THE WORK AHEAD

Naturally, I Have a Plan...

There is absolutely no shortage of ideas around here. Some are ready to go. Some need a little plotting. And some start with, “Okay, hear me out…” which, historically, is how things tend to escalate.

Ambition with a process.

These aren’t six promises to finish by next August. They’re priorities at different stages of maturity, with room to learn, test, change direction, and scale what creates value.

IN MOTION

Defined next steps. Active commitment.

01 / IMPLEMENT

Make the standard the habit.

Creating a standard is only useful if people understand it, use it, and see value in it. The next step is moving systems and standards from documentation into consistent practice across the SEO team.

  • Launch the SEO Content Coverage Framework and support team adoption.
  • Roll out priority SOPs where consistency will have the biggest impact on quality and efficiency.
  • Connect standards directly to SEO Lab, training, onboarding, QA, and team resources so they’re reinforced instead of simply introduced.
  • Pay attention to what works in practice, then refine, simplify, or rethink what doesn’t.
SEPTEMBER Launch → Q4 2026 Adopt + Evaluate → ONGOING Refine + Scale
The goal isn’t documentation.
It’s adoption.
02 / STRENGTHEN

Don’t just do the SEO. Understand the SEO.

We’ve gotten faster at getting work out the door. Now I want to make sure the thinking gets stronger right alongside it. The next step is reconnecting everyday execution with the SEO fundamentals, strategy, and reasoning that make the work actually good.

  • Use the current SEO Lab cycle to spot the areas where stronger fundamentals could make the biggest difference.
  • Develop practical training for specialists and coordinators around those gaps.
  • Use real examples, actual mistakes, and “why did this happen?” moments to teach people how to diagnose and think through the work.
  • Connect training, SOPs, QA, and content standards so the team isn’t learning one thing and being evaluated against another.
Completing the deliverable and doing the work well should never become two different things.
IN DEVELOPMENT

Work already being learned, built, or shaped through collaboration.

03 / EXPAND

Build Better Across Teams

Better SEO doesn’t begin after a website is built. I want to continue working alongside front-end and back-end Web teams so I better understand how our sites are built and SEO requirements can enter the conversation earlier.

  • Continue shadowing front-end and back-end Web workflows to strengthen my technical understanding of the website lifecycle.
  • Identify recurring friction between Web and SEO and work together on practical solutions.
  • Build stronger shared expectations around site structure, migrations, content implementation, technical SEO, and optimization.
  • Take greater ownership of collision-site UX and the customer journey, connecting SEO, Webflow, user experience, and conversion paths.
The goal is less handoff and more shared understanding.
04 / OPTIMIZE

Build a More Client-Obsessed SEO Practice

Efficiency isn’t the end goal. Better client outcomes are. I want to keep identifying ways to reduce unnecessary work and evaluate technology that gives the team more capacity for strategy, quality, and client impact.

  • Identify repetitive work, bottlenecks, knowledge gaps, and friction within SEO workflows.
  • Test software, platforms, AI tools, and emerging technologies based on their ability to improve quality, efficiency, insight, or client outcomes.
  • Help shape how emerging AI search and visibility services are operationalized, including workflows, tools, reporting, and internal knowledge.
  • Turn useful individual solutions into shared systems when they can improve how the broader team works.
Efficiency creates capacity. What we do with that capacity should create value for our clients.
ON THE HORIZON

Ideas worth pursuing that still need research, collaboration, or experimentation.

05 / CONTRIBUTE

Strengthen Sokal’s Voice in the Industry

I want to help expand Sokal’s organic presence from marketing our services to sharing what we know, creating content that demonstrates real expertise across SEO, analytics, AI and search, automotive marketing, and collision.

  • Continue improving and expanding organic content across Sokal’s website around areas where we have genuine expertise.
  • Turn internal knowledge, research, presentations, and industry involvement into useful external content.
  • Experiment with formats outside traditional written content, including video, podcasting, interviews, or educational series.
  • Use opportunities like SEMA and collision-industry involvement to bring what we’re learning back into Sokal’s content.
Thought leadership should be something the work earns.
06 / GIVE BACK

Use What We Know to Do Some Good

I want to create opportunities to use the same expertise we apply for our clients to support organizations that may not otherwise have access to it.

  • Develop a pilot with a Sokal dealership client to identify a nonprofit they support and understand where SEO could create meaningful value.
  • Build the project around the organization’s actual needs, from content and local visibility to technical foundations or analytics.
  • Evaluate the pilot before deciding if the model should be repeated with other dealership partners and their communities.
Use what we know to strengthen the communities our clients call home.
HOW I PLAN TO GET THERE

Pay attention. Ask better questions. Build what helps.

NOTICE WHAT COULD BE BETTER.

Not everything needs fixing. Some things just have more potential.

FIGURE OUT WHAT ACTUALLY HELPS.

Ask questions. Look at the data. Talk to the people doing the work. Don’t build a solution just because I had a fun idea.

MAKE THE GOOD STUFF STICK.

Test it. Teach it. Refine it. Turn the things that work into something bigger than a one-off win.

I don’t need to know every project I’ll take on next. I know how I want to approach them: stay curious, pay attention, involve the right people, and leave things better than I found them.

And yes, there will probably be a spreadsheet.