I've been reading quite a few audits on big e-commerce websites lately, for some big brands, and they included some recommendations like:The level of influence an SEO has in a large company depends on several factors, including their experience, ability to communicate effectively, and the company's overall approach to SEO.
- Exclude some facet combinations to stop wasting Google crawl budget
- Make sure page depth of products is not too deep, either by improving PLP pagination, or by adding links between similar products to improve PDP discovery
- Add URLs to logged-in places in the robots.txt (like, cart has nothing to do in Google Search)
- Of course, the usual “Duplicate titles, descriptions, h1s”
- The usual “improve Structured Data”
- The “Thin content on PLPs and PDPs”, etc.
As a PM, I’m like: this is great, but it takes months of negotiation to just improve on the first lines. It’s not like it’s super easy to do in development, and I must confess that for some recommendations, I’m actually super skeptical about the true impact on traffic.
As SEO Managers, how do you deal with this? How do you make sure your recommendations are set up? How do you prove the ROI will be positive, while for instance, improving discoverability by Google doesn’t automatically lead to better indexing, and even further, more conversions? Do you have the freedom to implement such highly complex recommendations, which could yet lead to better impact?
Here’s how to increase your influence and get your recommendations implemented:
- Prioritize and prioritize again: Don’t overwhelm developers with a long list of changes. Instead, present a prioritized list with clear explanations of the potential SEO impact. This gives developers a chance to understand the technical aspects and offer their perspective.
- Back up recommendations with data: Don’t rely solely on your expertise. Support your suggestions with case studies, data, and insights from relevant tools. This strengthens your arguments and makes it easier to gain buy-in.
- Involve stakeholders early: Engage with relevant stakeholders like product managers, developers, and marketing teams at the beginning of the process. This allows for open communication and helps you address their concerns from the start.
- Educate stakeholders: Invest in workshops or regular meetings with stakeholders to educate them about SEO best practices. This fosters a better understanding of your recommendations and reduces resistance.
- Highlight success stories: Share past successes from your previous SEO work or from similar projects. This demonstrates the value of your recommendations and encourages trust in your expertise.
A/B testing is an effective strategy for proving the ROI of your recommendations. If you can demonstrate that your changes lead to improved conversion rates, you will have more power to influence website changes.
Remember, building trust and a strong rapport with stakeholders is essential for any SEO to have a significant impact on a large company.