Even going back to the start of my career in SEO, I have always considered myself a strategist over anything else. I’ve done every role within SEO over the last 12+ years, from technical SEO to link building, but strategy is where I’ve always excelled and focused most of my time on.
The most important skill for a strategist is to understand your business and pair that with SEO knowledge to get the best results. It can’t be just one or the other. You need someone that is an expert in all areas of SEO but also understands how a business operates and makes money, which is exactly how I’ve managed to generate such effective results for my clients.
I’ve led strategies for over 100 clients now and regardless of whether it’s a small local business or a global powerhouse, I get the same satisfaction from providing them with the most effective route to growth in organic search and for their business.
My focus as a strategist and advisor is to understand your goals or objectives, market and industry, competitors, and the size of the opportunity, to ultimately provide the route to get you to where you want to be now, and in the future.
Audience Research
SEO is often overcomplicated with too much jargon. Instead of search volumes, my focus is on audiences and the people you want to reach. Audience research should drive your SEO strategy, as well as wider marketing and business plans too.
Competitor Analysis
The only thing that really matters in SEO is your competitors. It’s all a competition to outperform other websites and the only way to win is to truly understand the landscape, market, and the strengths and weaknesses of competing sites.
Opportunity Assessment
Forecasting in SEO is difficult to say the least. A lot of agencies and consultants will overpromise as it’s impossible to truly know what to expect. You can, however, understand the size of the opportunity for your business and how to take it.
Frequently asked strategy questions
How do you tailor your SEO strategy to fit our specific industry and business goals?
This is the most important factor to get right. If SEO doesn’t align to your industry and goals, it simply won’t be effective. I start by taking a deep dive into what you’re trying to achieve at a business level, and work backwards to what this means for SEO.
What are the key components of your SEO strategy, and how do you prioritise them?
The key components of any strategy reflect the core pillars of SEO, technical, on-page content, and backlinks. Each area needs to be addressed and prioritised based on your weaknesses and compared to the competitors in your space.
How do you stay updated with SEO trends and ensure your strategies are current?
SEO is a fast-paced industry and the only way to get results is to stay on top of changes both in your industry and from Google. I take this aspect of my role very seriously and always look ahead to future-proof any strategy.
How do you integrate SEO with our overall digital marketing strategy
SEO and organic search should never be isolated as it can both be impacted by and have the most impact on other digital marketing channels. Getting relevant access to your data and overall strategy will allow for this to all work together, and I can also help to develop your overall digital marketing strategy if required.
What timeframe do you typically expect to see significant results from an SEO strategy?
You can see results from SEO quickly with the right approach, but significant results will depend on the resources and time invested in the strategy and the overall objectives. My approach is to make sure that ROI is clear and obvious, with the right expectations set and agreed at the start.
