Cross-functional SEO teams: How to Improve Collaboration [+ Challenges]

Last Updated on 20 February 2025 by Stu Edwards

Poor collaboration within SEO teams can derail even the most promising strategies.

Some organisations assume that simply assigning SEO tasks to different departments — content, technical and PR — is enough.

They think each group can work independently and the results will magically come together.

But without true cross-functional collaboration, silos form, priorities clash, and opportunities are missed.

“SEO discussions that consider the knowledge and input from various cross-functional teams lead to the best output.”
Eli Schwartz

If you want an SEO team that works seamlessly, drives results, and adapts to complex challenges, you need to focus on fostering collaboration across every function.

What is a cross-functional SEO team?

A cross-functional SEO team is a group of professionals from different departments working together to improve an organisation’s online visibility and marketing performance.

Unlike traditional teams that work in silos, a cross-functional SEO team brings together experts from SEO, content marketing, web development, PR, and analytics to create a more holistic and effective approach to achieving business goals.

For example, when a digital marketer collaborates with content creators to develop search-optimised content or when SEO specialists work with developers to enhance site performance, they are operating as a cross-functional SEO team.

The goal of collaborative teamwork across these disciplines is to align efforts, use diverse expertise, and drive better results in search rankings, user engagement, and overall business growth.

How is having a cross-functional team important for SEO?

1. SEO requires multiple expertise areas

SEO is a team sport.

It involves more than just one skill set. It spans technical optimisation, content creation, web development, digital PR, and analytics.

Each area contributes something unique, and collaboration between them is key.

When teams work in silos, problems arise:

• The content team might create blogs targeting high-volume keywords without factoring in site performance constraints, leaving potential traffic unconverted.
• The PR team could pitch backlinks to pages that aren’t optimised for user engagement or conversion, undermining the value of those efforts.
• Writers could work on briefs without considering the difficulty of research, access to information, or the time required to craft a high-quality piece, resulting in rushed or incomplete content.
• The SEO team might target a keyword without analysing content gaps or how to surpass the top three incumbents, leading to missed opportunities to rank higher.

These disconnects lead to missed opportunities and less impactful outcomes.

2. Silos slow progress

When teams operate in silos, progress stalls due to inefficiencies, misalignment, and duplicated efforts.

• Rewrites and wasted time: A content team might spend weeks on an article, only to rewrite it later because SEO wasn’t involved upfront. Small adjustments like keyword placement or meta tag optimisation could have been addressed from the beginning, saving time and effort.
• Misaligned marketing campaigns: Marketing teams might launch campaigns that don’t align with SEO priorities, like promoting pages that lack high-priority keywords or conversions. These misalignments waste ad spend and limit long-term organic growth.
• Fragmented data insights: Analytics teams may report campaign performance without factoring in SEO metrics, like organic click-through rates or ranking shifts. This incomplete picture makes it harder to assess overall impact.
• Delayed technical improvements: One of the biggest blockers for SEO success is a lack of alignment between the technical SEO team and the web development team. For example, site speed optimisations, resolving crawl errors, or implementing schema markup often sit in the development queue for weeks—or months—because the teams aren’t working from the same road map.

Cross-functional collaboration eliminates these bottlenecks.

It accelerates progress by making sure every step, from strategy to execution, is seamless and aligned.

3. Poor collaboration, poor alignment

Teressa Torres, a product discovery coach, explains:

“When we talk about a product manager, a designer, and an engineer and they can’t agree, struggling to align, they haven’t integrated their perspectives. They’re each relying on unique knowledge that they haven’t shared with each other.”

The same is true for SEO teams. When content strategists, writers, editors, and technical SEOs fail to collaborate, their efforts stay siloed.

For example, content writers may focus on storytelling but overlook SEO guidelines, like keyword placement or search engine readability.

Meanwhile, the technical SEO team might optimise site speed but fail to communicate how their changes affect content workflows.

4. Stronger team work

Collaboration fosters meaningful connections among team members who might not otherwise cross paths.

These interactions build the groundwork for more seamless collaboration in the future.

Take Sofia Tyson, for example. Her work with other departments helped her strengthen relationships across her organisation.

“Maybe I’m making a landing page for the website, so I have contact with the product marketer…

If the sales team has requested a case study, I collaborate with them to find exactly what they need from it. I guess it’s all those small things that lay the foundation for better collaboration in the future.”

It’s all those small collaborations that lay the foundation for better collaboration in the future.

These small interactions — like refining project requirements with the sales team or brainstorming messaging with a product marketer — all add up.

They create trust, foster teamwork, and make future collaborations smoother.

What are the challenges of cross-functional SEO teams?

Cross-functional teams are a powerful way to combine diverse expertise, but they come with challenges that can stall progress if not addressed.

Here are some real-world sentiments from SEO professionals:

Challenge #1. Misaligned goals and metrics

“Sometimes different groups have different goals and KPIs.”

When teams from different departments collaborate, their goals and KPIs can clash.

Janusz Omylinski described the challenge:

“Sometimes different groups have different goals and KPIs. The editorial team was focused on new subscriptions, SEO prioritised visibility in SERPs, and IT aimed to get the most tasks done in the least time possible.”

Without a shared goal, teams risk pulling in opposite directions, diluting their effectiveness.

Challenge #2. Losing sight of the big picture

Flavio Pintarelli, a former content marketing manager, reminds us that balancing individual expertise with the team’s mission is no small task:

“The biggest challenge is keeping every function focused on the big picture. You need strong diplomatic skills, the ability to listen, and even the humility to step back if necessary to keep the project moving.”

It’s easy for team members to get tunnel vision, focusing only on their tasks and forgetting how it all ties into the larger project.

Encourage open discussions during team meetings where everyone shares how their work contributes to the broader goals.

Keep the project’s mission front and centre — literally, on dashboards or project boards.

Challenge #3. Content overload and resource management

Have you ever struggled to find the right piece of content in a sea of documents?

When asked about her biggest challenge on collaborating with other team members, Sofia Tyson answered:

“The sheer amount of content is a challenge for other teams to use effectively. Like, if we have 300-400 articles, how can you realistically expect commercial teams to use it?”

The problem isn’t just about volume.

Teams often struggle to understand what content exists, where to find it, or whether it’s still relevant.

“They don’t know what’s in it, they don’t have the time to read all of them, or the skills to check if they’re still relevant. Maybe some of the products and features mentioned are no longer relevant.”

This disconnect can lead to inefficiencies, such as teams relying on outdated materials or wasting time searching for information.

Sofia admitted that it can be frustrating to spend so much time answering questions about where to find specific content.

How cross-functional SEO teams can improve collaboration

Cross-functional SEO teams sound like the ultimate powerhouse—combine technical SEO, content creation, and digital PR, and you’ll dominate the search results, right?

Not exactly.

While these teams have immense potential, getting them to collaborate effectively is often easier said than done.

Miscommunication, siloed workflows, and competing priorities can quickly derail progress.

So how can cross-functional SEO teams work better together?

1. Keep everyone on the same page by setting clear objectives

Clear, shared goals help team members understand how their contributions align with the bigger picture, avoiding the silo effect.

And no, just having a content calendar won’t cut it.

Purna Virji writes in her book, High-Impact Content Marketing:

“[A] content calendar alone isn’t enough. Nope. It doesn’t delve into why you’ve chosen that strategy, nor what impact you expect to have on your business.”

What’s missing is the context—the why and the what.

For example, instead of just listing “Write a blog about X,” explain the objective behind it.

• Is it to attract top-of-funnel leads?
• Rank for a high-intent keyword?
• Or support a sales initiative?

Tying the content to a specific business outcome helps teams to work with greater clarity and purpose.

To keep everyone on the same page, consider creating a shared Content Briefing Document that outlines the following for each initiative:

• The primary audience.
• The goal and its business impact.
• Key messaging and tone guidelines.
• SEO requirements (target keywords, meta data, linking strategy).

When the objective is clear and communicated across the team, collaboration becomes not just easier but far more effective.

2. Encourage cross-functional knowledge sharing

When people think about cross-functional collaboration, they often assume it’s just about syncing calendars and sharing updates.

But true collaboration goes deeper — aligning perspectives and building a shared understanding among team members.

As Teresa Torres explains:

“The real work of collaboration is aligning around what we know. It means taking the time to say, ‘I hold this belief—what led me to it?’ and then communicating those thoughts to your teammates.”

This goes beyond opinions. It’s about understanding the why behind each perspective. When people unpack their assumptions and share their reasoning, it creates clarity and avoids hidden friction.

This process requires effort, but the payoff is a stronger, more aligned team—one that’s better equipped to tackle challenges and achieve shared goals.

“When we all start from the same inputs, we may not draw the same conclusions, but we’re going to have much smaller differences.”

3. Solicit inputs from other teams to find high-intent opportunities

Great SEO is about finding the opportunities that matter most for your business.

And often, those insights don’t come from keyword research tools alone. They come from your team.

SEO thrives when you break down silos and collaborate with other team members.

If you don’t have input from other teams, prioritise it for it. SEO isn’t just SEO anymore – It’s closely aligned to UX, CRO, and even paid media.

Final Thoughts

A cross-functional SEO teams brings together the unique strengths of writers, SEOs, PR specialists, and analysts to tackle challenges that no single department can solve alone.

It’s not easy.

Real collaboration takes time, effort, and intentionality.

But when done well, it transforms SEO from a series of isolated tasks into a cohesive, high-performing strategy.

If you need help with content SEO or strategy, schedule a call now and a growth expert from our team will get back to you ASAP.