Early on, I struggled with getting my footing as I ramped up on a new SEO project.
“Ummm, so what are your goals?” was a question I began to ask during kick-off calls.
Pretty straight forward but the questions and forums began to evolve as my clients and projects grew.
I began to hone in on a dialogue format that provided a holistic picture of my client’s true state.
As I worked alongside varying disciplines, it occurred to me that I shouldn’t just be hosting a kick-off call, rather emulating what my development and design partner teams were doing…
Hosting a dedicated Discovery – an SEO Discovery.
Discoveries – What are They?
The goal of a Discovery phase is to collaborate and work towards a realistic timeline of a project by understanding a brand’s history, goals, tech stack, and any additional context that will support the project.
My exposure to Discovery meetings has been greatly influenced by my time in migration projects, where there are teams such as developers, designers, writers, project managers, among varying client teams – all working alongside one another.
These projects are complex and demanding and a goal of the Discovery phase is to ensure we strive towards a final product everyone is happy with.
An SEO-specific Discovery phase runs parallel to other disciplines and sheds light into past organic performance, aspirations around the organic channel, and hurdles to be cognizant of throughout the project.
As the organic search channel can be a major driver of performance to a site, it’s imperative SEO have dedicated sessions to discuss an action plan relative to other project initiatives.
It’s important to note, a Discovery can also be an initial SEO sales call; but for our purposes we’ll focus on SEO Discoveries as it relates to a new client engagement.
Kick-off Calls vs. SEO Discoveries
Kick-off Calls
Teams might be familiar with a “kick-off” call, which can serve as a knowledge-gather forum, similar to a Discovery.
In several cases, I’ve seen kick-off calls be the initial call in a series of meetings, where SEOers talk with clients on status updates, performance, blockers, opportunities, etc.
The series takes place from the start of the project through to the end and ranges from 30 min to an hour, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.
I found these are typically owned / driven by a single party – either the client or the SEO vendor.
Kick-off Attendees
Kick-off attendees can include a diverse team including
- SEO partners
- Client contact
- Executive stakeholders or program sponsors (internal and client-side)
- Project managers
- Account managers
As the kick-off evolves into an ongoing status, several of these attendees drop off and it can be a smaller group of SEO partners and client contacts.
SEO Discoveries
SEO Discoveries are finite and take place in the first few weeks / months of an engagement.
SEO Discoveries differ from a “kick-off” in that it runs parallel to other disciplines in a complex project. Topics include but are not limited to,
- Past SEO projects
- Performance
- Goals
- Web Technologies
- Team Players / Stakeholders
- Possible blockers / opportunities
The goal of a Discovery phase is to truly understand the present and future-state landscape and the purpose of SEO relative to the project.
What’s more, SEO Discoveries are working sessions and collaborative. A lot of ideating occurs during the Discovery phase of a project. These ideations may translate to workable solutions.
For example, I specialize in migration projects, the SEO Discovery phase of a project is critical in outlining SEO requirements, or “must-haves” for site launch. Then, teams assess if the current scope of work can support SEO requirements or if an update to the current scope is necessary.
SEO Discovery Attendees
There is a likelihood the SEO Discovery attendees will include those mentioned in the kick-off attendee list but also supplemental stakeholders such as,
- Content leads
- UX leads
- Development team
- Web Ops / data base management teams
- Business analysts
Unlike a kick-off call, an SEO Discovery won’t evolve into a regular status. The collection of minds assembled in this capacity will gather rarely. Definitely use this opportunity to understand where SEO sits for a project and become familiar with your larger team.
Side note: keep your eyes open for non-SEO Discovery sessions; these conversations may touch on factors that impact SEO.
SEO Discovery Agenda
A specific agenda is going to vary based on your project. I suggest you lean on your Statement of Work (SOW).
Reading the SOW is going to be homework before an SEO Discovery as it’ll divulge what you’re on the hook for and what you might expect from the project.
For example, if you’re kicking off a migration project, you may read a line in the SOW that reads…
Migrate www.example.com and 3 associated blogs
An agenda item for the SEO Discovery may be around the architecture of example.com and identifying the 3 blogs, including how they’re related and their significance – e.g. are they all being carried over in a migration or are some sunsetting?
Another agenda item example, during the Discovery it may come to light new site sections are being built on 2 CMS’s. The processes for optimizing each may differ; you can begin to knowledge-gather and ideate the best approach in optimizing for each CMS.
SEO Discovery Tools
Traditionally, meetings are served well with a Word or Google Doc, or even a text editor.
But an SEO Discovery is a collaborative effort and, based on my experience, they are more akin to whiteboarding sessions.
Since COVID, in-person meetings had been less likely but these sessions were possible with whiteboarding tools such as Miro and project tracking tools such as Jira.
Keep in mind, the tools are only as good as the person using them. Think through how your SEO Discovery sessions should flow and where these tools can supplement the experience.
When are SEO Discoveries Necessary?
The need for SEO Discovery phases is dependent on the project and its budget. They can be time intensive and costly.
Whether through a kick-off, SEO Discovery, or ongoing status calls, it’s critical to dedicate time in understanding a brand, its goals, and filling in gaps.
In smaller projects, where budgets are tighter, kick-off and status calls are much more practical in gaining holistic insight.
With a traditional SEO campaign, with a monthly retainer, it may make sense to have a handful of working sessions in lieu of a kick-off or SEO Discovery.
As you take on larger, complex projects – ones with larger teams – there may be a need to extensively gather knowledge and requirements. As such, it may be better served through SEO Discovery sessions at the onset of the project.
Summary
I have grown to appreciate SEO Discoveries and the long lasting value they provide for a project.
They’re not for all teams but I urge those who are embarking on a large-scale project to consider these forums to align across not just SEO vendors but larger teams.
Hope the above helps you think through how build a smoother SEO project roadmap.
All the best!
