The importance of SEO cannot be overstated as the majority of business transactions begin as an internet search and according to the online advertising network Chitika, the top listing on a search engine results page (SERP) attracts 92 percent of the total traffic from a given search. More companies are understanding the importance of search engine marketing (SEM) to their overall marketing goals and many have even hired staff to handle certain SEO roles in house. Effective search engine marketing is multi-faceted and requires a team to work on a combination of SEO strategies that each help to achieve a company’s marketing goals. This guide defines the essential SEO roles that a company must assign in order to effectively manage their search engine marketing.
Content Writing
Content writing is widely considered the most important aspect of search engine marketing as demonstrated by the time honored SEO industry saying, “Content is king.” Short forms of content shared over social media networks do not bring in as much search traffic as more valuable, long-form content, leading to a growth in available jobs for content writers. Many companies have caught on to this trend, hiring in-house staff writers and guest bloggers to create engaging, long-form content that their audience will find valuable.
Not all content writers hired for the marketing department of a company are acquainted with the basics of SEO which could result in the creation of keyword-heavy content. It is important for content writers to understand that the keywords are secondary to creating quality content that should address and solve a problem and be presented in a way that it can be easily consumed with sub sections, lists, relevant links, and graphics. Once you have created valuable and easily consumable content, there are a number of things that can be done to boost its potential to go viral such as using numbers and images. This infographic from Website Magazine provides more detail on ways to boost the viral potential of your content.
Another challenge faced by content writers is consistently coming up with fresh content to keep their audience engaged. There are several sources you can use to come up with content that will satisfy your audience such as trending topics on your social media outlets and direct concerns or frequently asked questions from customers. Topics for content creation should be put into an editorial calendar to keep track of ideas and make sure that the content writers are consistently creating useful content.
In the past, companies have run content marketing campaigns separate from internet marketing but as more searching and advertising is done on the internet, more companies have combined their original content marketing with their SEO strategies.
Social Media Managers
It is largely unclear how a company’s social media profiles affect its search engine rankings but social media marketing is still important for sharing content and engaging with the audience. Content is much more likely to get clicks and be shared by others when shared on social media which benefits the overall search engine marketing campaign. There are a number of tools available to social media managers that allow for post scheduling and provide information on the best times to post based on levels of engagement including Hootsuite, Buffer, and Facebook Insights. It may be beneficial to have an editorial calendar to create consistent social media posts and sharing links to new blogs, web pages, or promotions on social media can help boost the traffic to a company’s website.
Website Designers and Developers
The design and content of a website have a major effect on its search engine rankings and web designers who are familiar with SEO create websites with features that can help improve its rankings in the search engines. In house web designers must have a good understanding of the main principles of SEO because websites must have SEO friendly elements incorporated into the design to rank well in search engines. It is of absolute importance that your in-house web designer can create mobile friendly web designs because websites that do not have a responsive design to display on mobile devices do not rank well. A mobile friendly website will also engage your audience more because more people are searching for products and services on mobile devices than laptop or desktop computers. For more information on how to design websites for SEO, check out this article from Website Magazine.
SEO: In-House or Outsource?
More companies are incorporating SEO into their overall marketing strategies because SEO has proven to be one of the best B2B strategies with a high ROI. While some are doing their own SEO in-house according to the roles discussed above, there are also many companies that outsource their SEO strategies to internet marketing agencies. There are advantages and disadvantages of each approach as handling much of your SEO marketing in house will give you complete control over every strategy and ensure that it is done by employees who know your company and audience well. Hiring an internet marketing firm to handle the SEO marketing can help reduce the overall cost of the marketing campaign and ensure that well informed professionals are using the best strategies available to achieve your specific goals.
Whether it is better to outsource SEO marketing or handle it in-house really depends on the goals and budget of the company. The advantages and disadvantages of each option are covered much more extensively in our blog SEO: In-House or Outsource.
If you are interested in how the SEO professionals of Proceed Innovative can work with your company to help you achieve your marketing goals, contact us online or by calling (800) 933-2402.
