SEO campaign management is the backbone of every optimization process. Through management, marketers can maximize their performance within search engine results pages and ensure clients’ satisfaction. Even more important than that, SEO campaign management improves resource utilization and irons out the daily operation kinks.
In this article, we’ll explain the term and why it’s so important for providers. After that, we’ll talk about marketers’ duties, different managerial duties, and how it all comes together within the dynamic digital marketing field.
Why Is SEO Campaign Management Important?
Search engine optimization campaigns are extremely complex and involve numerous processes, such as technical SEO, local SEO, content marketing, and link building. An efficient SEO campaign requires several specialized teams that work independently, rarely interfering with each other.
The manager holds all the strings in his hands, deciding where the team needs to put most of their efforts. He also determines how the budget should be allocated and whether the SEO campaign requires more links or blog posts. Otherwise, there’s a good chance that the process will drive subpar results, often causing a loss of clients.
What Is the Focus of SEO Management?
During SEO campaigns, managers have to overlook various tasks pertaining to overall SEO strategy, different optimization processes, and employee management while working with external entities. Among other things, they need to do the following:
- Establish primary and secondary goals
- Develop a feasible SEO strategy
- Assemble teams of experts
- Subscribe to the best SEO tools
- Introduce internal procedures and compliance
- Create schedules and workflows
- Establish a joint channel of communication
- Train staff and oversee their work
- Create periodic reports for the clients
Due to the complexity of SEO campaigns, managers should embody numerous positive character traits. Besides understanding search engine algorithms and various digital marketing tasks, they should empathize with the employees and serve as great mentors. They need to lead by example and be diligent during daily operations.
Most importantly, managers should be flexible enough to quickly switch up SEO campaign focus depending on how well (or poorly) things are going.
Main Duties of an SEO Campaign Manager
If we were to sum it up, a manager’s job comes down to four unique tasks. Besides planning and organizing the process, their job is also to motivate employees and evaluate results without any bias. Here’s what each of these duties entails.
Strategizing
Like any other process of this sort, search engine optimization starts with setting goals and creating a viable SEO campaign strategy. Most companies use this digital marketing approach to boost their organic traffic, but there are also those who prioritize brand awareness or might utilize SEO to boost other marketing tactics.
During strategizing, the marketer must consider clients’ specific industry needs. Verticals get different search traffic and will vary in project difficulty. Depending on the industry, you will also need to use unique approaches for content creation and outreach.
Organizing
Organization is often a neglected aspect of an SEO campaign. During this step, managers decide which software would be more suitable for the campaign’s needs, and they assign roles to employees. The human aspect is especially important as friction between staff can have a disastrous effect.
The good thing about organizing SEO campaigns is that most of these things are done in advance. In other words, the company probably has functional teams of specialists and well-established workflows that suit specific clients’ needs.
Managing
Although most people perceive SEO as a highly technical field (which it is), we can’t neglect there are humans behind all these tasks. These experts need to be instructed on what’s expected of them. Furthermore, you should provide them with resources that would maximize their efficiency.
Besides mentoring, your task is to establish a clear line of communication between different teams and to create a hierarchy. This will save you a lot of time and arguments down the line, ensuring that every person knows what’s expected from them. As if that wasn’t enough, managers should motivate workers, helping them overcome repetitive daily routines.
Evaluating
Search engines are moving, almost breathing, entities. Their algorithms change all the time, so we need to change with them. Furthermore, even if you’re the biggest expert in the world, you’ll always encounter new challenges when taking on specific projects or working for specific industries.
Because of that, it’s vital that you periodically evaluate results and make adjustments when needed. Most importantly, you should determine how far or close you are to clients’ expectations, as this will affect whether the company stays with you.
5 SEO Campaign Managerial Styles
Over time, business experts have developed various managerial approaches. A person in charge can assume the position of an empathic helper or rule with an iron fist, only considering the end results.
The managerial style is every bit as important as your ability to strategize, affecting how well employees understand their roles and assignments. Here’s a breakdown of each approach and what it looks like in practice.
1. Coaching
As the name implies, the coaching approach is ideal for SEO teams with many young employees. The marketer takes on the role of a mentor, slowly developing their talent and introducing them to the world of online marketing.
This tactic is especially great for companies that work on a limited budget. While young employees might not have the same expertise as their veteran peers, companies can still generate a lot of value from them with proper guidance. Among other things, the coaching approach alleviates the pressure from the team, allowing employees to grow and be creative.
2. Democratic
Democratic SEO management implies that a manager is willing to listen to employees and take their feedback into account. In a way, it’s a method of running an SEO campaign by a committee, where everyone’s input can be utilized to improve internal and external processes.
However, things tend to get chaotic with the democratic style as some people have poorly conceptualized ideas. Some might also feel neglected if you don’t consider their feedback. Nevertheless, the tactic is fantastic for veteran SEO teams who know what works and what doesn’t.
3. Authoritative
The authoritative style is ideal for managers who are confident in their actions. As someone who has worked in the industry for a while and has achieved high search engine rankings for numerous clients, they don’t need assistance from others.
The main benefit of the authoritative style is that it’s much quicker. Decisions are made on the fly, making it perfect for dynamic verticals. It also works well for teams with lots of young, inexperienced staffers.
4. Visionary
This managerial approach is much more efficient for veteran teams but can also work for younger employees. Basically, the staff needs to use an SEO workflow per the company’s mission and vision. While the main priority is still to rank relevant keywords, this must be done without jeopardizing brand identity.
5. Transformational
The transformational style isn’t that common in SEO, although it might help companies struggling to achieve results. This approach focuses on innovation and creativity and gives a lot of freedom to employees. Marketers can tinker with all sorts of tactics and software as long as they have something to show for it.
Step-By-Step SEO Campaign Management Process
So far, we’ve touched on different managerial roles and styles. Now, it’s time to take a look at what SEO campaign management looks like in practice and all its intricacies.
Determining Goals
Before a provider can start an SEO campaign, they need to have a sit-down with the client and ask them about their expectations. Here are some of the most common things that companies ask from their providers:
- Higher organic traffic
- Higher sales and other conversions
- Improved brand awareness
- Creating a basis for other marketing tactics
Keep in mind that many clients don’t know much about the nuances of SEO. Nevertheless, they still understand what they require from marketing. Whether their emphasis is on organic traffic or sales, you should help them achieve these objectives.
Among other things, you need to inquire more about their target keywords, content goals, and general marketing strategy. You also have to consider how SEO tactics and website optimization will affect other clients’ tactics, such as social media marketing and paid advertising.
Creating Strategy and Timelines
SEO is, first and foremost, a long-term branding marketing tactic. As such, it requires a detailed plan and timeliness that would span over the following year or even longer.
People have tried all sorts of methods of dominating search engines. The optimal strategy usually varies based on the current algorithms and the risks a client is willing to take. For the most part, your SEO strategy will be affected by the three following factors:
- The amount and quality of links
- The content quality
- Various on-site factors
Strategies are also heavily affected by the budget. In theory, everyone would like to have high-quality content on their site and get numerous relevant links from top publications. Unfortunately, only a handful of companies can afford such a luxury.
It’s very important that the client is onboard with your proposed plan. SEO strategies usually take a long time to implement and an even longer time to achieve any visible results. During that period, many client businesses get cold feet and pull the plug a bit too early.
Forming a Team
If you’re just starting an SEO agency, you’ll have to assemble a team of specialized marketers that will help you on your journey. You’ll need link builders, web developers, and content writers, and you might even hire someone who will assist with technical aspects (usually handled by the manager himself).
Due to the nature of the process, it makes sense to hire international SEO experts. These marketing professionals come at half a price compared to domestic talent without much of a drop-off in quality. Even better, this kind of team allows you to save money on office utilities, taxes, and other related expenses.
Choosing Software
Like many other digital marketing processes nowadays, SEO is almost completely automated. Companies use sophisticated programs to perform keyword research, reach out to influencers, create web pages and web design, write blog posts, and so on. We can categorize all tools into a few categories:
- Site analysis (Google Search Console, AhRefs, and Google Analytics)
- Technical SEO (Screaming Frog, Google PageSpeed Insights, and GTmetrix)
- Keyword research (Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, and Majestic)
- Link building (Hunter.io, Mozz, and Buzzstream)
- Content creation (Grammarly, SurferSEO, and Frase)
- Outreach (BuzzSumo, Mailchimp, and HubSpot)
It’s worth noting these tools can vary significantly in terms of output quality as well as featured SEO metrics. That being said, there is an “optimal” toolbox you can procure, although we also suggest you stay on your toes and always be on the lookout for new products.
Determining Target Audience
Establishing your target audience is a critical step of the process. In the end, there’s no point in trying to boost organic traffic if the website visitors won’t turn into clients.
For this particular purpose, most marketers use Google Analytics. The software gives you a clear breakdown of users who visited your site, where they come from, and what kind of age group and sex they belong to. Armed with this data, you can easily establish who’s most interested in your content.
Audience targeting goes hand in hand with keyword research. Some phrases bring in visitors who are predominantly looking to acquire knowledge, while other keywords are more commercially oriented. So, besides considering the search volume and difficulty of every keyword, you also need to consider if the incoming visitors can provide sales.
Executing Day-To-Day Processes
Once you set up the basis, it’s time to turn to your daily routine. The entire website optimization process consists of several procedures:
- Technical optimization (checking website indexability, content, errors, and improving various user engagement aspects)
- Keyword research (finding the most lucrative phrases for clients’ businesses)
- Content creation (creating high-quality articles as well as other content that will be posted on external sites)
- Link building and outreach (generating links from reputable publications and performing other PR activities)
- Social media marketing (sharing your posts via Facebook, Instagram, and other major platforms)
- Local optimization (putting the client’s business on Google Maps and trying to increase local awareness)
Although each part of SEO campaign management is important in its own way, daily processes are what separates the wheat from the chaff. Being able to deliver high-quality content and links is what separates top-tier sites from the rest, which is why the daily routine is so important for a project’s success.
Measuring Results and Reporting
A common SEO process involves constant metric checkups. During a week, a marketing manager will assess the number of visitors, their interactions with the site, and conversions that came from this traffic.
Weekly evaluation is crucial for tweaking processes that are providing subpar results. It also allows SEO experts to create comprehensive reports that would allow clients to track the project status.
7 Common Issues During SEO Campaigns
Your ability to maximize SEO strategies hinges on your flexibility and how quickly you can resolve issues. That being said, here are a few potential problems that can blindside you during a campaign:
- Many clients don’t understand the common trajectory of an SEO project. They expect additional sales within a month or two and get disappointed when things don’t go their way. The best way to circumvent these issues is by being transparent from the get-go
- While there’s a lot of overlapping between SEO goals, clients need to be straightforward regarding their needs. That way, you can provide a better assessment and timeliness so they know what to expect
- Sometimes, the project might stall because your managerial approach isn’t suitable for a particular client or industry. Because of that, you might have to be flexible
- Most projects hinge on the talent quality. Because of that, you must create a team that you can rely on long-term. Among others, pay attention to how employees fit their roles and cooperate with other team members
- Try to minimize software costs. Go with free tools whenever you can, and don’t be afraid to use trials if you wish to test new programs
- Consider external factors when designing a campaign. Specifically, pay attention to how easy or hard it is to acquire links within a specific industry or vertical
- Create an open channel of communication with clients and provide them with periodic reports. This will not only build trust but will help ensure they stay with you for a longer period
Due to the complexity of SEO campaigns, something always goes awry. Even if you have an excellent managerial process and workflow, you can expect a few bumps in the road. If you encounter any issues that you can’t overcome, make sure to contact MiroMind!