SEO has been around just about as long as the internet itself. It was initially seen as a helpful academic tool for researchers to use in tracking down and verifying references for scholarly papers — a way to speed through lengthy and/or obscure texts in order to glean a kernel of relevant information. But all that changed when online advertisers and marketers realized that with proper handling and tweaking, SEO could be a powerful engine driving consumers to preselected sites, thus guiding their purchasing choices. Once this was realized and accepted by the marketing world, there was no stopping the march of SEO as a premier strategy to energize sales of everything from artisan vinegar to used yachts.
But as larger companies began creating their own in-house SEO teams it soon became apparent that management expectations for SEO success in marketing were being hamstrung by the fact that SEO team members were not actually in charge of the landing sites where most of their work needed to be done. They couldn’t change anything, at least not anything of importance, without first going through IT or some other department. And, as every SEO marketer can tell you, if you can’t change keywords and other vital SEO components quickly, you fall behind in keeping on top of the search lists.
So in 2020 the goal at large companies is to make all other teams accountable for quick response and interaction with their SEO team.