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Mastering Sprint Planning for SEOs — with Gus Pelogia | Ep.12
In this episode of SEO Product Unveiled, Björn and Vanda welcome Gus Pelogia, Senior SEO Product Manager at Indeed, to unpack one of the most misunderstood yet critical product ceremonies: Sprint Planning.
They discuss how SEOs can collaborate effectively with engineering and product teams, what makes a good sprint-ready ticket, and why understanding technical complexity is essential to avoid frustration and misaligned expectations. Gus shares insights from his unique journey from journalism to tech SEO and then into product management.
The conversation explores prioritization frameworks like ICE, how to set meaningful Sprint Goals, why "Big Bets" per quarter improve execution, and how SEOs can bridge the gap between strategic vision and engineering constraints. The trio also reflects on documentation quality, success criteria, capacity planning, and the importance of bringing data, hypotheses, and impact estimates into sprint conversations.
A valuable episode for anyone working at the intersection of SEO, Product, and Engineering — whether embedded in a product org or influencing from the outside.
Main Takeaways
Sprint Planning = Choosing what will realistically be delivered in the next 1–4 weeks, based on ready tickets and team capacity.
SEOs must understand technical complexity — simple SEO changes can require deep engineering work.
Good tickets matter: clear user story, acceptance criteria, examples, mockups, and impact estimation.
Impact frameworks (like ICE) help product teams prioritize SEO requests fairly.
Big Bets per quarter improve focus and prevent overloaded roadmaps.
SEO must communicate in product/engineering language — not just SEO jargon.
Being present in Sprint Planning helps SEOs avoid missed timelines, misinterpretations, and seasonal “dead zones” like release freezes.
Impact validation is key: share results back with engineering to build trust and momentum.
Listen to engineers: better solutions often emerge from collaboration.
- Document everything thoroughly — unclear tickets are a major cause of delays.
⏱️ Chapter Marks
0:00 — Introduction & reconnecting
0:40 — Who is Gus Pelogia? Background & SEO/Product journey
2:00 — From journalism to tech SEO to product
4:20 — Why Sprint Planning matters for SEOs
5:10 — Why simple ideas often require complex engineering
6:40 — What Sprint Planning actually is
8:00 — The importance of “ready” tickets
9:05 — Sprint Goals: Why they matter
10:00 — Capacity, ad-hoc issues & prioritization challenges
11:20 — When SEOs feel blocked by engineering constraints
13:10 — Prioritization frameworks (e.g., ICE) for SEO requests
14:25 — How engineers allocate story points
16:30 — Why SEOs need impact hypotheses
18:55 — Using impact scores in product discussions
19:35 — How Gus structures quarterly Big Bets
21:00 — Understanding complexity & trade-offs
22:32 — Overloaded roadmaps & realistic planning
24:20 — SEOs working across multiple product teams
26:23 — Should SEOs attend Sprint Planning?
28:20 — Holiday freeze example & timeline risks
29:30 — Importance of clarifying tickets early
31:20 — What makes a good, sprint-ready SEO ticket
33:35 — Mockups, visual examples & acceptance criteria
35:35 — How to deal with success criteria
38:16 — Why impact validation is hard but necessary
40:33 — Setting expectations with ROI timelines
41:17 — What SEOs and PMs can learn from each other
42:20 — Using initiatives instead of isolated tasks
44:13 — Lessons SEOs can borrow from product thinking
47:00 — Listening to engineers & iterating together
49:25 — Final tips for SEOs and PMs
50:53 — Closing thoughts & outro
View all episodes
By Vanda Pokecz & Björn DarkoIn this episode of SEO Product Unveiled, Björn and Vanda welcome Gus Pelogia, Senior SEO Product Manager at Indeed, to unpack one of the most misunderstood yet critical product ceremonies: Sprint Planning.
They discuss how SEOs can collaborate effectively with engineering and product teams, what makes a good sprint-ready ticket, and why understanding technical complexity is essential to avoid frustration and misaligned expectations. Gus shares insights from his unique journey from journalism to tech SEO and then into product management.
The conversation explores prioritization frameworks like ICE, how to set meaningful Sprint Goals, why "Big Bets" per quarter improve execution, and how SEOs can bridge the gap between strategic vision and engineering constraints. The trio also reflects on documentation quality, success criteria, capacity planning, and the importance of bringing data, hypotheses, and impact estimates into sprint conversations.
A valuable episode for anyone working at the intersection of SEO, Product, and Engineering — whether embedded in a product org or influencing from the outside.
Main Takeaways
Sprint Planning = Choosing what will realistically be delivered in the next 1–4 weeks, based on ready tickets and team capacity.
SEOs must understand technical complexity — simple SEO changes can require deep engineering work.
Good tickets matter: clear user story, acceptance criteria, examples, mockups, and impact estimation.
Impact frameworks (like ICE) help product teams prioritize SEO requests fairly.
Big Bets per quarter improve focus and prevent overloaded roadmaps.
SEO must communicate in product/engineering language — not just SEO jargon.
Being present in Sprint Planning helps SEOs avoid missed timelines, misinterpretations, and seasonal “dead zones” like release freezes.
Impact validation is key: share results back with engineering to build trust and momentum.
Listen to engineers: better solutions often emerge from collaboration.
- Document everything thoroughly — unclear tickets are a major cause of delays.
⏱️ Chapter Marks
0:00 — Introduction & reconnecting
0:40 — Who is Gus Pelogia? Background & SEO/Product journey
2:00 — From journalism to tech SEO to product
4:20 — Why Sprint Planning matters for SEOs
5:10 — Why simple ideas often require complex engineering
6:40 — What Sprint Planning actually is
8:00 — The importance of “ready” tickets
9:05 — Sprint Goals: Why they matter
10:00 — Capacity, ad-hoc issues & prioritization challenges
11:20 — When SEOs feel blocked by engineering constraints
13:10 — Prioritization frameworks (e.g., ICE) for SEO requests
14:25 — How engineers allocate story points
16:30 — Why SEOs need impact hypotheses
18:55 — Using impact scores in product discussions
19:35 — How Gus structures quarterly Big Bets
21:00 — Understanding complexity & trade-offs
22:32 — Overloaded roadmaps & realistic planning
24:20 — SEOs working across multiple product teams
26:23 — Should SEOs attend Sprint Planning?
28:20 — Holiday freeze example & timeline risks
29:30 — Importance of clarifying tickets early
31:20 — What makes a good, sprint-ready SEO ticket
33:35 — Mockups, visual examples & acceptance criteria
35:35 — How to deal with success criteria
38:16 — Why impact validation is hard but necessary
40:33 — Setting expectations with ROI timelines
41:17 — What SEOs and PMs can learn from each other
42:20 — Using initiatives instead of isolated tasks
44:13 — Lessons SEOs can borrow from product thinking
47:00 — Listening to engineers & iterating together
49:25 — Final tips for SEOs and PMs
50:53 — Closing thoughts & outro