october 2008

This is another entry that bubbled to the top in the marketing contest from last month.  It was submitted by Jason Baer who runs the online marketing consultancy Convince and Convert.

One of the problems I consistently see with SEO execution is the intersection between the SEO company and the client’s in-house Web team and/or the client’s 3rd Party Web team.

Here’s a real-life example that happened to me. I am leaving out the company names of all involved for obvious reasons.

Excellent SEO company is putting together a killer program for e-commerce client. Verbal cue analysis, editorial calendar, backlink outreach, anchor text tweaks, alt image tag optimization. The whole show.

3rd Party company is managing the Web site proper. They are the only ones that can touch the actual site code, per client insistence.

SEO company sends tons and tons of metadata, content, etc. changes to 3rd Party, who installs it on Web site.

Time goes by…..

SEO rankings do not improve. Not one bit.

More backlinks are procured, more editorial is written, etc. More time passes. Still nothing.

Finally, a full audit of the program is ordered by the frustrated client.

It turns out the 3rd Party Web development company was running a semi-bizarre database that essentially rebuilt the site each day. Whenever that happened, it overwrote any changes made to the metadata, etc. As a result, changes to the site were wiped clean each night at midnight. Google indexes fast, but not THAT fast!

A couple of lessons:

1. Fewer cooks in the kitchen is definitely better 2. SEO team really needs access to the site 3. Monitor your work and make sure the great site optimization changes you are making are actually showing up on the live site

Thanks for your entry, Jason.  Great SEO recommendations that never make it to the clients public web server certainly is a frustration that many online marketers are familiar with.

If you’re in Arizona and would like some insight into your web presence, stop by the SEMPO AZ October meeting.  I’ll be sitting in on a panel for their monthly event entitled “Search and Social Media Clinic.”

The panel will be reviewing several web sites, including those submitted by the audience, and providing guidance on search and social marketing as well as site usability.

The event will be held at SkySong in Scottsdale on October 8th from 6pm to 8pm.  For more information on the event, visit the posting on the SEMPO AZ web site.

For more information on what SEMPO AZ has to offer, contact Jason Ferrara (jferrara[at]sempoaz.org) or visit the SEMPO AZ web site.