The Art of SEO

Solutions for Large Organizations

The challenges of performing SEO for a large organization are a bit different from those for a small organization. This is true regardless of whether you are working from an in-house position or are an outsourced SEO consultant. Some of the challenges can stem from the size of the site, which can range from 10,000 to 10 million pages.

Large organizations are usually complex entities, and many of these organizations may make these decisions by committee, or review all decisions with a committee before finalizing them.

Many important projects (SEO or otherwise) can be delayed or even canceled in a large organization due to a lack of understanding by a single key player. In the world of SEO, efforts are often delayed by someone in IT/development, marketing, sales, or management—and it can be challenging to get a meeting with the people you need to persuade, let alone accomplish the task of persuading them.

Patience and persistence are essential, and adhering to the following large-organization SEO guidelines is recommended:

• Get buy-in, if you can, from the head of IT, the head of marketing, the head of sales, and senior management. Those people will likely control your fate. If you can get two or three department heads and senior management on board, you should be in good shape.

• Always make sure you talk about opportunity cost. Make sure all people involved understand they’re leaving X visitors on the table every day, and that at the current conversion ...