New SEO
Becoming subject matter experts on such a wide array of topics, platforms and software applications has significantly raised the bar of aggressive SEO campaigns. Clients are looking to SEO departments to drive traffic to their sites from a variety of search engines as well as referral domains while continuing to increase and maintain their search engine ranking. However, the two go hand in hand because generating traffic from a number of sources will aid rankings through link-building, which will in turn stimulate traffic.

This new SEO focus is more aligned with the way search engines want to rank websites. For them, if you have a great site with impressive content, users will visit it, search for it and talk about it. While not perfect, this is one step closer to truly organic search engine optimization.

Measuring success
This growing scope also means that the way to gauge the success of an SEO campaign will change. It is no longer only about rankings and search engine referrals. Brand exposure, increased branded search queries and referrals from search marketing targeted domains are possible key indicators of how well an organic media campaign fares.

I would like to caution that this all-encompassing SEO strategy is not suitable for every client. Expanding beyond "traditional SEO" -- if there is such a thing -- to this progressive, pervasive organic medium should be executed after clients have solid SEO fundamentals in place. Once rankings are solidified and clients are ready to do more, they can begin to look at their SEO efforts through a broader lens. As with any SEO campaign, it is hard to guarantee results, but if successful, the rankings are definitely invaluable.

Another point worth mentioning is that clients should be prepared for failure with this kind of organic campaign. Since there are no standard metrics yet established, if an organic campaign fails to materialize, clients will have little insight into what went wrong. It is not right for everyone, but there is an increasing need for organic media campaigns.

Our approach
After so many clients requested to increase SEO efforts and diversify their scope of referral sites, at Geary, we reorganized our search marketing department to better distinguish between organic and paid media. Previously, there was a media department and search marketing department that executed both paid and organic search campaigns. Now, under the umbrella of a "Reach Department," Geary's organic and paid media teams work for the combined goal of increasing the reach of our clients' brand and content on the internet.

The change is to better align the thought processes and reporting of our search and media departments. Our paid media team (pay-per-click, banner ads, sponsorships, etc.) report and track the number of impressions, clicks and conversions; whereas our organic media team tracks rankings, ratings and brand exposure along with conversions. Research and data from paid media helps the organic team plan their online campaigns, but there is no direct correlation between paid efforts and SEO rankings. So with this change, all service offerings that produce SEO benefits are in the same sub-department.

This way, we are better able to define and distribute organic budgets across a broader spectrum of platforms, which will ultimately generate traction on search engines. The organic media team will also be able to create high-quality content on multiple referral domains to allow for maximum visibility of the content.

We are not steering away from standard search engine optimization by any means, but we are trying to position ourselves to service the changing needs of our clients. Things are always changing around here, and the best way to put is that organic media is the new SEO.

Andrew Rodrigues is SEO manager for Geary Interactive.