Five Facts About SEO for Executive Coaches

In my popular article, The Savvy Coach’s Guide to SEO,” I talk a lot about what coaches need to know when it comes to getting discovered in the search engine, aka SEO. My goal with that piece is to help you, a smart executive coach working with high level clients, better understand if search is the right marketing move for your business.

However, once you’ve decided this is the right move for you, it’s time to get clear on a few facts about SEO for executive and other high level coaches.

SEO Fact #1: SEO looks different for a high level coach working with executives inside large companies.

This means that a lot of the advice about SEO you come across on LinkedIn doesn’t apply to your business. Why? Because that advice is geared towards high volume businesses that aren’t building longterm relationships with clients and industries.

For example, if you were selling white t-shirts, you would have a simplistic SEO strategy that focused around differentiators such as size inclusivity, sustainability, or even fulfillment. These are very basic qualities, but your services, like mine, aren’t basic. You go deeply with your clients and make big changes for them.

As a result, the differentiators you leverage in your SEO strategy need to be deep as well. Your clients are willing to look farther afield for the right fit, and even stretch their budgets if need be. We can capture that in an SEO strategy, which is not typically part of the “basic bro” approach to SEO.

SEO Fact #2: Branded Search is of Utmost Important to Executive Coaches

What is branded search?

Branded search is a very simple concept. It is search phrases that people type into Google, ChatGPT, Bing, or other search engines such as YouTube that are related to specific brands such as people’s names, product names, company names, service names, and more—you get the picture. These are all brands! So, someone could search for “Sarah Moon Consulting” or “Alignthority® Accelerator” and those would be branded searches.

Executive coaches thrive on referrals, but the thing that many don’t realize is that those referrals do their homework first—and that often starts in the search engine. In fact, data indicates that up to 90 percent of online experiences start with a search!

Because of this, you need to have a robust about page that’s search optimized for your name and possibly your company’s name, your team members, if you have them, likely need individual branded pages, and you need to consider if your services or approach need special treatment from a branded search perspective.

This is mission critical for high level coaches, and cannot be ignored.

SEO Fact #3: It’s Not All About Keywords

In my work, I untangle a lot of messes created by folks simply following advice from Threads posters or discount SEO agencies that aren’t used to working with high-knowledge businesses like that of executive coaches.

We see keywords stuffed all over pages, awkward phrasing, and nonsensical placement.

Yes, the keywords you select for each page are important, but what I’m more concerned about is the picture you’re painting overall. Will Google and other search engines understand what your website is about? Will visitors land on your site and understand what you provide and how your coaching differentiates from those of your competitors?

We want to first identify the big picture and tie that together with multiple SEO tactics and conversion optimization techniques so we can get the most out of your SEO efforts. Simply plopping (technical term) a bunch of keywords onto your site won’t move the needle in the way you want—and is a brand risk!

SEO Fact #4: Thought Leadership Marketing is the Ultimate SEO Hack

One of my favorite things I do in my Alignthority® Accelerator is create a content strategy plan for my clients that merges visibility in the search engine with thought leadership marketing.

The reality is that Google itself says that "SEO mulch,” aka blogs and other content designed only to attract search engines and often generated by Large Language Model software, isn’t going to achieve the reach you want. And, I would argue, won’t do anything to build your brand.

My solution is to create a strategy around thought leadership—your unique angle that goes deeply—and meld it with the language your ideal coaching clients use when looking for the support you provide. This is a stress-tested methodology that lasts. Furthermore, Edelman, year over year reveals that buying decision makers expect thought leadership from their vendors and consultants—about two-thirds regularly consume thought leadership!

When you start with the thought leadership that helps you stand out, and then engineer your luck in the search engine with thoughtful research into your audience’s natural language, you can’t help getting found, but also converting more leads into clients.

SEO Fact #5: SEO Won’t Fix a Broken Business or Marketing/Sales System

Unfortunately, I’m going to end on a bit of a downer. It’s not uncommon for people to consider SEO when business is in a very rough spot. I don’t know about other consultants, but when this happens to me, I cannot ethically work with them. Search engine optimization can take a while to get traction, and it can amplify problems with your marketing and sales ecosystems. For example, if you get leads, but they’re not becoming clients, now is NOT the time to bring SEO into your marketing toolkit. Instead, remedy that problem with your sales first.

If you’re worried about keeping the lights on in your coaching business, do not turn to SEO as a fix. Instead, take a hard look at what works, and repair anything in your systems that is broken first. Then, when you’ve stabilized your business, turn to SEO as a sustainable, evergreen strategy.

Final Thoughts for Executive Coaches Considering SEO

SEO for executive coaches isn’t about winning a popularity contest with high-volume keywords; it’s about ensuring that when your ideal client—or a high-stakes referral—looks for you, they find a digital presence that matches your real-world authority.

By focusing on branded search, deep differentiation, and genuine thought leadership, you aren't just "doing SEO." You’re building a sustainable asset that works for your business 24/7. If your coaching practice is stable and you’re ready to stop leaving your search presence to chance, it’s time to move away from the "basic bro" tactics and toward a strategy that reflects the depth of your work.

Ready to align your authority with how the world searches for you? Reach out about my signature Alignthority® Accelerator to start the conversation.