Enterprise SEO will always be a unique challenge for those who are in the field and doing the work. Most enterprises make changes more slowly than the SEO landscape evolves.
This will be even more true in 2024, given how rapidly AI and tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot are building a presence in how people find information and how much they trust it.
In this article, we’ll touch on key skills, both hard and soft, that I think are critical to enterprise SEO today and beyond.
AI
I’ve gone through my personal thoughts on AI previously, and while I do not use it for content creation, I still use it for other purposes, such as:
- Formula creation.
- Building AppScripts.
- Guiding in the creation of tools to help my own productivity, which I wouldn’t otherwise be able to do myself without a lot more time and effort.
It’s a big issue you can’t ignore if you want to succeed.
1. Using AI on your own day-to-day
Up to 64% of business owners stated that AI would improve business productivity and 42% believe it will streamline job processes, according to Forbes. That is now a blanket expectation for “office” roles like SEO.
Even if, like me, you aren’t keen on using AI-based tools for the creative elements of your role, leverage them to build the processes in the background for your boring, repeatable tasks.
2. Applying AI within SEO
The AI market is expected to reach $407 billion by 2027, and to date, half of U.S. mobile users use voice search every day. Whether you believe that ChatGPT and other LLMs are going to be viable marketing channels, your bosses probably do.
You need to carefully explore how to increase your visibility in ChatGPT. This is a cutting-edge area of SEO with limited resources, but experts like Wil Reynolds, Michael King and Jes Scholz can help. Key points to consider are:
- While a good starting point, ChatGPT does not retrieve answers the same way “People Also Ask” answers seem to.
- Bing’s index powers many current LLM models, like ChatGPT. Use Bing Webmaster Tools more frequently and start digging.
- Understanding RAG, how it works and what triggers it could make or break visibility in LLMs.
Scalability
One of the biggest differentiators of enterprise SEO is scale. It’s not a few hundred pages; it’s a few million, maybe more.
It’s difficult to sit down and actually analyze trends if you aren’t able to analyze to scale. The migration of many to GA4 might only make this more difficult.
I will fully admit that these two particular skills are controversial because I’m still learning them.
3. SQL
With GA4 and the push to create data lakes via BigQuery with your own historical data rather than Google retaining it, you may hit a point in your year-on-year analysis in Google Analytics now within the interface where you may hit a wall, specifically with conversion events.
Even though I haven’t faced this with my clients yet, I’d rather be prepared in advance than learn everything quickly when it happens.
Learning these skills could mean you lessen your reliance on your analytics team for questions about things like year-on-year conversion data and deep dives into why or how that was.
4. Log file analysis
This skill helps you understand how and when Google crawls your website. It also helps you identify if Google is stuck on or repeatedly visits unimportant pages.
While not exactly “pruning,” knowing how Google interacts with your site is increasingly important for crawlability.
Dig deeper: Why server logs matter for SEO
5. Python
While SQL for SEOs is most closely related to data analysis within Google Analytics or your data lake, you can deputize Python to do any number of things, including, but not limited to:
- Identifying user intent.
- Monitoring competitor websites for changes.
- Internal link analysis.
While the late Hamlet Batista’s archive, SEO Pythonistas, is no longer live, he has a range of tutorials here on Search Engine Land to help you kick off your learning journey.
Dig deeper: 5 Python scripts for automating SEO tasks
Brand
SEO is moving closer and closer to the brand team.
Why?
Because Google is able to ingest so many more “brand” signals.
Over the years, Google has built a detailed understanding of brands, similar to its own version of Wikipedia, to grasp their importance and nuances better.
6. PR/digital PR
I’m not saying everyone needs to become an expert in outreach and brand management. However, it’s increasingly important to connect with the people in your company who handle press and PR.
Traditional PR is catching up on SEO and practices like deep-linking, but they might need some guidance or reminders.
Dig deeper: What is digital PR for SEO?
7. Social channels
Google is getting better at understanding your brand as a whole and showing that in search results. This makes it crucial to have a unified marketing strategy across all channels.
For example, if something is heavily promoted on Instagram or TikTok but barely mentioned on your website, it might not perform well.
Communicating and planning with your other marketing channels, especially social media, will help improve your results.
I say “particularly social” because Google is using videos from platforms like TikTok and Instagram directly in search results. Brand consistency is likely to become even more important as generative search expands.
Dig deeper: Social search and the future of brand engagement
8. Schema and semantic markup
As Google evolves and adds more data, it will accept more types of schema markup. Knowing how to properly use and organize schema markup will become increasingly important as data grows.
Emilia Gjorgjevska at WordLift explained why schema and semantic markup are important and here to stay. She highlights schema’s crucial role at the enterprise level, even if its impact on revenue or sales isn’t always clear:
“Schema markup enhances search engine understanding by providing structured data that helps search engines better comprehend the content of a webpage. […] Generative AI models, like those used in search engines, rely on clear and accurate data to provide relevant results. Schema markup ensures that AI can accurately interpret and leverage your content, thereby enhancing its visibility and relevance.
Enriching your website with schema markup also enhances the discoverability of your content. […]
[S]chema markup enables businesses to quickly and accurately update search engines about changes and new offerings. This rapid communication is vital for maintaining up-to-date information and ensuring that users receive the most current data about products and services.”
9. Reporting
Enterprise reporting can be challenging. We might have to pull data manually; it can be incorrect or there might be outages or delays. But sometimes, we make it more complicated than necessary because we’re too focused on the details.
I’m an advocate of what Ian Lurie has long suggested: use progressive detail.
- For your boss’s boss who only wants a summary of business KPIs, give them that.
- For product owners in sales who need more details on the same KPIs, provide that.
- And for your immediate colleagues or boss who want detailed charts, give them those.
Learning how to create graphs that get to the point quickly and align with business KPIs will likely make your life quite a bit easier. Reporting well is a skill and a muscle that needs building.
Along with Lurie, Tom Critchlow also has some fabulous guidance on reporting and metrics.
10. Stakeholder management
Much like reporting, stakeholder management is a skill that requires effort and practice to develop.
Ultimately, it is an exercise in compromise. This may be difficult if you’re coming into the enterprise from a smaller company where you were able to access the website and make the changes yourself if nobody was particularly responsive.
Dig deeper: How to use SEO education for stakeholder management
11. Business and market understanding
You may notice I’ve mentioned the business a lot, whether it’s KPIs or brand continuity. Understanding the business context is crucial for making a significant SEO impact at an enterprise level.
Knowing what your competitors are doing and your own business roadmap should guide your SEO strategy. For example, if you plan to launch a gaming arm in 18 months, start building relationships and context now.
If you’re about to change your pricing, don’t update product pages with language about saving money. The idea is to align your SEO priorities with your business plans.
Dig deeper: Enterprise SEO is 50% education and culture
