Web Developers Vs. SEO: Who Should Lead Implementation?

SEO and Web Development are two of the most important aspects of any online business.

But who should lead their implementation? Should it be the certified SEO expert or the web developer? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?

In this article, we will explore these questions to determine which approach is best suited for your business.

 

Overcoming Obstacles in SEO Implementation

The collaboration among certified SEO experts, IT departments, and web developers within a website can be intricate. While the primary concern of developers and IT personnel is the site's aesthetics and dependability, certified SEO experts prioritize its functionality.

Furthermore, developers and IT teams usually have limited time and resources to execute modifications, leading to potential conflicts between the groups.

We will explore the obstacles that certified SEO experts encounter when working with web developers and IT specialists and the advantages of an SEO-driven approach to implementation:

1. Overcoming Challenges between SEO Professionals and Web Developers
2. Overcoming Challenges between SEO Experts and IT
3. The Advantages of SEO-Led Implementation
4. Collaboration Between Departments

 

1. Overcoming Challenges between SEO Professionals and Web Developers

When working with web developers, certified SEO experts may face significant challenges due to the importance of SEO.

It may be more important for web developers to focus on the site's aesthetic features, such as its design and layout, than on its technical SEO components and functionality, which makes it challenging to implement the necessary SEO changes.

Additionally, developers might either forego making necessary SEO changes or do so in a way that hurts SEO.

To implement SEO successfully, web developers may require technical knowledge of the latest best practices and the ability to execute changes that effectively optimize SEO.

These challenges can create frustration for both certified SEO experts and web developers. Web developers may feel overwhelmed by the technical requirements of SEO, while certified SEO experts may feel undervalued for their expertise.

2. Overcoming Challenges between SEO Experts and IT

The responsibility for maintaining a site's technical aspects, including server maintenance and software updates, often lies with IT professionals.

Although they acknowledge the significance of SEO, they may require additional time and resources to implement changes promptly. IT personnel may also avoid making modifications that could affect the site's stability or the underlying IT infrastructure.

Another hurdle is that SEO changes can impact IT systems in unexpected ways, such as causing caching or load-balancing issues due to changes in site architecture or URL structure.

As a result, the implementation process may experience delays, causing additional work for both the SEO and IT teams.

3. The Advantages of SEO-Led Implementation

SEO professionals are well-suited to lead the implementation process, leveraging their specialized knowledge and expertise in SEO strategy.

By taking the lead, certified SEO experts can ensure that changes are implemented correctly the first time and guide web developers and IT teams to understand the impact of SEO changes and their effective implementation.

Professional SEO experts can prioritize SEO changes and guarantee prompt implementation, which is critical for sites undergoing significant changes or updates.

Delays in implementing SEO changes can significantly affect search rankings and traffic.

Additionally, certified SEO experts are adept at turning complicated technical data into useful information.

As long as they have a seat at the executive table, this enables them to implement search-related changes quickly and efficiently.

However, it can sometimes be difficult to define what constitutes changes related to searches, which is why SEO specialists should be in charge of creating and defining the search engine marketing program.

Many SEO specialists have prior IT or web development experience and can even assume those roles while managing search digital marketing agency initiatives.

Because of this overlap in skills, it can be difficult to define the boundaries between SEO duties.

For instance, site speed is crucial for all aspects of a site, including SEO. While web developers may not have the technical knowledge to improve site speed significantly, IT professionals may speed up a site but usually with a performance sacrifice elsewhere.

In contrast, competent SEO professionals can enhance site speed without compromising functionality and implement the changes faster and more efficiently than web developers or IT professionals in almost all cases.

4. Collaboration Between Departments

For large technical SEO projects, a collaboration between the SEO, web developer, and IT departments is crucial. By working together, these teams can ensure that they are all aligned and working towards the same goal.

While advocating for the SEO team to lead the implementation of SEO-related changes, it's important to note that changes shouldn't be made in a vacuum.

Instead, changes made by the SEO team should be checked by the IT department and web developers to ensure they are consistent with the site's design and underlying infrastructure.

Although the IT department and web developers should have some veto power over the changes, they should not have absolute veto power. Any issues with suggested changes should be resolved through discussion, and all teams should keep their egos in check.

Sometimes, compromise is necessary for SEO, and solutions may come from the IT or developer team.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter who implements the changes as long as the desired results are achieved. However, it is easier if the SEO team leads the implementation of SEO changes.

By allowing SEO professionals to take the lead in implementing SEO changes, the implementation process can be expedited, and the changes can be completed accurately the first time.

In larger technical SEO projects, a collaboration between SEO professionals, web developers, and IT departments is crucial to ensure that everyone is working towards the same goal.

Together, these teams can create a website that is both visually appealing and useful, as well as ranking highly in search results.

This may lead to an uptick in site visitors, better user engagement, and an enhanced browsing experience.

By VROX Content Team - 04 May 2023