{"id":7049,"date":"2022-01-27T00:01:08","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T00:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/01\/27\/are-seos-unwilling-to-say-i-dont-know\/"},"modified":"2022-01-27T00:01:08","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T00:01:08","slug":"are-seos-unwilling-to-say-i-dont-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/01\/27\/are-seos-unwilling-to-say-i-dont-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Are SEOs Unwilling To Say “I Don’t Know”?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Martin Splitt, Google\u2019s Developer Advocate, believes SEO professionals are unwilling to admit when they don\u2019t know something, which causes friction with developers.<\/p>\n

This topic came up in a discussion during the latest episode of Google\u2019s SEOs & Devs<\/strong> video series.<\/p>\n

Splitt is joined by Jenn Mathews, SEO manager at Github, to discuss how SEO professionals and web developers can better understand and communicate with each other.<\/p>\n

One of the ways SEOs and developers can improve their working relationship, Splitt suggests, is if SEOs could more readily admit when they don\u2019t know something.<\/p>\n

He says it\u2019s common for developers to say \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d and be open to learning new things through testing.<\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s rare hear those words from an SEO professional, Splitt says.<\/p>\n

Why is that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mathews shares her insight as an SEO manager and enlightens Splitt to the fact that SEO professionals constantly have to be on the defensive.\n<\/p>\n

SEO Professionals Always Have To Defend Their Work<\/h2>\n

The work of SEO professionals is constantly being questioned, Mathews explains.<\/p>\n

This puts them on the defensive, and saying \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d will only lead to greater scrutiny.<\/p>\n

Mathews states:<\/p>\n

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\u201cSEOs are constantly questioned, so it gets to a point where we almost kind of get on the defensive. When we\u2019re asked a question, or how is this going to work, or if we do this thing what\u2019s the result going to be, it\u2019s hard for us to say \u2018I don\u2019t know\u2019 just for that reason. Because we\u2019re constantly under scrutiny or constantly being questioned.<\/p>\n

What I usually tell other SEOs is it\u2019s okay to say \u2018I don\u2019t know\u2019 because [developers] are going to say \u2018I don\u2019t know\u2019 too sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Or, if you\u2019re not comfortable with saying \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d you could suggest testing things together to see what happens.<\/p>\n

Not only will that approach reduce friction between the SEO and the developer, it will help cover both parties down the road if a launch doesn\u2019t work out as expected.<\/p>\n

Mathews continues:<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen we do launch things, and they say \u2018how come it\u2019s not working,\u2019 instead of us digging in and trying to understand which algorithm is not letting us rank, it\u2019s okay to say \u2018I don\u2019t know\u2019 and \u2018let\u2019s try something else and move on.\u2019 But it\u2019s very difficult for SEOs because we are constantly under scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Mathews adds that everyone within an organization scrutinizes the expertise of SEO professionals \u2014 from management, to developers, to content writers.<\/p>\n

She talks about a time when she was advising a content writer to use a particular keyword so a webpage could rank for that keyword.<\/p>\n

Rather than taking her advice, the writer pushed back because they preferred to use a different word. Apparently not understanding the importance of using keywords in copy.<\/p>\n

While saying \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d may lead to a smoother working relationship, it would also help if people within an organization were more trusting of an SEO professional\u2019s expertise.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s is just one of many points discussed in Google\u2019s new video, which you can watch below in full:<\/p>\n