning and networking.

One thing that applies across all stages is the need to stay updated.

SEO and digital marketing are constantly evolving, and keeping a pulse on the latest Google algorithm updates, industry changes, and new tools is crucial to maintaining a competitive edge.

Beyond reading, mentorship is a powerful tool for career growth. Finding a mentor in your field, or becoming one for others, accelerates learning in ways that books and courses alone cannot.

Teaching and guiding others not only solidifies your own understanding but also deepens your expertise.

Finally, hands-on experience is irreplaceable. No amount of reading or watching tutorials can substitute for real-world application.

Create your own projects, build websites, do your own affiliate content, and test different strategies.

Experimenting firsthand is the best way to learn what works and, just as importantly, what doesn’t.

Ultimately, it’s the combination of learning, mentorship, and practical application that will propel your career forward.

Tom Critchlow: I mean, I’m biased, but I think a lot of the SEO MBA archives are relevant!

In particular, the SEO skills maturity matrix is my most popular all-time post and looks at career progression, specifically balancing the “hard” and “soft” skills you need as you grow.

1 Use the 5-Step Process to Get What You Want Out of Life

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

How To Get Buy-In From Stakeholders Using Overlooked Soft Skills

Getting buy-in for projects either at work, or from an organization can be difficult, but for SEO projects, it can be even more challenging as it is not always easy to tie the SEO work to results.

To improve buy-in, looking to soft skills outside of SEO can make the difference.

If we know our soft skills and and what our strengths are, then we can understand others and be able to communicate with them better. This then helps when we want to get buy-in for projects, including SEO.

In this article, we go through some key areas to address to help you get buy-in at your company such as communication and the ability to cultivate trust.

Soft Skills

We spend a lot of time improving our technical SEO or working on keyword research and reporting, especially getting up to speed with Google Analytics 4 (GA4), but how much time do we spend on improving our soft skills? Do we know what our strengths are?

When working in SEO and with the wider team, soft skills become important.

Soft skills, also called interpersonal skills, are non-technical and impact your performance not only at work but also in your personal life.

They include how to manage your time, communicate with others, resolve conflict, and listen to others, to name just a few.

The CliftonStrengths helps individuals focus on what they are naturally good at. It helps assess your soft skills, including how empathetic you are, which is a great leadership and team player skill.

Empathy

Tom Critchlow said getting buy-in requires executive empathy. He explained that “executive presence is the art of seeing the problem from someone else’s point of view.”

We need to make the stakeholders, such as the CEO or CFO, want to care about SEO and how it can help them achieve their goals and the broader business objectives.

Empathy is putting oneself in another person’s shoes and seeing it from their side. We should apply this not only to the main stakeholders but to the development team or design team and others who will become your biggest allies.

Trust

Empathy is a key part of the trust triangle, and it also includes authenticity and logic.

It takes a long time to build trust, and when it is lost, most of the time, it can be traced back to a breakdown of one of them.

Your colleagues and the key stakeholders will trust you when:

• They feel you care about them, which is empathy.
• They have faith in your competence, which is the logic (and why it is important to show results from SEO work clearly)
• They believe they are interacting with the real you, which is authenticity.

Screenshot from hbr.org/2020/05/begin-with-trust, November 2024

Reporting

If we want the stakeholders to allocate more budget next quarter or even next year to SEO, review the previous reports you and your team have worked on and have shared with them over the year.

What reports have they read? Which ones have they ignored?

Make sure that you get feedback monthly or at least quarterly on what reports the stakeholders find useful and which metrics they want to see more of in the future.

Nobody wants to see pages of reports – the stakeholders are busy people. You should focus on reporting on the most important KPIs to them.

Some people with minimal time to fully understand SEO (such as the CEO and CFO) may think organic traffic is a given, and less investment would not necessarily mean less traffic.

Therefore, it is always important to show what the SEO team did and provide clear results.

For example, tell them “we created the content strategy and built out the blog on X topics, and this created an uplift in traffic and revenue by X%”. Showing the direct impact of SEO helps justify the SEO team and their work.

KISS

KISS stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid. Although this framework is used mainly in the design space, it can also be applied to the wider business.

It has been used in many companies, like Apple with the iPhone. Keeping something focused and simple is difficult.

We can also apply the KISS principle to SEO and get buy-in by removing the jargon that comes with it – just focusing on what the impact will be.

For example, instead of saying that we have a lot of 404 status codes when products are out of stock, show the stakeholders that the product pages return an empty page. There is nothing on the page to keep the user there.

Show the traffic to some of these key product pages, and when they are out of stock, calculate how much revenue is lost.

KISS goes back to the reporting element. Keep the reports simple and show only what the stakeholders value as important. Don’t include tracking of hundreds of keywords if they are not driving clicks.

Focus on the main terms that generate clicks and impressions in Google Search Console. Use the events in GA4 to show how many conversions the site and the pages have generated.

Open Line Of Communication

Make sure you speak to the stakeholders throughout the year, not just when reports are due or when you need more budget.

Share with them news such as the Google updates or any positive impact from the SEO work that has meant revenue and conversions are up.

Google updates are still important to share whether your site has been affected. It is better for the stakeholders to find out about these updates from the SEO team than from the client services team or those who do not work in SEO.

Other key elements to share are some insights from conferences. What are some initiatives they have done that have been successful? Were some of these the same initiatives you wanted to implement, but there was resistance?

Is there a company newsletter you can feature, or is there a marketing newsletter you can contribute to? Share these with the stakeholders.

If you or the team write for any third-party sites, share these articles internally.

Alternatively, if there was a webinar the SEO team took part in that had a lot of views and likes, send this to the stakeholders.

Integrate SEO Within The Company

Make SEO everyone’s responsibility.

Highlight in the meetings or conversations with stakeholders that doing a site migration, changing the homepage of the site, or amending the content management system (CMS) is not just the work of the SEO team. It is the responsibility of the whole company.

For example, a site migration cannot be done on a Friday evening, or the homepage should not be drastically changed during sales periods.

SEO should never be seen as an add-on and should be an integrated part of the marketing strategy.

Unfortunately, in many organizations, the SEO strategy can be outside the product and outside the marketing strategy. Create allies within the marketing and product team. Show them how SEO impacts and affects their KPIs and how SEO can help improve them.

Creating allies comes back to working on your soft skills.

We can still have those “water cooler moments” or informal chats even if we are remote working. Ask them how their weekend was, what their hobbies are, do they have family nearby.

In these informal chats, you may also find out their pain points. What are they struggling with? How can SEO help them?

When you start building your KPIs together and helping one another, this builds teamwork outside of your immediate team and helps build more trust.

Competitor Analysis

Not many are happy when their direct competitors beat them in revenue and traffic.

Competitor or market analysis always helps to show some of what others are doing. We can see an estimate of the traffic, the paid ads they are running, and the terms they are ranking for using third-party tools.

However, context should not be underestimated. It may be that the drop in traffic and revenue you are experiencing on your site, is not just your site. Some industries may have seen a dip, while others have seen an increase.

For example, during COVID-19, travel and hospitality saw a drop, whereas Zoom and online applications and games saw their sales increase.

It is now becoming more difficult to track customers, due to AI. And this won’t get easier next year as the search landscape will continue to change. Therefore, always remember to include the context of the industry when reporting on how your site is performing.

Show what others are doing in the market, including new initiatives. This will help build and keep the trust of the key stakeholders.

Mastering Soft Skills In Securing SEO Buy-In

Soft skills should never be underestimated when trying to get buy-in for projects. Understand the needs of your stakeholders and the wider team.

Spend time building rapport with them and learning about their challenges and how SEO and their team can work together to achieve more than if each one worked independently.

However, if you find yourself in a position where nobody is paying attention to the SEO, plan to start testing different elements of what they want to change with the website, for example, changing the categories or changing the home page.

Use a tool such as SEO Testing that allows you to test different URLs; you can do split testing and time-based testing. When you have the data, present it to the stakeholders to show them the results.

SEO is an industry where it is hard to get buy-in and harder to get the budget approved. But work on your soft skills – empathy and trust – to build a team that believes in SEO and supports you 100%.

More resources:

Featured Image: Marciobnws/Shutterstock

Marketing & SEO Conference Value Is More Than Information via @sejournal, @rollerblader

If you’ve attended a marketing conference and felt like everything was below your knowledge level or that your questions weren’t answered, there’s a good reason for that.

Not everyone is advanced, and not everyone is a beginner.

National conferences ensure that the speakers cater to the majority of the group rather than specific individuals at higher and lower levels, with the exception of pre-show workshops and beginner-level tracks.

Pro-tip: Ask questions during the Q&A and at the show. The speaker can and will likely answer your advanced-level question and provide a solution. They do know the answers, but they may not present them because they are too advanced for the show, including on advanced tracks. If you don’t ask, you won’t get an answer. Don’t be afraid. It is literally why you are there and why they are on stage.

Information isn’t the only reason to go to a show. If you’re beginning your career, yes and absolutely. If you’re mid-level or advanced, there’s a lot more you will gain by going to conferences, even if it isn’t information. And that’s what this post is about.

The three headers are in a specific order, as one leads to the next.

One of the most valuable assets I gained from attending conferences is being able to get solutions in a matter of minutes or days, rather than researching for weeks and hoping to find answers.

Builds Your Network For Job And Income Security

The first and largest benefit of conferences is that you’ll build your network of peers. For marketers, this includes in-house professionals, agencies, and vendors.

When you build trust with these people, bonds are formed – and those bonds carry you through the rough times.

They also lead to increased compensation and new titles as opportunities become available at your own and at different companies.

One of my first conferences was around 2005 or 2006 at Commission Junction University (CJU). The rep there liked what I had to say, saw the information shared at two dinners and a networking event, and took note of it.

When I got back to my office in Washington DC, CJU offered me a job, either remote or in Santa Barbara. I stayed at my current company, but I still talk to a few people I met there, almost 20 years later.

Next was the Affiliate Summit West in 2006 at Bally’s in Las Vegas.

I already knew multiple industry people from a forum called ABestWeb.com, but the conference introduced us all at an unofficial event at the dueling piano bar – and I’m still working with some of these people today.

If I hadn’t gone, these specific people may not have promoted the affiliate programs we managed. Affiliates get pitched daily, and the in-person aspect makes a huge difference on who they work with and who they do not.

As an agency owner, if I hadn’t met the affiliates, merchants, solution providers, and competing agencies, they wouldn’t be sending my agency SEO, conversion, and affiliate management leads.

If I hadn’t gone to these two shows above, my career network would not have been built, and I would not have the access I have today, including writing for SEJ.

More importantly, when things go bad, the people in this group always help in any way they can. This includes sending contracts to each other, sharing job openings, or trying to take on new business so we can hire each other if the bond is strong.

Local Groups And Communities Lead To Better Marketing

National shows like Pubcon, Affiliate Summit, SMX, etc. lead me to meeting local groups like SEMPDX, the Duluth Chamber of Commerce and AimClear, DFWSEM, Houston’s marketing group, Raleigh Tech Triangle, among others – all of which have local annual shows and/or monthly meetups.

Being able to explore and speak at local groups gave me career opportunities and information I’d never have learned if speaking and attending national shows never happened.

Local Cultures And Customs

Engaging even just for a week lets me better target and market for local SEO, affiliate, and paid media.

By being a tourist, I got to know landmarks, what it is like to be at them, and most importantly, the ones that matter most to the locals as they are the ones answering my questions about what to do and why.

Their slang and recommendations help you speak their language and reference their communities using their own words vs. one person’s opinion.

Show Size Means Better Networking

When there are fewer people attending, you get more time to actually learn what others do.

There’s less of a feeling of rushing and hustling and more of a calm atmosphere in which to engage with each other.

These bonds are equally as strong as the long-term ones, and if the speakers and brands you want to meet are there, you get more time to actually say hi vs. a handshake.

This goes a long way with relationship building.

Less Expensive And More Networking

The cost of the local shows is a lot less than a national show because they’re less expensive to put on.

The quality of speakers and information is equal, if not better, and can be customized for the audience members.

I just presented in Portland and used examples of what to do based on the companies attending so they could leave with actionable items.

At Zenith in Duluth and Barbados SEO, you had some of the most sought-after SEO professionals in the world at a fraction of the normal cost, including Lily Ray, Michael Icon King, Aleyda Solis, Purna Virji, Andrew Shotland, and Cindy Krum.

I also got to meet new people and learn new things from like Isa Lavahun and Apurva Bose.

The cost of a ticket is a fraction of the national shows, but the speaker quality was the same (if not higher).

I mentioned the networking and bonds from these local shows above. Here’s one of many examples of how local shows lead to international relationships.

At a local State of Search conference, Arsen Rabinovich and I were both speaking and met for the first time. He invited me out for pizza (my favorite food), and we bonded.

A couple of years later, he forced me to sit at a blackjack table (I hate card games), and that was when I met the other players, who included Aleyda Solis (Spain), Dawn Anderson (England), Lily Ray (NYC).

If I hadn’t been at that State of Search, I wouldn’t have had the next opportunity (or that really good pizza), and each of these people has impacted my career and speaking at different points in time now.

Getting Answers To Difficult And Impossible Questions

Once the relationships were built and people trusted me, I found myself being invited to private communities hosted on custom URLs, on Facebook, etc.

This is where the most value came from, as I attended marketing conferences. These groups are carefully vetted, and where you can get detailed answers with actual data based on actual experience.

We all encounter situations we don’t have answers to and that we cannot ask publicly – whether it is an NDA or your company prohibits sharing problems outside of the organization.

These groups are where you can ask and share as much as you are able, and others will respond with what they did or how they solved the issue.

If nobody has solved the issue before, people in the groups often look for solutions or run tests on their own websites and platforms to see if they can replicate the problem and then fix it.

When I didn’t have a software solution for other channels, someone else in these groups did.

The added benefit of being in the private group is these people won’t say the actual issues they have with the products publicly, but they go into detail on what to avoid and the reasons why.

It helped me avoid pitfalls when my clients were about to invest in new tools and tech stacks.

One of the most valuable assets I gained from attending conferences is being able to get solutions in a matter of minutes or days, rather than researching for weeks and hoping to find answers.

If I didn’t go to the big ones and wasn’t invited to speak at them, I wouldn’t have met these local groups from around the country and the world.

If I didn’t attend those, I wouldn’t have been able to market as effectively locally which impacts both local and national marketing campaigns.

Most importantly, I wouldn’t have access to the communities and groups that help me solve problems.

Attending Conferences Helped Me Build Essential Relationships

Conferences, whether they’re marketing, human resources, IT, or even houseware and photography shows, have more value than a bit of information in a session.

It’s the network you build, the relationships you form, and the power they add to your career, financial, and mental well-being.

If I didn’t get out of my comfort zone and begin attending, speaking at, and in some cases exhibiting at these shows, life would be a lot harder.

I still have struggles just like everyone, but I have a network and community to help me through them, thanks to attending conferences.

More resources:

Featured Image: Jacob Lund/Shutterstock

The 11 Best SEO Books You Should Read via @sejournal, @BrianHarnish

SEO is a rapidly evolving field, making it important for professionals to continuously expand their knowledge and skills.

We’ve put together a list of essential SEO books suitable for readers at various levels.

Some books on this list provide a foundation in core concepts, while more advanced practitioners can explore topics such as entity optimization.

The list includes specialized resources tailored to specific areas of SEO. For example, some books offer strategies for businesses targeting local audiences, while others serve as comprehensive guides to link building tactics.

For those interested in Google’s perspective, another book provides insights into the company’s philosophies and principles.

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced professional, this list caters to diverse interests and skill levels, ensuring there’s something for everyone.

Books On Search Engine Optimization

1. SEO For Beginners: An Introduction To SEO Basics

Published by Search Engine Journal, this is a comprehensive guide to SEO. It covers everything from link building and SEO history to busting common myths and offering expert tips.

While it’s for beginners, veterans can also gain new insights. The book breaks down complex ideas into bite-sized pieces, making it a great starting point.

It’s well-structured, with each chapter tackling a different SEO aspect – from search engine mechanics to the latest algorithm updates.

The authors don’t just stick to theory. They provide real-world examples and case studies to show how these concepts work in practice. This mix of theory and application makes the book a valuable resource for anyone looking to improve their SEO.

Key reasons to give it a read:

• Get a solid grasp of SEO basics from industry pros.
• Easy-to-follow explanations of tricky concepts.
• Practical advice you can apply to your SEO strategies.
• Stay in the loop with current SEO trends and Google updates.
• Benefit from the collective wisdom of top SEO experts.

2. Entity SEO: Moving From Strings To Things

By Dixon Jones, CEO of InLinks

Dixon Jones’ book “Entity SEO: Moving from Strings to Things” explains the shift from old-school keyword SEO to modern entity-based optimization.

It explains how search engines now use the Knowledge Graph to understand relationships between concepts and offers practical advice on adapting your SEO strategy.

Key points:

• Making your brand an “entity” in your niche.
• Using structured data effectively.
• Getting quality links and mentions.
• Creating content rich in entity information.

The book uses real examples to show how these concepts work in practice. It’s meant to help SEO professionals at all levels understand and prepare for where search is heading.

Worth reading if you want to:

• Get a solid grip on entity SEO.
• Learn actionable entity optimization tactics.
• Establish your brand as a recognized entity.
• Master the use of structured data for SEO.
• Future-proof your SEO strategy.

3. The Art Of SEO: Mastering Search Engine Optimization

by Eric Enge of Stone Temple Consulting, Stephan Spencer, and Jessie C. Stricchiola

Covering everything from SEO 101 to advanced tactics, this book starts with the basics of how search engines work and then dives into the meat of SEO: keyword research, on-page optimization, technical SEO, and link building.

The authors break down complex strategies into actionable steps, making implementation a breeze.

What sets this book apart is its holistic approach. It’s not just about ranking; it’s about aligning SEO with your business goals and integrating it into your digital strategy. The book also discusses the role of content marketing and social media in boosting SEO performance.

Reasons to read this book:

• Get a complete SEO education, from basics to advanced strategies.
• Learn to align SEO with your business objectives.
• Access practical, step-by-step guides for implementing SEO tactics.
• Understand how to integrate SEO with content marketing and social media.
• Benefit from the collective wisdom of three renowned SEO experts.

4. The Psychology Of A Website: Mastering Cognitive Biases, Conversion Triggers And Modern SEO To Achieve Massive Results

by Matthew Capala

Matthew Capala’s “The Psychology of a Website” offers a fresh take on website optimization. Instead of focusing on technical aspects, it dives into the psychology behind user behavior and conversions.

Capala, a seasoned digital marketer, shares actionable tips for creating websites that perform well in search results and keep visitors engaged and more likely to convert.

The book kicks off by exploring how our brains work when we browse websites. Capala then gets into the nitty-gritty of optimizing different website elements, from how they look to what they say.

A big focus throughout is user experience (UX). Capala stresses that a great website isn’t just about ranking high on Google – it needs to be easy and enjoyable for people to use.

While UX is key, Capala doesn’t ignore SEO. He offers practical advice on keyword research, on-page optimization, and building links while keeping the focus on creating content that actually connects with users.

By blending psychological insights with practical digital marketing strategies, Capala offers a well-rounded approach to website optimization that can lead to significant improvements.

Reasons to read this book:

• Gain insights into the psychology driving user behavior and conversions.
• Learn to create websites that not only rank well but also engage visitors.
• Get practical strategies for optimizing design, content, and calls-to-action.
• Discover how to enhance user experience and mobile performance.
• Learn to integrate SEO best practices with a focus on user engagement.
• Benefit from real-world examples and expert insights from a seasoned digital marketer.

5. The Best Damn Website & Ecommerce Marketing And Optimization Guide, Period

by Stoney DeGeyter

SEO veteran Stoney DeGeyter’s book “The Best Damn Website & Ecommerce Marketing And Optimization Guide, Period” covers SEO basics to advanced tactics for websites and online stores.

It starts with SEO essentials and then dives into advanced topics. The book’s standout feature is its focus on ecommerce, addressing product pages, category optimization, and effective product descriptions.

DeGeyter emphasizes a holistic SEO approach that aligns with business goals and user experience. He also covers analytics for strategy refinement.

This guide suits both small business owners and ecommerce marketers.

Reasons to read:

• Master SEO fundamentals and advanced strategies.
• Learn ecommerce-specific optimization tactics.
• Discover product page and description best practices.
• Understand user-generated content’s SEO impact.
• Align SEO efforts with business objectives.
• Benefit from decades of industry expertise.

6. Ecommerce SEO Mastery: 10 Huge SEO Wins For Any Online Store

by Kristina Azarenko

Kristina Azarenko’s “Ecommerce SEO Mastery” offers 10 key strategies for online stores. The book tackles common ecommerce SEO challenges like thin content and complex site structures.

Azarenko breaks down each “SEO win” with practical advice on implementation.

Topics include:

• Ecommerce keyword research.
• Product & category page optimization.
• Leveraging user-generated content.
• Building quality backlinks.
• Site speed and mobile optimization.
• Structured data.

The book provides real-world examples and emphasizes data-driven SEO. It guides readers through using tools like Google Analytics and Search Console to track progress.

Reasons to read:

• Learn 10 powerful ecommerce-specific SEO strategies.
• Gain insights from a renowned SEO expert.
• Discover how to optimize product and category pages.
• Leverage user-generated content for SEO benefits.
• Learn to build high-quality backlinks.
• Apply real-world examples and case studies.
• Adopt a data-driven approach to ecommerce SEO.

7. Product-Led SEO: The Why Behind Building Your Organic Growth Strategy

by Eli Schwartz

Eli Schwartz’s “Product-Led SEO” offers a fresh take on SEO strategy, emphasizing business goals and sustainable organic growth.

Drawing from his work with major brands, Schwartz presents a framework that integrates SEO with overall company strategy.

The book challenges traditional SEO tactics, advocating for a holistic approach that prioritizes user value.

Key topics include:

• User intent optimization.
• Content strategy for the full customer journey.
• Measuring SEO’s business impact.

Schwartz focuses on the strategic “why” behind SEO tactics, encouraging critical thinking and adaptable strategies for long-term success.

Reasons to read this book:

• Gain a strategic perspective on SEO that aligns with business objectives.
• Learn to create sustainable organic growth through user-centric approaches.
• Discover how to optimize for the entire customer journey.
• Understand methods for measuring and communicating SEO’s business impact.
• Access real-world case studies and examples from major brands.
• Benefit from the author’s extensive experience in driving impactful SEO results.

Books On Link Building

8. The Link Building Book

by Paddy Moogan

Paddy Moogan’s “The Link Building Book” is a comprehensive, free online guide.

It covers link building basics, tactics for acquiring high-authority backlinks, content creation, and practical steps for planning and executing campaigns.

The book emphasizes white-hat techniques and quality over quantity, making it valuable for both SEO novices and pros.

Reasons to read:

• Master link building fundamentals and best practices.
• Learn diverse tactics for acquiring high-quality, relevant links.
• Understand how to assess potential linking websites.
• Discover content strategies that naturally attract links.
• Learn to plan and execute effective link building campaigns.
• Benefit from practical advice and real-world examples.
• Access updated, valuable insights at no cost.

Books On Local SEO

9. Local SEO Secrets: 20 Local SEO Strategies You Should Be Using NOW

by Roger Bryan

“Local SEO Secrets” by Roger Bryan is a must-read for businesses targeting local customers. It offers 20 proven strategies to boost local search visibility and drive growth.

Key topics include:

• Local SEO fundamentals and how it differs from traditional SEO.
• Optimizing Google Business Profile listings.
• Building local citations and leveraging structured data.
• Creating local content and managing online reputation.
• Implementing and tracking local SEO strategies.

The book provides actionable advice, real-world examples, and step-by-step instructions. It’s valuable for small business owners, marketers, and SEO consultants working with local clients.

Reasons to read:

• Learn 20 proven strategies for improving local search visibility.
• Understand key local ranking factors like Google Business Profile, reviews, and citations.
• Master GBP optimization for local SEO success.
• Discover how to use structured data and local content effectively.
• Learn reputation management best practices.
• Get practical, easy-to-implement instructions and examples.
• Learn to measure local SEO performance with analytics tools.

Books On Search Engines

10. How Google Works

by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg

“How Google Works” by ex-Google execs Schmidt and Rosenberg offers an insider’s view of the search giant. While not focused on SEO, it provides valuable insights for digital marketers and business leaders.

The book offers practical advice and real-world examples applicable to businesses of all sizes.

Understanding Google’s philosophy can inform more effective, customer-focused digital marketing strategies.

Reasons to read:

• Get an insider’s view of Google’s success principles.
• Understand how to create a user-centric business strategy.
• Discover ways to foster innovation and experimentation in your organization.
• Gain insights into data-driven decision-making processes.

11. Entity-Oriented Search

by Krisztian Balog

“Entity-Oriented Search” by Krisztian Balog is a deep dive into modern search engine tech. It focuses on entities, knowledge graphs, and semantic search and is aimed at readers with a background in information retrieval (IR).

A key strength is its coverage of cutting-edge research, like neural entity representations and knowledge-based language models. While tech-heavy, it touches on applications in QA, recommender systems, and digital assistants and discusses future trends.

It’s essential reading for IR, natural language processing (NLP), and artificial intelligence (AI) pros seeking in-depth knowledge of modern search engines.

Reasons to read:

• Deep dive into entity-oriented and semantic search tech.
• Research on knowledge graphs and semantic understanding.
• A detailed look at entity extraction, linking, and ranking algorithms.
• Insights on neural entity representations and knowledge-based language models.
• Expert knowledge from a renowned IR and search engine specialist.

Conclusion: Choosing Your Next Book

These 11 SEO books have got you covered – whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned pro.

For beginners, “SEO for Beginners” and “The Art of SEO” are solid starter packs that’ll teach you the SEO fundamentals.

As you level up, books like “Entity SEO” and “Product-Led SEO” explore more advanced topics like optimizing for entities and aligning SEO with business goals.

Several books focus on specific areas:

• “Local SEO Secrets” is a must-read if you’re targeting local customers.
• “Ecommerce SEO Mastery” zeroes in on ecommerce SEO.
• “The Link Building Book” is your starting point to master link building.

On the technical side, “Entity-Oriented Search” dives deep into semantic search and cutting-edge search engine tech. “How Google Works” gives you the inside scoop on Google’s mindset.

The key is picking books that match your skill level and areas of interest. Whether you want to learn SEO from scratch, level up your game, or specialize, there’s a book for you.

The Amazon links in this post are not affiliate links, and SEJ does not receive compensation when you click or make a purchase through these links.

More SEO & Marketing Books Worth Your Time:

Featured Image: PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock

Mastering The Art Of In-House SEO [2024 Edition] via @sejournal, @Kevin_Indig

I’ve received so many questions about advancing an in-house career lately.

All answers can be found in an extensive guide I wrote in 2020. Since I have collected more experience working with some of the best tech companies in the world, I decided to spend another ~10 hours rewriting and updating this post. In my humble opinion, this is still the best in-house SEO guide on the web.

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In-house SEO is a skill you can learn and develop.

The most successful people I encountered had a strong sense for working on the right things, crisp communication skills and the ability to find solutions for important problems. They mastered skills to solve problems related to buy-in, resourcing, prioritization, and getting teams on the same page – no matter if they were managers or individual contributors.

Over my own +10-year in-house career at Atlassian, G2, and Shopify, I was able to climb the ranks from technical SEO expert to vice president. Along the way, I learned how to develop in-house skills and observed what great looks like from ultra-successful people.

The following collection of principles, frameworks, and experiences will tremendously shortcut your learning curve.

Don’t just take my word for it. This guide features generous input from:

The 5 Key Challenges Of In-House SEO

Being successful at in-house SEO all comes down to impact, and to make an impact, you need resources. The best plans, audits, and tricks don’t matter if you cannot execute them.

Jordan Silton:

The best in-house SEOs are able to influence and drive strategy. It’s no longer enough to do an SEO audit, keyword research or a competitive assessment and hand it over. This applies to agencies, too, the handover is a thing of the past. True progress and success in SEO today is a lot more about alignment and impact. More than ever, figuring out what to do is table stakes. Those that are successful get stuff done.

The biggest challenge in SEO is not knowing what to do but to get things done. The most successful companies ship, learn, and iterate fast to succeed with users and Google’s machine learning-driven algorithms.

Jackie Chu:

There are a lot of wins to being an in-house SEO, but you need to be just as mindful about growing your soft skills as your tech ones. Even if you’re somehow able to get huge wins without buy-in, if you don’t make it a priority to evangelize the team and your work it’s unlikely you will continue to find support in the company. And you’ll never get the chance to do edge SEO if your site isn’t even getting the basics right 🙂.

Getting resources like money and people to ship optimizations is a problem we can break down into five sub-problems:

1. Robust Business Cases

The number one thing (!) holding SEOs back from having an impact is making robust business cases for their recommendations.

SEOs commonly get too wrapped up in technical, nerdy details. Instead, they need to think like more product managers who talk to customers, prioritize features, and break their impact down all the way to revenue.

A Twitter poll reveals the biggest perceived challenges with resourcing:

• SEO isn’t a company priority
• Leadership “doesn’t get it”
• SEOs have a hard time showing value

But, the last point really hits the nail on the head: Almost any problem is SEO can be traced back to poor demonstration of ROI.

Early in my in-house career, I felt defensive when decision-makers wouldn’t fund my recommendations. “But it says to do this in the Google guidelines!” Later, I understood.

When I became a decision-maker with budget responsibility, I realized the importance of strong business cases to gain long-term trust and invest resources thoughtfully. It’s not just a tool for alignment but to double-check that you really thought things through.

The characteristics of a good SEO business case are:

• Clarity about the problem you’re trying to solve and why it’s important.
• Strong logic around issues and solutions.
• Good reasons for working on this project at that time instead of something else.
• A visible line from organic traffic to revenue.
• A list of what’s needed to make it happen.
• An action plan with timings.
• Success criteria/metrics.

You can write business cases down into a written doc or spreadsheet, but they must answer the biggest questions.

Now, SEO is a complicated discipline between art and science. Its black-box nature and time to impact for some optimizations make projections difficult.

SEO A/B tests and measuring leading indicators (Googlebot server hits, impressions, ranks) can help increase confidence and gauge impact early. But it takes a lot of transparency about where recommendations come from and what to expect to create long-term trust.

A very elegant way to tackle big projects with high resource demands is to ship a small version manually.

If, for example, you need engineering and design resources to build lead generation tools, you could build and test an MVP with a turnkey third-party solution first. If the results are promising, you have a stronger base to ask for in-house resources.

Advice: Find a person who gets things done in the company and learn from them how to do it.

2. Business Model Differences

The type of site decides what resources you need and how you can make a business case.

Impact projections are easier for Aggregators and high-trafficked sites than Integrators since the former typically has a lot more pages and can get to test results faster.

An aggregator like G2, for example, has very different levers that are much more tied to the product than marketing. An Integrator like Ramp, on the other hand, needs mostly marketing resources to drive impact.

Aggregators can leverage the power of network effects that result from consolidating demand. They benefit from aggregated instead of self-created “inventory”: products, users, businesses, or ads. That lends itself to technical SEO and product-led growth loops, as I describe in How Social Networks Drive Billions of Search Visits with SEO.

Working for an integrator, you have to either pick a company to work for that has strong buy-in with SEO or be strategic in how you prioritize and sequence projects.

You cannot change the nature of growth levers, but you can create trust with results by targeting low-hanging fruit and high-confidence projects.

The more results you deliver, the more leeway you get on time-to-results. That’s why shipping optimizations with a fast and strong impact first is a smart idea.

The way you “enter” a company also makes a big difference. If you can prove your ability to drive results within your first 30 days, the rest of your tenure goes that much smoother.

Jackie Chu:

Even outside of your SEO growth work, you do a considerable amount of SEO defense work that’s spent guard-railing things like new product launches, migrations, or rebranding. You have to be a strong communicator to fairly articulate tradeoffs that are being made while striving to maintain rapport and a good relationship with your peers.

When I see in-house SEOs struggle, they’re sadly often right about the SEO problem, and the real problem is they’re struggling with resourcing, buy-in, and prioritization. This is where being a strong communicator and storyteller is especially helpful – to help de-escalate the inevitable points of conflict that occur between teams working on the same project with different incentives.

Companies selling products with large contract values often rely on human input for attribution and take months to close deals, which can blur the impact of SEO.

Along the way, leads can have many touchpoints across paid and organic channels with a company. Since paid teams have better data (e.g., keyword referrers) and faster feedback loops, they often overpower revenue attribution.

Comparing the last with the first touch can reveal eye-opening differences in revenue attribution and show how important it is to choose the right model.

Overindexing on advertising can cost a company a lot of money if the same results would come in with much lower spend. But you have to show that story in conversion and spend data to convince stakeholders.

Another solution can be to frame SEO as a brand marketing channel that drives exposure instead of direct revenue or focus on revenue contribution/margin instead of relative revenue. A different way to look at SEO can help decision-makers justify the investment.

Advice: Lean into technical SEO when working at an aggregator and content marketing for an Integrator.

3. Slow And Fuzzy Impact

Some optimizations have a slow and broad impact over time, making it harder to attribute a dollar value.

For example, we all know building a strong brand is important for SEO, but there are so many things involved that it’s next to impossible to make a business case for it.

The most important questions to navigate varying time-to-impact are:

• How easily can you test the optimization on a small scale?
• Across how many pages can you scale the optimization without manual effort?
• Has a competitor done something similar?
• How hard is the optimization to implement?

The longer something takes and the harder it is to implement, the lower you should generally prioritize it unless it has a very high traffic impact and you have lots of leverage to ship it.

Advice: Strong storytelling skills can get buy-in despite blurry numbers. Decision-makers respond strongly to stakes – the consequences of not doing something.

Being able to paint a picture of the risk can open doors, but they quickly close when things don’t work out. So, you better have a way to show that your suggestion helped.

Jackie Chu:

Having strong soft skills around leadership, storytelling and executive presence are critical to an in-house SEO’s success. The reality is a lot of times, enterprise sites are really not even doing the basics correctly, and that’s because getting something seemingly ‘small’ like title tags, or hreflang changed at scale can be a significant investment when you consider things like having multiple services, translation needs, surface area owners, legal considerations and more.

4. Weak Social Capital

Credibility, likeability, and respect matter when working with humans. People are more likely to trust your recommendations when you have a proven track record or respect from important people at the company.

Weak social capital in the form of favors and how well people perceive you, in general, has an impact on your ability to ship as well.

Matt Howell-Barby:

Here’s the thing… it doesn’t matter if you have the correct solution to a problem. What matters most is that you know how to sell the idea internally, get the resources you need to support the solution, and how (and when) to use leverage you have in the process. The last part of this is particularly important.

Advice: Find out who holds power in the company, learn what they need, and help them get it. Sometimes, it’s non-craft-specific things like finding a great candidate for a key role or contacts at another company. Other times, it’s an opportunity or risk a person or team wasn’t aware of previously.

Jordan Silton:

The best in-house SEOs are well-liked and pulled into initiatives because people like to work with them. It’s not enough to be the smartest person in the room, or the “expert”, or a technical superstar.

In-house SEO is about being part of a team. You can make yourself a checkpoint or gate to ensure everything is above board, but that slows things down and doesn’t accelerate progress. Success is how much you can accomplish, not how many mistakes you can catch.

Build strong relationships with the leaders of those teams. Meet for coffee or lunch, understand who they are, and talk about their goals.

Some call it “playing the game,” but I think it’s simply about building genuine relationships and working toward a common goal.

Matt Barby:

One of the ways that I see many people inside companies going wrong (and then often feeling frustrated) is that they choose the wrong hill to die on. Sometimes you have to let your idea die in order to build some leverage that you can use elsewhere. Any time you use your influence and accumulated leverage to get something you need, you need to either focus on building more for the future or be ok with passing on some other things you need.

If you’ve ever looked at someone in a senior management position and wondered, ‘how did this person get to where they are? I know so much more than they do!’… Well, the likelihood is that they’re much better at selling than you are. No matter what role you’re operating in within a company, you need to be a salesperson; the difference between this and a client-facing role where you’re actually selling an idea to an external client is that you’re selling to your peers. Learn this and you’ll get far.

SEO teams often lack resources when they live under marketing, while engineering teams live under product.

For most companies, SEO under marketing makes sense because they drive SEO with self-generated content and tools (Integrators).

But, SEO has to be in the product org at Aggregators for maximal impact since the business impact of SEO is proportional to the number of indexable pages on a domain.

Product-led growth companies, which are always Aggregators, should push for growth teams with SEOs under product. Sales-driven companies should use content marketing or a hybrid approach.

Igal Stolpner:

The key to success as an inhouse SEO is becoming part of the process. In most companies, Product or R&D are running the roadmap. As an in-house SEO, you want to make sure that you are right in the middle of that process and that no significant changes or launches are going over your head.

Advice: Go on an education tour across the company, especially for teams you depend on.

When I was part of Atlassian, I realized I’d never have enough resources to do all the things I wanted.

So, I ran workshops with engineers, designers, and content creators to show them how little changes in their work can make an impact.

I shared SEO checklists, presented at all-hands, and kept beating the SEO drum. I wrote a lot of internal documentation in Confluence (our “wiki”), so people have reference material and can learn at their own pace.

Most importantly, I tracked results and showed them to the people who drove them. This kind of feedback loop motivates and builds an appetite for more.

In-House And Agency SEO Are Different Games

The biggest difference between agency and in-house work is the scope.

In agencies, you go broad. Inhouse, you go deep.

Agency work exposes you to many sites and problems. It’s a great point to start an SEO career because you get such a good grasp of various issues, industries, and companies.

The challenges are winning clients, managing accounts, and getting clients to implement your recommendations. What clients want and what they need are not always the same, which you need to juggle.

In-house, you focus on a single site (maybe a few) and deeply immerse yourself in the product and market. You develop vertical expertise and own a bigger part of the process. The challenges are overcoming red tape, getting resources, and prioritizing the right work.

The part that will follow you on both sides is pitching and selling. You either pitch a client or your boss. So, you might as well get good at it. Keep this in mind because it will come back over and over in this guide.

Matt Howell-Barby:

Working in-house is very different to working agency-side. Similarly, working at a 40 person startup is a world away from a 4,000 employee enterprise org. That said, there are some common truths that apply.

Transitioning

When transitioning from agency to in-house, two traps to avoid are waiting for approval and execution speed.

Consultants need to be very transparent with their work and bill by the hour, but in-house work takes faster execution and decision-making.

Inhouse, you need to ship projects end-to-end, while agency consultants switch focus once recommendations are packaged and delivered. Many consultants experience a “culture shock” when switching to an in-house role.

In-House SEO As A Manager Vs. IC

Your experience and focus point vary based on whether you have management responsibility or not.

Oftentimes, your career will lead you from individual contributor (IC) to manager. With that jump, your in-house experience changes tremendously.

Jordan Silton:

Not every in-house SEO role is the same. Some are truly individual contributor technical analyst roles that are similar to agency life. Others are closer to product managers and are embedded with engineers on agile/scrum teams.

Still others are more senior and strategic and need to be able to influence across the organization well beyond product and marketing teams. And finally there are lots of content roles that sometimes are connecting and other times are quite separate from technical in-house teams. In house SEO is not one thing.

One of the most important skills for contributors is working on the right projects and doing good work.

It’s easy to have too much on your plate if you don’t push back. But pushing back elegantly is a skill in itself.

Share your priorities with your manager and let them redefine them instead of saying yes to everything. Hold them accountable for giving you impactful projects you can build your career on.

Not every task has to be exciting, but a big part of tour work should clearly ladder up to strategically important initiatives.

Managers, on the other hand, need leadership and management skills.

Leadership is the art of persuading people to do something. You don’t need to have direct reports to demonstrate this skill, by the way. Management is the process of setting the right goals, hiring the right people, and executing well.

At Shopify, we used a framework to collect the main tasks of managers:

• Aim -> strategy.
• Assemble -> hiring.
• Achieve -> execution.

Keep in mind that not everyone is cut out or wants to be a manager. I have promoted several contributors to managers who regretted their choice shortly after. The best companies open contributor tracks up to the highest levels and define clear career paths.

The idea of internal advocacy work is to educate and motivate people so well about SEO they want to contribute. Advocacy is a hard but effective way to scale SEO throughout a company without a large team.

Positively reinforce contributions from outside the SEO team with recognition on messengers, email, or internal wikis to incentivize more “good” behavior.

At Atlassian, we had the saying, “Do good work and talk about it.”

A big part of advocacy is regular and irregular progress updates.

• Weekly reports with progress updates for close stakeholders and monthly reports for broader organization members create alignment and spark questions.
• Ad-hoc memos with insights that benefit the whole company invite others to problem-solve with you.
• Annual or semi-annual reports with state-of-SEO overview can set the tone for future strategies and address decision-makers at a time they think about budget and resource allocation. Include broad trends, call out teams and individuals who support SEO and highlight threats. Release annual reports in time for (next year) planning.

Bottom Line: Ship Career-Making Projects

In-house SEO is a skill you can improve by deflecting distractions, being thoughtful about your (meta) work outside the craft work, and working on company-making projects.

Some projects that made my (inhouse) career:

• Turning the organic traffic trend on Dailymotion around.
• Countless migrations, kickstarting a community, growing blog traffic, and growing the third-party app marketplace at Atlassian.
• Landing several big bets that grew organic traffic and hiring an A-class team at G2.
• Restructuring the SEO org, bringing on a-class talent, and unifying domains at Shopify.

Luck certainly plays a role, but it’s even more important to keep an eye out for big, promising projects and fully lean into them. None of those projects would have mattered on paper. They only mattered because they shipped.

Of course, I worked on many projects that didn’t work out and failed many times.

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal