To make an in-house SEO effort successful, you must first gain buy-in from the three main "layers" in most large organizations: executives, management, and everyone else. So says Duane Forrester in a recent post at Search Engine Land. He likens working with these groups to making a layered sandwich. To help you get everyone focused on optimizing your organization's organic search effort, Forrester offers a few tips for working with each of these layers of stakeholders:

Executives. Highly strategic, top-layer executives say "yes" or "no" to resource requests and drive their organizations forward. To make your case to this busy audience, arm yourself with as much SEO data as possible, but keep your presentation short and sweet.

Management. The operational management team is responsible for delegating work across available resources. Be prepared to provide greater ROI detail to help this middle layer justify allocating the resources you need.

Everyone Else. These are the editors producing content each day, or the specialists who ensure that the servers are set up. Show this lower layer how SEO adds value, and provide training on best practices.

As issues arise, facilitate among executives, management personnel, and everyone else; play off each group's strengths; and narrow issues down until you get the desired results, Forrester advises.

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