Who is the one person (or group of people) that you can't live without? Your developer. [Don't tell that to your spouse though.. eh?] As an SEO your life revolves around making changes to your site/application and getting all the pieces to fall into place. If you live in a perfect world, you have the ability to change all your on-page optimization including URL, Title tag, meta description, set up redirects, etc. But how many of us live in this fantasy la la land where everything is perfect? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say not very many of us.
We need our developers. As tough as it may seem some days (the feeling is more than likely mutual), it will make your life just a little easier if you can find a way to work with your development team. Whether that means just one person, or a team of 20 people, getting along with them will allow both of you to do a better job. (As a consultant you may not be able to get the same availability to talk to the client's developers but if you give your client these tips on how to work well with the dev staff, they'll thank you for it.)
So what are some things you can do to build a better relationship with your dev team? Here are 5 tips, in no particular order.
1. Show Them the Data
Remember the first time you showed your boss that traffic increased by 500% and the revenue for the month went up 200% just by removing those silly frames on the site? Well show that information to your development team as well! When a developer sees that a change that took a total of 2 hours including the push to production, brought in such an increase in revenue, he/she is going to see the value in their work. When you feel like the work you're doing, actually makes an impact on the company, your boss, your salary... you're more willing to help make additional changes in the future.
With a little digging, you’re sure to find something on your own site where you can show the developers exactly how much of an impact their work has had on the company’s success. Heck, throw them a party for reaching that monthly traffic goal that your sales team has been working towards but that your dev team knows nothing about. Data, data, data, that's where it's at!
2. Have Them Do it Themselves
I really love this one. Ask your development team to “SEO” their own websites. Most developers (or really anyone these days) will have some sort of website. Whether it’s a personal blog, they manage their aunt Betty’s jewelry store or they have their own business on the side, they usually have something.
As a developer when I was asked to make URL rewrite changes and create landing pages, etc. It bothered me that I felt like these changes were for nothing, just some marketing fluff that wasn’t really going to help much. But then I took my husband’s website and started to implement some of the same changes. I also did my own research and started learning SEO on my own (which is the way many developers work) and voila I drank the Kool-Aid quickly. As soon as my husband’s site started ranking really well for different terms, I wanted to learn more at work. I knew that the changes I made on this small site were fairly easy and I was targeting local and very long tail searches.
Show them the tools in your SEOmoz PRO account (or buy them their own!) and the other tools under your belt and let them learn on their own, with their own sites. Once they understand the basics (or the more advanced depending on their skill levels) and do their own research, you’ll find that it’s easier to 1) talk to them about SEO in general and 2) get them to make the necessary changes to the site.
3. Let Them Teach You
Sure, you’ve read all the blogs, you’ve done all the research, you’ve been to the conferences and you’ve seen it work on many websites. But you’re not the one changing the code (in most cases). When you go directly to a developer and ask her to set up seventy five 301 redirects because of xyz reason and you give them the code to do it… they’re going to laugh at you (I know I did… sorry Lindsay). Don’t tell a developer HOW to do something.
Help them understand WHY it needs to happen and ask them to figure it out. Remember they’re the expert when it comes to the technical side. Obviously there are many SEOs out there who are also very technical, and this puts you in a great position! You can use that to your advantage, but I’d still recommend letting the person in charge of making the actual development changes, figure the majority of it out on their own. If they seem to be running into roadblocks, point them in the right direction.
Let them teach you about the issues with your current platform, why certain SEO “best practices” simply can’t be done. Let them come up with relevant alternatives and figure out how to solve the problem without doing it the “normal” way. Your developer is wicked smart, let him show you just how well he can find a solution!
4. Find an Advocate
All you need is one. One person on the development team who has the ability to sway others as well. This doesn’t mean that you want someone who can persuade people into doing something that doesn’t make sense. But you want someone on your side, who understands SEO as well as the infrastructure of your website and the development team.
If you see one developer who seems to be somewhat interested in SEO, try to send them to a conference, preferably one with developer specific sessions. SMX often has a “Developer Day” or “Technical SEO Track” these are super valuable for your technical staff. (I went to SMX Advanced Developer Day a couple years ago and now I work for SEOmoz! Word.)
Sometimes pulling yourself out of the limelight of always being the one telling them what to do, and letting an "expert" (in quotes, because you're more than likely also an expert but they might not see that) explain the world of SEO to them, will help them to see the light.
However you can get that person on board, do it. Once you have an in, they can be your advocate. Believe me on this one, I was that developer!
5. If All Else Fails...
Buy them beer! Or coffee, or Jack Daniels, or pizza or whatever the heck it is that they like. Make friends, be nice, and go give your developers a hug. Tell them J.Lo sent you. Unless of course that is just too creepy and you could get sued for sexual harassment, in that case, stick with the beer. :)
Every organization has a different set of obstacles and each one should be treated distinctly. I'd love to hear how you've worked with your developer or technical team to work on SEO solutions together. What worked for you and what didn't?
Great post, Jen. I was shocked at PubCon when somebody said the hardest part of SEO was getting developers to implement it and there was a huge ovation in the audience. There's widespread pent up frustration on this issue.
I think there's one more problem / solution here. Too many people think SEO is cheating, that a good web site ranks on its own and any moron can get SEO traffic. On a related note, people feel that SEO-gains are just tactical and short lived and therefore not worth their time. You need to build a positive organizational mindset towards SEO. I did a "Fun with SEO" presentation in our company, optional attendance, and most people came (though going in most thought "Fun with SEO" and I were both oxymorons). These things help.
And (as with children) when developers express an interest, support it. One "borrowed" my "The Art of SEO Book" and I finally got a new one when I realized that copy wasn't coming back.
So the only thing I'd add to your comments is that if possible you should think broader and try to get organizational appreciation of SEO, about why it's cool, and ethical, and important. They need to take pride in winning at SEO.
I've been at 2 conferences where there was Dev bashing going on. I was pretty upset about it and have been meaning to write this post since then.
That's a geat idea to get people involved across the board, it's amazing how interested people can get once they finally start understanding SEO a bit more.
I remember the first time one of the devs on my team asked me to help him SEO his site, I was super excited!
Hi Jen! It's great to see you writing posts and not just working on the backstage of the blog. You have to write more, as they are really good ones.
About the SEO/Devs topic.
I think that when an SEO and the Devs teams are disliking mutually is usually due to:
Prejudices usually are due a fault of mutual respect, meaning with it that or that the SEO tends to considers himself the center of the universe and acts as everything is due without caring to explain why what is suggesting to do is worth it, or that the devs tend to consider themselves the owners of the game (website) and tend to not well accept critics, even if constructive
Misunderstandings usually are originated by language and mutual education. As you, Jen, write in the post, an SEO must learn at least the basic of Development (and IT) and Devs must learn at least the basic of Search Engine Marketing.
My own experience
Luckily I had to work all my professional life with big teams of people having different roles complementing each other (television field). So, once I SEOed my working life I was used to avoid prejudices and misunderstandings. And I was able enough to almost do what you suggest in the post... I confirm it's valid in every point.
Right now I can say that one of secret of my own success is the relation I have with Devs. Not only with those ones who are my usual collaborators (they are mostly freelance), but also with my clients ones (whenever they have a real Web dpt.). More, when it comes to contract, one of the "obligation" of the Client is to give me total acces in communication with his Devs.
I too suggest them to experiment with SEO in their own sites... and ask them to explain me the most they do about devs issues (and I too experiment with what I learn from them in my personal and experimental websites).
Finally, which are the right attitudes in order to have the best SEO/Devs relation?
Excellent post Jen. This is such an important topic. So many SEO projects get derailed because there is no follow-through from the dev team. Speaking as a developer-turned-seo, this is some great advice to help those non-techie SEOs bridge the gap.
Thanks Darren! And thanks for your help in the wee hours of the morning, I really appreciate it. :)
Great post Jen. Was this in any way influenced by our past relationship? Not everyone is as lucky as I was in having a developer with a mind for SEO on their team. :)
I'd add one more tip.
Don't Approach Devs as a Know-it-All.
Nothing is more offensive to a developer then telling them they don't know how to do their job. I've often come across the response, "it isn't possible" when presenting optimization tactics to a dev group. I have learned over the years that in most cases this simply isn't true. Rather than getting into a debate, search for challenges and solutions in dev forums. Email through a few links of things you think 'might help'. Developers seem to love a solvable challenge. Once they see that others have done it, despite roadblocks, it often ignites a competitive passion without you having to ram it down their throat.
Totally agree...
and to understand it better just ask yourself:
would you like to have someone - who is not an SEO - always telling to you how to do your job?
So... if you wouldn't like, just don't act that way you too.
This post was completely influenced by our past relationship. :) That's a great tip, and a difficult one to learn I'm sure! I'm pretty sure I got snippy with you many times because I had a hard time with a non-tech person telling me what to do. Luckily I got over it (sorta... hah!). I think you learned quite well how to work with the dev team and your knowlege and mentorship got me where I am today. Something which I will never be able to thank you for enough. :)
I'm partial to imported cookies. Tim Tams from Australia, Peak Frean's Fruit Creme and Dad's Chocolate Chip from Canada top the list. ;)
Excellent post, Jen!
I think it helps that many SEOs were formerly (or are still) developers, so we feel their pain.
When I've worked as an SEO for companies who had existing development vendors, those relationships have been the toughest. The developer is quick to see the new SEO as a threat - we're pointing out, in many ways, what they've done wrong (or, to put a positive spin on it, what they could have done better).
Sometimes that tension has resulted in my firing a client or two - it's not worth it when the developer is dead set against you.
One developer a few months back told me, "well we handle their SEO - we submit their site to search engines every month!" You should have heard the anger. They were flat-out wrong, but they'd been with the client for 15 years. I just bowed out of that one.
I think my case is totally different... as I come from Content and not from Dev... so it's quite common for me to be in a "learning" attitude with my devs, and this - maybe - makes them less "fearful" towards me and what I've to say to them when it comes to SEO.
Yikes! I think we've definitely run into all kinds of people whether it's a developer or another SEO or maybe a project manager who seems to take things as personal attacks rather than positive changes/learning experiences. It's smart to just walk away sometimes when you see that it will just lead to frustration!
Great topic and post, jen!
I think it's very important that SEOs spend some time developing our developing skills - and for several reasons:
1. It makes it so much easier to understand how to build seo-friendly content (from the sites themselves to link bait).
2. It gets sooo much easier to speak to developers when having a sense of the problem they have to go through. It's also kinda nice not just having a blank stare when they come complaining about a very cumbersome task.
This is definitely ideal but I know many SEOs who are brilliant marketers and aren't super technical. I think we need both types because it's difficult for one person to be both great at marketing and great technically. However the more technical aptitude you have, the better, in my book!
I really like your logic of having devs DIY their own SEO on their own sites. I don't think anything is more powerful than a personal connection and personal experience.
Great post Jen! We should get you on here more often :-)
Thanks :) It's nice to get out and about now and then!
Another tip that works all the time (from practical experience) is to go the extra mile and mention the developer’s name when you communicate a successful SEO implementation to management. This will not only make him/her feel good about doing a good job, but will also guarantee a ‘smooth and successful’ SEO related assignments in the future. Developers love to be recognized, once in a while, for contributing to the bottom line.
I think this goes for anyone, not just developers. It's too easy to tell someone when they've messed up, rather than when they help out.
Great post Jen! Being the only SEO fella on the team is challenging itself. For some reason, it's never occurred to show data to the Dev team. Thanks for the tip.
Jen, you write the most amazing posts! As a developer at heart, SEO was a struggle when I first started. Once my eyes were opened to the huge potential it had to offer, I was off running or should I saw optimizing.
I think most developers I know are numbers people and when you show them the amount of traffic they could gain by making some tweaks it could really get them onboard. Anyway, keep up the great work!
Dev guys (and gals) are great. They ask the best questions and through explanation and demonstration get a better understanding of the "why" when you ask them to implement some changes. Helps keep you sharp.
Seems I began in SEO exactly the same way as you did Jen... And I was really angry at the guy who told me that my system missed "nice URLS"...What the heck were "nice URLs" anyway... ?
When I remember this, I tell myself that the main problem in the SEO vs Developer relation is that developers don't like to be told their new baby is missing something. I know: I'm a developer!
Thanks for these ways to build relationship with our in-house developers. Honestly, I'll go with hugs when we get female developers (and risk of being sued). For now, I'll stick to old'Jack...
Jack usually works. :) I know I had a hard time having someone who wasn't technical telling me what needed to be done technically. I thought "well who the heck are you?!" Then I realized she (and by she I mean Lindsay), knew exactly what she was talking about. Once I understood why things needed to happen, I felt much better rewriting thousands of URLs. :)
Tbh, if it's Lindsay who's asking for it, I'd personally rewrite these thousands of URLs manually in an htaccess file with a smile on my face! :o)
P.S. Hope there's no risk of being sued with this post!
Excellent post.
I highly second the suggest of beer. In my experience working with an in-house development team, getting to know them and becoming more than just the annoying web person who always wants things was really key to getting projects done.
Great post Jen! Like you and others have mentioned here, I'm always shocked to hear SEO/SEM panelists talk about how out of control and dangerous developers are [hides shield and sword] ;-)
Part of being a professional in any business is having the ability to get all team members working together towards the same goal. And the developer/dev team is crucial in that regard. As you've said, we're a smart bunch, we want things to work well and will work with you in achieving those goals.
Critical to that is how you approach the dev team. As you mention, sometimes the direction an SEO will give to a dev, simply will not work on the given platform - or will not work as 'instructed' by the SEO. A cooperative approach is always best. Approach the dev team with a problem, recommend a solution if you have one, but ask the team for their best solution too. They probably have one :)
Ok first I'm super excited to see you comment here. Yay! I actually thought about you when I was writing this post. We've had several conversations about the same thing. Perhaps a new session topic? :)
I completely agree that a cooperative approach usually works best. As a technical person it's engrained in your brain to want to do something well and understand it. Giving them the best of both worlds is ideal.
Great advice. I've spent too much of my life being my own developer, which probably explains my self-loathing ;)
For the SEOs, I'd flip #2 around and suggest you try doing your own development on a pet project. It's definitely humbling to have to leave your own comfortable realm of expertise.
Yes! excellent suggestion! It's great to learn a little of the dev side even if it's just getting comfortable with using and viewing HTML.
Most SEO's are webdevelopers because how can you optimize something you don't fully understand? Content and links is great however there's many more factors than that involved in conversions.
That's totally not true... I know many SEOs who aren't web developers and aren't technical. Many of them have a great understanding of how things work, but they've not necessarily done the dev work themselves.
Thanks for defending SEOs like me... :)
My self I'm an SEO and a developer but I do know people who just do SEO or just do development. I believe we all should be familiar with at least one, namely Aaron Wall - he is just an SEO and does not do development.
Thanks for the post, I will be trying your ideas. I just started a website, and I am having a little trouble getting it high on the google search. If anyone wants to check out the site and let me know what they think that would be great because this is my first website. Here is the link, any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
- Casey Removed Link
Great post Jen! Thanks for this one...
I think #5 is on the top of my list. Not for the beer, but if you get to know people, you also know which of the previous 4 number works best with them. Every person needs its own approach, and what works for one person, probably doesn't apply to another. If you know a person (and you don't have to be friends, there should be a line) you also know how to get the best out of that person.
Very good.I will share it. i found this informative and interesting blog so i think so its very useful and knowledge able.I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me.Really the blogging is spreading its wings rapidly.
Great post Jen and a very interesting read. I particularly like the style the post was written in - Short and Sweet!
What about Steve Ballmer's way? Come running in the room shouting Developers! Developers! Developer!
Being a developer - I loved this post.
I love the last method..
lol
Lovely post, Jen! Keep up the good work. We love our developers, and you've given us more ideas on how to communicate with them better. And what can we say - our favourite is of course the last! ;)
Hi Jen, Great advice for any team in any industry. Communication, understanding and feedback are key! Thanks for the info. :)
SEOs and Developers are the backbone of company that aspires to make it big in the world of Internet. It's true the better is the relation between the two the easier it will be to have more productivity. This is indeed something that's interdependent and so both must strive to work together.
Great post, you pointed the real problems and solutions that appear between decisional persons and developers on a project.
I can add here that a good management of the project can drastically improve the effectiveness of work.
Think to most aspects before starting the work and then change only the minor ones.
I agree with you. Having a good rapport with the team is very very essential. But on top of it, you should have the authority to get things implemented with out having to wait for it. For example, if there is no specific heirarchy in the office, things can always get worse as several tasks will be put on hold despite of the emergency.
If possible, I always keep a developer and designer in SEO team. That's risk free. besides I make sure all my team members can recoganize HTML basic tags..:)
I'm a developer and an SEO. I love this post! It's actually intrestig to me to hear the differences between the two since I do both I guess I never looked at it form just a development or seo side where someone might not know how to do the other. I can truly say it's really simple if you know both it makes it really easy to do development and SEO becuase I know exactly what can and can't be done, how to do it and what is best in regards to search engines. Cool post, thanks again!
Wow Jen! You touched a nerve with this post! Great to see all the comments.
I can't add anything that hasn't been said about the SEO/developer relationships, but in my past life I was an outside sales rep and there always seemed to be friction between sales and production. And this was in multiple industries (in case any of y'all were thinking it was just me, pretend for the rest of my comment it wasn't)
The way that worked the best for me in building relationships was when I asked for something and their answer was negative, I let it go initially to give them a "victory".
When some time had elapsed (usually a day or two but a week at the most) I brought in a third person by mentioning the "customer" and that while I understood that they were saying it couldn't be done, I had a customer that was threatening me to get it done. I then asked them for their help to solve my dilemma and voila, they usually found a way.
While in sales, I always said I had two bosses, my company and the customer. And I had to keep both happy.
Great post and also teaches leadership skills :)
Definitely!!! It's given me a great opportunity to take control and give good advice. Makes one feel great ;-)
Awesome post to read on a sunny Saturday afternoon! Since I started working at the digital studio in January I've had to build a close relationship to the development team and your advice is absolutely spot-on!!! I can vouch for every word you've spoken.
Unfortunately one of our developers is no longer working as of about two weeks ago so we have a new one who doesn't really take 'advice' well. Hopefully it'll be easy to turn him around though.
It's especially important to give credit when / where it's due and best to do it in front of management. take a moment in a meeting to thank them for their time / effort in contributing to sucessful projects - a little goes a long way.
i am newbie.i need to develop some knowledge to understand this seo article.i saw this is an intresting place to learn deep things of seo knowledge.thanks
Web Designer v/s SEO
A Web Designer thinks from the point of view of aesthetics and design. Whereas, an SEO thinks like an engineer.
A web designer is always thinking about the design and how the site is going to appear and is concerned about the look and the feel of the site. An SEO is always thinking about the rankings of the site in the various search engines.
If the sixth sense of the SEO gives him/her an inkling that the additional Flash Animation which the designer is going to add on the page to make the site look sleek is going to affect the rankings of the page then the SEO will outright disapprove of it. So, that is how the debate goes on.
Yes, it is eternal and the difference lies in the approach not the purpose. As a businessman who has got his site developed by spending a certain amount of money wants the ROI from his website. He can get that only by getting it ranked in the first few pages of the major search engines. It is not necessary that the web designer and the SEO should always have a difference of opinion.
The success of any website depends on both the factors. If the web designer and the SEO work with mutual understanding and by giving importance to the results which each of them want to achieve then surely, an aesthetically good looking website which has a good ranking for the keywords relevant for that particular site can surely be achieved. The real success of any website can be achieved only through genuine team work.
By this I don't only mean the designer and SEO but also the business owner whose website is under consideration should be an active member in the whole process of creation and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). As he is the best person to give the details about the business and the purpose of the website that he has in mind.
--Jen removed link
You can explain SEO to developers but that doesn't mean it's necessarily going to get carried out correctly. An example is a college that I did an extensive SEO blueprint for. When the college marketing deparment went into put it into play they wrote "Start in January" instead of "XYZ Business School" which naturally didn't help them on the search end of things.While they understood the power, and influence of page structure the keyword research was not implimented properly which cost them.While I thoroughly explained the title,header tags, and significance of keywords in content it didn't get applied properly.
My personal experience is that it's almost better to implement changes yourself as it usaully takes just as long to write it out point form as it does to make the changes in most circumstances.
The thing about SEO is it takes a lot of attention to detail and not everybody has an eye for it. While I appreciate that general terms can be ranked for by monkeys competitive terms require a lot more precision. Giving the content to the wrong people can wreck your reputation when they don't get results because they didn't carry out the work properly. Then you have to spend your time showing them why it didn't work, and how the missing parts of the report have cost them in the rankings/conversions. Babysitting is pricey, and ultimately it needs to be pre-established that these are additional costs.While I enjoy educating and working with people when it comes to SEO you have to do some due dilligence to insure things are done correctly. Effectively communicating with the client about the importance of carrying out the report thoroughly etc can save both the client, and yourself a lot of time.
You're right, but IMHO what you says doesn't exclude the guidelines suggested by Jen.
It's just a question of organization.
The post of Jen is saying that SEO is better when all the people involved in a SEO project understand one the other. And for this reason, to have a positive educating and communicating attitude towards Devs (but I should include also the graphic part of web design, social web marketers, PRs and writers...) and viceversa is a winning point.
But, and I think I can tell it for Jen too, this doesn't mean that the SEO must delegate the main SEO job to the other members of the team. He still has to be the main responsable of all the SEO strategy and work directly on the most important SEO factors.
Doing an analogy with cooking (in homage to the Rand post of yesterday), the SEO should be like the best chef who is directing a big team in kitchen's restaurant . All his team cowork in order to offer a great menú, but the most important part of the job is done directly by the chef.
Sometimes you get to the end result Making8SEO is referring to despite best efforts though. Nearly every project I've worked on where there was disappointment with results has been due to a lack of developer implementation.
In fairness, this is sometimes not the developer's fault. i worked with one client where my developers made all the structural changes, and the files only had to be overwritten (the new files were sent to the developers so they could check for any conflicts with the system as a whole or bugs we may have missed).
It never happened.
The client assigned the relationship to a developer who'd been with the company for less than a month, and he was still learning the system himself. Meanwhile, the more senior developers were working on a completely new site structure that made a lot of what we'd done obsolete, and still didn't follow any of the previously discussed recommendations we'd agreed to help implement.
I obviously took lessons from that in establishing client-side requirements before entering into any agreements, but I agree with Making8SEO that it can be more complex than simply establishing a good relationship to make development related SEO tasks happen. Particularly when the developers have responsibilities to multiple departments on multiple tasks, SEO can often take a backseat among their priorities.
Great post Jen! And very timely too, as I have a 9 am call this morning with a Dev Project Manager that I need to get on same page with for some fairly significant site-wide changes for a client.
Great Dev + Great SEO = Awesome Results
Great post Jen! Enjoyed reading this and I'm sure everyone can relate to this! From my little personal experience, I guess I've been lucky in the sense that most of the developers I work with are open minded so they're always curious to learn and ask questions related to SEO. If I don't have the exact answer or they want something more specific, I look for it and give it to them. And if that still didn't work, my boss (who loves SEO) will smack their fingers for doing something SEO-unfriendly once he finds out about it...(evil laugh)
P.S
This post didn't come up on my RSS feed notification. Any reason for that?? I thot it was supposed to be dynamic...
Yea! That's weird that it's not showing up in the RSS feed, going to look into that now. Thanks for the heads up!
That's great to work with developers who are open minded about SEO! Many of them are actually, it's just cracking that openness that can sometimes be difficult. :)
Hello!!!!!!!!!!!
Great topic and post, jen!
I think it's very important that SEOs spend some time developing our developing skills
I also found the Kool Aid to be delicious (not getting the matching sneakers... lol). As as network admin for yrs I was suddenly given a "awful" website and asked to revamp it. Yikes! Long story.... here I am.
I am a huge beliver in getting the clients support staff on board. If not, they can make the project a nightmare. Being from the world of support staff I can understand their side: "this person will make me obsolete, my boss will no longer look at me as a web guru and my dog will run away".
Seriously, support staff often treats the boss and co-workers like mushrooms in the mistaken belief of job security.
This is why you need to approach carefully, make no eye contact & bring "snack of choice" as a piece offering (wise woman you are got that on #5.) Of course if the yummy treats don't work you can try being honest & direct in letting them know you are not looking to take their job, but rather to supplement it. And if they let you, learn a few new marketable skills.
Great Post!
I totally love our developers. I love them so much. Sometimes I feel like I smother them a bit and sometimes get jealous when they have to work on other projects. I get really upset when they don't call me back or respond to my emails/texts/tweets/calls. It really bums me out, but then I shower them with gifts (coffee cards) and that gets me some attention for awhile.
Now, designers, on the other hand, they are dead to me.
Good post, working in close conjunction with developers is great and it is highly advised.
I personally started as a developer myself, creating my own websites, then moved into SEO/Social media marketing so I can talk the jargon with the dev team.
I think it is funny how some people claim to say "make your own changes on the site, bypass the dev teams" large/med corporate clients will not be willing to all seo's onto their server to tinker around with things, possibly a small client may.
Its annoying when you put together reccoemndations too and they have to be approved by various departnment, some of the larger corporate clients can take months for changes to be implamented.
Well Done!
Often, the things that are important from an SEO perspective may seem very trivial to a developer and certain things that we pay great attention to may be a complete afterthought for a developer that does not know SEO. One thing that definitely does not work is yelling and getting upset. I have lots of experience making things worse this way. But my yelling days are over and hey, it's better late than never, right? :)Having a soft hand with constructive criticism and helping the developer to understand why these things are being done can go a long way. I'm sure my programming knowledge is a lot worse than most developers' SEO knowledge so I try to keep that in mind.
- Evan
When i worked as in-house, i used to have few sheets with me to help me in my presentation. These sheets were simply some basic seo guidelines for web developers, designers, content developers and offline sales and marketing people. So whenever i joined a new company, My first task was to to introduce myself just like other people but little differently. I used to conduct a small presentation in which i speak not only about my background but also about what i am hired for and that i am responsible for implementing a new process which won't work without team efforts. I talked about how my work is going to effect the work of other teams (technical, creative and marketing teams), how their work is going to effect my work, how SEO may make you feel like you have lost control on you own work, the possible altercations and how their work life is going to change soon. This always helped me. When you make your colleagues mentally prepared (in advance) to implement a new process, they can handle things much better esp. in those organizations which are implementing seo for the first time. I would also suggest you to read about the various stages of team formation (forming, storming, norming and performing) and make the team leaders much more seo friendly than the rest as they will be the one who will eventually get the job done.
Good post Jen. Always a strain working with developers, this was a good post on how to deal with it.
Developers have hearts too - I think.
or you can just get a developer who is so awesome hes also learned SEO (shameless plug)
Carter, you wouldn't be trying to get gift cards from CarrieE now, would you?
I usually do #5 twice a month...
-- Jen removed link
I couldn't agree with you more, Jen. The timing is impecable as I am developing new products and this topic will definitely ease the way of my development stage. Again, this is a great piece of advice. I'm sure that a lot of readers will also be interested to learn that similar topics are discussed in this website that I frequently visit www.top10rankingseo.com