I recently parted ways with a client after a few months of being told to “stay in your lane” more times than I was happy to put up with. Every time I asked for conversion data, suggested moving a CTA button, or pointed out that their mobile experience was putting people off, I got the same response: “That’s not SEO, stick to what you know.”
But come on – hiring an SEO expert but not letting them look at the bigger picture is like hiring a plumber to fix your leaky tap but telling them they aren’t allowed to check your water pressure. They might get that one tap working, but you’re still going to have problems.
| 🟠SEO experts need access to conversion data, UX insights, and development cooperation to deliver business results, not just rankings. 🟠Departmental silos waste money by optimising single metrics while accidentally sabotaging others, like driving traffic that doesn’t convert. 🟠Modern SEO requires understanding user behaviour, mobile experience, and conversion funnels – it’s not just about keyword rankings anymore. 🟠Management resistance to integrated SEO approaches prioritises internal convenience over customer experience and business outcomes, which is counterproductive. 🟠Successful SEO treats search optimisation as part of overall business strategy, focusing on what happens after visitors arrive. |
The “stay in your lane” mentality is broken
Too many businesses treat their teams like they’re working in separate little kingdoms. SEO sits over here doing mysterious keyword things, UX designers sit over there making things pretty, developers hide in their corner muttering about code, and marketing does their own thing with sexy graphics and campaigns.
But here’s what nobody talks about – these silos are haemorrhaging money.
When I asked that client for their mobile versus desktop conversion data, it wasn’t because I was bored and fancied some spreadsheet action. It was because I could see their mobile traffic was bouncing faster than a rubber ball, and I suspected their conversion rates were shite too. But apparently asking for business-critical data was “overstepping.”
When I suggested moving their main CTA button above the fold and changing the wording from “Submit Enquiry” to something that didn’t sound like filling out a tax return, that was apparently “not SEO” either.
And when I asked for heatmap data to find out where people were stopping reading or leaving a page, once again I was told “stay in your lane, that’s not SEO”.
Except it absolutely bloody is SEO. What’s the point of ranking number one if everyone who visits your site immediately thinks “sod this” and goes back to Google?
What good SEO looks like
A proper SEO strategy doesn’t stop at getting people to your website – it starts there. Because search engines are getting cleverer about user experience signals, and because your business success depends on what happens after someone clicks through from Google.
SEO needs UX data (whether UX likes it or not)
When I see high bounce rates on mobile, I need to know if it’s because people can’t find what they’re looking for, can’t use your navigation, or can’t be arsed to scroll through seventeen paragraphs to find your phone number.
If your mobile conversion rate is half your desktop rate, that’s not just a UX problem – it’s an SEO problem waiting to happen. Google’s mobile-first indexing means they’re judging your entire site based on the mobile experience.
But I can’t fix what I can’t see. When teams refuse to share conversion data or user behaviour insights, they’re essentially asking me to operate blindfolded.
SEO needs sales and marketing alignment
Search intent and sales intent should be best mates, not strangers passing in the night. When someone searches for “management consultancy for growing businesses” and lands on a page that waffles on about your company awards for three paragraphs before mentioning you actually help businesses scale, that’s a problem.
I need to understand what makes your customers buy, what objections they have, what language they actually use when talking about their problems. Your sales team has this information. Your marketing team should understand your value proposition.
But when everyone’s working in silos, you get SEO content that ranks well but converts terribly, or beautiful marketing copy that no bugger can find.
SEO needs development cooperation
When I suggest moving elements on a page for better SEO, it’s not because I’m trying to make extra work for developers. It’s because I can see that your most important content is buried at the bottom of the page under 500 crappy words from a referral plugin (btw “It fit through the letterbox” is not a good review, just saying…), or your call-to-action buttons are hidden behind seven layers of scrolling.
Page structure matters for both search engines and users. Internal linking affects both crawlability and user journey. Site speed impacts both rankings and conversions.
But if the development team treats every SEO request like an unwelcome interruption, nothing gets implemented properly, and everyone wonders why the results aren’t coming.
The real cost of departmental silos
Let’s say your SEO work successfully doubles your organic traffic over six months. Brilliant, right? Except if your conversion rate is rubbish, you’ve just doubled the number of people who visit your site and then bugger off without buying anything.
Or maybe your conversion rate is fantastic, but your mobile experience is so poor that Google starts ranking you lower, and all that beautifully converting traffic starts disappearing.
This is what happens when teams work in isolation. You optimise for one metric while accidentally sabotaging another. You fix one problem while creating three more.
I’ve watched businesses spend thousands on SEO to drive more traffic, then watch their enquiry numbers stay flat because nobody thought to check if their contact forms actually worked on mobile. I’ve seen companies with brilliant products lose rankings because their developers “optimised” the site in ways that confused search engines.
Integrated SEO is where the magic happens
When SEO is properly integrated with other business functions, something special happens. Maybe not actual magic, but something that can only be good for the business involved.
Your SEO expert should be asking awkward questions like:
- Why is your mobile conversion rate so low compared to desktop?
- What happens to users who land on your pricing page from organic search?
- Are people actually finding your contact information, or are they giving up and leaving?
- What do your best customers have in common, and how can we attract more of them through search?
They should be suggesting improvements like:
- Moving your most important information higher up the page
- Simplifying your navigation so people can actually find what they need
- Testing different calls-to-action based on search intent
- Improving page load speeds because nobody waits five seconds for anything anymore
And yes, this means they need access to your analytics, conversion data, user feedback, and occasionally your developers’ time.
What this looks like in practice
Instead of just tracking keyword rankings, an integrated SEO approach tracks business outcomes. Are enquiries increasing? Are the right types of customers finding you? Are people completing the actions you want them to take?
Instead of just creating content for search engines, you create content that serves real business purposes. Content that actually helps your sales process, addresses real customer concerns, and guides people towards making decisions.
Instead of just fixing technical issues in isolation, you consider how changes affect the entire user experience. Because there’s no point having perfect technical SEO if your website is impossible to use.
Why management resistance is particularly idiotic
The client I mentioned earlier? Management were the most resistant to this integrated approach. They wanted neat little boxes where everyone did their specific job and nobody crossed boundaries.
But business success doesn’t happen in neat little boxes. Your customers don’t care about your org chart. They just want to find what they’re looking for, understand how you can help them, and buy from you without jumping through hoops.
When management insists on keeping teams separate, they’re optimising for internal convenience rather than business results. They’re prioritising departmental peace over customer experience.
And that’s exactly how you end up with brilliant SEO that drives loads of traffic to a website that converts nobody, or beautiful design that nobody can find.
SEO should be part of your overall business strategy
The businesses that get the best results from SEO are the ones that treat it as part of their overall business strategy, not as a separate technical function.
They give their SEO expert access to the data they need to make informed decisions. They listen when that expert points out conversion problems or user experience issues. They understand that bringing in traffic is only half the job – the other half is making sure that traffic actually does something useful.
They don’t say “stay in your lane” – they say “what else do you need to know to get better results?”
Because at the end of the day, nobody gives a toss about your internal departmental boundaries. They care about results. And results come from teams working together, not from keeping everyone in their own little pigeon holes.
Your SEO expert isn’t trying to take over your business when they ask for conversion data or suggest UX improvements. They’re trying to make sure the traffic they bring you actually makes you money.
And if that’s not staying in the right lane, I don’t know what is.
I currently have space for one more SEO Strategy client starting in August 2025 – book a call if you think I’d be a good fit for your company.
