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SEO 29 min read July 21, 2022

10 Tips to Train a New SEO Team

10 Tips to Train a New SEO Team
10 Tips to Train a New SEO Team
If you're planning on bringing some new blood into your search engine optimization team, preparing an easy-to-implement and scalable training program is the best way to ensure they'll understand your company's SEO goals, and do an excellent job at achieving them.

You might wonder how to build an in-house SEO team that can help you grow your business. And the hard truth is that training a new SEO team is often easier said than done. There is no exact cookie-cutter way to do this because every SEO team varies in skill and experience.

In this guide, we've compiled the top techniques we've learned about training a new SEO team to assist you with this process.

1. Why You Should Train Your SEO Team

Whether you're starting a business or want to make radical changes in an established one, hiring unique candidates is not enough for your new SEO team to grow your business significantly. A new team always needs proper training.

If you don't have a budget for training or don't think it's necessary, consider this: your competitors are probably investing in their employees' growth. By not doing so, you're leaving money on the table and potentially putting yourself at a disadvantage when winning new clients or retaining existing ones.

A Quick Guide to Building an In-House SEO Team

Here are some of the benefits you can expect when your SEO team is appropriately trained:

1.1 Greater Control

The more your SEO team is trained, the more control you will have over their work. As a result, you'll have greater oversight over their assignments and ensure they follow your company's policies and procedures.

1.2 Dedicated Team

You may have an in-house team at your disposal for other tasks. Still, if you don't have an entire team dedicated to searching engine optimization, then there's no way you can keep up with the latest changes and developments in this ever-changing industry.

The best way to keep up with the latest trends in SEO is to provide regular training to your team. This will ensure that they're up-to-date with the latest best practices and familiar with the latest tools and techniques.

How to Adapt Your SEO Strategy to Changing Trends

1.3 Faster Execution

Training your SEO team allows them to work faster because they already understand the project's goals and have been trained in the proper procedures for achieving them. Training also gives them confidence in their work, which can significantly reduce mistakes in execution. 

Moreover, a trained team will also be able to complete their tasks more quickly than an untrained team, which means less downtime for your business and increased productivity.

In short, thanks to effective SEO training, your team will be able to do more in less time

1.4 Better SEO Results

SEO training for your team is a wise investment because it can help increase your business's growth rate. It will also help you maximize the potential of your site by making it more accessible to search engines.

Training your SEO team will help them learn SEO and become a pro and think outside the box to deliver the best possible results. They'll know how to implement strategies that work and avoid mistakes that might cause harm to your website and business.

1.5 Higher Customer Retention Rate

When an entire team is trained, they know what to do from day one to achieve the desired results. 

If you’re an agency offering SEO as a service to clients, a trained SEO team will retain more customers than an untrained one because they can deliver better results faster. Your customers will be happier with the results they get from working with you, which means they won’t go elsewhere anytime soon — especially if they are getting good ROI from work done by your team!

2. How to Train Your SEO Team

As a business owner, you're probably aware of the importance of training your staff to be effective in their roles. Training is one of the best ways to ensure that your employees are knowledgeable and adequately trained in all aspects of their job. 

If you run an SEO team, you might ask yourself how to train your SEO team members to the highest standards to ensure the highest quality results for your business or your clients. 

How to Effectively Manage Your SEO Team

Here are some of the most effective tips to train your SEO team:

2.1 Identify Training Essentials

SEO is a broad field that encompasses many areas. Your team members need to have a good grasp of how each area affects the overall strategy. For example, one person might be an expert in keyword research, while another has more experience with link building.

To get the most out of the SEO training, it’s essential to identify which areas each member needs to improve and tailor your training around those topics.

There are many areas that an SEO specialist should know. Here are some of the most important ones:
Keyword research
This is the process of identifying what phrases people are typing into a Google search to help you create content people are searching for.
On-Page Optimization
This refers to changes made directly to HTML or code on a page so that it performs better in search engines’ results pages (SERPs).
Technical SEO
This term refers to optimizations made to technical aspects of your website, such as site speed, mobile-friendliness, and crawlability.
Link-Building
This refers to the process of creating links from other sites that point back to your web pages.
SEO Content Optimization
This is the process of improving existing content on your site or creating new content so that it appears higher in search results.
If some team members have to learn the basics, it would be much easier to do with Serpstat Academy.

It's a free learning center, which allows you to plunge into the SEM and SEO worlds, providing information about Keyword Research, Competitor Analysis, and SEO of various levels, from basic to advanced.
Serpstat Academy

2.2 Choose a Training Medium

An important step in training your team is deciding how they will learn all the necessary information. The best option is to choose a medium that works best for everyone involved — video conferences or in-person meetings.

If your team works remotely or has employees who travel frequently, consider delivering the training via an online course or video conferencing. If most of your employees are in-house, consider hosting an in-person workshop or seminar in the office.

All three options have pros and cons. Let’s go over them quickly:
In-Person Training is a very effective way to train people because you can demonstrate concepts in real-time. It allows you to meet with your team face-to-face and answer their questions on the spot. It also allows for personalized assistance with something your team members might struggle with. 

However, it’s not always possible for everyone to meet in person, especially if you have a remote team or if certain employees only work part-time or at night.
Video Conferences are a great way to deliver training when you have a remote team or if not all of your employees can attend the training simultaneously. In addition, online sessions are easy to record, so you can send them to each team member to refer back to whenever they need a refresher. Using video conferencing software like Zoom or Microsoft Teams, you can conduct remote meetings with everyone on your team in real-time.

Delivering your training in video conferences might be the most efficient way to train your SEO team. According to statistics, 75% of virtual teams say remote collaboration helps increase their effectiveness.
Online Courses are one way to train your team. They're easy to access and flexible enough for even the busiest employees, who can take them at their own pace in their spare time or during breaks at work. In addition, an effective online course should provide your team members with plenty of resources to use during training sessions, like PDF worksheets or sample tasks to practice what they're learning. 

If you decide to deliver your SEO training program in the form of an online course, you can use one of the following platforms to host it: 

  • Thinkific 
  • Podia
  • Kajabi 
  • Teachable 

2.3 Schedule Training Sessions

The best way to ensure your team gets the education they need is by scheduling training sessions in advance. Of course, the schedule will depend on the goals and the topics that should be covered during the year.

For example, you might want to deliver introductory training to new team members over the whole week or host bi-weekly training sessions to keep everyone on track with the latest changes in processes and tools.

Or perhaps, you want to host sporadic training, say quarterly or biannually, to reinforce key concepts and specific skills crucial for each employee on your SEO team.

2.4 Set Clear Goals and Expectations

Creating measurable goals to track progress and reward employees who exceed expectations is essential to the success of your SEO training program. Make sure everyone on your SEO team knows what they are supposed to be doing, why they are doing it, and how they can improve their performance in training.

Start your first training session with a discussion about your company's SEO goals, how those goals fit into your overall business strategy, and how each of your new team members can help your company achieve them. 
After discussing the goals with your team members, you can set tasks using special platforms. This process may be easier with Serpstat and its templates. This is where you can make a list of tasks for your team, adapt them to your goals and work together on your projects.

2.5 Establish Accountability and Evaluation

An essential part of any training program is establishing accountability and evaluation methods. If you don’t have an evaluation system, you won’t know if your team members benefit from the training or what areas they still need to improve.

Here are a few accountability and evaluation methods that you can implement in your SEO training program:
Quizzes are an excellent way to test your team’s knowledge of key concepts, such as on-page optimization, keyword research, link building, etc. You can create quizzes based on specific topics or use them as a final assessment for the entire course.
Projects & Case Studies. SEO projects are a great way to put theory into practice and get hands-on experience with real-world challenges. For example, you can assign project briefs based on real-life scenarios or ask your team members to develop ideas for improving their site's performance on search engines.

They may also take up case studies where they will have to solve other companies' challenges by applying what they have learned in the training modules. These projects will help them gauge how well they can apply what they have learned during the training course.
Work Monitoring & Evaluation Forms

Work monitoring is a form of accountability that involves keeping track of the work hours performed by employees. If you want to keep tabs on how well your team performs their tasks, you can use quality control checklists as part of your training program.

You need to know if the training was helpful or not so that you can continue improving it over time. One way to do this is by having each team member fill out an evaluation form after each training session.

These methods help you evaluate the effectiveness of your training programs and provide valuable insights into how well your team members have learned the skills they need to succeed in their positions.

2.6 Provide the Right Tools For the Job

If you want your team to work efficiently and achieve your company's SEO goals, you must provide them with everything they need to do their jobs well. That includes training and mentoring opportunities to ensure they have up-to-date software and access to specific SEO tools.

Search engine optimization tools can make all the difference when you're trying to understand what's going on with your website.

Even though there is a wide variety of tools, everyone in your SEO team must use the same toolset to share data and stay up-to-date with all the info needed.

Best Tools For SEO That Will Boost Your Rankings

Here are some of the most helpful SEO tools you should consider adding to your essential SEO toolkit:
Serpstat
Serpstat is the most comprehensive platform that provides top-notch SEO, PPC, and content marketing tools. It's an all-in-one platform that offers numerous features for various aspects of a campaign, such as a keyword tracking, backlink analysis, and rank tracking.

Without a doubt, Serpstat is the best SEO tool out there which offers a complete arsenal of features that any SEO manager or SEO team might need!

Serpstat's Opportunities for SEO Specialists

Google Analytics
Google Analytics is the gold standard of free analytics tools. You can track everything from how much traffic your blog gets to what keywords people use when they find your site through Google searches.
Google Search Console
It's a free tool from Google that allows you to monitor and manage your site's performance in the search results. You can see how many impressions, clicks, average position, and other information for specific keywords related to your site. You can also get notifications when Google finds errors or issues with your site, which can help you fix them before they cause any damage.
Google Trends
This is another free tool from Google that provides data about how often specific search terms are used over time. It doesn't give you as much detail as Google Search Console, but it's still helpful. You can also compare different terms against one another to see which ones are more popular than others at any given time period.
Keywords Everywhere
This is an excellent tool for finding keywords and analyzing your website's on-page SEO. Keywords Everywhere is an extension for Google Chrome that allows you to see all the keywords that trigger a page on Google Search results in real-time, simply hovering over a link or keyword.

It takes all the guesswork out of keyword research by showing exactly which phrases people search for on Google every second.
Moz Keyword Explorer
Moz is one of the most trusted names in SEO software. Their keyword research tool allows users to enter a phrase or keyword and then view data on how often people search for that term, related terms, and phrases. This can help give you ideas for blog posts and content ideas. 

The tool also provides information on a particular keyword's competitiveness, helping you weed out ones that might be too difficult or expensive to rank for.
Ubersuggest
This tool helps you find long-tail keywords by suggesting variations based on the seed keyword you enter. It's beneficial for finding synonyms or related terms for your main keyword phrase.

For example, if you type in "SEO tips," Ubersuggest will tell you that there are many other long tail keywords related to this topic, such as "best SEO tips for beginners" or "how to do SEO for small businesses." This can be a great way to expand your keyword list without spending hours researching.

2.7 Delegate and Empower

If you want your team to do a good job, give them some freedom to do what they think is best and empower them to make decisions on their own. This will help build trust and loyalty among the team members.

Delegating responsibility means empowering people to take the initiative and express themselves creatively. It's not about telling them what to do, but rather about telling them what needs to happen and then giving them room to figure out how to achieve those goals in their own way. This kind of freedom will help your team members feel more invested in their roles, which means they'll be more motivated and productive while working together toward common goals.

This might seem obvious, but many people fail to realize that delegating tasks isn't just about making someone else do them for you. Instead, it's about using the expertise of others on your team so that they can become more valuable to the company. 
Despite all of that, if you want to work more efficiently with your SEO team, you need proper tools. Even though everyone on your SEO team should have enough freedom to fulfill their responsibilities without constantly seeking your approval, you'll need some system to ensure everyone is on track with their tasks.

Serpstat allows you to use multi-user mode with one account to manage your teamwork. With this service, you can:

  • automate repetitive processes;
  • focus on high-value activities;
  • protect your reputation by limiting access rights;
  • track project performance across multiple projects and users. 
Click the button below, and one of our specialists will be happy to provide you with all the information needed!

2.8 Give Credit and Celebrate Wins

SEO is a team sport — and like any other sport, the players need encouragement and recognition for their efforts. So if you want your team to succeed, ensure they know when they do well.

One of the most important things you can do as an SEO manager is to give credit where it's due and celebrate the wins of your team members. If someone comes up with a great idea or makes an impactful discovery, give them credit for it, celebrate it, and share it with the rest of the team. This will motivate them to work harder in the future, which will further improve your rankings.

2.9 Attend Conferences and Seminars

One of the best ways to train your SEO team is by attending conferences and seminars. These events are held worldwide, so it will be easy for you to find one hosted near your company's location that fits into your schedule.

Attending these events is an excellent way to educate yourself and your team about new trends and best practices in SEO. It's also a great way to network with other professionals in the industry. If possible, try to attend these events at least once every quarter or month.

Watching webinars is another excellent way for your team members to learn about new techniques and strategies in the sphere. In addition, these webinars are usually less costly than in-person seminars and live events, and they are a great option if you manage a remote team or are on a tight budget.

2.10 Strive for More

Whether running a digital marketing agency or looking to make money from online blogging when training your SEO team, the key to success is to set goals and then go above and beyond those goals

So, here are a few more tips to help you make the best out of your SEO training program:
✔️ create a culture of sharing what works and what doesn’t work;
✔️ train by doing — show team members how to do something instead of just telling the main steps;
✔️ focus on the bigger picture instead of just keywords and rankings;
✔️ never stop testing and improving!
These are also proven ways to successfully teach your new SEO team how to sell the benefits vs. features. Ultimately, the benefits of your team experience may become the real selling point.
By the way, Serpstat team has recently launched the Email Training Course to help you master all the tools of the service. The platform is designed to conduct a comprehensive website analysis, collect keywords, perform keyword clustering, rank tracking, analyze backlinks, carry out a technical site audit, analyze competitors, and more.

Subscribe to the newsletter via the link below, receive 10 emails with a brief overview of the platform opportunities, and level up your knowledge in SEO!

Conclusion

SEO is extremely fast-paced and ever-changing. Therefore, you must constantly change and update your strategy to stay relevant in Google searches. 

The problem with this is that it can be difficult for everyone in your team to keep up with the changes, especially if you're hiring new team members who aren't familiar with your company's best SEO practices. That's why developing an effective training program for your new SEO team members is crucial to your business's success. 

We hope this guide has provided you with enough insights to prepare a powerful and effective SEO training program for your SEO team!
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