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Enterprise SEO Services

Large organizations with large websites usually require enterprise SEO services. An enterprise SEO company executes the same basic SEO activities that apply to "regular" SEO, but with a big difference: Because of the large scale, size, and complexity of the client organization and the client's website itself, execution takes an entirely different, and much more sophisticated, form. Do you need an enterprise SEO firm?

When Enterprise SEO Solutions Are Necessary

Companies that need enterprise SEO solutions have several things in common. Most are big brands with a massive following, but other factors also play into the equation. Here are the most significant attributes of enterprise SEO websites and organizations.

  • Size of the website. Managing SEO for a 500,000-page website requires completely different management techniques than what would apply to a 500- or 5,000-page website. Greater automation is required for creating and updating on-page content, META tags, URLs and on-site linking.
  • Complexity of the website. Websites that integrate with internal systems such as ERP and CRM, and/or include complex interactive functionality (such as customized e-commerce) require skilled back-end development contributions to facilitate SEO.
  • Global SEO needs. When a global company has different websites for different countries and/or languages, or when it has numerous local websites, SEO execution becomes exponentially more complex — for instance, for content creation, and for implementing keyword strategies that prevent having the company's websites cannibalize each other's rankings.
  • Multiple websites. When companies manage multiple websites, such as an e-commerce business that markets under several brands, SEO takes on much greater complexity, similar to how global companies are affected as noted above.
  • Branding guidelines/requirements. Stringent branding guidelines often complicate keyword targeting in on-site and off-site content, as well as with certain META data. Overcoming these challenges is an important part of the enterprise SEO agency's skill set.
  • Legal guidelines for copywriting. Similarly, large organizations often have legal guidelines that affect the SEO effectiveness of website content, the company blog, social media content and other off-site content. The enterprise SEO company must be able to understand the legal parameters and communicate them effectively to its internal team as well as to off-site publishing partners.
  • Complex chain of command. When companies have several departments involved with SEO decision-making and/or execution, the enterprise SEO firm must have extremely strong campaign management skills to keep campaigns running on schedule and on budget. Internal department segmentation often causes resource availability issues, varying priorities, difficulty in obtaining inputs, and other challenges that create delays and continual shifts in SEO tactics.
  • IT control. Large organizations frequently do not allow outside resources — the enterprise SEO services provider, in this case — to make changes to their websites, CMS, or hosting service. This means the SEO company must have the ability to forge and maintain close relationships with the client's IT team — something that is easier said than done.

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Being in a highly specialized niche, we didn’t think SEO would help us generate leads, and we are happy to report that Straight North proved us wrong!

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Not All SEO Agencies Can Deliver Enterprise SEO Services

As has perhaps become obvious from the preceding list of enterprise SEO attributes, not all agencies can provide enterprise SEO solutions. Careful vetting is required to identify a partner capable of delivering results. Important items to consider:

  • Full-time staff versus reliance on freelancers. Enterprise SEO solutions require the involvement of many SEO specialists, including strategists, researchers, analysts, SEO technicians, copywriters, content marketers, designers, front-end developers and back-end developers. To maintain continuity, the SEO firm must have a staff with redundancy in key positions and completely under its control. Relying on freelancers makes campaigns overly dependent on the availability of a single individual.
  • Sophisticated content marketing capabilities. For enterprise SEO, content creation and marketing are much more demanding than knocking out a few off-site blog posts every month. The enterprise SEO agency must be skilled in enterprise content management systems, building high-level relationships with publishers, creating content strategies, managing high-volume editorial calendars, copywriting, research, and editing.
  • Strong development capabilities. On-site optimization for an enterprise website requires front-end and back-end modifications that must be executed to perfection, either directly by the SEO firm or by the internal IT staff under its close direction. The SEO firm must have a strong grasp of Web design, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, JQuery, Ajax, MySQL, Apache, and Linux, to name a few.
  • Strong campaign management. Enterprise SEO campaigns have a multitude of moving parts on the agency end, the client end, and with outside entities such as the hosting service and publishing websites. If the SEO campaign is not carefully and competently managed by a person highly skilled in project management, campaign execution will unravel.

When evaluating an enterprise SEO firm, look at relationship factors as well as technical expertise. The firm you choose should be one with whom you enjoy working, because there will be a lot of interaction throughout, from developing the strategy, to day-to-day execution, to formal campaign performance reviews. If you and other key decision-makers are comfortable with the business style and professionalism of the SEO firm, the relationship — and the results — are very likely to improve significantly year after year.

Need help with your enterprise SEO campaign? Give us a call today at 855-779-7675 or request a quote now.