Many senior SEOs and Digital PRs struggle to secure leadership roles, even with solid skills and impressive CVs. I often speak with professionals facing this challenge, whether applying for jobs externally or trying to advance within their current company.

The real question is, what exactly does the ‘full stack’ of skills look like for an SEO leader?

In this article, I’ll share seven key considerations that will help you step up to an SEO leadership role based on my experience as an ex-SEO and headhunter, along with insights from agency founders and hiring managers.

I started my SEO career in 2008 and quickly climbed the ranks to manage a team. But the truth is, I wasn’t ready because poor time management and a lack of people skills led to disaster.

You’d think I learned my lesson, right?

Wrong!

Fast-forward to 2013 at Verve Search. I had transitioned from technical SEO to Digital PR and was tasked with building a new department. I naively said yes.

While I recruited and scaled an award-winning team from 3 to 58, I struggled with people management. I was KPI-driven and focused more on being the best Digital PR than supporting my team. One of my team members even called me out in a meeting for being a poor manager, and they were right.

This time, lesson learned.

Failing twice as an SEO leader taught me what it truly takes to succeed. Now, as the founder of Withfrontier, I’ve honed my skills in recruitment and team building, helping place top SEO leaders globally.

1. Focus on leadership skills, not just experience

Many SEOs believe that experience automatically qualifies them for leadership roles. However, leading a department requires more than SEO expertise. In an article for Moz on retention strategies, Jon Martins, the Operations Director at Hallam, said that not every SEO is suitable for leadership positions and that sometimes there are alternative responsibilities they might be suited for.

He is correct.

Leadership is about running an entire service line—a business within a business. To stand out as a candidate, you must demonstrate leadership experience, such as managing teams, guiding strategy, or owning business outcomes, not just time spent in SEO.

Lawrence Hitches, General Manager at Studio Hawk in Melbourne, puts it well: “The disparity in experience levels can be stark—someone with four years in SEO might have never touched on-page SEO, while another with just a year’s experience could have managed a major migration for a big brand.”

2. Build commercial acumen to lead effectively

Some SEOs collect expensive, shiny new tools and never use them to their full capacity. Every marketing team will have specialists who prioritize creativity and results more than overburning on accounts. Could you keep an eye on this to ensure that the P&L balances?

Being a great SEO isn’t enough if you lack commercial awareness. As a department head, you’ll need to run your team as a business unit within the larger organization. Success requires understanding profitability, growing accounts, and leading new business efforts.

Key skills to build commercial acumen include:

• Monitoring team capacity and profitability

• Upselling services and growing client accounts

• Understanding a client’s business model, products, and goals to align strategy

• Leading new business processes and signing off on service packages

3. Develop analytical skills to prove ROI

A strong SEO leader must go beyond SEO execution and be able to prove the ROI of their department’s efforts. Advanced data analysis is crucial for demonstrating the value of your work, identifying skill gaps, and managing team capacity effectively.

To excel, you’ll need to:

• Learn data analysis to showcase the ROI of your department’s work

• Monitor team workloads and recruitment needs based on capacity figures

• Use tools like Monday.com and Harvest to track team efficiency

So, how can you level up in this department?

I advise that you take some data analysis courses on LinkedIn learning. They offer a free 30-day trial so you can test before you commit. The Moz Academy is a great resource to learn skills like SEO reporting.

As Louise Parker from Propellernet advises, “Understanding profitability and planning your team’s time is key. Remember, these are people—not just blocks of time in a spreadsheet.”

4. Prioritize team development and success

I was a poor SEO leader because I was more concerned with hitting KPIs than my team’s development. Authentic leadership comes from investing in your team’s growth and success, not just your own.

I wrongly defined success as being the strongest channel specialist in the business. Sadly, this came at the expense of my team's progression, and I quickly alienated myself from them.

It might sound obvious, but you must have people management experience. Throughout my career, I’ve spoken to many people who haven’t managed more than two employees, which isn’t the proper record if you’re trying to take on an entire department.

5. Balance operational and strategic skills

I have recruited hundreds of SEOs, and I’ve found that even the best strategists often lack experience in establishing processes to drive efficiency and profitability across teams like off-page, technical, and content.

If this isn’t something in your wheelhouse, a simple way to slowly develop this skill set is to identify a specific operational challenge in your current team. For instance, if there’s a gap between your tech SEO and off-page teams, consider introducing regular meetings or shared documents to improve collaboration. Thinking this way will help you become more operationally minded and better equipped for leadership roles.

6. Stay hands-on and involved

Even as a department head, it’s crucial to remain hands-on when necessary. Many seasoned SEO leaders become removed from day-to-day tasks. However, with the rise of leaner, specialized agencies, it’s essential to stay current with industry tools and CMS platforms like Shopify, Magento, or WordPress.

“We have struggled to find Heads of departments who can be hands-on if/when required. We found this combination difficult to fill because most Heads of SEO are often removed from the actual work being delivered.”, says Tom Shurville, Managing Director at Distinctly.

But how can an SEO leader ensure that they remain fresh?

Charlie Whitworth of independent organic search agency Whitworth SEO offers some insight:

• Run regular training and brainstorming sessions. The SEO industry moves at lightning speed due to constant algorithm updates. Regular training ensures your team stays ahead of industry changes and develops fresh ideas that improve performance.

• Focus on testing: SEO is filled with variables, and relying on assumptions isn’t enough. SEO testing allows you to validate strategies with data, ensuring your efforts align with real-world results rather than guesswork.

• Experiment with dummy sites and personal projects: SEO experiments allow you to test new tactics risk-free, helping you refine approaches before applying them to client sites. It also keeps your skills sharp and adaptive.

• Stay informed on algorithm updates: Search engines frequently update algorithms, and staying informed ensures your strategies are aligned with the latest ranking factors, giving your agency a competitive edge.

7. Stakeholder skills are essential for SEO leadership

As a Head of SEO or Digital PR, you will be the go-to person for dealing with senior stakeholders from client businesses. However, many agencies, particularly in the UK, place a layer between senior strategists and clients, creating a shortfall in crucial communication skills.

You might excel in SEO and team leadership, but if you can’t effectively communicate ROI, keep clients informed, or de-escalate issues, you’ll struggle in leadership roles.

Here’s how to develop stakeholder skills:

• Get involved in commercial conversations if you aren’t already

• Make yourself available to senior leaders like the Head of Department, Ops Director, or Head of Sales

• Ask to shadow these leaders during client discussions

• Observe how they navigate client relations, manage profitability, and handle P&Ls

A common thread I’ve noticed among candidates and agency owners is that strong channel-specific skills aren’t enough for SEO leadership roles. Many SEOs lack non-technical, non-channel abilities like stakeholder management, commercial awareness, and leadership, often due to circumstances beyond their control.

For example, some agencies place account managers between SEOs and clients, preventing SEOs from gaining stakeholder or commercial experience. Others simply haven’t had the chance to manage a team despite being in the industry for years.

In a recent poll I conducted on LinkedIn, 65% of senior organic search specialists said they’re actively working to level up, but only 30% felt they currently have the skills to step into Head of Department roles.

Commenting on the subject, Sam Hurley, founder of eCommerce-focused SEO agency NOVOS, said:

“Expectations differ between managing a team and leading a department. Managers sometimes lack time to develop their non-specialist skills (skills outside of SEO/Digital PR). As the head of a department, leadership, communication, people management, and strategy are arguably more crucial than excelling in a specific discipline.”

I am proof that being the most experienced or skilled SEO specialist isn’t enough to qualify for leading a department—there’s far too much at stake.

A well-rounded SEO leader must have a full suite of skills, including people-first leadership, commercial acumen, analytical thinking, and the ability to tell compelling stories while engaging with senior stakeholders.

If these skills are missing, the department suffers. However, as I’ve highlighted, you can level up in these key areas by taking online courses, shadowing experienced leaders, and gradually shifting your mindset toward problem-solving and strategic thinking.