Reena says: “My additional insight, David, is collaboration – global collaboration.”

Global collaboration. Is this collaboration between other SEOs, other digital teams, or everyone in the business? Who are we talking about here?

“I was hoping that you would ask that question. I purposely left out ‘multifunction’, and that's where I want to really drive the curiosity. Here's what we've been working on: we've been working on global collaboration.

We have teams around the world. We have teams that are partly dedicated to some SEO work, but most importantly teams that are from different countries where English is not their main language, just like myself. They are based in different time zones, and different countries as well.

You can see the cultural diversity: different backgrounds in different locations, different approaches but, most importantly, different functions. So, we have created a Global SEO Network worldwide, internationally. We have deployed collaboration, and we have different functions in that Global SEO Network.

We have people from content/content writing. We have people from industry marketing. We have people from web: webmasters, DX, and user experience – the broad spectrum of marketing. Instead of looking to educate people about SEO around the world and hire SEO people, we did things from a different approach.

We went out there and looked at, what are the functions that are essential to the creation of a Global SEO Network, and how do we get experts to thrive within that network? Automatically, when we're doing this, we're looking at removing silos. When you start working with different tools – with multi-functions and multi-disciplines around the world – you start putting down these silos. That was really instrumental – and how we did that, there's a lot around it as well.

There's why we did it, how we did it, when, and then you have a step-by-step approach and things like that. It was a journey, but it was a journey that brought us an increase in performance and results as well.”

Okay, so you finished off by saying, ‘an increase in performance and results’ and I was going to ask you, what's the measurable impact of doing this?

Can you actually say, definitively, that by doing this – by being more open, by reducing silos, and by communicating with different SEO teams around the world – then it's going to positively impact your own job role’s success?

“Yes, absolutely David. If we start with the why: if we look at keywords, just some examples of keywords – and more than keywords, a topic/an area where discussions are happening and where we need to be present.

For myself, at SAS Software, SAS is a leader in data and AI. Some typical areas where we want to be present would be analytics, big data, and artificial intelligence. We're talking about top-of-funnel and we're talking about areas where we want to be present, right? If we're talking about these, from an SEO point of view, we're looking at untapped potential.

When you look at ‘artificial intelligence’ (I've got some numbers in front of me), 1.1 million global search queries on average per month, ‘big data’, 350,000, ‘analytics’, the same – and so on and so forth. If you look at this from an SEO point of view, yes, of course, we want to be ranking in those areas, but these areas, and that potential that you have in the organic search space, are not only for SEOs.

It's also – if you're sitting in content, this is something that, from a content writing perspective, you want to be visible for. If you're in the web team, if you're in the UX team, the DX team, experience, or user journey improvement, you want to be visible in those areas as well. So, we all want to deliver on that goal.

But here's what we've done. We dreamt about something we thought we could do. What if we come together as 1 team around these topics and these areas where discussions are happening, where our buyers/customers are looking? Then, what if we were able to get together, we were able to remove these silos? We would have all these functions on board in a global SEO network and all have the same objective and the same targets, and we would align on how we are going to deliver that SEO. And then, boom, that's what we did.

I have just a few numbers to show you; literally just 3 KPIs. Organic search traffic increase: 42%. Conversions (so number of form fills): 22%. And more importantly, source pipeline impacts (and that's to get organic search only): 53%. That's really telling, right?

We're able to target better, we're able to look at the areas where these conversations on top-of-funnel are happening, and we are able to align with other teams with multi-functions. The beauty of creating a multifunctional SEO network is that you tap into their expertise as well. So, hopefully, we're starting to look at things like 1 plus 1 equals more than 2.”

You've certainly highlighted the benefits of SEO teams working together, and of having the same goals globally and working toward the same objectives.

I guess it's a bit more challenging, though, when you're trying to work with other marketing channels or marketing teams because everyone might not necessarily have the same objectives. So, how do you work together more effectively in a situation when you don't have the same objectives?

“That's a great question. To start with, it has been an evolution more than a revolution, right? So, you will have, from the get-go, some teams that would be more aligned, more or less. Then you will also have those corporate objectives as well.

You're right in terms of all teams not being aligned from the get-go. There's a bit of an evolution there, and a bit of a journey to have here. When you look at, for example, some of the steps that we followed when we created the Global SEO Network, it wasn't a creation from scratch, so a lot of that was an evolution.

You would see pockets of work already happening in various areas around the world. You will have different levels of expertise, and you will have different levels of knowledge as well. More or less, the approach to delivering on that shared corporate target will be aligned. So, one of the key things, exactly to your point, was aligning.

There were a number of workshops (of course, because we are based all around the world, they had to be virtual). A number of virtual workshops took place where we would really break down those swim lanes: Who does what? If you picture a swimming pool, you will have different swim lanes, and each swim lane will be a function. Each function will be a key function to the creation of the SEO network. Then you layer the corporate objectives over this.

In terms of corporate objective, it's not just: ‘The business wants to be visible in artificial intelligence and we have to go and tackle just that area.’ There needs to be a forward process in terms of the route to success for that corporate objective. That's really when that interlock comes around.

Just to recap, you have those swim lanes, you have those corporate objectives that come around, and then you have interlock points. This is really where we all meet. That has hugely facilitated the alignment with all of these different functions, all of these different markets, and all of these different disciplines as well. That has played a key part in the success of the network.”

I love the ‘swim lane’ analogy about how different digital channels have to perhaps sometimes swim apart, but going in the same direction.

With these corporate objectives that you're talking about there and sometimes coming together to actually ensure that everyone's aligned, how often do marketing departments have to come together and what does that coming together look like?

“I suppose that can be really different in each organisation. At least in our organisation, we kick off at the beginning of the year and we have our corporate objectives set up, and then it obviously trickles down.

In terms of how often, once that Global SEO Network was created and we had everyone on board, it's a very streamlined process. We meet on a weekly basis. We find 1 hour every single week where we all collaborate – whatever time zone we're in. It might be a bit early for the US and it might be a little bit late for APAC if you're based there. Obviously, I'm quite fortunate. I’m based in London and any time does work for me, but we make time for it.

We have a 10-and-a-half-hour difference in the time zones that we work in, but also there's a lot of project management as well. I can appreciate that. A lot of our teams around the world have other commitments as well.

I mentioned earlier that they are multifunctional, so they will have their jobs and main tasks that they will have to attend to throughout the day. Some of these guys will be, for example, at an in-person event in the market. As much as we want to work together once a week and we make every effort to get together (that's very, very important, especially in a world where we are all virtual and we don't get to meet in person), we also have a huge amount of heavy lifting to do in project management as well.

After our meetings, you will have a lot of items that I will be following up on, or have a scope progress as well. How much work have we done? What do we expect to be doing from next week on? When we will have your weekly/monthly review, your quarterly QBRs, and then annual reviews as well.

I would say that we keep the finger on the pulse really, really closely – and we monitor, of course. We have to monitor algorithm changes specifically, and the competitive landscape and things like that. I would say that we keep really close to the network.”

What does this network creation, and working closely with other marketing channels, mean for the skills required to be a successful Head of SEO in 2025 versus what it used to be a few years ago?

“I think things evolved to be fair, David, because it might be the trend for 2025, but things can change as well. We can see that. We’ve had the advent of artificial intelligence, and a lot of things are changing. However, what I would say is, the important thing is that, whoever is part of that network, we're moving together.

For us, I can't pinpoint just one thing. I think that our success really lives in us coming together. That has really been the key to unlocking that success. But if I had to pick a few examples (and I would say they're not in isolation), I would say working a lot more closely with technical teams and having those technical teams working a lot more closely with those that are a lot less technical and would need less technical skill in their job on a day-to-day basis.

Bringing those together, I think, has fuelled what we see in terms of results. If we look at, for example, technical SEO – one of the things I like to say is that, with the creation of that network, we're creating space for our experts to thrive. We don't want technical experts to come into that space in the Global SEO Network and dumb it down for us. We want the technical SEO experts to become even more technical. The same goes for our content guys.

Our content guys will be creating high-level content – top-of-funnel, highly search engine friendly – but, within that content journey as well, they will start learning more about technical, they will start learning more about internal linking, and they will start learning more from our UX guys in terms of journey mapping, content gap analysis, and this and that.

I would say that bringing together those skills has created that formula for success. Because then you have a group of experts that came together from multi-disciplines and multi-functions, and things that they like as well, that are different from your typical team. Then these guys were enabled to grow and develop more of that expertise within the function that they had. I think that was the key to unlocking it.”

If an SEO is struggling for time, what should they start doing right now so they can spend more time doing what you suggest in 2025?

“You know what? I think, if you're struggling for time, one of the keys (for us at least), and one of the things that I would say, is to remove the silos. Remove the silos, access more, and get more.

It's just really telling that, from what we've done, the Global SEO Network couldn't have been created if we didn't remove all these silos, and now we can see the aggregated efforts.

So, I would say ‘collaboration’. If you have a setup internally where there are a lot of silos, start looking at those silos, start removing them, and start having that collaboration across functions – because SEO goes so much further and the knowledge spreads so much further into the organisation when you are able to bring SEO to the table of these multiple functions. So, yeah, remove silos.”

If an SEO is listening to this and they're thinking, ‘I'd like to be a global SEO in some large organisation in the future’, would you say that people management is a more important skill set than technical SEO?

“I think that's a great takeaway, David, because it's a combination, right? It's a balance as well. You will have the people management and then you'll have hands-on SEO work as well, but I would say that finding this connection and these collaboration areas probably plays a key part.

For us, obviously, it's been an evolution more than a revolution. We didn't set off saying, ‘Oh dear, we need this.’ We did draw the final picture and then we said, ‘Guys, let's go on a journey, and this is what we want to achieve.’ because, when you have an end picture in mind, it becomes easier for everyone to draw the same thing.

So I would say that, yes, there does need to be some sort of guidance, but I would say that building on what you have already and looking at the end goal would really draw that journey. We all have different leadership styles. We all have different project management styles. I think the key here is really to play on whatever is the strength of that team.”

Reena Bowden is a Global SEO Network Lead at SAS Software, and you can find her over at SAS.com.