The one-man-band approach to SEO is probably killing your results.
When leaders hire for SEO, the vast majority of them go into the process looking for an individual contributor rockstar. Ideas float through their minds about how the new hire is going to come into the organization, “do keyword things,” and make it rain with organic traffic.
I call this “the one-man-band approach to SEO,” and there’s no two ways about it. If the new SEO hire is not well-equipped with budget and resources, it sucks.
Unlike some marketing roles, like PPC, Social Media, and ABM, SEO’s don’t have a dashboard that we can log into and start making the keywords rank. We actually need a LOT of teamwork, resources, and executive buy-in to create success.
I try to warn other SEOs to stay far away from any job description that puts the SEO hire in a one-man-band position because they often end up in teams with little support, no budget, and stagnated results.
Rather than looking for the one-man band SEO, hiring managers must be prepared to secure three things before the JD goes out:
- An SEO budget (or dedicated internal resources) that the new hire can work with and grow.
- A plan for moving them from an IC position into a position of leadership as quickly as possible.
- Lots of support to help your SEO influence key decisions about the website that other stakeholders are likely going to make without SEO in mind.
Successful SEO takes leadership, resources, and organizational influence.