The SEO Team Org Chart (Plus Roles & Responsibilities)

If you have ever tried to hire for SEO, you already know the weird part.

Everybody is "an SEO." But what they actually do all day varies wildly. One person is deep in Screaming Frog fixing canonicals. Another is writing briefs for writers. Another is building reports. Another is negotiating links. Another is basically a product manager for content.

So when someone asks, "What should my SEO team look like?" the honest answer is… it depends on what kind of growth you want, how fast, and whether you are actually willing to publish content consistently for months.

Still, you can absolutely map SEO into a clean org chart. Not perfect. But practical.

Below is a simple SEO team org chart you can steal, plus what each role owns, what they deliver, and how to structure it for a startup, a content heavy SaaS, or a bigger company.

The quick picture: a standard SEO org chart

Most SEO teams end up clustering into five functions:

1. SEO leadership (strategy, prioritization, forecasting)
2. Technical SEO (crawl, index, site health, architecture)
3. Content SEO (topics, briefs, on page optimization, publishing)
4. Authority and digital PR (links, mentions, partnerships)
5. Analytics and ops (reporting, dashboards, process, QA)

You can have one person doing all five. Or 15 people each owning a slice. The functions still exist either way.

Here is the "default" org chart shape:

Head of SEO / SEO Manager

This role oversees the entire SEO function and manages four key areas:

Technical SEO Team

• Technical SEO Specialist – handles crawl, index, site health, and architecture
• Web developer / SEO engineer (sometimes, shared resource) – implements technical fixes and improvements

Content SEO Team

• Content SEO Lead – oversees content strategy and execution
• SEO Content Strategist – plans topics, keywords, and content roadmap
• SEO Editor – reviews and optimizes content for search
• Writers (in house or freelance) – produce the actual content
• Designer / video (shared resource) – creates visual assets for content

Link Building and Digital PR Team

• Link Building or Digital PR Manager – leads authority building efforts
• Outreach specialist – executes link building campaigns and partnerships

Analytics and Reporting

• SEO Analyst / Growth analyst (sometimes shared with marketing analytics) – tracks performance, builds dashboards, and reports on results

Now let's make this real.

Role 1: Head of SEO (or SEO Manager)

This is the person who decides what matters, what ships, and what gets ignored.

What they own

• SEO strategy across technical, content, and authority
• Prioritization and roadmaps (what we do this month vs next quarter)
• Traffic and conversion forecasting (rough but useful)
• Cross functional alignment with engineering, product, content, and brand
• Hiring, agencies, vendors, and budgets

Key responsibilities

• Define the target keyword universe and business aligned topic clusters
• Choose the SEO model: programmatic, editorial, product led, local, marketplace, etc
• Make sure the team is not just "publishing content" but actually building a system
• Set standards for quality, E E A T signals, internal linking, and updating old pages
• Protect the team from random requests that do not move the needle

Deliverables

• Quarterly SEO plan
• Reporting cadence (weekly pulse, monthly deep dive)
• Clear definition of "done" for content, technical fixes, and link acquisition

If you are a small company, this might be your marketing generalist. That is fine. But somebody still has to own the calls.

Role 2: Technical SEO Specialist

Technical SEO is the person who notices the quiet problems. The ones that do not feel exciting, but kill growth.

What they own

• Crawlability and indexability
• Site architecture and internal linking structure (at the template level)
• Core Web Vitals and performance basics (often in partnership with dev)
• Structured data
• Migrations, redirects, canonicals, pagination, faceted nav issues
• Logs, crawl budget, and rendering issues (for bigger sites)

Key responsibilities

• Run regular audits and turn them into prioritized tickets
• Make sure important pages are not blocked, duplicated, or orphaned
• Fix or guide fixes for noindex mistakes, canonical conflicts, redirect chains, broken internal links, and thin duplicate category pages
• Partner with engineering without starting a war. A real skill.

Deliverables

• Technical audit and ongoing technical backlog
• QA checklists for releases that affect SEO (CMS changes, navigation changes, migrations)
• Templates guidance for SEO friendly category pages, blog posts, product pages

If you want a good "baseline" for technical and on page hygiene, you can use an on page auditing workflow. For example, the on-page SEO checker and the broader improve page SEO process can act like a repeating checklist you run every time you publish or update content.

Not a replacement for an experienced technical SEO on complex sites. But it keeps obvious stuff from slipping.

Role 3: Content SEO Lead (the engine of most growth)

Content SEO is where most companies either win slowly… or stall forever.

This role is not “a blog manager.” It is the person who turns search demand into a publishing machine.

What they own

• The content roadmap (what to publish and why)
• Topic clusters, content hubs, and internal linking plans
• Briefs, outlines, and optimization standards
• Refreshes and pruning (yes, deleting content sometimes)
• Coordination with writers, editors, and design

Key responsibilities

• Do keyword research, but tied to intent and business value
• Decide page types: guides, comparisons, alternatives, templates, landing pages
• Build internal linking rules so new pages lift old pages, not compete with them
• Collaborate with product and sales to capture real pain points
• Ensure each piece is differentiated, not the same “ultimate guide” everyone has

Deliverables

• Monthly content calendar
• Content brief template
• Internal linking map per cluster
• Update schedule for top pages

A lot of teams end up using tools to keep content production consistent, especially when headcount is tight. If you are trying to run a hands off content pipeline, an automation platform like SEO software is basically designed for this lane: scan site, generate a topic plan, create articles, and schedule and publish them.

That changes the org chart a bit, because you can shift effort away from constant manual production and more toward strategy, editing, and conversion.

Role 4: SEO Content Strategist (sometimes separate, sometimes not)

In mature teams, the strategist is the one living in research, SERPs, and intent. They are not writing full drafts all day. They are shaping what gets written.

What they own

• Keyword research systems
• SERP analysis and intent mapping
• Content gap analysis vs competitors
• Briefs that writers can actually use

Key responsibilities

• Identify clusters where you can realistically win
• Analyze search results patterns: what Google is rewarding right now
• Decide what “angle” your page should take to stand out
• Provide sources, examples, unique data ideas, and internal SME inputs

Deliverables

• Cluster plans (pillar and supporting pages)
• Briefs with headings, FAQs, examples, and internal link targets
• Competitive notes: what to copy structurally, what to avoid, what to improve

Role 5: SEO Editor (quality control, voice, and conversion)

This role is underrated. And it is usually the difference between content that ranks and content that just exists.

What they own

• Editorial quality and clarity
• Brand voice consistency
• On page optimization checks
• Fact checking and basic legal or claims hygiene
• Conversion elements: CTAs, comparison tables, next steps

Key responsibilities

• Turn a “SEO draft” into something humans actually want to read
• Reduce fluff, add specificity, improve examples
• Ensure titles and intros match intent (and do not bait and switch)
• Add internal links, product mentions, and lead capture where appropriate
• Maintain content guidelines for writers and AI assisted writing

Deliverables

• Edited drafts ready to publish
• Content style guide
• Quality checklist for publishing

If your team uses AI to draft content, having a real editor becomes even more important. AI gets you speed. The editor prevents the site from feeling like a content factory.

If you want an AI workflow but with more control during editing, tools like an AI SEO editor can sit in that gap, draft plus rewrite plus optimize, while your editor keeps the final output honest and readable.

Role 6: Writers (in house, freelance, or hybrid)

Writers are execution. But they are not interchangeable. A technical niche writer is very different from a lifestyle writer.

What they own

• Drafting content based on briefs
• Incorporating SME notes
• Creating examples, step by steps, and visuals requests

Key responsibilities

• Follow the brief without writing a robotic essay
• Add original detail, screenshots, experience, and nuance
• Use internal links and references correctly
• Hit deadlines consistently (this is a real SEO skill, honestly)

Deliverables

• Drafts that meet the brief and require minimal rewrite
• Updates to existing posts when assigned

Teams that struggle with SEO usually struggle with consistency here. Not talent. Consistency.

Role 7: Digital PR / Link Building Manager

Links are still part of SEO. Maybe less magical than people think, but still important in competitive SERPs.

What they own

• Link acquisition strategy
• Digital PR campaigns (data, stories, pitches)
• Relationship building with publishers and creators
• Brand mentions and unlinked mention reclamation

Key responsibilities

• Identify linkable assets: original data, tools, stats pages, research posts
• Run outreach campaigns without burning your domain reputation
• Build partner relationships (podcasts, newsletters, integration partners)
• Coordinate with content team so link building supports priority pages

Deliverables

• Monthly link report (earned links, DR and relevance, anchor distribution)
• Outreach lists and campaign briefs
• PR placements and linkable asset plans

If you are early stage, you might not need a full time person here. But you do need a plan, because “we will do link building later” tends to become “never.”

Role 8: SEO Analyst (or Growth Analyst)

This role keeps everybody grounded. No vibes. Just what is happening.

What they own

• Reporting and dashboards
• Attribution and performance measurement
• Experiment design (SEO tests, templates tests, internal link tests)
• Opportunity spotting from data

Key responsibilities

• Track rankings, traffic, conversions, assisted conversions
• Segment performance: by cluster, by intent, by page type
• Identify winners to scale and losers to fix
• Create simple views that stakeholders understand

Deliverables

• Weekly KPI snapshot
• Monthly performance report with insights, not just charts
• Content performance audit and refresh recommendations

One note: the best SEO analysts do not only report. They interpret and push priorities back into the roadmap.

Role 9: SEO Ops / Program Manager (bigger teams, or busy ones)

This is the glue role. If you are publishing a lot, you eventually need someone who owns process.

What they own

• Workflow, QA, and publishing operations
• Vendor management (writers, agencies)
• Content inventory, status tracking, and deadlines
• Documentation and SOPs

Key responsibilities

• Keep the content calendar from becoming chaos
• Make sure every page gets the right meta, schema, internal links, images
• Manage content updates and historical optimizations
• Coordinate across teams so things actually ship

Deliverables

• SOPs for publishing and updates
• Content pipeline tracking
• QA checklists and publishing standards

A lot of modern teams try to reduce the need for this role by automating production and scheduling. If that is you, it is worth looking at platforms that publish for you and keep a calendar automatically. That is basically the pitch behind SEO software in the first place.

Optional but common supporting roles (shared resources)

These roles are not "SEO" on the org chart, but SEO teams lean on them constantly:

• Web developer or SEO engineer: fixes, templates, performance, structured data
• Designer: diagrams, feature images, downloadable assets, in post visuals
• Video editor or YouTube lead: embeds, repurposed video, SERP features
• Product marketing: messaging, positioning, comparison pages, proof points
• Subject matter experts: credibility, experience, and real details that AI cannot invent

If you want stronger content that ranks and converts, your SEO team needs a way to pull SME insight regularly. Even if it is 30 minutes a week.

Example SEO org charts by company stage

1) Startup or small business (1 to 3 people total on SEO)

This is the "one person wears five hats" setup.

Team structure

• Marketing generalist or SEO manager
• Freelance writer(s)
• Part time developer help

What to focus on

• Pick 1 to 2 clusters that map to revenue
• Publish consistently, even if it is 4 solid posts a month
• Do basic technical cleanup and internal linking

If you cannot hire all roles, you can also replace some execution with automation. For example, using a platform to generate, rewrite, and schedule content can remove a lot of the coordination overhead.

2) Growing SaaS (4 to 8 people touching SEO)

Team structure

• Head of SEO
• Technical SEO specialist
• Content SEO lead
• Content strategist or editor
• Content writers
• Digital PR or link builder (maybe part time)
• Analyst (shared)

What to focus on

• Build repeatable briefs and templates
• Start content refreshes early, do not wait
• Build a linkable asset every quarter

In such scenarios where hiring all necessary roles isn't feasible, leveraging external resources like agencies can provide the required expertise and support without the need for full-time hires.

3) Larger company (9+ people, multiple sites, bigger dev org)

A Director of SEO typically oversees five specialized areas: Technical SEO team, Content SEO team, Digital PR team, SEO ops, and SEO analytics.

What to focus on

• Governance and standards across teams
• Template SEO and programmatic scaling
• Testing and measurement, because you can actually run experiments at scale

Who owns what: a simple responsibility map

If your team keeps stepping on each other, this is usually why. Ownership is fuzzy.

Here is a clean version:

• Technical SEO owns: crawl and index, site health, architecture, schema
• Content SEO owns: topics, briefs, internal linking strategy, publishing cadence
• Editor owns: quality, voice, on page polish, accuracy checks
• Digital PR owns: links, mentions, authority building campaigns
• Analyst owns: measurement, dashboards, insights, refresh triggers
• Head of SEO owns: prioritization, resourcing, forecasting, and alignment

A note on tools and team structure (because this changes things)

In 2026, a lot of companies are quietly rebuilding the SEO org chart around automation.

Not in a "replace everyone" way. More like, stop spending your best people on repetitive tasks.

If a platform can scan your site, generate a topic strategy, write drafts, schedule, publish, and handle internal linking, the team can shift up the stack. More time on strategy, SERP differentiation, conversion, and product alignment.

If you are evaluating whether to lean on automation vs adding more headcount, these comparisons might help:

• SEO software vs Surfer SEO for the "optimize content" angle vs more hands off production.
• SEO software vs Jasper if your current workflow is mostly AI writing and you are trying to turn it into a publishing system.

And if you just want to sanity check pages before and after updates, the on-page SEO checker is an easy place to start.

The biggest mistake when building an SEO team

People hire for outputs instead of outcomes.

They hire “a writer” and expect rankings. They hire “a technical SEO” and expect traffic. They hire “a link builder” and expect page one.

SEO is a system. The org chart should reflect the system.

• Technical gets you eligible to rank.
• Content gets you relevant to rank.
• Links and authority help you win harder SERPs.
• Analytics tells you what to double down on.
• Leadership keeps it aligned to revenue and keeps the machine running.

If you want a simple next step, do this: write down your top 3 revenue driving products or use cases, pick 1 cluster per use case, and map which roles above would be responsible for taking that cluster from research to published to updated. If you cannot assign an owner, that is the gap.

And if you want to skip some of the heavy lifting on content production and scheduling, you can take a look at SEO software and see what your org chart looks like when half the repetitive work is just… handled.