SEO is Sales (with just a little more structure)
Quick Summary
- What this covers: seo-is-sales-with-just-a-little-more
- Who it's for: executives, CMOs, and business leaders evaluating SEO investment
- Key takeaway: Read the first section for the core framework, then use the specific tactics that match your situation.
It's weird that it's one of a potent form of indoctrination.
Worse than that, it's the ultimate form of inheritance.
It's nepotism. This isn't a debated perspective to have. It's understood. That's the entire point.
This may be a surprise to you, but there are companies that exist which are as old as the silent generation. Older even.
Companies that are 75 years old, have gone numerous generations. Given the time frame, it's can be two or three, four in the more rare occasions. Five if the family is about it.
You get the picture.
Each generation of these companies has to adjust with the times most pressing for that time period.
Innumerable wars, recessions, global trade agreements, everything that has chipped that number of companies lower and lower.
There are areas where these inherited responsibilities of the livelihoods of hard-working, skilled labor, are about to be aged out.
It's gonna be hung up. The average age of those that are running these companies on the... later half in life.
It's a fact of nature.
Below them on the corporate ladder, are younger-yet high managers and those that have to do things like: keep up with the times.
They were the pioneers of the original Web and Web 2.0. These are those that prefer to get 'in the trenches'.
Geocities. AIM. Livejournal. IRC. All the other old shit I wasn't around for. Myspace. Wordpress. etc, etc.
These are the people who built those B2B websites back in 2008 or 2012 or whenever it was, but it was a while ago.
The internet has sifted underneath these websites that intend to be useful.
They intent to conduct sales. Or display the product. In some way or another have a purpose for customers or distributers.
That's the point.
Search crawlers weren't sophisticated beyond the amount of times a keyword or phrase occurred on the page.
But Google changed the game.
They became the best at matching people to the things they want to see.
91% of market share's worth (a number of this percentage was paid for) but still.
So people are getting the results (from Google) about business that is near their business (suppliers, distributors, manufacturers, transportation to move the product itself, the list goes on).
Google changes the game, what were at one time considered "good" websites are now not as prominent.
This is money that could be of some use in this economy.
Let's draw the thread:
Older people are running older companies, which are running older websites, which are not as prominent, all because of what?
Not due to a lack in expertise.
Not because they're not good at what they do.
Not because their sales teams don't know how to sell.
But because the website is not pulling its weight.
And why isn't the website pulling its weight?
Because Google has determined that websites which aren't organized in a fashion that is useful for users, shouldn't be shown.
But what can be done to combat this?
"Helpful" Content.
What's that?
That's what your sales team is using on the phone.
In their emails. On their lunches.
Whenever they're doing the sales.
It'd be fair to ask yourself: how, is SEO, the same as Sales?
There's an order of unfolding the information for your customers, that is your SEO.
The order of the content, how it looks, and the proof that the business is what it says it is.
Of the website.
(That's it.)
If you want to shortcut the gradual unfolding of how this relates to your business, respond or comment on this & I'll come back with the context your content needs for those that are looking for you.
When SEO Isn't Your Priority
Defer SEO investment if:
- Your product-market fit isn't validated yet. SEO compounds over months. If you're still iterating on what you sell and who you sell it to, those months of SEO work will target the wrong audience. Nail the positioning first.
- You're in a winner-take-all paid acquisition market. Some verticals (insurance, legal, finance) have organic results pushed below the fold by ads. If your competitors all buy their traffic and organic results barely show, paid channels may be the pragmatic choice until you can invest in long-term organic.
- Your sales cycle is shorter than SEO's payback period. If you need revenue in 30 days, SEO won't deliver. Run paid campaigns for immediate pipeline, then layer SEO as a compounding channel once cash flow supports the timeline.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I evaluate whether our SEO investment is working?
Track three metrics quarterly: organic traffic trend (is it growing?), organic revenue attribution (what revenue came from organic search?), and market share of search (what percentage of relevant searches do you appear in vs competitors?). Avoid vanity metrics like keyword count or domain authority — they correlate loosely with business outcomes. A good SEO program shows compounding organic revenue growth over 6-12 month windows.
How long does SEO take to show results?
Technical fixes (crawl errors, speed improvements) can impact rankings within 2-8 weeks. Content investments take 3-6 months to gain traction and 6-12 months to compound. Competitive keywords in established markets may take 12-18 months. The timeline depends on your starting position, competitive landscape, and investment level. Budget for 6 months before expecting material ROI.
Should we hire in-house or use an agency for SEO?
In-house makes sense when SEO is a core growth channel (>20% of revenue), you need daily execution speed, and you have enough work to justify a full-time hire ($80-150K+ fully loaded). Agency makes sense for strategic guidance, specialized audits, or when SEO volume doesn't justify headcount. Many companies benefit from a hybrid: in-house execution with agency-level strategy oversight.