Ever wondered what an SEO strategist really does? You’re in the right place. Whether you’re a curious marketer, a business owner, or just someone who stumbled across the term during a midnight Google search, understanding the role of an SEO strategist can be incredibly helpful. SEO strategists are the unsung heroes who help websites climb the ranks on search engines, making them more visible to users who need their services or products.
In this post, we’ll cover what an SEO strategist does, the skills they need, and how they impact a business's online presence. We’ll break down the world of SEO into bite-sized pieces that are easy to digest. So grab a cup of coffee, and let’s get started!
What Is SEO, and Why Does It Matter?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is all about improving the visibility of a website in search engine results. Think of it like a digital marketing strategy designed to get your website noticed. When someone searches for something on Google, you want your site to pop up on the first page. Why? Because the majority of users don’t look beyond the first page of search results.
SEO is important because it drives organic traffic to your site. Unlike paid ads, organic traffic doesn’t cost you per click, making it a cost-effective way to attract visitors. This is where an SEO strategist comes in, creating and implementing strategies to improve your site’s ranking. They analyze your site, your competitors, and the market to come up with a plan that gets your site seen by more people. And more visibility means more potential customers.
The Day-to-Day Tasks of an SEO Strategist
An SEO strategist’s daily tasks can vary widely, but they generally revolve around improving a website’s search engine ranking. Here’s a peek into their daily routine:
- Keyword Research: This is the bread and butter of SEO. Strategists spend a lot of time researching keywords that potential customers use to find products or services similar to yours. They use tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to identify the most relevant and high-volume keywords.
- On-Page Optimization: This involves tweaking the content and structure of your website to make it more appealing to search engines. This might mean improving title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and URL structures.
- Content Creation: Fresh, relevant content is crucial for SEO. Strategists often collaborate with content creators to ensure that the content aligns with the SEO strategy.
- Technical SEO: This is the geeky stuff. It involves ensuring that your website is technically sound. This might involve improving site speed, fixing crawl errors, or ensuring the site is mobile-friendly.
- Link Building: Getting other reputable sites to link to your content is a major part of SEO. Strategists often work on strategies to acquire high-quality inbound links.
These tasks are all part of a bigger picture, working together to improve a website’s search engine ranking. By tackling each of these areas, an SEO strategist ensures your site is primed for visibility.
How SEO Strategists Conduct Keyword Research
Keyword research is a fundamental part of SEO. It involves identifying the words and phrases that your target audience uses to search for information online. But how do SEO strategists find these keywords, and what makes some keywords better than others?
SEO strategists use various tools to conduct keyword research. Google Keyword Planner is a popular choice, as it provides insights into the search volume and competition for specific keywords. Other tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs offer additional data, such as keyword difficulty and potential traffic estimates.
When selecting keywords, strategists consider several factors:
- Search Volume: How many people are searching for the keyword? High search volume indicates more potential traffic, but it often comes with higher competition.
- Keyword Difficulty: This metric indicates how hard it will be to rank for a particular keyword. SEO strategists look for keywords with a good balance between search volume and difficulty.
- Relevance: The keyword must be relevant to the business and its offerings. There’s no point in ranking for a keyword that doesn’t lead to conversions.
Once they’ve gathered a list of potential keywords, SEO strategists prioritize and incorporate them into the content strategy. This ensures that the website targets the right audience and attracts high-quality traffic.
The Importance of On-Page Optimization
On-page optimization is all about making sure each page of your website is set up to rank well in search results. This means optimizing both the content and the HTML source code.
Here’s a breakdown of the main components of on-page optimization:
- Title Tags and Meta Descriptions: These are the snippets of text that appear in search results. They should be compelling and include your target keywords.
- Headers: Headers (H1, H2, H3, etc.) help structure your content and make it easier for search engines to understand. They should also include keywords where appropriate.
- URL Structure: Clean, keyword-rich URLs can impact your rankings. They should be descriptive and easy to read.
- Content Quality: High-quality, relevant content is crucial. It should be informative, engaging, and tailored to your audience’s needs.
- Internal Linking: Linking to other pages on your site helps search engines crawl your site and understand the relationship between different pages.
On-page optimization is essential for helping search engines understand what your site is about and why it should rank higher than others. By fine-tuning these elements, an SEO strategist can help improve your site’s visibility and drive more traffic.
The Role of Content in SEO
Content is often referred to as the heart of SEO. Without quality content, there’s nothing for search engines to rank. But it’s not just about churning out blog posts or articles—content needs to be strategic, relevant, and valuable to your audience.
An SEO strategist works closely with content creators to develop a content strategy that aligns with the overall SEO goals. This involves:
- Identifying Content Gaps: Strategists look for topics or areas that are underrepresented on your site and create content to fill these gaps.
- Optimizing Existing Content: Sometimes, a simple update or refresh of existing content can improve its ranking potential.
- Creating New Content: This could be blog posts, articles, infographics, videos, or other types of content that engage your audience and attract links.
- Ensuring Keyword Integration: Strategists ensure that target keywords are naturally integrated into the content, without keyword stuffing.
By creating and optimizing content, an SEO strategist helps your site become a valuable resource for your audience. This not only improves your rankings but also builds trust with your visitors.
The Technical Side of SEO
Technical SEO is like the engine that keeps your website running smoothly. It involves optimizing the technical aspects of your site to ensure it’s easy for search engines to crawl and index. Here’s what an SEO strategist does on the technical side:
- Site Speed Optimization: Slow-loading sites frustrate users and can hurt your rankings. Strategists work to improve site speed by optimizing images, reducing server response times, and more.
- Mobile-Friendliness: With more users browsing on mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly site is crucial. Strategists ensure that your site is responsive and easy to navigate on all devices.
- Fixing Crawl Errors: Search engines use bots to crawl your site. If they encounter errors, it can impact your rankings. Strategists identify and fix these issues to ensure smooth crawling.
- Structured Data: This involves adding code to your site to help search engines understand your content better. It can improve how your site appears in search results, often leading to higher click-through rates.
Technical SEO might not be glamorous, but it’s essential for ensuring your site is accessible to both users and search engines. By addressing technical issues, an SEO strategist helps lay a solid foundation for a successful SEO strategy.
Building a Strong Link Profile
Link building is a crucial part of SEO. It involves acquiring high-quality inbound links from other sites to yours. These links act like votes of confidence, telling search engines that your site is trustworthy and relevant.
An SEO strategist develops a link-building strategy that might include:
- Creating Link-Worthy Content: High-quality, valuable content naturally attracts links. Strategists focus on producing content that other sites want to link to.
- Outreach and Relationship Building: This involves reaching out to other websites, bloggers, or influencers to promote your content and secure backlinks.
- Guest Blogging: Writing articles for other sites in your industry can provide valuable backlinks and expose your brand to a new audience.
- Monitoring and Disavowing Toxic Links: Not all links are good. Strategists monitor your link profile to identify and disavow harmful links that could hurt your rankings.
Building a strong link profile takes time and effort, but it’s essential for improving your site’s authority and rankings. An SEO strategist ensures that your site earns high-quality links that drive traffic and boost credibility.
Measuring and Analyzing SEO Performance
Once an SEO strategy is in place, it’s important to measure and analyze its performance. This helps strategists understand what’s working and what needs improvement. Here’s how they do it:
- Tracking Key Metrics: SEO strategists use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track metrics like organic traffic, bounce rate, and conversion rate.
- Analyzing Keyword Performance: They monitor the performance of target keywords to see if they’re driving traffic and ranking well.
- Conducting SEO Audits: Regular audits help identify new opportunities and areas for improvement. This might involve reviewing on-page factors, backlinks, and technical issues.
- Reporting and Adjusting Strategies: SEO is an ongoing process. Strategists report on performance to stakeholders and adjust strategies based on data and insights.
By continuously measuring and analyzing performance, an SEO strategist ensures that the strategy remains effective and aligned with business goals. This ongoing process helps maintain and improve your site’s search engine rankings over time.
The Skills an SEO Strategist Needs
Being an SEO strategist requires a diverse skill set. It’s not just about knowing the technical side of things—soft skills are equally important. Here are some of the skills an SEO strategist needs:
- Analytical Skills: SEO involves a lot of data analysis. Strategists need to interpret data, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions.
- Technical Know-How: Understanding how websites work and how search engines crawl and index them is essential.
- Communication Skills: Strategists often work with other teams and need to communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively.
- Problem-Solving Abilities: SEO is full of challenges, and strategists need to be able to think on their feet and find creative solutions.
- Creativity: From content creation to link-building strategies, creativity is a valuable asset for SEO strategists.
Having a mix of these skills allows an SEO strategist to develop and implement effective strategies that improve a site’s search engine rankings. It’s a role that requires adaptability, as the world of SEO is always evolving.
How an SEO Strategist Impacts a Business
The work of an SEO strategist can have a significant impact on a business’s online presence and success. Here’s how they make a difference:
- Increasing Organic Traffic: By improving a site’s search engine ranking, an SEO strategist helps attract more organic traffic. More visitors mean more potential customers and sales.
- Improving User Experience: Many SEO strategies focus on improving the user experience. A fast, mobile-friendly site with valuable content keeps visitors engaged and encourages them to return.
- Building Brand Credibility: Ranking high in search results can improve your brand’s credibility and authority. Users are more likely to trust sites that appear on the first page of results.
- Driving Conversions: By attracting the right audience and providing a seamless user experience, an SEO strategist helps increase conversions and sales.
Overall, an SEO strategist plays a crucial role in helping a business stand out online. Their expertise can lead to increased visibility, more traffic, and ultimately, higher revenue.
Final Thoughts
In summary, an SEO strategist is a key player in enhancing a business's online presence. From keyword research to link building, they employ a variety of strategies to improve a website's search engine ranking. Their work is essential for driving organic traffic, improving user experience, and increasing conversions.
At Pattern, we understand the importance of SEO in growing your business. We specialize in helping ecommerce brands and SaaS startups drive more traffic and convert that traffic into paying customers. Unlike most agencies, we focus on results, not just rankings. We create programmatic landing pages that target a wide range of search terms, ensuring your brand is found by the right audience. Plus, we craft conversion-focused content that turns visitors into customers. With our performance marketing lens, every dollar you invest delivers real ROI. SEO isn't a guessing game with us—it's a growth channel that drives sales and reduces customer acquisition costs.