TL;DR: Why Should I Hire a Tech SEO for my Agency?
A Tech SEO is the backbone of a high-performing SEO team. Beyond technical expertise, the best hires are adaptable, collaborative, and excellent communicators.
Look for candidates who can manage crawling, indexing, audits, and page speed while aligning with business goals and team culture.
Key Takeaways
A Tech SEO ensures websites are crawlable, indexable, and optimised to rank.
Look for hard skills in crawling, auditing, coding, and mobile-first optimisation.
Prioritise soft skills like communication, collaboration, and adaptability.
The best Tech SEOs combine technical expertise with problem-solving and leadership.
What Makes a Tech SEO Vital to Your Agency?
Having a Tech SEO on your team isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s essential. The right specialist ensures websites are accessible, optimised, and ready to rank. Without them, even your content and creative teams can struggle to deliver results.
But hiring the right Tech SEO isn’t just about ticking boxes for technical skills. It’s about finding someone who can adapt, collaborate, and communicate insights effectively, turning complex SEO into strategies that drive growth.
In this article, we’ll explore the hard and soft skills that separate an average hire from an A-player Tech SEO.
What Hard Skills Should You Look for in a Tech SEO?
Do They Understand Crawling and Indexing?
A great Tech SEO knows how search engines discover and index content. Look for experience in:
Managing crawl budgets
Optimising robots.txt files
Configuring XML sitemaps
Can They Build SEO-Friendly Site Architecture?
Effective site structure makes it easy for both users and search engines to navigate. Essential skills include:
Internal linking strategies
URL structuring
Page hierarchy management
How Well Can They Optimise Page Speed?
With Google prioritising Core Web Vitals, speed is critical. Strong Tech SEOs will:
Use Google PageSpeed Insights
Optimise images, caching, and scripts
Improve overall user experience
Are They Proficient With SEO Tools?
Key tools to check for:
Google Search Console & Analytics
Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, SEMrush
Adobe Analytics (a plus)
Do They Have Coding and Automation Skills?
Basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript is a must. Bonus points for experience in:
Python or JS scripting for automation
AI tools for scaling audits and reporting
Can They Optimise for Mobile?
With mobile-first indexing, Tech SEOs should:
Optimise mobile content for ranking
Work with AMP and PWAs for fast, engaging UX
Can They Run Technical SEO Audits?
Look for candidates who’ve conducted full audits to uncover and fix:
Indexing issues
Site performance gaps
On-page optimisation (meta tags, schema, images)
What Soft Skills Should a Tech SEO Have?
Can They Communicate Complex SEO Clearly?
The best Tech SEOs explain technical concepts simply to execs, clients, and non-technical teammates.
Do They Collaborate Well Across Teams?
They’ll need to work with developers, designers, and content marketers. Strong collaboration is non-negotiable.
Are They Problem-Solvers?
From algorithm updates to broken site structures, a good Tech SEO thrives on troubleshooting and data-driven solutions.
Are They Adaptable and Always Learning?
With SEO evolving fast, they should be curious, adaptable, and committed to staying ahead of updates and tools.
How Do You Hire the Right Tech SEO?
Balance hard technical expertise with soft skills like communication and adaptability. During interviews, ask scenario-based questions:
“How would you explain Core Web Vitals to a non-technical client?”
“Describe a time you collaborated with developers to fix a major SEO issue.”
“What’s one technical SEO challenge you’ve solved that made a big business impact?”
How Do You Hire the Right Tech SEO?
Balance hard technical expertise with soft skills like communication and adaptability. During interviews, ask scenario-based questions:
“How would you explain Core Web Vitals to a non-technical client?”
“Describe a time you collaborated with developers to fix a major SEO issue.”
“What’s one technical SEO challenge you’ve solved that made a big business impact?”
If you are looking to grow your SEO team, SEO for Hire are experts in assisting our clients in hiring the best Tech SEO talent globally.
Book in a call to get started on your hiring journey.
FAQs
Why is a Tech SEO so important?
Because they ensure the foundation of SEO, without proper crawling, indexing, and site health, even great content won’t rank.
What tools should a Tech SEO know?
Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Google Analytics are essentials.
Do Tech SEOs need coding skills?
Yes, at least HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Python or JavaScript for automation is a big plus.
How do I know if a Tech SEO can collaborate well?
Ask situational interview questions about cross-team work, and check references for collaboration feedback.
What’s the difference between a “check-box” Tech SEO and an A-player?
A check-box SEO knows tools. An A-player spots growth opportunities, aligns with business goals, and makes complex SEO actionable across teams.
