Build Cross-Functional Teams with Allison Fabella
As we make our way through the final preparations for Share15, we had the chance to sit down with Allison Fabella, the Director of Global SEO for CareerBuilder. She helps her brand develop their global strategy and had some great insight about the direction of the industry and how to build cross-functional teams. We were happy to have the chance to chat with her about Share15 and industry trends and we wanted to share some highlights with you.
On Changes in the Industry
BrightEdge (BE): How do you see the space evolving over the next year- what should marketers look out for?
Allison Fabella (AF): I believe that there will be a continual blurring of the lines between SEO, content, and marketing. Marketers are already speaking about the importance of these three and I believe that the cross-influence will only continue to grow stronger. Tech will also become even more important. We have already seen the big emphasis on mobile/responsive design in the past year. I believe that the emphasis on mobile will become even more prominent in the next year. Generally, in the next year, you will find that marketers are going to be pushed toward taking a more holistic approach to their marketing.
The Importance of Measurements and Data
BE: What role does data and the measurement of content play in your organization?
AF: For me, data and measurement have been critical. I am fairly new to the brand, and although CareerBuilder is a mature organization, SEO was not really integrated into the process until the past year or so. Data has been a huge aspect for me to help build credibility and make my job much easier. I regularly run small scale tests to gauge performance. I can then bring this information to prove that new ideas will be successful and can proceed on a larger scale. If the test does not perform as I would have liked, I can make adjustments. The data also helps me convince others of the value of SEO as they can see the progress and results themselves. Data helps to eliminate guess work and everything runs more efficiently.
The Role of BrightEdge
BE: How does BrightEdge help you accomplish your goals?
AF: I am very data-oriented. As I already described, I use data to prove concepts large and small. BrightEdge produces the fantastic numbers I need. I can inform my teams about our progress and move forward with confidence. I use the information produced by BrightEdge on both the front-end and the back-end of campaigns and initiatives. The technology really helps to guide my every step. I particularly love how the BrightEdge dashboard integrates with Google Analytics. It is great to be able to take the competitive analysis and keyword data from BrightEdge and overlay it with the Google Analytics information and get a more holistic picture about how everything is performing.
Excitement About Share
BE: What are you looking forward to the most about Share15?
AF: I attended Share last year and had a fantastic time. I got BrightEdge certified, attended some great sessions, met awesome people and networked. It was an overall wonderful experience. I even remain in regular contact with people that I met at Share14. This year I really hope to get more of the same. I am looking forward to the great speakers that are lined up, many of whom I have followed over the years. If I can get everything out of Share15 that I did at Share14, then I will consider this conference a success.
BE: What advice would you give new attendees about Share?
AF: Do not be shy! Last year there was a nice assembly of people who were really happy to share their advice and experience. Whether it is your first conference or your hundredth, do not be afraid to walk up to people after listening to them and ask questions. One of the things I loved last year was how friendly everyone was.
BE: What will you be discussing at Share? Give us some teasers!
AF: I am going to be talking a lot about being cross-functional within an organization. SEO does not exist in a vacuum and content comes in so many different forms. I consider content to be everything from your articles to your inventory to videos! It is really important to build cross-functional teams to help your brand succeed. I know at CareerBuilder it often feels like I spend more time speaking with other departments than I do with my own SEO team. That stems from our efforts to develop these efforts and build cross-functional teams and relationships. I will be bringing 4 case studies. Each will discuss a different scenario when circumstances presented themselves that required a bit of reaching across departments. In each situation, the teams involved were able to create successful outcomes, and I will discuss how they made that possible.
The Fun Stuff
BE: Can you tell us something interesting about yourself?
AF: In my spare time I actually love to play the cello. One time, we had an intern here that had the same passion. I ended up contacting her and inviting her in to play together. I thought we could sneak off to a side room somewhere and play a bit. What I failed to take into account, however, is that it is very difficult to hide the noise-- so sneaking off did not work out so well. Instead, we had people stopping by to take pictures. I think the entire episode even ended up in some slides somewhere. The intern had to give a presentation about her work experience, and I am pretty sure that some of those photos were featured.
BE: What do you love most about your job?
AF: I love that it is a global position. I like to travel, and it is fun to go to all the other offices. It is also interesting to learn about SEO on an international scale. I have had to learn about the similarities and differences in approaches and expectations across different cultures and languages. You also have to take into account local expressions and idioms. So many phrases that I use regularly when discussing SEO just do not work in other countries, and they have their own expressions that they use. Gaining these experiences has been wonderful for me. We are just days away from kicking off Share15 and we cannot wait to continue this conversation with Allison and hear her presentation. If you have not yet signed up, we invite you to visit our event page and do so now. We hope to see you there!
Conference Details September 21-23 Westin St. Francis San Francisco, CA
