More and more, I try to be proactive, and work along side of the developer, instead of against the grain. So how do you, as an SEO, communicate effectively with the web developer? And how do you do this in such a way as to not butt heads with him or step on his toes every afternoon?

Teach him the basics of SEO.

You will have to have a meeting with the web developer. You may have to have several meetings with him, but the first meeting you should have is to clearly map out your goals and what your job as an SEO is, and simply ask him to work with you on it. Do not make it sound as if he will be doing extra work, but rather find out what he knows about search engine friendly web design, and what you might have to educate him on. Ask him his plans for the web design, and take notes. Once he has outlined the plan for the website, you might simply point out to him how a certain point or two will be difficult for search engines to find or index, and how you might have a different solution. You may want to ask him “permission” to work on a solution to this task, and get back with him.

First, let’s cover the basics of optimized web design that you could teach the web developer. The first step in website optimization is search engine friendly design.