How Do You Align SEO and Development Teams for Real Results?
There’s something many people in web development and SEO don’t talk about enough—getting the two teams to work together. When I first transitioned from building websites to having a team optimizing them for search engines, I realized how often these two worlds feel miles apart.
A beautiful, functional website might still get lost in the sea of online content if it’s not built with SEO in mind from the start. And on the flip side, even the best SEO strategy can be wasted if it’s not supported by a solid, well-built website.
Over time, I’ve learned a few things about bridging that gap, and in this post, I’m going to share how you can get both teams pulling in the same direction to create websites that rank, attract traffic, and actually convert.
Why Aligning SEO and Development is Critical
Many teams have faced this: after months of building a new website, the SEO team steps in and highlights structural changes that could have been addressed earlier. This delays the project and frustrates everyone involved.
On the other hand, SEO experts can develop a comprehensive strategy, but if the technical foundation of the site isn’t aligned, none of the optimizations will stick. The result is missed business opportunities, wasted resources, and unhappy clients.
The simple truth is: SEO and development must be in sync.
Without that, you could end up with a website that looks great but doesn’t rank, or a highly optimized site that’s slow and difficult to navigate. In either case, your business suffers.
Common Challenges and Practical Solutions
Here are the three most common scenarios where misalignment between SEO and development occurs, along with actionable steps to resolve them.
Building a New Website: The SEO Setup
During the initial stages of a project, it’s easy to focus solely on aesthetics and functionality, overlooking SEO best practices like URL structure, proper headings, and page speed. By the time SEO steps in, it’s often too late to make significant changes without rework.
Solution:
- Involve SEO from the start: SEO shouldn’t be an afterthought. From the planning phase, SEO and development teams must collaborate to agree on key aspects like URL structure, headings, and navigation.
- Create SEO-friendly architecture: Development should build the site’s architecture with SEO needs in mind, making sure that everything from breadcrumbs to internal linking supports future optimizations.
- Ask yourself: How early do you involve SEO in the web development process? Do both teams sit together to map out the site’s framework?
Optimizing an Existing Website: Avoiding Technical Debt
Once a site is live, any updates or optimizations need to be carefully managed. Developers often push changes to production quickly, while SEO teams need time to assess their potential impact on rankings. Without proper coordination, this can result in costly errors like broken pages or, worse, the site being completely de-indexed.
Solution:
- Use a pre-launch checklist: Before any update is made live, create a checklist that includes both SEO and technical requirements. This should cover everything from checking for noindex tags to ensuring page speed improvements.
- Set regular syncs between teams: Establish routine communication between SEO and development teams. This helps address potential issues before updates are rolled out.
- Ask yourself: How do you ensure that SEO and development are in sync when making site updates? Do you have systems in place to catch errors before they go live?
Redesigns and Migrations: Keeping SEO Intact
If SEO isn’t carefully managed, redesigning or migrating a website can significantly risk your rankings. For example, developers might change URLs or remove pages without coordinating with the SEO team, which can cause traffic to drop and disrupt the user experience.
Solution:
- Coordinate with SEO before making changes: During any redesign or migration, developers should work closely with the SEO team to ensure things like proper redirects are in place and that internal links are updated.
- Monitor after launch: Once the changes are live, closely monitor site performance to catch any dips in traffic or ranking drops that can be traced back to the migration.
- Ask yourself: What steps do you take to preserve your SEO efforts during major site changes? Do both teams agree on priorities before going live?
Key Areas for SEO and Development Alignment
How do you really get SEO and development teams working in sync? It’s not just about being in the same room or project management tools—though those help. It’s about creating a process where both teams understand and respect each other’s role in driving results. Here’s how we’ve done it, based on our own hard-learned lessons.
Clear Communication and Collaboration
Sounds easy, right? But this is where things often go off track. You have SEO experts focusing on rankings and keywords, and developers looking at code quality, speed, and functionality. If they aren’t talking, issues slip through the cracks.
Practical Steps:
- Weekly check-ins: Have structured meetings to discuss what’s happening on both sides—upcoming technical changes, new content, or areas where rankings are dropping. This way, issues can be tackled before they become big problems.
- Share a project tool: Using a system like ClickUp, Asana, or even Google Sheets lets both teams track what’s going on, what’s prioritized, and what needs attention. No one gets left in the dark.
Setting Unified Goals
SEO and development often seem to have different goals. SEO focuses on rankings and traffic; developers focus on building a fast, functional site. But when you set goals that bring both together, the magic happens.
Practical Steps:
- Joint KPIs: Instead of SEO working on organic traffic alone and developers working on site performance separately, combine them. For example, improving site speed is both a technical challenge and an SEO priority. Or work on ranking for specific terms while ensuring the site can handle traffic spikes.
- Tracking progress together: Set milestones that matter to both sides. For example, launch dates that ensure SEO audits are done beforehand, or technical updates that are measured for their impact on search rankings.
Cross-Training and Knowledge Sharing
One of the most eye-opening things we’ve done at SmartClick is cross-training. Developers learned the basics of SEO—how URL structures and site speed affect rankings. And SEO specialists took the time to understand the technical challenges developers face, like code optimization and page rendering.
Practical Steps:
- Hold regular workshops: Get both teams in the same room (or Zoom) and talk about the intersection of SEO and web development. Break down technical SEO concepts like schema, crawl budget, or indexation. Developers will be able to implement better SEO practices, and SEOs will stop making unrealistic demands.
- Create documentation: Have a living document or playbook where both teams contribute. Include SEO best practices for developers and technical checklists for SEOs. This shared resource cuts down on back-and-forth miscommunications and ensures everyone is on the same page.
SEO-First Development
For years, we made the mistake of treating SEO as an afterthought. The developers would build a beautiful website, and then the SEO team would come in and point out all the ways it wasn’t optimized for search engines. Now, we think about SEO from the very first step of any project.
Practical Steps:
- Integrate SEO into the planning phase: When a new website is being built, the SEO team should be involved in conversations from day one. This ensures the site is built on a foundation that supports both rankings and user experience.
- Build for speed and accessibility: Site speed and mobile optimization are no longer “nice-to-haves.” They’re essential for SEO success. Developers should always be optimizing for speed, while SEOs should ensure that every image, video, and script is compressed and mobile-friendly.
Final Thoughts
Getting SEO and development teams to work together smoothly isn’t just about tools or meetings—it’s about a mindset shift. It’s about realizing that both sides have something crucial to contribute and that, when aligned, the results speak for themselves.
If you’re still struggling to align these two teams, ask yourself this: Are they working toward the same goals? Do they understand each other’s challenges? If the answer is no, it’s time to rethink how you’re approaching collaboration.
How are you aligning your teams? If you’re facing challenges, let’s talk—I’ve been there and can help you avoid the costly mistakes we once made.
Sign up here for a free consultation.
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