At Enterprise Companies, SEOs Often Can’t Execute Most SEO Tasks (An Article to Share with Non-SEO Teams in Your Company)

This piece is part of a series that delves into the operational challenges and opportunities involved in managing in-house search engine optimization (SEO).

Many non-SEO teams in large corporations are often surprised to discover their significant impact on SEO. Even more startling is the realization that SEO teams spend the majority of their time advising rather than directly implementing SEO strategies. This article aims to shed light on that dynamic and might be useful to share with other teams.

My work primarily involves educating non-SEO teams at large corporations about the intricacies of SEO and how their decisions can significantly impact it. Often, I find myself illustrating how several decisions made by these teams have compounded the challenges of organic optimization on their sites. With over two decades of experience in in-house SEO, I offer insights into how SEO functions within large companies.

Every Company is Either an SEO Avoider or an SEO Pacesetter

In my book, The Executive SEO Playbook, I categorize enterprise companies as either SEO Avoiders or SEO Pacesetters. Interestingly, these classifications do not depend on the SEO teams’ expertise but rather on SEO operations. Effective SEO operations can determine success or failure within a large corporation.

SEO Avoiders are companies that avoid engaging with SEO, whether intentionally or not.

SEO Pacesetters involve everyone company-wide in contributing to the crucial 20% of SEO efforts that drive 80% of business impact.

In enterprise environments, the quality of a site’s SEO often reflects the operational dynamics rather than just the SEO team’s skill. While proficiency is necessary, it isn’t sufficient for achieving Pacesetter status.

What Enterprise SEO Teams Can "Do" for SEO

In smaller companies, SEO teams have the flexibility to engage directly in content optimization, link building, and sometimes code changes. However, things function quite differently in large corporations. SEO teams typically do not control many elements of the website, except perhaps title tags and meta descriptions.

So, why do companies maintain sizable SEO teams or even allocate full-time roles to SEO? These teams are essential because they pursue projects, resolve issues, and encourage other teams to implement actions that drive SEO growth. Common activities include:

• Defining the SEO strategy for other teams to implement.
• Crafting keyword targeting strategies for writers.
• Occasionally managing writers for SEO-specific content within the strategy.
• Identifying technical problems, documenting requirements, and testing fixes.
• Reviewing and providing feedback on wireframes.
• Advising on and testing URL redirects.
• Consistently training other teams to master their 20% of SEO impact.
• Advising on internal linking.
• Providing requirements and risk assessments for site changes.

Noticeably absent from this list are core SEO tasks like content optimization and ensuring site SEO-friendliness. These responsibilities fall to non-SEO teams.

Throughout the organization, non-SEO teams control the content, code, links, and everything search engines see on your site. Thus, to the surprise of many, non-SEO teams are the ones actually "doing" SEO.

Non-SEO Teams Affect SEO

For enterprise companies, non-SEO teams are crucial to SEO success. The roles impacting SEO daily include:

• Writers
• Merchandisers
• UX Designers
• Product Managers
• Project Managers
• Developers
• QA Testers

Contrary to popular belief, these roles are at the heart of executing SEO efforts. They determine whether a company becomes an SEO Avoider or a Pacesetter. These team members must continually understand and consider how their work affects SEO.

What Does This Mean for Non-SEO Teams?

Non-SEO teams require training and tools proportional to the organic ranking risks and opportunities their roles present.

Each role should master the 20% of SEO that drives 80% of their impact. This mastery needs to be foundational, requiring in-depth training beyond what managers might initially think necessary. The rationale is that training equips the company to become an SEO Pacesetter. Brief training won’t suffice for teams to help achieve double-digit organic traffic growth or manage significant risk mitigation.

If managers question the push for SEO training, refer them to this article. Non-SEO teams influencing the site have the potential to significantly enhance organic traffic and outcomes but only if they understand how to do so. Without this knowledge, there is a risk of inadvertently causing substantial traffic declines.