SEO is the term that everyone has heard. However, not every person knows what SEO is. It plays a pivotal role in driving online visibility and business success. SEO lead vs SEO manager is the major question everyone is looking for now. However, within the Organization, SEO professionals have a hierarchy and responsibilities.
Some people either beginners in SEO or small business owners might get confused and raise questions about comparing the roles of an SEO lead and an SEO manager. is the SEO lead higher than the SEO manager? Which role holds greater authority? How do their responsibilities differ? Today, we will try to give you the answer to these questions about both positions, exploring their responsibilities, skill sets, and organizational impact to determine who holds the higher role.
Understanding the Roles: SEO Lead vs SEO Manager
What is an SEO Lead – An SEO Lead is a senior-level professional responsible for making SEO strategies for the projects within an Organization. Strategies such as planning the activities, and business goals and leading the team, and reporting to the manager. In short, it is a bridge between the SEO team and the top management such as managers, HOD, and the CEO, providing ideas, insights, and recommendations for business growth.
What is an SEO Manager – An SEO Manager is hired by the top management such as the operations head and the director to handle the team including the team leads. His/her role is to manage the entire team, ensure the execution of day-to-day tasks, supervise the team’s activities, and collaborate with other teams such as the content department, web development, and web design team to optimize the website performance for better business growth. If the manager is not available then the SEO lead is responsible for the manager’s activities.
Core Responsibilities: SEO Lead and SEO Manager
Strategic Planning vs. Execution: The SEO lead is more into developing the strategies while the SEO manager transforms these strategies into actionable tasks by connecting with other teams and taking approvals from clients or within the organization from the top-end heads.
Team Management and Collaboration: Both are into leadership, but the SEO lead is more into helping junior team members, and interns. The manager is closely working with the Team lead the top management and clients.
Client and Stakeholder Interactions: The team lead focuses on internal coordination while the manager is involved directly with clients or higher management to present strategies and results.
Skill Sets Required
Technical Skills: Both roles are required to have strong technical skills in SEO such as Onpage optimization, off-page SEO, keyword research, analytics, search console, etc. However, managers might have a comprehensive understanding of tools and data-driven decision-making.
Leadership and Decision-Making Abilities: SEO Lead work is to guide the team members about the long-term goals while manager leadership is to ensure everything is delivered on time and the team has sufficient information about the project and the data to work on. He/She is the most important person within the SEO team for decisions.
Tools and Software Proficiency: Both should have proper knowledge about tools such as SemRush, Ahref, Google Analytics Search Console, etc. The lead role is to utilize them for tracking and implementing campaigns while the manager uses these tools for forecasting and reporting.
Hierarchy and Reporting Structure
Most organizations have the SEO manager in a higher position while some organizations have an SEO lead only. This vary company to company and there is no harm as both are skilled. SEO managers have greater authority in decision-making and a broader perspective on the company’s SEO efforts. SEO lead is more into the strategy and guiding the team members. Large companies can have multiple leads and managers while small companies can have 1 lead and manager. This all depends on the organization’s Hierarchy and Reporting Structure.
When to Hire an SEO Lead or SEO Manager
Small businesses can hire either an SEO manager or an SEO lead. Medium businesses can hire both of them and large enterprises should have proper teams with Hierarchy and Reporting Structure.
SEO Lead vs. SEO Manager: is SEO Lead higher than SEO Manager?
Hope, you have the answer to the question is seo lead higher than the SEO manager? In short, both are skilled and trained to handle the client projects and the in-house projects. Where a large team is associated within an organization a lead is required whereas in a Small organization, a manager is sufficient to handle everything.
Conclusion
In this article, we have discussed everything such as the skills, roles, and responsibilities of SEO leads and SEO managers. Although an SEO manager holds a higher authority and an SEO lead in a large organization is always a supportive member of an SEO manager as he/she can not handle the large team stands alone. They always need a supportive hand and SEO leads can help them with handling the teams, guiding them in the work, and making a bridge between team members and the manager so that the manager can perform other high-end tasks such as client meetings, reporting, coordination with other teams and higher managements.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
How Much Does an SEO Manager Make?
Talking about the salary of an SEO manager can vary depending on factors such as location, experience, and company size. On average in dollars, an SEO manager can earn between $50,000 to $100,000 per year.
How to Become an SEO Manager?
To become an SEO manager you should learn SEO fundamentals, gain experience, develop skills, build a portfolio, pursue advanced roles, and stay updated with the latest SEO trends and algorithms.
Hope you like the article on SEO Lead vs SEO Manager with the all information about them such as roles, skills, and responsibilitieslities. Do share it with your friends, colleagues and higher authorities such as operation head, CEO and Directors.
