Some organizations are not equipped—either structurally or financially—to have an entire SEO team. In fact, only one person may be knowledgeable about SEO, and that person may be only a part-time employee. Or there may not be anyone within the organization with the time or skills necessary to optimize the site, so outsourcing may be required.
The amount of time that is needed to perform effective SEO work depends on the size and complexity of the website, as well as the competitiveness of the market space the organization is pursuing. An organization’s size and vertical scope add to the overall complexity of the SEO process. Some of the ways that SEO affects complexity include:
- Keyword research
More pages mean more keyword research. Solid keyword research is needed to help drive the site architecture and content plans.
- Titles and headings
As two of the most powerful on-page SEO ranking factors, titles and headings need to be chosen for every page. For very large sites, you may have to design an algorithmic method to choose these for you.
- Site architecture
Websites should have pages that address the majority of ways in which potential users think about their products and services; and as we covered in Chapter 6, a larger site is likely to have a more complex hierarchy.
- Meta descriptions
Meta descriptions are important because search engines often use an excerpt from your meta description in the SERPs, which influences your site’s click-through rate.
- Link-building efforts
As sites scale, the complexity and need for links grow. You need to research the competition levels of keywords and make plans for link development so that execution neither grossly exceeds nor falls short of the necessary effort.
- Web-based partnerships
Websites of all sizes engage in partnerships and relationships with other entities (charities, businesses, consultants, clients, etc.). SEO professionals know that all of these contain opportunities for acquiring links and link relationships, and that when they are properly leveraged they can result in massive value-adds for the organization. For larger organizations, these partnerships can be more complicated in nature.
- Development platforms and CMSs
The development platforms and CMSs used on larger sites can often create a number of limitations regarding SEO implementation, and frequently require extensive, costly, and time-consuming workarounds before optimization efforts can be implemented.
Building SEO knowledge in-house can be challenging in a small organization where most of the people involved are already handling multiple functions. It is often good to have an SEO consultant on call to answer questions and validate solutions.
Before assigning SEO to existing talent without the budget of an agency, consultant, or contractor, spend $300 to $1,000 to engage an SEO professional to evaluate the aptitude of the person(s) you have in mind for the role. Countless companies have underestimated the specialized skills required for successful SEO. It’s a role unlike any your organization has seen—this person needs the technical skills, marketing panache, and political savvy to work his way into website development processes, and the innovative, outside-the-box thinking that will generate creative solutions to search engine crawler needs. Choosing the wrong person can be a costly mistake in terms of time and missed opportunities.
As with larger organizations, it is still important to develop a basic level of SEO knowledge throughout the organization. SEO still touches management, marketing, and development, and it is important that all of these departments have a basic understanding of the issues.
We will outline some of the ways to effectively and rapidly learn about SEO and build up in-house knowledge in .
Sometimes the ideal solution is to outsource SEO, and one of the biggest advantages of this for a small organization is that it allows the company to access an expert without having to have an internal resource. You can bring in a strong SEO professional almost immediately, whereas creating one in-house would take at least six months, and more likely a year or longer.
Hiring outside help can work effectively, but be sure to follow the guidelines we will discuss in The Case for Working with an Outside Expert and Selecting an SEO Firm/Consultant when selecting an SEO firm.