Building SEO Processes from Scratch in a Large Organization

The Challenge

When I joined FedEx in 2021, there were no established SEO processes and very little awareness of SEO best practices across the organization. This is a common challenge in large enterprises where SEO is often an afterthought.

The Approach

Building SEO processes in a large organization requires a multi-faceted approach:

1. Education First

Before implementing any technical changes, we needed to build awareness. I launched the Marketing Academy initiative, delivering webinars and workshops to spread SEO knowledge across different teams and regions.

2. Data Foundation

Global keyword data was non-existent. We partnered with Acolad to localize an English master keyword list for our largest markets: EU, MEISA, LAC, and APAC.

3. Creating Governance

We founded TeSSC (Technical SEO Steering Committee) with global remit to push SEO stories through our Agile Release Train (ART). This gave SEO a voice in technical decision-making.

4. Quick Wins

While building long-term processes, we focused on impactful quick wins:

Fixing XML sitemaps with poorly implemented hreflang tags
PageSpeed optimizations
Aligning local listing source systems for Yext

Key Takeaways

Start with education - You can’t build processes if people don’t understand why SEO matters
Find your champions - Build relationships with stakeholders across departments
Think global, act local - Enterprise SEO requires balancing global standards with local needs
Document everything - Processes only scale when they’re documented and repeatable

Building SEO in a large organization is a marathon, not a sprint. But with the right approach, you can create lasting change.