Section 4: Planning
Is SEO a part of recurring milestone meetings for Product planning and prioritization?
Our takeaway
"One of the biggest mountains to climb in terms of getting more Product & Engineering buy-in for SEO work is ensuring there’s an SEO advocate in the room when decisions are being made. With about half of respondents absent from crucial conversations that are part of the agile workflow, of course it’s going to be more difficult to get work through the pipeline. It’s too easy to overlook work when there’s no one there to remind everyone why it’s worth looking at."
Tory Gray • CEO & Founder
Question 1
Is an SEO PM present in daily standup meetings when SEO tickets are in the pipeline?
Teams that actively include SEO in planning meetings are setting themselves up for long-term success. Aligning with various product processes will be absolutely critical as we manage this new search environment.
Glen McMurry · Director, SEO — Upwork
SEO PMs should be involved in all meetings in which SEO tickets are assessed. I would love to see the SEO execution and outcome compared for organizations where the SEO PM is involved in all SEO-ticket-related meetings vs. those in which they're not present. I'm willing to bet the lack of involvement has an important impact in execution.
Aleyda Solís · Founder & International SEO Consultant — Orainti
Question 2
Does an SEO PM attend sprint planning meetings?
Some organizations may refer to sprint planning meetings as part of scrum ceremonies.
It's a red flag to me that an SEO is not present in the Scrum Ceremonies most of the time. Being present in ceremonies is important for many reasons, from building social rapport to steering them when the team is not focused on the right things. Try to be present on these conversations, because as an SEO PM, you're accountable for the outcomes.
Gus Pelogia · Senior SEO Product Manager — Indeed
Question 3
Does an SEO PM attend sprint retrospective meetings?
Despite being responsible for SEO work, SEO Product Managers are often absent from key scrum ceremonies.
Over half don’t attend daily standups or retrospectives, and nearly half miss sprint planning entirely. This lack of visibility hampers alignment, slows issue resolution, and disconnects SEO from the agile process.
If SEO is going to compete for engineering bandwidth, its advocates need a seat at the table — consistently.
Mihir Naik · Senior Product Manager, SEO - Loblaws
Given that the split is pretty close for these questions, I'm really curious why SEO is/isn't present. Though I'm sure org size and structure (where SEO sits) probably plays a big role.
Debbie Chew · SEO Manager — Stripe
