One of the most common themes I’ve seen in SEO over the past decade, and it’s become even more frequent recently, is businesses’ growing desire to build a stronger SEO culture internally.
This isn’t just about upskilling their in-house SEO teams. It’s about helping teams across different departments, who may not live and breathe SEO, understand how to collaborate more effectively.
I’m happy to see this shift.
SEO has long been a multi-stakeholder discipline. It needs input and collaboration from brands, products, sales, and many others.
Now, with AI becoming more embedded in traditional search results, and the way in which users are discovering brands and engaging with the internet as a whole is changing, it’s even more critical to understand how actions across the business impact online visibility.
Companies try to solve this by building a center of excellence or a formal training framework.
This allows the SEO partner to maintain narrative control while offering structured education and maintaining a shared resource.
That can be used by current team members and for onboarding new hires, regardless of their prior SEO experience. I still support this approach. It’s effective.
However, SEO has become far more complex, and search itself is evolving, not just in terms of optimizing for it but also because search is transforming as AI becomes a marketing channel in its own right.
Understanding Existing SEO Knowledge
Most enterprise businesses already have some baseline SEO knowledge in place. It may have come from a past agency, in-house training, or other stakeholders. The depth and quality vary significantly.
Some companies have only done basic SEO, like URL structuring or keyword research, during an initial site launch. Others may have more advanced efforts ongoing, like content marketing or link building.
This inconsistency means you can’t approach every organization with a one-size-fits-all upskilling strategy. It needs to be tailored, and the best way to get a sense of the existing knowledge is to start with discovery.
Valuing Early Discovery Conversations
It’s very common for brands to ask about team upskilling during the onboarding or scoping phase. It’s not always directly stated; it may be implied, but I’ve noticed it being raised more explicitly recently.
This is also when you want to dig into their internal processes, how they develop content, who the key stakeholders are, what lead times look like, and what their approval processes involve.
From there, try to get a sense of their SEO maturity.
For example, if their previous agency focused heavily on link-building and digital PR but not on technical SEO, was that a comfort zone or a strategic decision?
These early insights don’t just help shape your SEO education plan. They allow you to tailor how you communicate your strategy.
Understanding what’s been done and why means you’re not walking in and discarding everything. You’re acknowledging the past while creating a new direction.
If you come in acting like everything before you was wrong, you’ll lose trust fast, especially from internal team members who may feel like your presence is a critique of their work.
Emphasizing The Strategic Importance Of SEO
That’s why I prefer an “outside-in” approach. Instead of just trying to create a hub for SEO excellence internally, you integrate SEO into the broader business strategy.
You don’t wait until people need it; you bring it to them and show them why they should care.
This involves communicating regularly with stakeholders who may only touch SEO lightly.
By doing so, you can show them the value of SEO in achieving their specific goals and how it contributes to the overall business strategy.
Encourage Open Communications
One of the first steps is understanding how a business shares information internally.
Do they have monthly all-hands? Drop-in sessions? Internal wikis or Notions? Every business has its system, and your communication strategy needs to align with that.
For example, if they have monthly all-hands meetings, you can use this platform to share SEO updates and educate the entire organization.
If they have internal wikis, you can contribute to these platforms with SEO-related content.
Many brands have internal comms teams, but make it a point to connect with them early.
Get introduced by your primary SEO contact, and work together to figure out how best to share SEO updates and education across the organization.
Tailoring the messaging for different departments is key. Show how SEO impacts them specifically. Share recent wins. Be transparent. Invite feedback.
You’ll get a mix of insightful and repeat questions. While bundling responses is tempting, people still want to feel like they’re getting individual attention, especially early on. That personal touch builds trust and engagement.
Establish Documentation Standards
Substantial documentation underpins any long-term education or change initiative. This includes SEO standards, content guidelines, workflows, and top-level process diagrams.
Keeping this documentation in a format familiar to the business and ensuring the client maintains it makes a massive difference in how widely it’s used and trusted.
For example, you can create a shared document repository where all these documents are stored and regularly updated. This ensures that everyone has access to the latest information.
Documentation can also communicate real-time updates like Google algorithm changes or new search engine results page (SERP) features.
When news breaks across social or industry blogs, internal stakeholders also see it.
Having an internal resource that proactively explains what’s happening, primarily when it affects your site directly, builds authority and keeps everyone aligned.
It’s also invaluable for onboarding. Whether it’s someone new to the SEO team or a more exhaustive marketing hire, good documentation helps quickly bring them up to speed. It builds continuity and context.
Actively Seek Perspectives
One of the most effective collaboration techniques I’ve used is to run open forums or interviews with different internal teams. Ask questions that don’t usually get asked.
For example, while working with a global DevOps platform, I met with their customer success, product, and sales teams.
One of the best questions I asked was: “If you could change one thing about the website or content, what would it be?”
That question alone unlocked a lot. It brought in perspectives that often don’t make it to the SEO or marketing teams.
When you integrate that feedback, when people see their ideas shaping future initiatives, it builds buy-in.
You create internal advocates who feel like part of the change. And when those ideas lead to wins, share the credit wisely.
Create Internal Advocates
That leads to one final point: identifying and nurturing internal advocates.
These people are naturally curious about SEO, ask questions, and want to learn, regardless of their department. Whether they work in PR or design outdoor billboards, bring them into the fold if engaged.
As you build your communications, involve them. Ask them for feedback before broader rollouts.
Check that your message makes sense to someone outside SEO. These people become your assets; they help spread the SEO mindset organically across the business.
Final Thoughts
Building a collaborative SEO culture, improving baseline knowledge, and fostering cross-functional alignment isn’t just helpful for campaign performance. It’s crucial for client retention and perceived value.
Even in challenging market conditions or when traffic is flat, clients who feel involved and supported are far more likely to stay.
Celebrate SEO wins widely, tie them to collaborative input, and always seek ways to make SEO a shared initiative.
When SEO becomes part of the business DNA, it’s much easier to integrate into all future marketing and strategic efforts.
More Resources:
- 15 Reasons Why Your Business Absolutely Needs SEO
- Communicating The Impact Of AI On SEO To C-Level
- 5 Key Enterprise SEO Priorities CMOs Need To Get Right
Featured Image: fizkes/Shutterstock
