This guide will walk you through utilizing the SEO support queue broken down by stakeholder. Whether you’re an Account Manager or a Senior SEO Rep, you can use this guide to know what is needed from you and how to communicate and route your questions or requests effectively.
Why Are We Creating an SEO Support Queue?
A fully transparent support queue model is mutually beneficial for everyone involved. It creates a consistent record of what has occurred on the client’s account for later reference. It allows for oversight of support requests to hold all stakeholders accountable for responding in a timely manner and creating clear action plans. This also allows the SEO team to gauge the volume of requests and types of requests in order to identify training opportunities, gather FAQ entries, and solve common/widespread issues. Additionally, making the interaction public creates a learning platform to take examples from each other’s successes and failures and thereby improve our interdepartmental communication.
What Types Of Communication Should Be Support Requests?
Anything regarding the client needing contact or an SEO consultation
General Questions
General Client Requests
Requests For Campaign Updates
Updates or questions regarding clients' directory information
Updates or questions regarding a clients reputation management service
Intake, Assignment, & Response Times
From the time the initial case request is entered, a case will be created and assigned to an SEO rep within 24 hours. SEO Leads and Senior Reps will be responsible for monitoring the support queue on a daily basis to assure timely assignments are made. A rep will then provide an initial response to acknowledge that it has been seen and is on the rep’s to-do list and the time needed to follow up. Most requests should be resolvable within 48 hours and for larger issues, a clear timeline must be presented. If, in special cases, a specific deadline is needed please include that date in the initial request. Also, please take into consideration that most SEO requests will take some time to dig into, diagnose, implement fixes, and provide a client-facing narrative for our findings.
Escalations
Having a clear escalation path and expectations around when something needs to be escalated helps all parties involved feel more comfortable and supported in dealing with requests out of their control or outside their sphere of influence. So, when should a case be escalated? Once, the case comes in leads and senior reps will be the first filter to ensure the right person is working on each request and most escalations will be identified in this step and worked by senior staff. In the case that the assigned SEO rep is unable to provide an answer or fix it will be their responsibility to reach out to their lead or senior rep buddy for assistance. In the event that a case has not progressed as expected or the response was less than desirable, the account manager or support rep can reach out directly to any SEO lead for further discussion.