SEO & GEO Governance
SEO & GEO Governance is an independent oversight service providing an unbiased analysis of whether a company’s Search program is helpful, wasteful, or unclear, with specific recommendations to improve it.
Overview: SEO & GEO Governance
What it is
A fixed-fee review that reveals whether your current (or planned) SEO and/or GEO* program is working at full efficiency to drive sales. This includes evaluating SEO/GEO audits, deliverables, tickets, recommendations, work already implemented, and much more.
*GEO is “Generative Engine Optimization”. It’s the practice of optimizing for AI/LLM visibility. Also referred to as AEO, AIO, and AI SEO.
Who it’s for
For companies seeking an expert-level, confidential second opinion on their current or future SEO and/or GEO program. We carry vast experience in large Fortune 500 websites and small local businesses alike. Any industry or niche is eligible.
Expertise without a sales pitch
Jacob Smedley presenting SEO findings to Fairway Mortgage Corp.
Senior search specialists
We are senior-level, enterprise SEO & GEO specialists employed with the #1 and #2 highest-grossing advertising agencies on the planet.
No conflict of interest
We’re not taking the work from your existing agency. We’re contractually obligated to refuse ongoing SEO work for our Governance clients.
This is what creates inefficiency within your Search program
Is your SEO agency actually working toward improvement? These are the real issues we see.
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Sometimes, agencies assign non SEO experts to SEO projects. It’s easier for them to utilize existing personnel than hire a dedicated specialist.
In addition, it is commonplace to assign even the most impactful SEO tasks to off-shore and junior talent. These employees are paid about 33% market rate.
Even with a great SEO specialist, the implementation team (developers) must also possess the skills to implement the optimizations.
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Simple exports are sold as audits, which are then uploaded to an LLM, to produce strategic SEO recommendations. This is a problem.
This results in making recommendations for fixing problems that do not exist; or, at best, are severely misprioritized. This is very common upon the advent of AI tools.
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While inevitable to some degree, frequent churn can present major delays and re-learning (which translates into re-paying for you, the client).
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Many agencies undergo weeks of their own internal approvals in order to access SEO tools, to properly staff your project, and other essential precursors to starting your project at full efficiency.
Your SEO specialist may be afraid to speak up and become proactive since “stirring the pot” is seen as a danger to their internal team members.
As agencies grow, your projects may be progressively (but quietly) neglected as their larger clients are onboarded. -
Due to internal staffing requirements and agency markups, SEO can become unnecessarily expensive. It is common for agencies to quote 2-5x the cost compared to what’s really needed to drive results for your business.
For instance, the agency may have internal requirements that “VP oversight” is provided on all projects over $100K, even with a senior project manager or director present.
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Larger corporations sometimes deploy multiple SEO agencies for one website. While not inherently unwise, there are risks:
Paying for the same work multiple times
Errors due to the “telephone-game” effect
Slower implementation timelines due to communicating simple tasks through multiple contributors
Contradictory recommendations due to one agency not knowing what the other agency is working on
Exaggerated complaints from one agency claiming another agency is doing bad work (in an effort to take the work from them)
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With AI optimization (GEO, AEO, AIO, etc) being a hot topic, many agencies see a gold rush opportunity. Unfortunately, traditional SEO activities are being sold as something new. This results in proposals that “double dip” (i.e. provide the same work twice) for “SEO” and “GEO”. These agencies also tend to overstate results and fail to report LLM-specific metrics.
Do you need an SEO/GEO Governance evaluation?
If you don’t understand what’s happening within your SEO/GEO program, you need a Governance evaluation.
If you’re considering a significant investment into a new SEO/GEO program, you also need a Governance evaluation.
Why hire Smedley Digital?
The bottom line: we save our clients thousands by uncovering what’s not productive and defining a plan to move forward with the strongest possible SEO/GEO strategy. Or, if your current SEO/GEO strategy is determined effective, our evaluation will provide confidence and peace of mind.
To demonstrate our commitment against conflicts of interest, we are contractually obligated to refuse ongoing SEO/GEO execution for Governance clients.
Since 2018, Jacob has held Senior SEO & GEO Manager positions with the world’s #1 and #2 ad agencies. In addition to the technical skills required for these enterprise-level roles, he knows where inefficiencies manifest within complex environments.
Jacob Smedley with students from St. Edward’s University’s Master of Science in Digital Marketing and Analytics program after delivering a guest lecture on Organic Search Analytics.
The SEO/GEO governance process
Intro Call
We’ll discuss your SEO & GEO program, goals, possible concerns, and scope of the evaluation.
Collection
You provide us with deliverables, reports, and other docs needed for the evaluation.
Evaluation
We independently assess the work to determine what should be kept, challenged, or stopped.
Presentation
We present the findings to you and recommended next steps in clear business terms.
Guidance
We'll answer your questions and provide practical guidance as you act on our findings.
Real examples of impact
Actual examples of work resulting in significant positive impact for client budgets and SEO success.
These examples include work completed through Smedley Digital as well as through other agencies.
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Client's SEO vendor had created 10 location pages "for SEO". These pages were orphaned (zero internal links) and 80% duplicative of one another in terms of written content. The client had forgotten about the pages since they were hidden within the site. The vendor positioned the client's homepage to speak to an individual city, yet the client conducted business across their whole state (this negatively impacted local keyword rankings for multiple cities they serve).
Client decision: Client hired a new vendor, rebuilt the site, and restarted SEO. -
Client's SEO vendor ($2,000/mo retainer) created seven essential service pages featuring the exact same content on each one. The vendor missed an opportunity to add an eighth service page which should have targeted several highly-searched keywords. Additionally, the site's navigation menu was broken.
Client decision: Client hired a new vendor and rebuilt the site. -
A critical set of pages meant for users close to purchasing a vehicle were completely invisible (unindexed) because of canonicalization. The client's development team vendor claimed it was not possible to fix. All of the main model pages lacked essential, high-volume keywords within critical tags such as meta titles and H1s.
Client decision: Client switched from their full-time offshore vendor to a new part-time onshore vendor. Client saw 2x positive impact with the new vendor for the same amount of spend.
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Despite the client's SEO vendor providing well-executed strategic deliverables, the client had not implemented any of them over the course of two years. Unused PowerPoint presentations, in-depth content recommendations for their product pages, technical recommendations, and email conversations were largely forgotten and unused.
Client decision: Client stopped all spend with the vendor.
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Client's SEO/GEO vendor relied entirely on automated tools and AI to formulate strategy and deliverables. The vendor recommended technical changes to hundreds of pages, across several deliverables, that either did not exist or were unimportant. AI was used to write articles about products that the client does not sell.
Additionally, a ripple effect occurred in which the client's spend with a second vendor, which was responsible for the implementation of their work, was wasted (since the AI's invalid SEO deliverables had to be evaluated, revised, discussed, and ultimately, discarded).
Client decision: After we identified and explained the issues above, the client worked with the vendor to improve quality control moving forward.
Get in touch
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Submit the contact form and we’ll reach out to you within one business day. Thanks, and we look forward to speaking!
