• SEO Roundtable, Tuesday, October 7, 2008 2:18 PM

What are the high-level strategies and big ideas that CMOs need to know to "get" search and make sure that the company is leveraging it effectively? Panelists at SMX weighed in on that topic.

One of the key themes was that SEO is an ongoing process. "SEO is really less of a function and more of a process," said Allegis Group's Jill Nortman. "You need to be involved because the Internet industry is constantly changing. Recently, social media sites are being indexed. Having a presence there is very important, especially to articulating that to your CMO. Blended results are also a new phenomenon - if you aren't keeping up with those changes, you're missing the boat."

Also, having synergy between paid and organic efforts is key. "Visibility in both increases our brand awareness," said Jennifer Doss, of Hat World and Lids. "In our paid listings, we can control the ad copy but you can't do that as easily with organic listings. You can also control the landing page for these so you can go to higher-converting pages."

The panel also touched on the importance of using tools, the fallacy of "ego-bidding," as well as optimizing all kinds of content -- not just text.

Read the whole story at SEO Roundtable »