As I’ve expressed to fellow marketing consultants, many of my blog post topic ideas stem from being asked the same question by existing or prospective clients over a short period of time, or my need to address the same challenge for numerous clients over a short period of time. Certainly the aforementioned is the driver behind this particular blog post.

How A Common Mistake That Impacts Digital Marketing & Analytics Is Discovered

When new or existing clients engage me for organic SEO work, i.e., for help being found on Google, organic SEO best practices I may initially complete include, but are not limited to the following:

• Reviewing clients’ Google My Business Profile presence looking for answers to questions related to Google My Business best practices, such as the following:
  • Is the Profile posted to regularly by client staff in the same fashion that they post to social media?
  • Has the client added any appropriate primary and secondary business categories that are available for selection via the “Info.” section of Google My Business?
  • Did the client provide a 750-character-or-less description of what their business is all about?
  • Has the client been receiving positive Google reviews on their Profile?
  • Has the client filled in their hours of operation?
  • Are the clients’ various social media profiles linked to from their Profile?
• Analyzing data available within a client’s Google Analytics and Google Search Console accounts to assess the following:
  • On average, in what position on Google (in Google search-engine results), does a listing with a link back to the client’s site appear?
  • What is the average click-thru rate on listings that do appear on Google – therefore, what percentage of individuals to whom Google serves up a listing with a link to a website in its search-engine results, then, actually visit the organization in-question’s website by clicking on that link?
  • How many individuals visit the client’s website on a monthly basis due to a search-engine search (Google, Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, etc.)?
  • What percentage of all monthly website traffic does organic search/search-engine traffic represent?

Sounds pretty straightforward, right?

Unfortunately, I and my client often find ourselves in a situation where I can’t complete the above-mentioned reviews and analyses to inform other/future organic SEO work. Why? Because of one or several of the following:

• While the client or an individual or agency engaged at one point by the firm set up one or all three of the above Google Accounts, i.e., Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google My Business, no-one has accessed them in quite some time and no-one knows what e-mail address and password are associated with the accounts. While I can easily share 3 distinct documents I’ve created with instructions on how to add me as a user to the 3 different types of Google Accounts (so I can complete my review and analysis), the instructions serve no purpose because the client doesn’t know how to access the accounts to add me as a user.
• An internal individual (an employee) at the organization responsible for IT and/or marketing efforts, or an individual at an external organization, such as a marketing agency, has accessed the Google accounts in recent months, but they are no longer employed by the client organization or at the marketing agency, and no-one else at the organization knows what login or password was used to set up the various Google accounts.

An Ounce Of Password-Policy Prevention Is Worth A Pound Of Cure

I won’t use this blog post to talk about possible timely and cumbersome work-arounds should the above scenario exist. Instead, I want this blog post to serve as a warning and precaution for organizations that would benefit from ongoing use of, or reviews of data available in, the three types of Google accounts discussed above. Take measures now to avoid finding yourselves in the predicament described above! And, that’s where a proper login and password policy (known as a “password policy)” comes in – not just for large businesses/employers, but for any size for-profit or non-profit organization.

What Should A Password Policy Include?

We believe these five blog posts from different cybersecurity and corporate security organizations provide great food for thought on what an effective password policy should entail:

• Best Practices For Creating A Corporate Password Policy
• Creating An Effective Business Password Policy
• 10 Best Practices: Corporate Password Policy
• Creating Strong Passwords: A Guide For Employers
• How To Create A Company Password Policy

Get Started On Creating A Password Policy Today

Sure, there’s always something else that you can allow to get in the way, but creating a corporate policy today can prevent a lot of digital-marketing heartache tomorrow!