30-second summary:
- SEO is important for brand success and there are several key roles that contribute to this
- Some of these roles are obvious, but others are ones you may not immediately associate with SEO
- Each of these roles has a different but important contribution to make
- An effective multidisciplinary SEO team will have good communication, clear roles and responsibilities, and realistic expectations
- By following these tips, you can set your team up for success
SEO is more than just a one-person show. It takes a team of dedicated professionals working together to achieve success. In this article, we will explore the different roles that are key to brand building in 2022.
Whether you’re a CEO who wants to understand why SEO is important for your business brand or an SEO pro who wants to build a case for improving SEO processes at your company, we have you covered.
Why is SEO important for brand success?
There are many reasons why SEO is important for brand success. Here are some of the most important ones:
1. SEO helps you reach new customers
Customers who are actively searching for businesses like yours are more likely to convert than those who stumble upon your website by chance. In fact, organic search is one of the most effective channels for generating leads in 2022.
Source: Statista
2. SEO builds trust and credibility
When customers see that your website is ranking high in search results, they will automatically perceive your brand as more trustworthy and credible. This is especially important for small businesses that are competing against larger, well-established companies.
3. SEO drives traffic to your website
The higher your website ranks in search results, the more traffic it will get. And the more traffic you have, the more opportunities you have to convert leads into customers.
4. SEO helps you stand out from your competition
If your competitors are not investing in SEO, then this is a great opportunity for you to differentiate yourself and gain an edge over them.
5. SEO is an ongoing process
Unlike other marketing channels (such as paid advertising), SEO is an ongoing process that needs to be regularly worked on in order to maintain and improve your rankings. This means that it can provide you with long-term results, which is essential for any successful business.
Business roles that are key to SEO success
There are many different roles within a company that contribute to SEO success. Some of them might seem obvious, but some of the others might be roles that you wouldn’t have immediately thought of when considering your SEO. It just goes to show: that SEO strategy is something that can be woven into your business operations at every level.
Here are my top six roles:
1. CFO (or another senior executive that holds the purse strings)
Why? because without a proportion of your marketing budget being ring-fenced for SEO, nothing else matters. The CFO or other senior decision-maker at your company needs to understand the importance of investing in SEO. Without a budget for SEO, none of the other roles on this list will be able to do their jobs properly.
2. Brand designer
This is perhaps an obvious one, but your brand designer mustn’t be overlooked: the person responsible for designing your brand identity should have a good understanding of SEO. This is because they need to create a branding strategy that includes keyword research and other SEO best practices.
Even the name of your brand is important, because it’s an opportunity to get important keywords into your website domain and across your web pages, and it may also be used as anchor text when other websites link to yours.
Side note: you should make sure that SEO becomes part of your next brand audit.
3. SEO consultant
The person responsible for your overall SEO strategy must work towards building your brand.
An SEO consultant is responsible for developing and implementing your overall SEO strategy. This includes researching keywords, optimizing website content, and building links. But it also goes beyond that. A good SEO consultant will also work on building your brand by creating a strong online presence and ensuring that your website is visible to your target audience.
4. Content marketer
The person who has a foot in the SEO camp and a foot in the marketing camp. This might be an in-house role at your company, or it might be a service you outsource.
A content marketer is someone who understands both SEO and marketing. This person is responsible for creating high-quality content that not only ranks well in search results but also resonates with your target audience.
5. Web designer
Why? Because the person who decides what the website design looks like will have a big impact on the SEO friendliness of the website.
The web designer plays a crucial role in determining the SEO friendliness of your website. This is because page design, navigation decisions, and site architecture will all have a huge impact on SEO performance.
6. Web developer
Because technical SEO has never been more important.
Your web developer is responsible for the technical aspects of your website, such as its code and structure. This is incredibly important for SEO because it can impact things like site speed and crawlability.
This is one of the many reasons that using an off-the-shelf website builder is not a viable option for a business serious about its web presence.
7. PR manager
Because this person needs to know how to get the most SEO impact from promoting the company in a traditional PR sense.
A PR manager needs to have a good understanding of both SEO and link building. This is because they need to promote your company in a way that will help you earn high-quality links.
Your PR person will naturally always be looking for ways to get your business mentioned by other publications and websites. This lends itself perfectly to a clever strategy of building backlinks to your website.
Tips for effective multidisciplinary SEO teams
Now that we’ve gone over the various roles that are important for successful SEO, let’s talk about how to build an effective multidisciplinary team.
- Make sure everyone is on the same page by having regular meetings and communication. This will ensure that everyone is aware of the latest changes and developments.
- Establish clear roles and responsibilities. This will help avoid duplication of effort and ensure that everyone is working towards the same goal.
- Encourage collaboration between team members. SEO is a complex field, and it’s important to have different people with different skill sets working together.
- Set realistic expectations. SEO takes time, and it’s important to set realistic expectations for what can be achieved.
Following these tips will help you build an effective multidisciplinary SEO team that can help take your brand to the next level.
Final thoughts
SEO is a complex and ever-changing field. But one thing is for sure: it’s only going to become more important in the years to come. If you want your brand to be successful, you need to make sure that SEO is a key part of your overall strategy.
The roles we’ve discussed in this article are all crucial for successful SEO. So if you’re serious about your brand’s online presence, make sure you have the right team in place.
Joe Dawson is Director of strategic growth agency Creative.onl, based in the UK. He can be found on Twitter @jdwn.
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