Section 2: Program Evaluation
How well is SEO Product Management integrated at different organizations?
Our takeaway
"A dedicated SEO Product Manager is still somewhat of a novelty associated with larger teams and organizations. As a discipline, the level to which it is integrated into the product/development culture, knowledge base, and processes is all over the board. As is the case with all things SEO, positioning SEO as a priority for and collaborative partner to Engineering is one of the biggest and most important challenges facing industry professionals at different brands."
Tory Gray • Founder & CEO
Question 1
Does your company have an SEO Product Manager?
Most organizations don't have an SEO PM. In reality, sometimes having a 'Product Manager' title is something you can carve. If you work like a PM, attend Scrum ceremonies, pitch your big ideas, and know how to measure, you can claim the title later.
Gus Pelogia · Senior SEO Product Manager — Indeed
It's amazing to see that almost half of the respondents confirmed what I believe is a trend in our industry: SEO has matured and is much more integrated within organizations, and as a consequence, many more companies have a dedicated SEO PM role.
Aleyda Solís · Founder & International SEO Consultant — Orainti
Question 2
Where is the SEO Product Manager(s) within your company structure?
This is a crucial moment for brands: those that professionalize SEO product management are best equipped to adapt to AI-driven search environments, while those that remain in marketing - or worse, completely siloed - will fall behind at an exponential rate.
Glen McMurry · Director, SEO — Upwork
That's interesting that, although not a large percentage, product management is contracted out.
Debbie Chew · SEO Manager — Stripe
The fragmented ownership of SEO PM work is telling: nearly half of organizations don’t have a dedicated SEO PM. Even when one exists, they’re often siloed within the SEO team.
Mihir Naik · Senior Product Manager, SEO — Loblaws
Question 3
How important is SEO Product Management within your organization?
- No SEO PM: Not applicable, there is no SEO Product Management
- Not important: SEO tickets tend to sit in the backlog
- Somewhat important: SEO tickets usually get done within a month or two
- Fairly important: SEO tickets usually make it into the next sprint
- Critical: SEO tickets are prioritized
Where SEO PMs are embedded and supported, cross-functional collaboration is happening. But in many cases, SEO still feels like a bolt-on function — something that needs to change if we want it prioritized at the roadmap level.
Mihir Naik · Senior Product Manager, SEO — Loblaws
Question 4
Do SEO Product Managers regularly collaborate with relevant teams and stakeholders?
Example: marketing, sales, UX, data, etc.
Question 5
How knowledgeable is your organization's Engineering team about SEO?
- N/A: Not applicable or there is no engineering team
- Minimal: There is a lot of pushback on SEO tickets and little understanding of how to make solutions search-engine friendly (especially if it works functionally, but is not optimized)
- Somewhat: SEO tickets need to be very detailed on the solution, but the team understands the goals of optimization.
- Fairly: SEO tickets are typically understood, as are the benefits of prioritizing the work
- Expert: SEO is considered in architecture and design before any code is written
It's comforting to see that a majority chose 'somewhat knowledgeable' and above — we've come really far!
Debbie Chew · SEO Manager — Stripe
Question 6
How knowledgeable and equipped is the Quality Assurance (QA) team when it comes to SEO?
- N/A: Not applicable or there is no QA team
- Minimal: Tickets need detailed testing instructions and/or testing usually falls on the SEO team
- Somewhat: Tickets need testing instructions, but the team understands the goals of optimization
- Fairly: The QA team is prepared with the tools and understanding of SEO tickets as they come through
- Expert: Standard SEO testing is performed with every major release and/or on a regular basis
One of the most interesting takeaways is the huge gap when it comes to Quality Assurance — companies either not doing it at all or not feeling knowledgeable or confident about the process.
This is where SEOs need to make sure the tools they use are also accessible to other team members, and they are trained and trusted to use them effectively.
At Sitebulb, even when we encourage users to invite developers or QA team members onto the platform, it tends to be members of the SEO team who actually log in.
Patrick Hathaway · Co-Founder & CEO — Sitebulb
QA teams feel like a distant memory in 2025. Automation plus the rise of super ICs who own deep domain expertise are piling more expectations on SEO and engineering to keep everything compliant. Welcome to the new normal, where org charts keep getting flatter.
Renee Girard · Director of SEO — Whitepages
I think this is a huge opportunity. Now that most eng teams have some degree of knowledge, we should focus on influencing other teams like QA. That way we're doing less firefighting and more proactively resolving issues before they are pushed live.
Debbie Chew · SEO Manager — Stripe
It's interesting how even if the answers show the engineering team is relatively SEO knowledgeable, it is not the same with Quality Assurance. My hypothesis is that it requires deeper understanding and context to test configurations and implementations in each case. I hope we see an improvement in the future as SEO continues to evolve further.
Aleyda Solís · Founder & International SEO Consultant — Orainti
Question 7
How is SEO progress shared with stakeholders?
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→ Section 2: Program evaluation