How to Build an SEO Team
SEO - If you're looking to grow your brand visibility and traffic to your website you've probably heard the term. But, even for the experts, SEO is a difficult task to do alone.
Having an out-of-house or in-house team can make your SEO efforts more effective and you'll likely achieve your goals sooner.
But how do you build an SEO team?
Today, we guide you to take the first steps of building an SEO team for your business.
What we'll be covering:
What is SEO?
What is an SEO Team?
The Benefits of Building an SEO Team
Who Should Be Included in an SEO Team?
What to look for in your SEO manager?
SEO on a budget - How to start building your team
Setting Goals and Objectives for your SEO Team
How SEO affects different channels and skill sets
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation.
The desired outcome for SEO is that your website will appear on the first pages of search engines such as Google for the queries related to your site. This is achieved through various tactics aimed at making your website visible and accessible to search engines.
There are 3 primary areas of SEO known as:
On-page
Technical
Off-page
Backlinko.com defines on-page optimisation as “the practice of optimising web page content for search engines and users”.
Ahrefs.com describes technical SEO as “the process of optimising your website to help search engines like Google find, crawl, understand, and index your pages”.
And finally, SEMRush defines off-page SEO as “all SEO tactics that don’t involve updating or publishing content to your website”.
The key to SEO is being able to optimise for all 3 competently and not neglect a certain area.
When starting out, most business focus on on-page. The reason for this is because it’s the easiest to understand to control. It isn’t the easiest to execute and we’d recommend speaking to an SEO expert on how to optimise for all 3 areas.
What is an SEO Team?
However you define SEO, an SEO team is a group of professionals responsible for implementing effective SEO strategies to improve a website's visibility and organic traffic.
This team typically includes individuals with various skills, such as SEO specialists, content writers, link builders, and project managers. They work together to develop and execute a comprehensive SEO plan that aligns with the business goals and objectives.
By using analytical tools, conducting keyword research, optimising website content, and building quality backlinks, the SEO team aims to improve the website's search engine rankings and attract more targeted organic traffic.
The Benefits of Building an SEO Team
Building an SEO team comes with a wealth of benefits that can greatly enhance the success of your organic traffic and search engine rankings. Here are some key advantages of having a dedicated SEO team.
SEO Strategies
An SEO team is essential for developing and executing effective SEO strategies. By having skilled professionals who understand the intricacies of search engine optimisation, you can optimise your website, increase visibility, and improve keyword rankings. With their technical skills and knowledge, they can implement on-page and off-page optimisation techniques, resulting in higher organic traffic.
Creating Optimised Content
Content for content's sake isn't going to get you anywhere.
A great SEO team works hand-in-hand with your content marketing team to create high-quality content that's optimised for search engines. By integrating SEO into your content marketing strategies, you can ensure that your website is not only engaging but also easily discoverable by search engine algorithms. This ensures that your content ranks highly for relevant keywords, driving more organic traffic to your website.
Strengthening Your Off-Page Authority
A dedicated SEO team can also focus on building effective off-page SEO strategies, such as link building and outreach, to improve your website's authority and visibility. With their expertise in identifying high-quality backlink opportunities, they can expand your online presence and attract more visitors.
Overall, building an SEO team allows you to optimise your website, improve keyword rankings, and execute effective SEO and content marketing strategies. This combination ultimately leads to higher organic traffic and improved search engine rankings.
But, who exactly should make up this team of optimisers?
Who Should Be Included in an SEO Team?
When building an SEO team, it is crucial to include key roles and positions that will contribute to the success of your search engine optimisation efforts. These roles typically include an SEO Manager, SEO Specialists, Content Writers, and Link Builders. Getting your SEO team structure right will set you up for long-term SEO success.
The SEO Manager
The SEO Manager is responsible for overseeing the entire SEO team and implementing effective SEO strategies. They should have a strong understanding of SEO best practices, keyword research, and technical SEO.
A great SEO manager should be able to:
Analyse your website data effectively and communicate next steps such as insight on how to improve conversion (Conversion rate optimisation)
Conduct keyword research to inform all aspects of the funnel (awareness, consideration, and conversion)
Create an SEO strategy to include technical SEO and off-site SEO signals
Align the SEO strategy and delivery alongside the other marketing channels
Analyse your competitor and market landscape to come back with informed strategic direction
Web development skills in implementing changes in the back end of your website
Ensure your website is structured effectively
Experience with optimising user journeys and conducting user research
Experience with conducting on-site tests using tools such as VWO
SEO Specialists
SEO Specialists are experts in their field and possess deep knowledge of SEO strategies and tactics. They conduct thorough keyword research, analyse website performance, and optimise on-page elements.
Content Writers
Content Writers play a critical role in creating high-quality and SEO-friendly content. They should be skilled in keyword research and incorporating keywords naturally into their writing. It is crucial for content writers to understand the SEO goals and optimise content accordingly. But they should also be able to live and breathe your brand tone of voice.
A competent copywriter with an SEO and audience-first mindset can assist with the following:
Conduct keyword research to inform content at a top level
Create a content plan
Writing and optimising content for your webpages
Writing and optimising articles/blogs
Writing and optimising whitepapers and other big rock pieces you want to be the topic leader on
Write and optimise captivating product descriptions
Write the page titles and meta descriptions for your pages
Upload and mark up the content in your content management system
Some of the reasons for the emphasis on content creation with keyword targeting are:
Content to ensure you are the authority on your chosen topic to users and search engines
Google rewards website for having fresh content
Link Builders
Link Builders focus on acquiring relevant and high-quality backlinks to improve organic traffic and search engine rankings. They utilise various strategies to build relationships with other websites, such as outreach and guest posting.
Data Analysts
In addition to these core roles, having a Data Analyst is beneficial to monitoring and analysing website traffic, keyword rankings, and overall SEO performance. They use analytical tools like Google Analytics to gain insights and identify opportunities for improvement.
Building a well-rounded SEO team requires individuals with different skill sets and expertise. By combining these roles, you can establish a strong SEO department that can effectively enhance your website's visibility on search engines and drive more organic traffic.
What to look for in your SEO manager?
SEO is a discipline that makes use of a variety of skill set qualities from creative to analytical. It is a hybrid of skills that make SEO effective. As an expectation, a marketer is generally audience first, organised and pragmatic with decisions based on data.
We've outlined 3 qualities below that we'd would recommend you look for when finding an SEO manager for your team or hiring a freelance SEO marketer or SEO consultancy.
Great communicator
SEO can be tricky to communicate to the other marketing channels who may not have knowledge of SEO. Being able to communicate the problem, why it needs to be solved, the proposed solution backed by data and the execution takes an excellent communicator.
When searching for SEO, look for someone who can explain aspects of SEO in a simple manner. This will increase the chances of gaining buy-in from other channels and progress being made.
Critical thinker
Being able to make sense of data and retell the story of what’s going on is essential with SEO. A critical thinker will be able to understand the data from tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console and determine the next steps needed.
Be wary of falling for the pitfalls of having so much data that you don’t know where to turn. Work with your SEO manager/freelance marketer to determine the area you want to measure and the KPIs alongside. This will keep you focused, and action streamlined on those goals.
Creative mind
In contrast to the analytical thinker, a creative mind is imperative for SEO. Someone with a creative flair will be dreaming of the ways they can repurpose content ideas supported by their keyword research. Their creative ideas will be able to marry content with the other marketing channels seamlessly, much like the big rock content tactic from Jason Miller.
SEO on a budget - How to start building your team
To understand where to start with building an SEO team, you need to understand the basics of how search engines work.
In short, search engines crawl sites and read the code to understand what the site is about. They can’t see images. They read the code and the text that has been created for the site.
Start with the most critical SEO roles
With the above in mind, one of the most effective skills that you can invest in for SEO at the beginning of your journey is a copywriter who understands SEO or vice versa - an SEO manager who can write.
You may have heard the phrase “content is king”. While the phrase may be cliched at this point, it still remains the truth.
If you’re at the beginning of your SEO journey and must be strategic with the budget you allocate, hiring someone with this skillset is crucial to initial SEO success.
Bigger Budget - Where to Go Next
If you are fortunate enough to have a larger budget, alongside a content creator, we'd always invest in a strategic SEO marketer who has a strong handle on all the qualities listed above.
When you have the budget available, you can go deeper into the more advanced tactics of SEO. If you can afford this then brilliant but if not, focus on content creation and optimisation within your SEO team.
Setting Goals and Objectives for your SEO Team
There are many goals that SEO can help your business achieve. As we've been focussing on the beginning of an SEO journey, let's take a look at the goals that a business beginning their SEO journey is likely to embark on.
Increase traffic to the site
This is exactly what it sounds like.
It's about gaining traffic so that search engines take notice of you. Putting your efforts into keyword research and content creation, you're increasing the chances of users coming to your site through differing landing pages.
When researching keywords your audience is using, always keep in mind what their intent is. This will help inform the type of content you’ll create for your site, whether that's additional blogs, white-papers, or case studies.
Brand visibility
For keyword targeting, there are keywords known as brand and non-brand.
The difference is fairly self-explanatory:
Brand keywords are keywords that include your brand and name
Non-brand keywords do not include your brand.
By including your brand name within your page titles, meta descriptions, and other natural placements across your website, you're increasing your brand visibility to search engines and users.
Let's check out a potential scenario for your business:
Potential customer searches query related to your site but has never heard of you
They see your name in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) but don’t click
Potential customer does another related search
Your website in is the SERPs again with your brand name. This time, they’ve heard of you
They click
It's a known fact that customers need multiple touch-points before taking action with a brand. HubSpot recommends eight touch-points as a general rule of thumb.
Ensuring you're brand name is visible helps potential customers take those initial touch-point steps and more likely to engage with your business.
Increase product visibility and potential sales
If you own an e-commerce site and have a copywriter, then you can optimise your product titles and descriptions. This is an effective way of increasing their chances of appearing in the SERPs.
Harking back to the intent of your users’ searches - when writing for products, intent is vital.
On your website, you can create informational content giving the audience more detail about the product using branded keywords, and long-tail keywords which (typically 4+ words long).
How SEO affects different channels and skill sets
SEO is most effective when it’s a multi-channel approach. Your great content that your team has spent hours creating is worthless if no-one sees it!
Check out our diagram below to see how content can be distributed to feed other marketing channels:
When creating content around a specific topic, always think about how it could be distributed as other related pieces of content such as:
Social posts
Email
PR if applicable
PPC ads
Google Business Post
Other marketing channels can enhance your SEO activity. Working in a silo is likely to reduce the effectiveness of your SEO efforts.
Ensure that your SEO manager or freelance SEO marketer takes the opportunity to work with the other marketing channels and define the strategy that will maximise SEO for your brand.
So how do I build an SEO team?
Whether you're going for an external or internal team, lean into what you want to achieve first with your marketing strategy and see where SEO helps you achieve that.
To begin your SEO team, you must start small with focused effort. Your goals and data will determine what levers you need to pull to plug your gaps, what SEO areas you need to scale and even what you need to pull back on.
It takes a variety of different skills to form a cohesive SEO team, from content creators, strategists, data analysts and web developers with technical skills who all understand the function and purpose of other marketing channels.
The joy of building an SEO team for your business is discovering which is most effective for you. No two SEO teams in business are the same.
At Think Bambu, we know that finding the right people can be hard. If you're not ready to take the leap in hiring a full-time SEOer, why not kick-start things with our SEO professionals? We can offer a range of SEO services, from strategy to delivery.
Get in touch today to find out how we can help you!