It’s easy to forget that clients start at different points of maturity and knowledge levels about search, and even clients with advanced knowledge may have organizational challenges that create barriers to implementing the work. How mature is your client? Search practice maturity. There are a number of different maturity models you can research online that use different language, but most maturity models follow a pattern something like this: Stage 1 - Ad Hoc & Developing Stage 2 - Reactive & Repeatable Stage 3 - Strategic & Defined Stage 4 - Managed & Measured Stage 5 - Efficient & Optimizing For search, we can think about a maturity model two ways. SEO capabilities criteria We measure an organization on several important criteria that contribute to the success of SEO: Collaboration - how well relevant stakeholders integrate and collaborate to do the best work possible, including inside the organization, and between the organization and the service providers. SEO capabilities maturity stages We assign each of the aforementioned criteria to one of these stages: Stage 0 (Counterproductive) - The client is engaging in harmful or damaging SEO practices. How mature is your client’s search practice? Search practice maturity criteria We measure an organization on several important criteria that contribute to the success of SEO: Process, policy, or procedure - Do documented, repeatable processes for inclusion of organic search exist, and are they continually improving? This measure evaluates how frequently organic search efforts are included in marketing efforts for a brand. Choosing where to start The goal is to identify together where to start working.
One of the biggest mistakes I see (and am guilty of making) is assuming a client is knowledgeable, bought-in, and motivated to execute search work simply because they agreed to pay us to do it. We start trucking full-speed ahead, dumping recommendations in their laps, and are surprised when the work doesn’t get implemented.
We put the cart before the horse. It’s easy to forget that clients start at different points of maturity and knowledge levels about search, and even clients with advanced knowledge may have organizational challenges that create barriers to implementing the work. Identifying where your client falls on a maturity curve can help you better tailor communication and recommendations to meet them where they are, and increase the likelihood that your work will be implemented.
How mature is your client?
No, not emotional maturity. Search practice maturity. This article will present a search maturity model, and provide guidance on how to diagnose where your client falls on that maturity spectrum.
This is where maturity models can help. Originally developed for the Department of Defense, and later popularized by Six Sigma methodologies, maturity models are designed to measure the ability of an organization to continuously improve in a practice. They help you diagnose the current maturity of the business in a certain area, and help identify where to focus efforts to evolve to the next stage on the maturity curve. It’s a powerful tool for meeting the client where they are, and understanding how to move forward together with them.
There are a number of different maturity models you can research online that use different language, but most maturity models follow a pattern something like this:
- Stage 1 – Ad Hoc & Developing
- Stage 2 – Reactive & Repeatable
- Stage 3 – Strategic & Defined
- Stage 4 – Managed & Measured
- Stage 5 – Efficient & Optimizing
For search, we can think about a maturity model two ways.
One is the actual technical implementation of search best practices — is the client implementing exceptional, advanced SEO, just the basics, nothing at all, or even operating counterproductively? This can help you figure out what kinds of projects make the most sense to activate.
The second way is the organizational maturity around search engine optimization as a marketing program. Is the client aligned to the importance of organic search, allocating budget and personnel appropriately, and systematically integrating search into marketing efforts? This can help you identify the most important institutional challenges to solve for that can otherwise block the implementation of your work.
Technical SEO capabilities maturity
First, let’s dive into a maturity model for search knowledge and capabilities.
SEO capabilities criteria
We measure an organization on several important criteria that contribute to the success of SEO:
- Collaboration – how well relevant stakeholders integrate and collaborate to do the best work possible, including inside the organization, and between the organization and the service providers.
- Mobility – how mobile-friendly and optimized the brand is.
- Technical – how consistently foundational technical best practices are implemented and maintained.
- Content – how integrated organic search is into the digital content marketing practice and process.
- On-page – how limited or extensive on-page optimization is for the brand’s content.
- Off-page – the breadth and depth of the brand’s off-site optimization, including link-building, local listings, social profiles and other non-site assets.
- New technology –the appetite for and adoption of new technology that impacts search, such as voice search, AMP, even structured data.
- Analytics – how data-centric the organization is, ranging from not managed and measured at all, to rearview mirror performance reporting, to entirely data-driven in search decision-making.
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SEO capabilities maturity stages
We assign each of the aforementioned criteria to one of these stages:
- Stage 0 (Counterproductive) – The client is engaging in harmful or damaging SEO practices.
- Stage 1 (Nonexistent) – There is no discernible SEO strategy or tactical implementation, and search is an all-new program for the client.
- Stage 2 (Tactical) – The client may be doing some basic SEO best practices, but it tends to be ad hoc inclusion with little structure or pre-planning. The skills and the work meet minimum industry standards, but work is fairly basic and perhaps not cohesive.
- Stage 3 (Strategic) – The client is aligned to the value of SEO, and makes an effort to dedicate resources to implementing best practices and staying current, as well as bake it into key initiatives. Search implementation is more cohesive and strategic.
- Stage 4 (Practice) – Inclusion of SEO is an expectation for most of the client’s marketing initiatives, if not mandatory. They are not only implementing basic best practices but actively testing and iterating new techniques to improve their search presence. They use performance of past initiatives to drive next steps.
- Stage 5 (Culture) – At this stage, clients are operating as if SEO is part of their marketing DNA. They have resources and processes in place, and they are knowledgeable and committed to learning more, their processes are continually reviewed and optimized, and their SEO program is evolving as the industry evolves. They are seeking cutting-edge new SEO opportunities to test.
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While this maturity model has been peer reviewed by a number of respected SEO peers in the industry (special thanks to Kim Jones at Seer Interactive, Stephanie Briggs at Briggsby, John Doherty at Credo, Dan Shure at Evolving SEO, and Blake Denman at Rickety Roo for your time and expertise), it is a fluid, living document designed to evolve as our industry does. If necessary, evolve this to your own reality as well.
You can download a Google Sheets copy of this maturity model here to begin using it with your client.
Why Stage 0?
In this search capabilities maturity model, I added an unconventional “Stage 0 – Counterproductive,” because organic search is unique in that they could do real damage and be at a deficit, not just at a baseline of zero.
In a scenario like this, the client has no collaboration inside the company or with the partner agency to do smart search work. Content may be thin, weak, duplicative, spun, or over-optimized. Perhaps their mobile experience is nonexistent or very poor. Maybe they’re even engaging in black hat SEO practices, and they have link-related or other penalties.
Choosing projects based on a client’s capabilities maturity
For a client that is starting on the lower end of the maturity scale, you may not recommend starting with advanced work like AMP and visual search technology, or even detailed Schema markup or extensive targeted link-building campaigns. You may have to start with the basics like securing the site, cleaning up information architecture, and fixing title tags and meta descriptions.
For a client that is starting on the higher end of the maturity scale, you wouldn’t want to waste their time recommending the basics — they’ve probably already done them. You’re better off finding new and innovative opportunities to do great search work they haven’t already mastered.
But we’re just getting started…
But technical capabilities and knowledge are only beginning to scratch the surface with clients. This starts to solve for what you should implement, but doesn’t touch why it’s so hard to get your work implemented. The real problems tend to be a lot squishier, and aren’t so simple as checking some SEO best practices boxes.
How mature is your client’s search practice?
The real challenges to implementation tend to be organizational, people, integration, and process problems. Conducting a search maturity assessment with your client can be eye-opening as to what needs to be solved internally before great search work can be implemented and start reaping the rewards. Pair this with the technical capabilities maturity model above, and you have a powerhouse of knowledge and tools to help your client.
Before we dig in, I want to note one important caveat: While this maturity model focuses heavily on organizational adoption and process, I don’t want to suggest that process…
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