SEO vs Devs: What is the difference?
Search engine optimization and web development are two core concepts that are discussed when we talk about ranking and websites.
While one takes care of rankings and traffic, the other makes sure that the nitty-gritty stuff is working correctly.
When combined beautifully, this duo can become a powerful asset for your business (and your website).
This post will help you understand in a simple way what both of these terms mean and how they can help you with your website.
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The major difference between an SEO and a developer is that SEO focuses on driving organic traffic, sign ups, sales and conversions through great content and technical SEO. And web developer focuses on building and designing websites. Devs code in different languages and ensure the front and the back end of the application are working properly.
Who is an SEO?
An SEO (Search Engine Optimizer) is a person who is well-versed in the complexity of how search works and helps you complete your goals of getting traffic from different search engines.
SEO is also known as a webmaster, but it is a less-used term now, as people don’t like to use it as often. That’s why you may have heard the term SEO for a person who does SEO. For example, “A few weeks ago, we hired our first-ever SEO”.
In essence, a good SEO should know things like
- How to make a helpful site for users and search engines
- How to make the site accessible on all kinds of platforms and devices
- How to implement Google’s recommended best practices to get traffic from Google and other search engines
SEO requires certain skills to be successful. Here are some skills they need to have:
- Understanding of how search engines work: The knowledge of how search engines work is something every SEO should know. They should know in-depth concepts like crawling, indexing, and ranking.
- Understanding searchers and search intent: Even though the optimization part is done for search engines, SEOs should not forget that ultimately, their goal should be to help the searcher in their journey. So understanding this concept can help them achieve their goals fast and efficiently.
- Content Marketing: The power is in the words, no matter if they are written or spoken. Having an understanding of how content marketing and its distribution work, the SEO can make informed decisions on how to attract a specific kind of audience.
- Technical SEO: Having a basic knowledge of how technical stuff can be a great help to SEOs.
- Knowledge of CMS: Most of the websites use one of the content management systems such as WordPress, Shopify, or Wix. Having experience using them is essential.
- How to use different tools: Knowledge of how to use tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, or plugins like RankMath is necessary for doing day-to-day tasks.
- Communication skills: Effectively communicating strategies to key people in the company is a great skill every SEO should have.
- Analytical skills: Professionals should know how to analyze data from tools like Google Analytics and SEO tools like SEMrush to make informed decisions around their strategies.
- On-Page and Off-Page Skills: Optimizing web pages and creating content to attract links are crucial to being a good SEO.
- Marketing Skills: SEOs should also know how to convert the traffic that is coming to the website because ultimately, a company needs revenue and not just traffic.
- Prioritization skills: An optimization campaign’s success is defined by how the tasks are prioritized. Giving priority to unnecessary tasks wastes time, effort, and money.
- Auditing Skills: Knowing how to audit a website and using that to make informed decisions on where to improve can be a considerable skill.
Recommended Reading:
What is the Difference Between a Copywriter, Content Creator, and Content Marketer?
Who is a Web Developer?
Website development, or web development, is a field associated with making and maintaining websites and web applications that run on a browser. A web developer is a person who maintains and creates websites.
Also known as devs, they also develop applications. The most common languages they work in are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Along with these, they can also niche down to become WordPress developers, Shopify developers, Wix developers, and more (although some devs say that there’s no such thing lol)
There are different kinds of devs; to understand these, we will take an example of a singer performing at a concert.
- Front-End Developer
As the front end of a website comprises things that a user interacts with, the front-end developer is the one who develops it.
Whenever you open a site and interact with it by clicking buttons, downloading items, browsing menus, and more, a front-end dev is the one who created it.
Let’s understand this by our singer performing at a concert, for example:
The part you see where your favorite performer is performing, which includes stage, lighting, sound, and more. These can be described as the front-end part of a concert.
- Back-End Developer
These are people who specialize in the development of server-side logic and making sure that the application is correctly integrated with the back-end systems.
They also ensure that the databases are working correctly and the data is stored and retrieved in an efficient manner.
To ensure both the application and the servers are working correctly, they have to work closely with the front-end developers. They use back-end languages such as Java, Python, Ruby, .NET, MySQL, and more.
Coming back to our concert example: the processes that make sure the concert is running smoothly come under the back-end part—for example, power generators, proper security, cleaning, and hospitality staff.
- Full-Stack Developer
These people are proficient in both front-end and back-end functionality of an application. They ensure that both the client side and server side of things are working correctly.
Their skillset is highly diverse, and they can work with different languages such as HTML, CSS, JS, PHP, Java, Ruby, and more.
What is the Difference Between the two?
The difference between SEOs and Devs is that SEOs focus on driving organic traffic and conversions to the website. The developers focus on ensuring that the website’s front end and back end are working correctly so that users don’t face any problems.
Together, both make sure that the website is running smoothly while helping the right users with their queries.
Along with this, some other differences can be:
- The focus areas of SEOs are to drive meaningful traffic and conversions to the website. Depending on their job, their job can also involve driving sales, signups, etc. They work with devs, content writers, engineers, and sometimes product people to complete their tasks.
- Web developers focus on designing websites, and their main tasks include coding and programming. They work with project managers and other teams to complete the projects on time.
- SEOs use different tools and software for things like keyword research, website analytics, and more.
- On the other hand, devs use tools like Chrome Dev Tools, GitHub, VS Code, Python, and more.
There is some overlap here, though, because as you can see, both SEOs and developers have to work with each other (and other teams simultaneously) to ensure they do their jobs efficiently. That’s why it is encouraged that SEOs learn some basic code and other technical SEO stuff to make sure they can communicate better with the devs.
Final Words
SEOs and developers are two pillars that are absolutely necessary for a website to perform efficiently. Both SEOs and developers have different tasks to perform. Still, their end goal is to make an application that is accessible to users, drives sales, and generates organic traffic consistently.
So that’s it from my side! If you have any questions related to this article, feel free to contact me.
