TL;DR: How to Set Your SEO Hires Up for Long-Term Success
The first 90 days can make or break a new SEO hire.
Great leaders don’t just assign tasks, they set the tone with clear communication, hands-on mentorship, and a compelling vision employees can believe in.
When your team feels heard, supported, and appreciated, they perform better, stay longer, and grow faster.
If your new hire checks out early, it’s often a leadership issue, not a talent one. Small, intentional actions like daily check-ins, public praise, and strategic mentorship can transform your next hire into your next A player.
How Do You Set Up New SEO Hires for Long-Term Success?
The first few months of onboarding a new employee can make or break their future with your agency. It’s the difference between building a loyal team member or watching another great hire walk away within 5 months.
As the SEO leader, you set the tone. That means:
Clearly communicating expectations
Reinforcing the team’s values
Building trust and confidence from day one
But many agencies miss the mark, and end up wasting great talent. Here’s how to avoid that.
What Happens When SEO Onboarding Goes Wrong?
Imagine this: You hire a smart SEO. Tons of potential. But within weeks, they’re stuck doing repetitive tasks in isolation, disconnected from the team, unheard, and unmotivated.
Soon, they’re mentally checking out, and all that potential fades into autopilot.
Instead of becoming your next A player, they become a ghost in the Slack channel, tapping away like a zombie while “Everybody Hurts” plays on repeat.
What happened?
You didn’t lose a bad hire. You lost a good one to bad leadership.
Are You Communicating with Your SEO Team the Right Way?
Daily check-ins, even quick ones, can make a huge difference. Not just to track deliverables, but to build rapport.
Celebrate small wins
Acknowledge effort, not just outcomes
Don’t just correct mistakes, remove the roadblocks causing them
Ask questions: What’s working? What’s getting in the way?
Often, the fix is simple: better communication = better performance.
Do Your Employees Understand, and Believe In, Your Vision?
People won’t follow a leader who hasn’t shown them the destination.
Don’t hand over a 20-page mission doc and hope it sticks. Make it real:
Share the vision in your own words
Show how their work connects to that future
Inspire belief, not just compliance
If your SEO team sees how they move the company forward, they’ll care more about moving it at all.
Have You Created a Culture of Mentorship?
Mentorship isn’t optional, it’s a leadership responsibility.
Pair new hires with experienced team members
Rotate them through roles to discover hidden strengths
Check in regularly: What do they enjoy? What are they struggling with?
Employees who feel invested in stay longer, perform better, and grow faster.
Are You Motivating Your Team, Or Micromanaging Them?
Motivation thrives when:
You share what’s going well
You’re transparent about what’s not
You take responsibility, not just assign blame
You create safe spaces for feedback and failure
Avoid pairing A players with D players just to “balance the workload.” That often demotivates your top performers. Instead, offer D players mentorship and peers at their level until they level up.
Do You Only Show Up When Something Goes Wrong?
If your name in the group chat triggers anxiety… you’ve got a perception problem.
Being the bearer of bad news (and only bad news) turns you into a figure people fear, not follow.
Start sharing wins. Even small ones. Public praise, private appreciation, and thoughtful recognition are your most underused tools as a leader.
Final Thoughts: What Makes a Great SEO Leader?
Great SEO leaders don’t just optimize content, they optimize people.
That means:
Communicating with empathy
Connecting daily, not just during reviews
Sharing your vision with energy
Mentoring with intention
Motivating with appreciation
Leading with presence, not pressure
Every team member is different. One might love public praise. Another prefers a quiet thank-you message.
Your job is to find what works, and do it often.
Want More SEO Leadership Insights?
Check out our webinar series, SEO Leadership, where agency founders and in-house leads share their hard-earned lessons on building and leading high-performing SEO teams.
Or, if you’re looking for pre-vetted SEO talent ready to make an impact, book a call with SEO For Hire.
