SDX Hyperloop Platform Puts SEO in Marketer's Hands
On March 30th, SearchDex, the SEO technology and consulting agency that specializes in eCommerce announced its new SDX Hyperloop Platform, aimed at arming marketers with more sophisticated big data-powered SEO to bolster their brand. Built on a foundation of core search engine optimization principles, it pairs orchestrated analytics with a high level of personalization to take the reins of SEO away from IT, and put it back in the hands of marketers.
Upon hearing of this new release, I reached out to David Chaplin, the CEO of SearchDex to hear about their new offering as well as discuss the impact of SEO on today’s current digital marketing landscape:
The first and most paramount point David brings up is that “by nature, SEO is an ongoing discipline that never goes away.” This is why their new SDX Hyperloop Platform is designed to accommodate regular updates, feature enhancements as well as integration into eCommerce platforms. One might think though, that since SEO is an ongoing discipline, shouldn’t we all be masters in it? Unfortunately, the importance of SEO isn’t as emphasized as much as one might think, but the good news there is, therein lies a huge opportunity for organizations to utilize its power effectively to build their brand experience.
Filling the Gaps in the Market
On the same day as the launch of their new platform, SearchDex released the results of a survey 
they conducted, to better understand the importance of SEO to marketers, as well as the challenges faced by CEOs, VPs of marketing and marketing directors. While they found nearly 100% of the marketers surveyed feel that “winning the SEO war” is extremely important, it's difficulty was also vocalized in building useful SEO teams (55%), analyzing the data they were given (45%) and finally, the trouble in working with their IT departments to execute their insightful strategies (45%).
Those in the online retail world face even more specific challenges. David feels adherence to brand standards are a large reason for the struggle, when they are up against "the Amazon effect" as he calls it. Thankfully, they are proposing a way to turn those tides: “The key to building a company’s brand through the power of search is freeing marketers to implement an SEO strategy themselves through technology that they control—removing the friction currently in place with the reliance on IT and creating a straight path from marketing to consumers,” says David in a blog post about the survey. “This straight path, combined with the technology to automate many of the signals coming in through artificial intelligence, big data and machine learning, allows marketers to connect to consumers on an emotional level through search itself.”
SEO in the Common Marketer’s Toolkit
Even though, as David mentions, most marketers are showing up to a site that’s already been created and thought to be optimized, one of the issues I think is that it might not be to the current, and constantly evolving standards of SEO. Its one of those funny things in this industry I find, where you have some preaching the gospel of SEO optimization how it was five years ago, and there are contradicting reports saying no, THIS is how it works, everything else you know is wrong.
So what is a marketer to do? David explains there are many options in the public domain for education, and now they offer a platform for marketers to take that strategy and bring it into reality. David couldn’t emphasize enough that it is a discipline, it’s a slow burn but the right strategy can make still waters run deep and he hopes with the advent of this new offering, it will be the incentive for marketers to have more knowledge and prowess with SEO as time moves on.
Laura Myers
A digital business, marketing and social media enthusiast, Laura thrives on asking unique, insightful questions to ignite conversation. At an event or remotely, she enjoys any opportunity to connect with like-minded people in the industry.