The Art of SEO

Changing SEO Vendors or Staff Members

Another major transition that can happen is when the publisher changes its SEO staff. Adding new team members, people leaving the team, or replacing the whole team are all things that can and do happen. These types of changes can happen with in-house SEO staffs, and it can also happen when you use an external SEO agency (e.g., the publisher can decide to switch agencies, or the agency can have internal changes).

Companies make changes in their SEO staffs for many reasons, and issues can arise.

Potential Problems

One potential issue is a loss of momentum. The prior SEO team probably had some programs underway, and the new team will have to inherit those programs and sustain them, or else there will be a time delay in results from the new team’s campaign.

Even if the new team does their best to sustain an existing campaign, it will take them some time to become familiar with it, and the specific approach the old team used may not fit the new team’s skill set that well. It is best to be prepared for this type of loss of momentum when making significant changes in your SEO team.

One way to try to deal with this is to hire the new team and have some overlap with the old team. This can work in some situations, but it will not be an option in others.

Another situation that can occur is that the new team may have a different philosophy than the old team (this may be why the publisher made the switch). This will invariably mean a restart of efforts, potentially ...