This document provides tips for cultivating a good relationship with developers by effectively communicating technical SEO issues and suggestions. It advises presenting suggestions using the PEE method (Point, Evidence, Explain), providing specific examples to demonstrate issues, considering the developer's perspective, and following up respectfully if a suggestion is declined. Key recommendations include doing thorough research, being clear and direct, highlighting business impacts, and offering resolution options to gain developer cooperation on SEO improvements.

1. How to Cultivate a
Great Relationship
with Developers
Billie Hyde | The SEO Works
SLIDESHARE.NET/BILLIEHYDE
@BillieGeena

2. How to
cultivate a
great
relationship
with your
developer

3. @billiegeena
billiegeena.co.uk
Hi! I'm Billie!
Account manager
from the SEO Works
billie@seoworks.co.uk

4. How many of you struggle
with your developer
relationship?

5. How many of you have
had your technical SEO
suggestions pushed
through right away?

6. How many of you are
here for a cheeky
spreadsheet template?

7. Our Talk
Today
• Why developers might
dismiss your suggestions
• Why your ideas might
have been turned down in
the past
• How to present your
suggestions to them
Topics We'll Cover

8. WHY A DEVELOPER
TURNED DOWN YOUR
SUGGESTIONS

9. YOU’VE
OVER
SIMPLIFIED
IT
I asked a few developers and they said
they found tips from crawling tools
If you use tools like this don’t copy
what it tells you word for word.
● Patronising
● Long-winded
● Vague

10. You’ve not provided examples
It’s all about evidence.
Don’t spend hours
crawling to find 1000s of
examples right away.
Depending on how large
the site is, try to find
sampled version of the
issue and present that to
them.

11. HOW YOU
COMMUNICATED THE
ISSUE WASN’T RIGHT
Take time and research
before going to a
developer
Consider the platform,
the implications and
how vital the issue is

12. You can use Chrome
plugins
like whatruns.com
to find out what the
site is made with.
Not just CMS, you can check
Javascript, plug ins &
analytics
Pro tip!

13. Think about what you
are going to say
Don't
say “The page speed is slow and
needs to increase”

14. Think about what you
are going to say
Do say
“I'd like to look at improving
the site's page speed, I noticed
that on Google Developer
tools, the site's server response
time is 5 seconds over a fast
connection”.

15. How to present
your ideas to a
developer

16. Think
about the
developer
you’re
pitching to
They probably have
multiple tickets open and
yours isn’t a high priority.
They have different
priorities to you

17. Think about why
they could say no
Item 1 Item 2 Item 3 Item 4 Item 5
7
5
5
0
2
5
0
What the cost, time and
energy requirements are for
the task for the developer?
Sometimes a task may sound
simple, but it might not have
the ROI that you want.
Have you done enough research?
Researching the site, looking at its setup and
being as specific as possible is the key to
getting your improvements implemented.

18. What to include in
your pitch

19. Highlight how urgent the issue
is
Which area does the issue fall
under?
What is the issue?
What are its implications?
How can it be resolved?
Do you have any examples?

20. P.E.E. ALL
OVER THE
PLACE
Point
Evidence
Explain

21. P.E.E. ALL
OVER THE
PLACE
but we do;
Point
Explain
Explain again
Evidence

22. Example
Emails & Support Tickets

23. I've come across a major SEO issue this afternoon. Upon crawling the new
site layout - I have found nearly 4900 pages with canonical tags to the home
page.
A canonical tag is a way of telling search engines that a specific URL
represents the master copy of a page. Basically it tells search engines
which version of a URL you want to appear in search results.
By having this tag on these 4900 pages, you are basically telling Google to
not rank those pages.
I have attached a document containing all of the pages with the canonical
tag. We will need to look at this today.

24. I've come across a major SEO issue this afternoon. Upon crawling the new
site layout - I have found nearly 4900 pages with canonical tags to the
home page.
A canonical tag is a way of telling search engines that a specific URL
represents the master copy of a page. Basically it tells search engines
which version of a URL you want to appear in search results.
By having this tag on these 4900 pages, you are basically telling Google to
not rank those pages.
I have attached a document containing all of the pages with the canonical
tag. We will need to look at this today.
Point!
Explain
Explain
again
Evidence

25. Example
Spreadsheet

27. Why this works
We’re directly saying what are this falls
under. The developer can quickly see the
areas and decide what is important to
them.
Some developers have specialisms and
areas they prefer to work on.

28. Why this works
A super quick summary so the developer
can make a first impression without
reading too much into it.

29. Why this works
Explain the implications of not looking into
this more

30. Why this works
Provide a resolution to the issue. If you’re
not sure provide them a link to further
reading on the issue.

31. Why this works
Give them that spicy evidence. So they can see
how common or widespread the issue is.

32. Why this works
Status and completion list.
This helps you, your client and the
developer stay organised.

33. If they turn your
suggestion down...
Say Fight Me!
Ask why!

34. Key takeaways
Give examples
Tell them how an issue affects the
site
Be clear and informed when
suggesting to them
Repeat yourself
If they turn down your suggestion,
ask why? It may help you next time
you pitch an issue!

35. Ready for a
freebie?
Download my
recommendations
spreadsheet template
here!
Original task list
Aleyda’s task list
Task list Version 2

36. @billiegeena
billiegeena.co.uk
Again, I'm Billie!
Follow me or whatever...
billie@seoworks.co.uk