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Copyright © 2013 PM Digital. All rights reserved. This information is deemed PROPRIETARY and CONFIDENTIAL by PM Digital. Unauthorized use or disclosure is prohibited. 1
SCALING SEO WITHIN AN AGENCY
BY RICHARD CHAVEZ, VICE PRESIDENT OF SEOSEPTEMBER 26, 2013
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Creating a SEO practice in an already 20-year established agency was the biggest challenge of my career. Creating a practice that is competitive, profitable and scalable is the holy-grail. With limited resources this took a lot of planning, trial-and-error, time and patience.
About PM Digital About Me Creating a SEO Practice in an Established Agency
• Benefit to the Agency
• Challenges Journey to Success
• Understanding Strengths and Weaknesses
• Initial Success and More Investment
• More Success / Greater Recognition / Integration / Further Advancement
• Continuum of Development and Improvement Case Studies
OVERVIEW
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ABOUT PM DIGITAL
Digital Agency servicing clients in retail, financial services, non-profit, CPG and more
Primary service offerings: SEO, SEM, Display, Email Marketing, Social Media and Creative
Clients include The North Face, Kirkland’s, Steve Madden, Burt’s Bees, Cricket Wireless and many more
8 clients in the Internet Retailer Top 100 Based in New York with offices in
Scottsdale, AZ, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Columbia, SC
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ABOUT ME
Vice President of SEO at PM Digital 14 years of SEO experience (client side
and agency side) Cloaking to Today’s Best Practices
World Traveler Visited over 20 countries and speak
four languages Rockin’ Guitar Player
Shared the stage with Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Robin Trower, Big Head Todd and Blackberry Smoke
I’m also the “nerd” that wrote the very first SEO rock song “Bot, Bot, Bot Let Me Show You What I Got” in 2006
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Creating a SEO Practice in an Established Agency
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SEO can be a very valuable revenue stream for agencies and enables them to deepen client relationships
SEO on average drives 30% of total client site traffic1
Investment in SEO continues to grow and at a faster pace than SEM and other channels
With 85% of Search Engine Result Page (SERP) real estate allocated for natural search2, SEO is a very powerful channel that cannot be ignored
BENEFIT TO THE AGENCY
1. Avg. SEO contribution to total site traffic, PM Digital Study2. Comscore
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CHALLENGES
Sounds like a “no-brainer” – right? Wrong! Agency and a lot of SEO talent was in NY
I was in Scottsdale, AZ This significant and new investment
brought-on a lot of pressure to show ROI and prove the model for the agency
Other divisions (ex. SEM) had established client budgets, resources and trust
I inherited a mess of dated deliverables (SEO products) and few resources (one employee and free SEO tools)
These limitations took a lot of planning, trial-and-error, time and patience to persevere
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Journey to Success
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JOURNEY TO SUCCESS
How PM Digital grew a thriving SEO practice and more importantly, the steps taken to financially sustainability and scalability.
Understanding Strengths & Weaknesses
Initial Success & More
Investment
More Success / Greater
Recognition / Integration /
Further Advancement
Continuum of Development & Improvement
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Understanding Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths• Enthusiastic team
• Current staff adapted quickly to new direction• Support from Sr. management
• New product & pricing• Created products based on real client need and competitor
weaknesses• Overhauled several SEO products (tech, optimization, reporting, link
building, etc.) to add greater value• Developed retainer model (very common with client renewals – sign of
client trust)
Understanding Strengths & Weaknesses
Initial Success & More Investment
More Success / Greater
Recognition / Integration /
Further Advancement
Continuum of Development & Improvement
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Understanding Strengths and Weaknesses
Weaknesses• Created all client strategy, new bus pitches• Executed and presented all advanced deliverables• Used free tools and excel for all reporting
• 40 hrs./month minimum on reporting• Silos within the agency
In the Weeds
Understanding Strengths & Weaknesses
Initial Success & More Investment
More Success / Greater
Recognition / Integration /
Further Advancement
Continuum of Development & Improvement
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INITIAL SUCCESS & MORE INVESTMENT
Hired experienced Biz Dev Support Won new accounts and grew existing accounts
• Thorough client review during pitch and renewal with biz dev Recruited experienced talent, some from out of geo area
• Hired a manager to handle day-to-day activities
• Developed team structure and career path Invested in team training and education programs (SEMPO, team
training[ account management, innovation/knowledge transfer])
• Team’s overall SEO expertise grew
– Promoted strong performers
• Requiring less of my time on client work
Analyst
Strategist
Sr. Strategist
Manager
Director
Understanding Strengths & Weaknesses
Initial Success & More Investment
More Success / Greater
Recognition / Integration /
Further Advancement
Continuum of Development & Improvement
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INITIAL SUCCESS & MORE INVESTMENT
Invested in SEO analytics/reporting technology (SEO Clarity)
• 400% increase in productivity with reporting/analytics
• Agency partner contributing to product roadmap to fit agency model
– Automated SEO reporting Time is spent on analysis and
insights vs. producing charts
– Client dashboards
– Blended reporting: partner with SEM (secured increase in client SEM spend)
Shared success upstream (sr. mgmt.) Moved to bigger office
• Now in third office space due to constant growth
Understanding Strengths & Weaknesses
Initial Success & More Investment
More Success / Greater
Recognition / Integration /
Further Advancement
Continuum of Development & Improvement
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INITIAL SUCCESS & MORE INVESTMENTUnderstanding
Strengths & Weaknesses
Initial Success & More Investment
More Success / Greater
Recognition / Integration /
Further Advancement
Continuum of Development & Improvement
SEO’s Contribution to Total Site Performance
Automated SEO KPI Reporting
Automated SEO / SEM Blended
Reporting
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MORE SUCCESS / GREATER RECOGNITION / INTEGRATION / FURTHER ADVANCEMENT Won several new accounts and grew/retained existing accounts
• Agency/SEO became competitive with bigger agencies
– Won several RFPs against competitors
Developed New / Advanced SEO Products and Client Strategy
• Local SEO
• Search Behavior Research
– Search Informed Strategies
Taxonomy
Content marketing
– SEO/SEM/Social Collaboration & Action Items
• Cross-Channel Reporting (greater collaboration)
– SEO / SEM (ecommerce and lead-gen)
– SEO / PLA
• SEO as a Multi-Channel Hub
– In-market campaigns influence online behavior (top down)
– Search-Informed Strategy
Growth & Success is recognized throughout the agency
Understanding Strengths & Weaknesses
Initial Success & More
Investment
More Success / Greater
Recognition / Integration /
Further Advancement
Continuum of Development & Improvement
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MORE SUCCESS / GREATER RECOGNITION / INTEGRATION / FURTHER ADVANCEMENT
Understanding Strengths & Weaknesses
Initial Success & More
Investment
More Success / Greater
Recognition / Integration /
Further Advancement
Continuum of Development & Improvement
Blue = thermoballRed = better than nakedSource: Growth in search demand, Google Insights
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MORE SUCCESS / GREATER RECOGNITION / INTEGRATION / FURTHER ADVANCEMENT
Continued team investment
Acquired competing agency
• Integrated SEO team and accounts
• Increased staff in NY and AZ
• Continued to promote strong performers (AZ and NY)
Launched Account Management Team
• Reduces communication issues from previous silos
• Enables SEO team to focus on SEO work (fewer hats)
– Team focuses on core competencies
Continued investment with SEO Clarity
• More advanced SEO reporting and client insights
– Term Not Provided
– Share of Voice Rankings
– Forecasting Model
– Industry Performance Benchmarks (retail)
– Data analysis for industry insights
• Advance SEO products and selling capabilities
– Local, Schema
Understanding Strengths & Weaknesses
Initial Success & More
Investment
More Success / Greater
Recognition / Integration /
Further Advancement
Continuum of Development & Improvement
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18Copyright © 2013 PM Digital. All rights reserved. This information is deemed PROPRIETARY and CONFIDENTIAL by PM Digital. Unauthorized use or disclosure is prohibited.
MORE SUCCESS / GREATER RECOGNITION / INTEGRATION / FURTHER ADVANCEMENT
Understanding Strengths & Weaknesses
Initial Success & More
Investment
More Success / Greater
Recognition / Integration /
Further Advancement
Continuum of Development & Improvement
1. % of natural search traffic by page one rank (top PMD client trafficked sites, June 2013)
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CONTINUUM OF DEVELOPMENT & IMPROVEMENT
Reporting and analytics continue to evolve
• Based on current and future client needs
• Based on perpetual changes in SEO
• Continued efficiencies (increased productivity)
– Site clarity
– Share of Voice
– Integration of 3rd party data (GWT, Majestic, Moz) Requires team to use fewer tools
SEO product offering continues to expand and evolve
• Innovation of current products with regular review (reality check)
• Develop new products, business intelligence and thought leadership
Understanding Strengths & Weaknesses
Initial Success & More Investment
More Success / Greater
Recognition / Integration /
Further Advancement
Continuum of Development & Improvement
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CONTINUUM OF DEVELOPMENT & IMPROVEMENT
Business model and processes are evangelized throughout the agency
• Measured growth, profitability, workflow
• Established hiring model
• Process is integrated/replicated in other channels
• SEO is now the fastest growing division within PM Digital
• PM Digital is now becoming a SEO employment destination
– Growth path is readily available for strong performers Over 2/3 of SEO team has been promoted in less than three years
Understanding Strengths & Weaknesses
Initial Success & More Investment
More Success / Greater Recognition / Integration / Further
Advancement
Continuum of Development & Improvement
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KEY TAKEAWAYS
Share successes when they occur Reinvest success early-on to create greater efficiencies for the future:
• Staff
• Technology Recognize and reward team contribution
• Success alone is not sustainable Partner with other channels and make them aware of the benefit to
them (WIIFM)
• Helps reduce silos
• Deepens client relationships
• Access to valuable data Be humble
• There is always something to learn
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CASE STUDY
Challenge: A PM Digital Search Behavior Study of non-branded western wear revealed
that the SEM campaign only had coverage for 2% of the terms analyzed in the study
With little SEM support, the SEO performance of these terms was low even though rankings were strong
Client competitors received a lot of traffic from these terms
Solution: New SEM non-brand campaigns and increased spend (yearly budget was
already sealed, but client did approve additional spend)
Results: The increased coverage and spend led to a 25% increase in competitive
SEM clicks in Q4 2012
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CASE STUDY
Challenge: Bedding retailer carried multiple brands and had
strong sales and rankings for the brands at the carried While the SEO success was strong, it was limited to
top and bottom levels of the sales funnel Blended SEO/SEM data showed strong SEM traffic
and high consumer search demand, but low conversions for mid-tier searches (sub-category / brand + product type), content did not exist
Solution: PM Digital created sub-category pages at the
Narrowing Stage for three top-selling brands
• Pages went live in early October 2012
Results: SEO orders increase: Q4 YOY: 32% SEO revenue increase: Q4 YOY: 27%
General Interest(bedding)
Investigational(brand + bedding)
Narrowing(brand + product
type (fitted sheet)
Conversion(brand + product name
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THANK YOU!
Richard ChavezVice President, SEOPM [email protected] : http://blog.pmdigital.com/ Twitter: @PMDigital @richardachavez