is the difference between a SEO product manager and a SEO manager? //
SEO product managers are different from SEO managers. They may have similar titles, but their responsibilities are distinct. What makes these roles different?
This article discusses the differences between an SEO product manger and an SEO manager, and how they are designed to work within a large company.
Fast vs. far
You can get the job done as an product manager by working with a team.
You may operate differently as an SEO manager and not have the same resources available to you as those working in product.
Although there is no better role, I have found that the SEO product manager has more access to the internal engineering resources.
“If you want fast travel, do it alone.” This African proverb is a good reminder of the dynamics of each role. If you want to travel far, join forces.
Comparing job descriptions
Compare these two roles.
On LinkedIn, I found two examples job descriptions:
- Target’s senior product manager for technical SEO.
- An SEO manager at Vimeo.
Both are big brands with a lot of customers.
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I’ve highlighted them. Immediately, you’ll notice that each role has very different responsibilities.
You’ll notice that the role of the product is responsible for the business outcome on the left.
The SEO manager on the right is responsible for a particular SEO aspect, namely improving the organic visibility of the brand.
Both job descriptions indicate that the candidate must be an excellent communicator, and willing to work with teams from different departments.
The main difference is operational.
- Product managers are accountable for the roadmaps and backlogs of products that have a business impact.
- SEO managers are responsible for guiding and developing the SEO program. This is “collaborating, implementing, and managing a high-level SEO program.”
Both roles work from a road map. What SEO professional doesn’t have a list of prioritized technical fixes that they would like to implement?
The difference is the discipline of Product Management. SEO product managers (PMs), who are more focused on the product, develop, maintain and communicate their roadmap to the organization.
It is different from the way an SEO manager manages a list with technical and content improvements and fixes.
The SEO PM plays a key role in guiding each roadmap initiative, while an SEO manager is responsible for putting SEO recommendations into action with other teams.
The candidate must possess the following skills and knowledge
Here is where the roles are differentiated. The PM must have the same expertise as a product manager in this case technical SEO.
In this case, the SEO manager must have solid experience with SEO strategy and editorial duties.
It’s interesting that the job description for the product manager specifies the candidate must have “experience with data and metrics in order to test theories, verify assumptions, and measure the success.”
In practice, SEO managers also do this. Especially when they need to present a business case that proves the SEO hypothesis and the incremental increase in KPIs is worth it.
I’m surprised that a similar requirement doesn’t appear in the job description of the SEO manager.
The daily: where the magic happens
This is where the divergence occurs. Product roadmap ownership and operational functions ownership are the biggest differences between an SEO PM (SEO manager) and an SEO PM.
SEO product managers have a roadmap for features and fixes. These initiatives can range from simple technical fixes (bugs), to features that enhance the foundational aspects SEO such as:
- Linking within the website.
- Content on the website.
- Googlebot’s capability to crawl and index your site.
- User experience.
- Speed is the core of web vitality.
SEO Product Managers are responsible for a variety of tasks, including:
- Responsibilities.
- Operational Function (a member of a agile Team).
- Ability to write SEO requirements using technical requirements.
- Documentation.
Take a closer look.
Areas of responsibility
The job description of a product manager often includes “leading a particular product”.
On large ecommerce sites, this covers areas like on-site search, cart and checkout, user-generated content (UGC), personalization/loyalty, the brand’s app, and SEO.
A product manager’s ability to be the “voice” of their product is another way they can differentiate themselves. This involves having an opinion on which features should be prioritized and knowing the data behind it.
It’s important to note that SEOs and those in product management roles understand that their primary customers, search engines, are also the humans who visit your website.
Their SEO expertise and knowledge (translated as requirements) helps make a site with visual content or products discoverable by both audiences.
Search engines need to be taught everything.
Operational Function as a Functional Member of an Agile Team
Project management methods such as Agile and Lean, and Scrum, are ways to operate and collaborate across multiple teams.
SEO Product Managers are integral to the agile process, even though an SEO manager may not be.
SEO managers face a challenge in putting SEO priorities on a road map, as they are essentially outsiders looking in.
The SEO manager is expected to perform in this situation in a manner that includes developing and overseeing a content SEO plan using keywords and optimization strategies, as well as supporting “product launches… when needed.”
The role is a contributor, with exposure to product leaders.
Pro Tip: When you interview for a role of this nature, ask about the resources available to it. Ask if there are direct reports and if they work independently.
You can use this to determine the type of dynamic that you will be entering or whether you are expected to create one over time.
Ability to write SEO requirements using technical requirements
Here, fixes and updates will be released to the Production site.
All product managers are in the position, whether they are SEOs or not, to write technical specifications for engineering teams about how features are coded on a site. They can therefore directly affect SEO.
We don’t say that the SEO team is solely responsible for SEO. SEO is done by all team members who touch the website.
What’s also not obvious is the location of the execution.
Through the agile product management rituals, product managers are closer to:
- Technical requirements are written.
- Prioritizing the work to be done in the sprints.
- Collaboration with other product teams and delivery teams in order to implement new features and launch improvements.
SEO managers don’t operate like this. I believe that the level of involvement and detail in the process are missing from the equation when it comes to prioritizing SEO.
Documentation (processes, features, etc.)
Product managers are responsible for creating “user manuals” of the new features and functions that they develop.
Some documents fall under the PM’s responsibility to create and maintain.
SEO managers often create documents that report on KPIs or outline SEO recommendations, such as:
- Write QA test scripts.
- Provide specific Google Developer Guidelines or best practices for developers. Or a quick reference with search data at a high level to teams that are leveraging keyword trends.
For a number of reasons, product documentation is more detailed.
The audience for such documents goes beyond engineers and includes sections that detail “Business As Usual (BAU),” which refers to the business operations teams, or automated jobs, that support the feature functionality.
Product managers are promoting this type of business documentation as a tool for the transference of institutional knowledge and work.
Salary
These roles at least provide the salary range. These ranges are quite broad.
Although it is nice to have a pay range listed, the candidate may still find it difficult to determine where they fall in that scale.
Everyone wants to get the best compensation possible, right?
Career path for SEO PMs
SEO skills matrix resource
You define career success. It’s not a straight-line.
Tom Critchlow said that they are often only understandable in retrospect.
The SEO skills maturity matrix can be a great resource for any SEO to navigate and at least attempt to plan how they will invest in their career, whether in agency or in house.
Exposure to both environments will make you a better candidate. You’ll be able to determine which environment is best for you and what you want to do.
SEO product management has evolved as a career and role. You should keep an eye out for courses that are related to this subject. I think more professionals will be willing to share their expertise digitally via learning platforms.
Here are some resources on SEO Product Management:
- Areej AbAli, Implementing Tech SEO
- Adam Gent, The SEO Sprint
- Product-Led SEO, Eli Schwartz
Your organic search efforts will grow if you use the right tools.
Before the existence of SEO managers and product managers, anyone could guess if anyone was monitoring a company’s growth in organic traffic.
These roles will become increasingly important in the future to grow organic traffic for any business.
You should treat yourself to an SEO PM if you’re an SEO director or manager and are in a position where you can build your team.
Make friends with other product managers, learn what makes a good PM, and share SEO knowledge.
SEO is a learned skill that can be acquired through experimentation, knowledge sharing and experience.
Your job is to use your unique skills to impress search engines as well as humans.
The post What is the difference between a SEO product manager and a SEO manager? first appeared on Search Engineland.