The Power of Documentation in SEO

Documentation, particularly in large companies, can help you build relationships, further your career and gain buy-in for vital initiatives

TL;DR

1. You should always aim to leave any role and any job in a better position than you found it in. Documentation is a fantastic way of doing so

2. Larger, more mature companies that have more red tape tend to require more documentation and processes

3. Engineering, Product and Development teams tend to appreciate and thrive on good SEO documentation. Editorial teams can be more of a challenge

4. Use documentation to build relationships, reduce future mistakes and further your career

Documentation gets shared around, so make sure you add your name to it

Is documentation important within SEO?

Typically the more senior you are and the larger the company, the more important documentation and processes become. This depends on the type of company you work for, your seniority and position, and the demands of SEO, but as a generalisation, it stands true.

What is documentation used for in SEO?

I think documentation has two very distinct purposes within SEO;

1. To improve processes and gain buy-in for significant projects

2. To try to raise standards and consistency across the board

Let me give you a real-life example. We had been noticing some inconsistent behaviour with several pages on The Telegraph’s website; server errors, broken pages. Nothing extraordinary, but it appeared to be happening to several thousand pages within specific sections. To any SEO the solution should be obvious - we need access to server logs.

Unfortunately, in many companies, you tend to find that access to tech-specific data is either unavailable or you are only granted access as part of the platforms or engineering team. If technical SEO isn’t considered crucial to the success of the tech team and business, don’t get despondent. This is completely normal and where the power of documentation can help.

Working with developers and engineers can seem a little daunting to begin with in SEO. It is hard to know how much guidance to give and where you can truly add value. But your expertise lies in SEO, not in coding. So speak to the tech team, build relationships and work out where you can add value.

How do you create good documentation?

Fundamentally, good documentation should;

• Highlight your goals

• Take a problem-solution approach

• Understand who you are targeting

• Provide enough relevant background information

You need to be aware of who you are trying to gain buy-in from and tailor the document to that person(s). If you’re trying to get buy-in from C-suite members, or very senior members of staff, then tailor your document towards financial gain and business goals. If you’re trying to get buy-in from someone in the tech or engineering departments, speak to them beforehand to see how aware they are of the issue you’re raising. Tech teams love having someone who can support them effectively.

You can afford to focus more on issues like site safety, uptime or site quality improvements with the tech team than with others. Not because they have different goals (they don’t, everyone’s goals are revenue-related), but because your documentation should help people solve issues specific to their job.

Log files: An SEO documentation case study

It should be no surprise to any of you that the larger and more complex your website, the more important access to server logs will be. But this data can be, for want of a better word, guarded by the platforms or engineering teams.

Not for nefarious reasons I might add, just because nobody has ever asked for them before.

To gain access to server logs (or any otherwise inaccessible data points), you’re going to need to take a problem-solution approach. You should take this approach for everything in my opinion, but it’s particularly important when you’re asking for something complex, expensive or both. You have to help people see the value in doing what you’re asking.

Below is the server logs documentation I created:

As you can see, I have broken this down to help revenue-focused senior staff (who typically have limited knowledge of SEO) with a clear summary and goals, going into enough detail so that the engineering team(s) have what they need to start the project.

• Problem-solution

• Executive summary

• Goals

• I also included a project plan and timeline, glossary of terms, resource requirements and metrics we care about

You can find this documentation (and others) below to create a copy of to use yourself.

SEO documentation examples

Log files

Make a copy of this log file documentation and use it as a starting point for yourself. This is the same documentation as we have just discussed above but includes the following;

• Project plan

• Timeline

• Resource

• Glossary

• Example opportunities

Examples of ways businesses can use log files (and more) contained in the document

Accessibility and SEO

Make a copy of this SEO accessibility documentation and use it as a starting point to share with the design team. Rightly or wrongly I think that accessibility will become more important as Google continues to strive for an inclusive web that works for everyone.

You’ll probably need some developer and design support to work through this document, but don’t be put off. You can uncover some really good insights that improve your website.

Content quality

Make a copy of this content quality documentation and use it as a starting point to share with the design team. Whilst content quality can be pretty subjective and hard to measure, it is absolutely worth getting some clear guidelines in place to support the creation of higher-quality content.

Whilst this is partly focused around affiliate content, the core points around expertise, effort and uniqueness are relevant across the board.

Evergreen content

Make a copy of this evergreen content documentation and use it as a starting point to share with the content team. This is aimed at writers creating evergreen content for the first time and the guidelines (and guidance) tries to simplify the fundamentals of what makes content rank in Google.

You may be surprised at how useful some of these basics are for writers new to SEO

Generative AI & SEO

Make a copy of this generative AI & SEO documentation and use it as a starting point. This is arguably less focused on a specific outcome and more on the ramifications of generative AI and what it means for us as SEOs.