If You’re Not Teaching SEO, You’re Probably Losing

The biggest threat to your SEO program isn’t an algorithm update.

It’s organizational ignorance.

If people don’t understand what SEO is, when it matters, or how it works - they won’t support it. They won’t prioritize it. And they won’t fund it.

That’s why internal SEO education isn’t optional, it’s survival.

What Happens When You Don’t Teach SEO

• You get added too late (or not at all)

• Content gets built without intent

• Dev teams ignore tickets that “don’t seem critical”

• Leadership sees traffic… but not value

Real Talk:

One org launched a major new product on a standalone microsite—no SEO input, no redirects, nothing indexed. Six months of cleanup work. Zero early traction. All because no one looped in “the SEO person.”

Don’t wait to be invited. Show up and stay visible.

So What Do You Do?

1. Host Monthly SEO Lunch & Learns

Keep it simple. 30 minutes. One slide deck.

Focus on:

• Recent wins (with context)

• What changed in the SERP

• What’s coming up

• Where you need collaboration

Pro tip: Record it. Post the deck. Share it across Slack/Teams.

2. Build a 101 Deck That Lives Forever

This is your always-on onboarding doc.

It should explain:

• What SEO isn’t (meta tags and blog hacks)

• Where SEO plugs into brand, product, content, UX

• Why it matters in your company

• How to work with the SEO team (or person)

Make it skimmable. Make it clear. Make it live somewhere public.

3. Show the Before & After

Most people in your org haven’t seen SEO impact.

They’ve seen traffic charts—but not the cause/effect.

So show them:

• “We optimized this service page → +26% leads”

• “Fixed this indexing issue → Time on site +40%”

• “Renamed product X → Now ranks for what people actually search”

SEO isn’t about noise. It’s about clarity. And clarity gets noticed.

First Step: What You Can Do Today

Ping your head of content, product, or marketing and say:

“Thinking about running a quick SEO 101 for the team next month. Just 30 mins to show how it connects to what we’re building. You in?”

Then book it. Build the slides later.

Stakeholder Cheat Sheet: Who to Educate and What They Need

Stakeholder	What They Need to Know
Content Writers	SEO isn’t a checklist—it’s how content gets found, read, and shared
Product Marketing	SEO data = market feedback. Use it for naming, positioning, and GTM planning
Developers	You’re not asking for favors. You’re optimizing for performance + crawlability
Executives	SEO isn’t just a traffic channel. It’s your organic pipeline engine

SEO Education Starter Toolkit

Don’t overthink it. Just start building visibility into your workflows.

Your Starter Kit:

• Slide Deck Template: “What is SEO? And Why It Matters Here”

• Lunch & Learn Agenda: Wins, What Changed, What’s Next

• Before/After Win Slides: One metric, one insight, one result

• Email Template: Monthly SEO summary for leadership

You don’t need buy-in to start educating.

You need consistency.

TL;DR:

If you’re not teaching SEO inside the business, you’re letting someone else define what SEO is.

And most of the time, they’re getting it wrong.

So teach. Show. Share. Repeat.

Until your org stops asking, “What is SEO?” and starts asking, “What are we doing with it next?”