Your IT & Web Designer Is Not Your SEO Department (And That’s Okay!)
When it comes to building and growing a business online, you need specialists. But many companies make the mistake of expecting their IT professional or web designer to double as their SEO expert. On the surface, it seems logical—they already handle tech and websites, so why not search engine optimization too?
Because they’re not the same job. Not even close.
Your IT person keeps your systems secure and running. Your web designer builds your brand’s online presence. And your SEO professional? They get your business found. Each role requires a different mindset, skill set, and focus. Expecting one person to do them all usually leads to missed opportunities—and costly mistakes.
And that’s okay. You shouldn’t want your IT or web design team doing SEO. Here’s why.
What Your IT Professional Actually Does (And Why They Matter)
Your IT team, whether in-house or outsourced, handles the backbone of your business technology. They keep your systems running, your data secure, and your infrastructure stable.
Here’s what they’re focused on day in and day out:
- Setting up and maintaining servers
- Managing email systems and troubleshooting delivery issues
- Implementing and monitoring cybersecurity protocols
- Managing networks and connectivity
- Performing data backups and disaster recovery
Their priority is uptime, security, and minimizing risk. Without a solid IT team, businesses grind to a halt. If your email goes down, your data is hacked, or your servers crash, your IT professional is the first call you make.
But search engine optimization? That’s a different discipline. IT professionals are experts in hardware and internal systems, not search engines and digital marketing strategies. Their expertise is in keeping things locked down and controlled, which often runs counter to SEO strategies that require openness and visibility.
What Your Web Designer or Developer Actually Does
Web designers and developers create and build your website. They design the experience your customers interact with and develop the code that makes everything work.
Their focus includes:
- Creating user-friendly website designs
- Building mobile-friendly, responsive layouts
- Coding the functionality with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and frameworks
- Optimizing site performance and speed from a development perspective
- Ensuring the site functions correctly across devices and browsers
A great web designer makes sure your brand looks professional. A solid developer makes sure your site works as intended. But most designers and developers don’t go deep on things like keyword strategy, search intent, link profiles, or optimizing for search engines.
Their priority is aesthetics, usability, and functionality. SEO requires a completely different toolkit.
What Your SEO Professional Actually Does
SEO professionals are dedicated to improving your website’s visibility in search engines. They make sure your site not only looks good but gets found by the right audience.
Their focus is on:
- Keyword research and content strategies that align with user intent
- On-page SEO, including titles, meta descriptions, headers, and schema markup
- Technical SEO audits, fixing crawl errors, improving indexing, and site speed
- Building backlinks and digital authority through off-page strategies
- Tracking performance and making data-driven decisions to improve rankings
SEO is about understanding how people search, what Google values, and how to structure your website to meet both users’ and search engines’ needs. It’s not a side skill or something you pick up while building websites. It’s its own craft—one that requires constant study and adjustment.
Different Priorities Require Different Experts
The confusion often starts because IT, web design, and SEO professionals all work in digital spaces. But their priorities and processes are completely different.
IT professionals prioritize:
- Security and minimizing vulnerabilities
- Network stability and internal infrastructure
- Controlling access and reducing system risks
- Speed—but often from a server or system load perspective rather than user experience
Web designers and developers prioritize:
- User interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design
- Functionality and interactive features
- Code quality and clean architecture
- Aesthetics and branding
SEO professionals prioritize:
- Search engine visibility and rankings
- Keyword strategies and user intent
- Crawlability, indexation, and technical SEO
- Earning backlinks and building domain authority
- Generating qualified traffic that converts
Expecting an IT person or a web designer to handle SEO is like asking your accountant to design your company logo. They’re both professionals, but their expertise doesn’t cross over.
Where It Breaks Down: Real-World Examples
Here’s where things often go wrong when businesses rely on the wrong expert for SEO advice.
Blocking Googlebot
An IT professional focused on server security might block bots from accessing the website to prevent spam or attacks. But if they block Googlebot in the process, your website disappears from search results entirely. No one can find you. Traffic plummets. Rankings crash.
Incorrect HTTPS Implementation
An IT person may implement HTTPS for security—which is great—but without setting up proper 301 redirects from HTTP to HTTPS. This results in duplicate content issues, broken links, and loss of authority, which tanks your SEO.
Robots.txt Misuse
Some IT professionals or developers restrict entire sections of a website via robots.txt, thinking they’re securing private data. Unfortunately, they sometimes block search engines from indexing important pages, crushing your ability to rank.
JavaScript Overload
A developer might build a beautiful site that relies heavily on JavaScript, but if they don’t understand how search engines crawl and index content, they may inadvertently make large portions of the site invisible to search engines.
Image-Heavy, Content-Light Pages
Designers often prioritize visuals to create a stunning website but forget about on-page SEO fundamentals like keyword placement, headings, and crawlable text. A page full of images with minimal text leaves search engines with nothing to rank.
Smaller SEO Budgets Mean Longer Timelines—But Patience Pays
Here’s another area where misunderstanding causes frustration: SEO takes time. And the more competitive your industry is, the more resources you need to see quick results.
If you’re working with a limited SEO budget, it’s going to take longer. But that doesn’t mean it won’t work.
Let’s use an example: two moving companies. Both have been in business for five years.
- One invests $10,000 a month into SEO, paid ads, and social media.
- The other invests $1,000 a month in SEO alone.
The first company will likely dominate search results much faster. Their bigger budget allows them to create more content, build more links, and run paid ads that support their organic rankings.
The second company can still succeed. But it will take longer. SEO is like compound interest—the longer you stick with it, the more you gain. Patience and consistency win.
Why You Need Each Role—and Why It’s Okay They’re Different
You wouldn’t expect your IT person to shoot your next brand video. You wouldn’t ask your web designer to set up your company’s cloud security. So why expect them to manage your SEO?
It’s okay that your IT professional isn’t an SEO strategist. It’s fine that your web designer isn’t worried about keyword placement. That’s not their job.
Their job is to keep your network running and your website functional.
Your SEO professional’s job is to grow your visibility and traffic.
When everyone focuses on their craft, your business wins.
The Takeaway
Your IT department keeps you connected and secure.
Your web designer makes sure your digital storefront looks and works great.
Your SEO professional helps you get found by the right people at the right time.
Each role matters—but they’re not interchangeable.
Let your experts focus on what they do best, and you’ll get the best results in return.
