Companies and businesses widely accept SEO as an essential tool for digital marketing. And its importance and potential benefits for businesses are increasing daily with technological advancement.
But for SEO to be truly effective and reach its full potential, it needs to have an impact across the length and breadth of the business.
Now, to address this, the concept of SEO-First thinking or philosophy comes into play. Despite its name, the SEO-First philosophy does not imply that the views and objectives of the SEO department of the company take precedence over other departments. Instead, it refers to considering SEO implications and requirements right from the initial stages of any project or initiative. By adopting an SEO-First mindset, companies can ensure that their efforts are optimized for search engines, leading to better visibility, increased traffic, and improved ROI.
SEO-First aims to increase the importance and benefits of SEO to all stakeholders. And also have the company treat the SEO problems as not an afterthought but a primary issue.
Why Is SEO-First Important?
If SEO is negatively impacted, recovering may take a long time and effort. It can take months for rankings and organic traffic to recover; in some extreme cases, it may never recover.
SEO-First is essential because it makes companies consider what effect a new business policy may have on SEO. And this, in turn, prevents any mistakes that may harm website ranking and organic traffic flow.
Visit: SEO first principles
How To Encourage SEO-First Thinking For Overall Company Growth?
An SEO team alone cannot efficiently use search engine optimization to promote a brand or product successfully. They need help from content developers, project managers, product developers, and clients or owners.
Moreover, spreading awareness about the importance and benefits of SEO is essential. Following are some of the ways by which you can encourage SEO-First thinking for overall company growth.
Identifying Key Stakeholders And Departments
To encourage the SEO-First philosophy, you must first analyze and identify key stakeholders and departments whose work can influence SEO. These stakeholders can be someone from the senior leadership or from outside the company.
Departments such as Engineering or Content Development can directly influence how the website works and its visual attractiveness. Marketing and Customer Service departments are also included in the list as they impact the company’s branding.
We can use SEO more successfully by introducing the SEO-First concept among these key individuals and departments, and it will ultimately lead to the company’s growth.
Study The Impact Of All Departments On SEO
After identifying impacting parties, you must create a matrix to sort them. This matrix will help you understand the benefit level and harm each department can cause.
Identifying Key Individuals In The Department
After sorting, identify key individuals in high and medium risk and reward departments. These individuals will help you spread awareness about SEO’s benefits and impact in your department.
After identifying the key individuals, you must help them understand the importance of SEO by educating them about the department-specific SEO impact.
Conclusion
For SEO to truly support company growth, it is crucial to educate people about the importance and impact of SEO. To achieve this, identifying the cracks in the system is necessary. Consequently, training key individuals to make them understand the department-specific effects of SEO is essential. This will help them realize the significance of SEO and its potential for the company’s growth.
SEO needs to be the marketing center in today’s age, But it will take time and strong leadership for a company to shift to SEO-First.