Before our recent podcast episode, “SEO as a Team Sport,” Bill and I discussed how this lack of integration is still happening in 2025. A few of our reasons made it into the episode, but it is worth a deeper review of why SEO and web development are often poorly integrated. After that session, I wrote this article, and we discussed why SEO was not more integrated in episode 26. The following are some reasons SEO is not more integrated and some steps you can take to improve your organization.
Lack of Coordinated Objectives & Responsibility
Many organizations struggle to integrate SEO effectively because different teams operate with siloed objectives, each focused on their own KPIs and timelines. Marketing may prioritize brand visibility and conversion rates, product teams focus on user experience, and developers aim for speed and efficiency. Without a centralized strategy that aligns these goals, SEO often becomes a secondary concern—addressed inconsistently or only when problems arise. This fragmentation leads to missed opportunities, as SEO thrives on cross-functional collaboration. For example, a development team may launch a new feature without considering its impact on crawlability, or a content team may publish pages without optimizing for search visibility. Without a single point of accountability ensuring SEO is integrated across departments, the cumulative benefits of an SEO-driven strategy are lost.
To overcome this challenge, companies must establish a framework for cross-functional collaboration, ensuring that SEO is embedded into broader business objectives rather than treated as a standalone function. This could involve appointing a Web Effectiveness champion—such as a digital strategy lead or an SEO steering committee—who ensures that teams are aligned and accountable for search performance. Regular cross-team meetings, shared dashboards, and clear communication channels can help bridge gaps and highlight how SEO contributes to collective success. Additionally, integrating SEO performance metrics into broader business KPIs can reinforce its importance, ensuring that all teams recognize its role in driving long-term growth. When SEO is seen as a shared responsibility rather than an isolated task, organizations can maximize its impact across all digital initiatives.
Creative-First Mindset
Creativity is the lifeblood of success in many industries, such as fashion, luxury, and high-end lifestyle brands. These brands thrive on visual storytelling, emotional resonance, and a unique identity that differentiates them from the mainstream. Their website is an extension of the brand’s artistry, requiring it to evoke the same exclusivity and aspiration as a physical store or a high-fashion runway show.
As a result, when building or refreshing a website, the creative vision typically takes priority and can sometimes be the only consideration, creating tension between the teams. Large brand agencies specialize in crafting these amazingly immersive digital experiences that reinforce brand positioning. Accordingly, creative teams prioritize aesthetics and user engagement using bold visuals, cutting-edge design, interactive features, and high-impact storytelling that often conflict with Search engine-friendly technical considerations like crawlability, site speed, and indexable content.
I have been in meetings with brand and agency creative teams whose plan was to present any text within images because users did not have the brand’s custom fonts and had to explain why the all-powerful Google could not appreciate this creative requirement and extract the needed text from the images.
Siloed Approach
Traditionally, web development, content creation, digital PR and SEO have been treated as separate disciplines, often handled by different teams or individuals. This siloed approach can lead to poor collaboration and communication between developers and SEO experts during the website creation. Content that is compelling from a marketing perspective may be written, but does not connect with how searchers would look for it and how search engines perceive it. Like web development, a brilliant website that wins creative awards may prevent search engines from crawling to index the content and prevent it from being shown to searchers. Each has met their criteria but may have negatively impacted or at least not offered benefit to another area.
A frustrating disconnect is often between digital PR and Search teams. The SEO team spends hours and dollars securing relevant links from 3rd party sites. The PR team consistently generates news that feeds the voracious appetite of industry trade sites, but they often do not link to the products or supporting content referenced in the release. If there was a collaboration, PR could integrate links into the research within their creative standards to benefit the company. The SEO can then help show the incremental value of PR by reporting on these referral links and the SEO benefits they provide. This helps create a win-win situation.
Lack of SEO Understanding
Many web developers lack a deep understanding of SEO principles and best practices. Their job is to create visually appealing and functional websites within the functional and creative specifications provided without considering how their design and development decisions impact search engine rankings. Similarly, some SEO specialists may not fully grasp the technical aspects of web development, assuming that all engineers have extensive and current knowledge of SEO.
Last year, I asked numerous engineers and other members of various development teams if they had been exposed to SEO during their formal or informal training. All stated that no formal course or training was available within their training programs. Those with any SEO knowledge learned by working with SEOs on previous or side projects. None indicated it was offered during formal training as programmers or other web development or server management training programs.
Knowledge Hoarding
This is one of the reasons Bill Scully mentioned in the podcast. Knowledge hoarding is when an employee or a team keeps knowledge that could benefit others to themselves. A few social scientists are researching this phenomenon to understand better why this happens. For many, this knowledge is leverage that helps in job preservation and being in demand for their subject matter expertise, or fear that you will upset someone more sensitive to being wrong or challenge the beliefs of another manager. I read a research article from Delloite that despite the increase in collaboration and knowledge sharing tools and systems, fewer than 9% of companies, despite 75% wanting to do so, have any knowledge management process in place.
Based on the research I have read and my personal experience, there are exponential gains when knowledge sharing happens across teams. If your SEOs are not at least trying to schedule office hours and knowledge sharing with videos and best practices, you should try to understand why. Even notes from conferences or sharing industry articles are a great start.
It can be fixed post-launch
There’s a common misconception that SEO can be “added on” or “fixed” after a website is built, like adding paint to a new house. Many business owners and developers first focus on aesthetics, functionality, or branding, assuming that a great-looking website will naturally attract traffic. However, this overlooks the foundational role SEO plays in ensuring a site is discoverable, accessible, and optimized for users and search engines. Retrofitting SEO after a site is live often leads to costly rework, requiring developers to undo structural issues, fix poor URL architectures, and reconfigure content to align with search intent. In many cases, this reactive approach results in lost time, increased costs, and missed opportunities for organic growth.
This is why, for the last 30 years, I have referred to SEOs as the pesky local building inspector who needs to come and inspect the new house at different phases to ensure that best practices and the correct materials are used before it is hidden away and too costly to fix.
Ignoring these elements until after launch can mean redoing navigation structures, adjusting content hierarchies, or even overhauling the entire site’s technical framework. When SEO is integrated from the start, businesses can avoid these setbacks and ensure their website is positioned for long-term success rather than playing catch-up after realizing they are invisible in search results.
Time & Resource Constraints
Many organizations perceive SEO integration as an additional layer of complexity that demands extra time and resources, potentially slowing down already tight development cycles. This belief often stems from the misconception that SEO is a separate, time-intensive task rather than an embedded development aspect. Developers, product managers, and executives may worry that incorporating SEO considerations—such as structured data, site speed optimizations, and even hreflang implementation—will create bottlenecks or require significant rework at later stages. Additionally, in organizations where SEO is treated as an afterthought, retrofitting fixes post-launch can be costly and time-consuming, reinforcing the perception that SEO hinders efficiency rather than enhances it.
Overcoming this challenge requires shifting SEO from a reactive task to a proactive, integrated process within existing workflows. By embedding SEO into development sprints and aligning it with broader business goals, teams can avoid costly rework and ensure SEO is considered from the outset. Providing SEO training to development teams, establishing clear documentation, and incorporating SEO checks into QA processes can streamline implementation without significantly extending timelines. Moreover, automation tools and pre-defined templates for everyday SEO tasks (such as meta tags, redirects, and structured data) can reduce manual workload. When SEO is seen as a natural part of the development process rather than an additional burden, it enhances efficiency, improves website performance, and drives long-term business value without derailing deadlines.
Complexity of Integration
Integrating SEO into web development is inherently complex because it requires a holistic approach that balances technical infrastructure, content strategy, and user experience. Unlike standalone marketing initiatives, SEO influences multiple layers of a website—from URL structures, content to page speed, mobile usability, and information architecture. This complexity can be overwhelming for teams that are not well-versed in both development and SEO. Developers may prioritize site performance and functionality but overlook search engine crawlability, while content teams may focus on messaging without considering search intent or structured data. Without a clear roadmap for SEO integration, teams may struggle to align these moving parts, leading to inefficient processes, misaligned priorities, and suboptimal results.
Organizations need a structured framework that simplifies SEO adoption across teams to overcome the complexity of SEO integration. Establishing clear SEO guidelines and best practices—such as standardized URL structures, internal linking frameworks, and performance benchmarks—helps teams incorporate SEO naturally into their workflows. Cross-functional training programs can also demystify SEO for developers and product managers, ensuring they understand its impact on visibility and traffic. Additionally, automation tools, plugins, and built-in SEO features within CMS platforms can help streamline execution, reducing the manual burden on teams. By breaking down SEO into manageable, well-documented processes and providing teams with the right tools and education, organizations can make SEO integration more intuitive and scalable, ensuring it becomes an ingrained part of development rather than an intimidating challenge.
What should organizations do?
To address these challenges and improve the integration of SEO into web development, organizations should:
- Reinforcement of the organization’s understanding of SEO’s value in driving traffic, enhancing user experience, and contributing revenue can help foster greater appreciation and support.
- Allocate adequate resources and budget to SEO initiatives and the teams that integrate them. Aligning SEO goals with business objectives can help secure necessary investments.
- Demonstrate the long-term ROI of SEO, especially when integrated at the point of creation and integration.
- Promote cross-disciplinary training and collaboration between content, developers, and SEO specialists.
- Adopt a more holistic approach to website creation that considers SEO from initial planning to post-launch quality control.
- Invest in ongoing education to keep all teams updated on SEO best practices, and the SEOs updated on content and development practices.
- Clearly define responsibilities and establish processes for integrating SEO throughout the development lifecycle at a functional requirements level and quality control. By keeping it at the top of my mind, within the context of each activity and role, it is less likely to be forgotten.
Closing Thoughts
Addressing the multifaceted challenges of integrating SEO requires a strategic and collaborative approach. Organizations should invest in education to demystify SEO, ensuring all teams understand its value and impact. Establishing clear roles and fostering cross-functional collaboration can dismantle silos, leading to more cohesive strategies. Moreover, staying abreast of industry developments and being adaptable to changes in search algorithms will position organizations to maintain a competitive edge. This will be especially critical as AI search and alternatives to search engines gain popularity and ensure that company information is discoverable and presented across the Internet. By embedding SEO into organizational processes and culture, companies can enhance their online presence, drive sustainable growth, and achieve their digital objectives.
If your organization struggles to integrate SEO effectively, our SEO Integration consulting services can help bridge the gap. We work with teams across marketing, development, and leadership to create a structured SEO framework that aligns with your business objectives. From establishing clear roles and processes to providing hands-on training and implementation support, we ensure SEO becomes a seamless part of your operations. Let’s transform SEO from an afterthought into a growth driver—contact us today to get started!
