How To Build The Best SEO Team

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a critical component of every company’s digital strategy. So, after a while, it is not uncommon for managers to examine whether it is time to hire their own SEO staff. As a company grows, there is a strong trend to bring marketing functions in-house. According to a recent Bannerflow study, […]
Edgar
August 5, 2023

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a critical component of every company’s digital strategy. So, after a while, it is not uncommon for managers to examine whether it is time to hire their own SEO staff.

As a company grows, there is a strong trend to bring marketing functions in-house. According to a recent Bannerflow study, 90% of the firms surveyed are confident in taking this step, and 54% currently have an in-house SEO team.

However, one issue remains: how can businesses build a strong SEO team that will deliver the required results? How do you put together an SEO team? Is it worthwhile to make the investment? Where do you go to find the folks you require? 

So, after allowing yourself a week to think things over, you’ve made a major choice that you think (or hope) would help your expanding business: you’re assembling a staff of SEO experts in-house.

These questions will be answered shortly through this content creation.

You are here right now because you are prepared to begin, and guess what? We’d be happy to act as your guide.

Building an In-House SEO Team

Ask yourself this question first, do you think it is worthy to create your own entire team of a “development team” for your SEO tasks concerns?

Consider that the solution is determined by your objectives and money.

Hiring a team is ideal for anyone that wants to create and scale their SEO while also teaching future employees. It is not for those who are unwilling to go through the lengthy process of finding, employing, managing, maybe firing, and repeating the process.

It’s also not suitable for businesses trying to reduce their in-house overheads, as they typically pay a $30K-60K salary per team member, plus an additional $2.5K to $4.5K in SEO tools per year. This suggests that the cost of assembling a team of 1-10 individuals will range from $32.5K to $300K+ per year.

Here are some of the advantages of forming an SEO team:

  • You have complete control over your SEO. While most SEO services seek to obtain assistance and direction from their clients in the same way that they provide transparency, the majority also have established tactics that aren’t readily shifted.When you hire your own SEO gurus, you will have some amount of transparency and near-complete control over what techniques and procedures to employ. You’ll be on the correct track if you trust the folks on your team.
  • You are not reliant on third parties for your company’s search income, as is the case when engaging an SEO agency. To successfully accomplish SEO work, you need to constantly have a thorough understanding of your brand. Utilizing individuals that are intimately familiar with your brand improves your chances of maintaining consistency, which is important because conducting a campaign entails developing interesting content, social media updates, and maintaining ties with external websites.
  • You’ll frequently save money (as compared to employing an SEO service, which can range from $3K to tens of thousands of dollars per month). A SEO company may provide immediate or even on-the-spot results, but guess what? In just one month, it will set you back many thousand dollars. You will undoubtedly save more money if you move your SEO efforts in-house. Everyone on your staff will put their time, energy, and resources into fostering the expansion of your company. Additionally, since they can work with groups outside of SEO, doing so can also help you maximize the return on your SEO investments.
  • You can hire people you trust. It’s a fact that not all SEO companies are reliable. Some people might use unethical or inefficient business methods. To obtain quick results, some people might use black hat SEO (which will result in a Google penalty if you are discovered). Others offer links that are of poor quality and could harm your SEO.Hiring an internal team will keep you out of all of these awkward situations. Since it is your responsibility to carefully choose those with the appropriate abilities and qualifications, you will have complete control over the people who work for you.
  • Hiring an SEO agency, on the other hand, means less work locating and training workers, lower overhead, and the ability to have an expert come in and do everything for you. 

What Does The BEST SEO Team Look Like?

In all honesty, there is no one correct response to this query. First and foremost, it’s crucial to realize there is no one-size-fits-all method for building an internal SEO team. The precise composition of an SEO team relies on your business, your sector, and the SEO strategy you wish to use.

But we can give you an idea who to hire, and what you need to build your dream team. 

Essential Roles Every SEO Team Needs to Have

The following roles are necessary for your SEO team structure:

SEO Manager/Team Lead

The SEO manager, who typically combines management and technical talents, is in charge of developing and implementing an SEO strategy for a business. They have a significant amount of tactical, operational, and strategic SEO work going on.  In many firms, the SEO manager is seen as a leader. SEO managers are there to lead their team, just like managers in other sectors are, whether it means assigning duties, giving instruction and direction, or monitoring the performance and development of their team. 

A manager of seo’s overall responsibilities would be; directing a group of seo experts, creating and implementing efficient seo strategies, optimizing landing pages, paid search copy, and website content, carrying out keyword analysis to assist content teams, collecting information and reporting on traffic, rankings, and other seo elements, reviewing technical seo problems and making recommendations, project management for off-page optimization, collaborating with the social media and ppc teams to improve campaigns, negotiating links back and establishing and growing a community online

Web developer(s)

The work of a web developer is to build websites. Many web developers are in charge of the website’s performance and capacity in addition to making sure it is aesthetically pleasing and simple to navigate. 

There are four types of web developers that could help you on your SEO journey, these are;

  1. Back-end web developers. They make the website’s structure, write the code, and check that it functions. They might also be responsible for controlling access points for other people who need to control the content of a website.
  2. Front-end web developers. These experts work on the website’s visual elements, or the pages that users see and interact with (also known as the user interface). They create the actual page layouts, incorporate visuals, and improve the site with HTML and JavaScript.
  3. Full-stack developers. Mostly these people perform the duties of a front-end and back-end developer. These programmers can create an entire website and may work for companies that lack the funding for a large website staff.
  4. Webmasters. Basically they serve as website managers. Their main duty is to maintain the website and make sure that all of the connections and applications are functional on every page.

Content team

Content writers are an essential member of the team because content is one of the pillars of SEO. They typically collaborate with a content manager, but because they are part of the SEO team in this instance, they adhere to the SEO manager’s regulations and recommendations for creating high-quality material in order to rank higher.

Among the duties of a content writer are; creating engaging, well-researched material for readers, optimizing content for the most lucrative and relevant keywords, researching topics linked to industry, utilizing SEO writing techniques to increase a website’s internet presence, content promotion on social media, using content management systems to create well-organized drafts, working together with marketing and design teams to create illustrations for articles, easy keyword research and observing SEO best practices to boost website traffic and updating the website’s content as needed.

Outreach Team/Link Builder

The majority of agencies and top SEO companies typically employ a professional devoted to this. The task of gaining all the links pointing to a specific website falls to link builders. Until they link back to you on their content, they concentrate on pushing their clients’ content to other websites, especially those with a lot of authority.

SEO Specialist

Someone with in-depth technical knowledge of SEO is required for the position of an SEO Specialist. This covers knowledge of creating and implementing content marketing plans, monitoring search engine algorithms set by search engines, and writing meta information.

Although an SEO specialist’s duties vary depending on the type of organization they work for (such as a digital marketing agency, the digital marketing division of a company, or as a freelancer), the majority of job postings for this position seek applicants with strong qualifications in the following areas; Programming websites in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, managing pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, advising developers on technical matters, continuously identifying and optimizing new SEO keywords, focusing on user experience (UX) and conversion rate optimization techniques, generating targeted traffic through community building, creating original content for the target market, developing and implementing content marketing strategies, and tracking the performance of all of the aforementioned activities.

Social Media Manager

In order to increase awareness and draw in new clients, the social media manager is in charge of an organization’s social media strategy. Most of the time, they control the voice and tone of social media posts as well as the company’s brand’s entire online presence.

The following responsibilities of a social media manager include creating and implementing monthly social media strategies, managing campaigns on a day-to-day basis, overseeing all client interactions on social media, developing significant relationships with influencers across social media platforms, creating compelling multimedia content across multiple platforms, using analytical tools to track progress across all platforms, and setting actionable goals.

How To Build An SEO team

Three steps can be taken to create an SEO team; Choosing your objectives and hiring requirements, acquiring a talent, and configuring your task management software to handle everything.

Choose your objectives and hiring requirements

Your goal and financial resources will determine how big your team should be. Finding out your competitive environment should be your first step before recruiting anyone. 

Prioritize SMART goals that are action-oriented in order for your approach to be successful. SMART goals are those that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. SMART goals have consistently aided businesses of all sizes in their ascent to the top.

Asking yourself the following questions can help you create a successful SMART goal:

  • Specific: What do I hope to achieve? Who is a part of this endeavor? When do I want to accomplish this? Why do I want to accomplish this?
  • Measurable: What signs of my progress are there? How can I tell if I’ve succeeded in my mission?
  • Achievable: Do I have the necessary tools and abilities to accomplish my goal? If not, what am I overlooking and how can I fix it? Has this objective actually been attained before?
  • Realistic: Is the objective realistic and doable? Do I have enough time and resources to do the task? Will I be able to remain dedicated to achieving this objective despite all odds?
  • Time-bound: Does this objective have a due date? When do I want to reach this objective? When will I have successfully completed this task to my utmost satisfaction?

Acquire The Right Talent

After deciding who you require, you must discover where to look for and how to hire them. There are numerous strategies to recruit employees for your business. These include looking through online job boards, consulting with friends and relatives, contacting talent agencies, etc.

Several fantastic choices include:

  • For general job listings, see Indeed or Zip Recruiter.
  • Using Mediabistro or ProBlogger to discover writers
  • For hiring freelancers, try Upwork or Fiverr or LinkedIn.

Don’t forget to be careful to thoroughly assess the qualifications, experience, and references of your candidates when deciding who to hire. Utilize the interview to evaluate your potential staff.

Configure Your Task Management Software To Handle Everything

You’ll need to keep your team members organized and efficient once you’ve found them. This is where task management software such as Trello or Asana can help.

Conclusion

You may “outscale” and outperform your rivals on Google’s search results page by assembling an SEO staff. Furthermore, having a team on staff provides you a competitive advantage. This can also help you save some money, particularly when it comes to activities like link building, where links can cost hundreds of dollars per (if you pay someone else for them).

This approach isn’t for everyone, though, as hiring and supervising a complete department requires a significant time commitment. Before you decide which approach is best for you, give it some serious thought.