"We very often see that what the SEO team wants to have implemented is either denied or only partly implemented because technology invented or purchased by IT staff will not easily accommodate the needed SEO changes, and instead of supporting the SEO effort the information technology (web design) team will fight the changes.

Many IT departments consider it insulting to be told that their web content management masterpiece needs to be changed 'just for search engines'. Apparently nobody ever told them that the search engine market reach makes SEO just as important as designing for a particular browser -- web designers will spend whatever it takes to make a site work for IE, but few want to make a site work better for the search engines.

I have seen IT staff deny that the company even needs to be in a search engine in order to avoid changing their content management system to accommodate needed SEO changes.

The 'we don't have time' (passive resistance -- ignore them and maybe they will go away) argument just does not withstand scrutiny any longer. The fact is that many IT departments simply do not want to change their systems because they do not understand the importance of SEO. Until the entire web team is taught to 'think search engine' and every member gets it, SEO will always be a battle, and most often a very frustrating losing battle.

The president of every company understands that being in a search engine is critical, and that the web site is the companies most valued asset. These same executives need to take control and teach their staff that SEO is a rule, not an exception. They need to make sure their web employees all understand SEO and take it to heart. The web teams need to 'get it' or 'get out'. This is survival of the fittest, and winners do SEO."
-- Bruce Clay, President, Bruce Clay, Inc.