Today we have a very special guest with us and someone who really needs no introduction in the In-House SEO world. Over the years she has carried forward the In-House SEO baton and has really been vocal in the industry for moving the In-House SEO agenda forward. Her speaking engagements, her writing, her interactions, her consulting work have helped many In-House SEO’s navigate the complex waters of managing SEO inside an organization. We are glad to have with us today Jessica Bowman.

(Watch video interview with Jessica Bowman below or read the full transcript)

Bob Tripathi: Jessica, welcome to Instant E Training and so glad to have you today. Now i know that besides being an authority on in-house SEO you have also driven the agenda or carried the baton for in-house SEO. In your view what are the trends you see for in-house SEO and which are the top 3 challenges for folks doing SEO in-house?

Jessica Bowman: The trend is clearly to bring SEO in-house and in terms of challenges what we are seeing right now are struggling to get respect in their organization and really be heard. Partially because where they are in terms of organization structure like in a low specialist or in a SEO coordinator title as that kinds of title does not really get them the respect with someone like an IT architect or senior level in IT and then somebody from marketing comes on and tells a senior level IT manager to how to structure URL or how they need to handle session ID’s. There are lot of complex level SEO changes that needs to be influenced but they are giving that role to someone who is not experienced or seasoned enough to influence that kind of change.

We are also finding that everyone in the organization needs to help with SEO and i think that is what is holding lot of companies back as they think that we have an SEO or SEM team on board so it is their job to get it done so why should they help. But SEO does not work like that and in order to have a successful SEO program it needs inputs from everyone in the organization. So many things can go wrong along the way that it happens after you get checked in with seo. there is a lot that happens  there.
The 3rd challenge is education where you are not educating enough in your organization so you want to make sure that everyone in your organization knows about SEO.

Bob Tripathi: Lately, i have seen lot of VP’s and C-level executives talk about social media but i hardly remember these executives talking so much about SEO. Why do think it is like that?
Jessica Bowman: That’s a really good question. Because SEO is a little bit foreign and very difficult to implement in some organizations because of it’s complexity and they don’t understand. It is a vague thing to count impressions or clicks they cannot measure and a variety of things that make it difficult and when somebody finally sits down to understand SEO , many in-house seo’s end up using their in-house seo lingo. You have to translate that into executive terminolgy and that is what lot of people haven’t done. Sometimes it is because someone hasn’t been in the workforce for long enough or are not high enough in the organization to know what terminology to use with executives.

Bob Tripathi: Great point. how or when or why you should make the case to bring seo in-house and not let outside agencies manage your SEO program?
Jessica Bowman: Lot of it depends how much complexity you have within your organization and also how complex is your website. If you have small organization, then you are very nimble then you do not need it to bring SEO in-house as the outside agencies can do it faster. However, if your organization is large and complex then you are much better off bringing SEO in-house. That is because you have to do lot of selling and i call it the 80:20 rule where you are selling SEO 80 percent of your time whereas only 20 percent of your time actually doing SEO. Even if you do outsource SEO there is still lot of work that needs to happen in-house like constantly walking the halls pitching things and making sure everybody is thinking of SEO.

Bob Tripathi: I have seen lot of different ways to model In-House SEO teams like a Center of Excellence model, fully outsourced model, or even a hybrid model. What in your opinion is the best way to model your in-house SEO team?
Jessica Bowman: Lot of it depends on your organization and how complex and political it is that is a huge factor at play if it is political in nature. If it is a larger organization you may need decentralized resources that sit in different business units. If it is a smaller organization one person would probably work. If your site is very complex enough then i often advise to put SEO in IT. Even if it not forever but put SEO in it so they can build rapport and IT can get a better understanding of how seo works. Most of my career i have sat in IT and not marketing. Lot of companies make this mistake of putting SEO in marketing.
It goes back to that thing where a marketer is trying to tell IT how to define certain technical requirements that no one else in the organization cares about and suddenly you have this new person talking SEO where they do not have that influence. So it depends a lot on what is going on in the company.

Bob Tripathi: Since you have seen it all what piece of advice you would give to our audience on choosing SEo as an career especially in-house SEO?
Jessica Bowman: Doing seo and hopfully build a team but what i like to see is over time this SEO will become more informed role because they would know more about the site than anyone else. In my previous seo experiences at enterprise rent-a-car, business.com and then at Yahoo in the process i ended up learning about the organization that no one else did. I would walk into meetings and then saying so and so makes those changes and we need to go to so and so for this. No one else would know this. They were not directly talking about SEO but i would end up giving them information that even they wouldn’t know about and that makes your role as SEO as all the more valuable.
A good in-house SEO gets his nose in everybody’s business and to be successful in your in-house seo role you need to have that political savviness.

Well, thats it Jessica it was great talking to you and thanks for sharing your insights with us.
Thank You!!

About Jessica Bowman:

Jessica is the founder of SEOinhouse.com, a company on a mission to make in house SEO simpler. She is a leading advocate of in house SEO, started in house SEO programs at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Business.com and Yahoo! Inc.

Jessica writes for Search Engine Land and other search marketing publications, is an international speaker, and works with companies who want to do SEO in house but need the assistance of outside help for extra manpower, senior experience and guidance for building an in house SEO program that runs like a well-oiled machine.

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