Thread: SEO At The Enterprise Level

TechCrunch has another interesting post this week, SEO At the Enterprise Level – A Major Flop.

The article talks a lot about why major corporations aren't succeeding at SEO.

It is very encouraging for little guys like me who want to keep living outside "the system."

That's a great article, gives a lot of food for thought with our own efforts.

I often think of picking a company and taking over all of their keywords with a fan site.

The trouble is -- I can't find a company that it exciting enough to build a fan site about.

The closest I can come up with is Dell, and they are pretty savvy at the Internet game. I should pick an easier target.

Arguably, Search Engine Optimization is the process of enhancing a website’s capability to rank higher in search engines (employing phrases pertinent to the site). The site may be an educational, profit, or non-profit means. In all cases, honing the content of the site and its recognition by search engines, plus linking to the site pages by pertinent and reputable sites will help to better position the site.

The logic behind the methods and processes are similar, but using SEO for an enterprise-level company is not the same as with smaller businesses. For starters – the nature of SEO practice in itself is not clearly defined, constantly evolving, and sometimes off-radar.

Here are some differences in the SEO process between enterprise-level and smaller clients:

Stakeholder Volume

Smaller businesses, in general, only have a few stakeholders per project. If the stakeholders conclude that the prospective SEO approach is suitable, implementation follows shortly. Large corporations may comprise several stakeholders who need to absorb and agree with the propositions before implementing them. This may entail consulting with numerous people and giving each of these people recommendations and details.

More than a few meetings may be necessary to convey your message to all concerned. Two departments may have already agreed to the action plans and then postponed output due to a variety of reasons, such as further clarification on certain points. One department may halt the operations of the entire company due to keyword and branding considerations. Situations such as these have a greater likelihood of occurrence on the SEO enterprise level.

Number of Conferences

This is another major distinction between large and small companies – the massive amount of coordination required for the different departments to progress in the right track. The different groups comprise the company’s in-house teams as well as the client’s.

Expansive projects entail heavy workloads typically handled by a team of specialists. Synchronizing the efforts of the members of these teams needs management expertise (not usually called for by lesser engagements). In addition, constantly informing the individual stakeholders, implementing the SEO propositions, and analyzing the results of said propositions normally involve longer conferences (compared to meeting with a few stakeholders in smaller companies). One simple reason behind this is the number of inquiries that people will make about the system.

Time Frame of Execution

Once these amendments have been set, smaller companies conventionally face lesser obstacles to the implementation of these SEO changes. It is not uncommon for enterprise-level clients to go around code regulations or scheduled project deadlines. This practice alters the general timeline of the SEO engagement. These issues must be forecast and the solutions must be identified even at the start of a campaign. This accurately sets expectations and maximizes work output of members involved.

Capacity for Direct Implementation

Another major distinction between enterprise-level companies and small clients would be the faculty to interface with the website directly. Small businesses are often allowed FTP access to use a web design platform (for the implementation of content edits, Meta tags, new title tags, and additional SEO suggestions.

A large client may require a spreadsheet before executing any amendments. The documentation may undergo review and verification at a number of levels to guarantee that all amendments are correct. These documents have to be made in a manner that is presentable, and consistent with company image. This is inconvenient for smaller businesses who do not typically have this degree of citation as part of the process.

Technical Restrictions

Reducing SEO issues with CMS (Content Management Systems) is a common denominator between big businesses and small ones. Various small businesses currently utilize arbitrary CMS programs. These selfsame platforms can be improved with the addition of modules to render them more SEO-compatible.

It is almost unheard of for clients at the enterprise level to lack proprietary CMS programs. This affects the timeline, as teams from outside the company have to familiarize themselves with the platform (compared to those who use relatively widespread CMSs such as Drupal). Progress may also be hindered if the anticipated SEO adjustments to the proprietary system (for example) were already approved but need time before they are effective. These sorts of factors are ordinarily occur more often with SEO enterprise clientele. These factors also need more effort and time (from the SEO manager’s viewpoint).

I wonder whether larger companies actually need SEO, because they have such a high- visibility presence anyway. If this is the case, and I'm not saying that it is, their lack of flexibility regarding SEO might not be an issue.

Originally Posted by keynes

I wonder whether larger companies actually need SEO, because they have such a high- visibility presence anyway. If this is the case, and I'm not saying that it is, their lack of flexibility regarding SEO might not be an issue.

I think that placing well in the search engine results would bring a lot of large companies additional incremental revenue at very low cost -- which can have a very positive impact on profit margins.

These domains tend to be authoritative. The companies normally fail miserably at on-site SEO and they tend to ignore link building almost entirely. In that situation, small investments could yield significant rewards.