May 8, 2014
Overlapping Job Responsibilities: Finding the Right Mix
A recent post here on SEO Savvy discussed the need for digital marketing teams to include both creative, right-brain thinkers and more analytical, left-brain thinkers, as well as the need to embrace where you fall on the spectrum in order to best take advantage of the skill sets that both hemispheres offer. Leveraging a mix of thinking styles to create a balanced team is key to success in today’s ever-shifting market environment.
Taking this line of thought one step further, shouldn’t there be more overlap between the technical aspects of SEO, web development, paid search and content development? Disregarding the whole “content vs. SEO” debate, the two aren’t mutually exclusive — and your marketing budget shouldn’t be, either.
Often, budgets are allocated to paid search, SEO or content development, and never shall they meet. But in reality, the lines between these groups are blurred — and they must work together to achieve success. Content is still king — actually, in light of Google’s move to semantic search, the royal reign is more secure than ever — but the rest of technical SEO is the queen that stands behind the king, ensuring that the royal decrees are actually turning a profit for the kingdom.
Content and SEO: Quantitative Results Prove Elusive
Adobe’s 2014 Digital Trends Report highlights the importance of content, placing customer experience and content marketing among the most exciting current priorities. That’s as it should be, because the quality of your content is what differentiates your brand to your customers across channels.
And thanks to your hardworking, right-brained creative department, you’ve got a handle on unique, relevant, engaging content that’s filled with brilliant insights; but you need those left-brainers to do keyword research, tweak the keywords, crunch the numbers, optimize the pages and ensure that the amazing content is being indexed — and most of all, figure out if it’s actually driving traffic, engagement and sales.
But linking ROI to content is somewhat of a marketing holy grail that’s frustrated marketers for years, especially given the fact that a survey from BrightEdge found that 78% of marketers see connecting content to ROI as a goal that’s increasing in importance. So what’s the key to making that link?
Connecting Holistically Across Departments
In a nutshell, it takes a team to identify opportunity, produce great content, get it indexed, and then evaluate its efficiency, all while incorporating a seamless process. But with planning and collaboration, it can be done. You already have the tools you need; consider that:
- You’ve got content writers and social media experts who create engaging content
- You’ve got organic search experts who are skilled at optimizing pages and content for opportunity
- You’ve got web developers that are great at programming automation
- You’ve got a paid search marketing team that have a wealth of performance & ROI data
Instead of segmentation, SEO, web development, paid search and content creators should work together to create unique content that’s orchestrated to be compelling, engaging, targeted, indexable, measurable and results-driven. Utilize cross training between departments to ensure that each is incorporating the important techniques successfully. Make sure each group is aware of the most important elements for success of their counterparts. For instance, teach content creators how to do keyword research and optimize content to enhance organic search results during the creation process. Organic and paid search marketing teams should share performance data with all teams to better understand what is driving sales.
These skill sets work together to create the whole package — so maybe it’s time to quit compartmentalizing teams into the creative/analytical dichotomy. Stop looking at content, SEO web development and paid search as independent groups, stashed in separate boxes; instead, shift your perception to see the entities as part of an overarching whole.
