UK SEO Strategist
A look at what I do!
Employing a the right person can make a big difference to any UK or world wide digital marketing campaign. They will reduce the time to success, maximise the profits, and so a UK SEO Strategist often is the right person.
Implementing the same SEO principles that everyone who manages a successful website does, will work to a certain level. But there does come a point where a well defined unique strategy will give that extra boost and edge over the rest.
Sometimes the best strategies can be the simplest other times a different approach is needed. It is the job of a SEO strategist is to decide what is right for each UK website project at different points of it’s popularity. Making sure to generate results that are inline with business goals.
Passionate About SEO Strategies
My name is Mark Flanighan I live in Stockton on Tees, United Kingdom I have a passion for SEO and I want to share what I do. So this is my opinion of the role and elements of success
In all competitions strategy plays a big part, if you do the same as the ”other guy”, then unless you are faster or fitter, you are going to lose. Being smarter can give the “edge” over the competition, and so it is no different in the world of search engine optimisation.
Google and other search engines are the big competitive UK online portals, where the strongest websites for certain search terms will rank in the highest positions. The results for these fitter websites, are more sales, bigger profits and higher brand visibility.
Just like in any other competition it can be the very the passion and knowledge of a UK SEO expert that will get the edge over the competition across different industries and verticals.
Backlink Strategist
A good SEO strategist would look at the backlink profile, using a third party application such as “Ahrefs backlink checker”, “SEMRush” or “Majestic”. Backlinks are a very powerful source of adding authority to a website in Google eyes, so studying the backlinks that are powering a successful website and then mirroring that profile or at least the strengths of that profile, is a starting point. (more on this later).
These third party SEO tools, try to emulate authority and trust that the backlinks are generating for each website. Although these tools are good indicators, these Domain Rating (DR) and Domain Authority (DA) scores are not those used by Google. These remain secret to Google. The process of studying backlinks and strategies to acquire them is often called “Off page SEO.”
Content Strategist
Full content review. The SEO strategist would will look though all the content of that powerful website, to note how well written and relevant the content is. How much content there is, and what extra media is being used, i.e. unique images, videos. Also, how the content links together and what file system is being used.
It is fair to say, that if this website has 1000, well written unique content articles, then a content strategy will need to be created, so that Google can see that your website as having more trust and niche authority than anyone else. Using copywriters to deliver engaging content either to B2B or B2C is key to any succesful digital campaign.
Social Media Planning
Social Profiles. This is not about how many Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc followers your competition has, but how much these users interact with the website, referred too as engagement signals. Unfortunately this info may not be readily available, they will see how often and what posts are being created by the competition and how many likes etc. So in most cases a SEO strategist would include a Social Media strategy, as part of the overall plan.
Technical SEO Professional
A full website audit with regular reviews, is often referred to as “Technical SEO”. For some projects this technical SEO audit may be the first item on the “to-do” list. A webmaster should ensure the website is fully “mobile friendly”, loads fast, is secure i.e. HTTPs, rather than http and does not have errors, such as broken links, canonical issues or duplicate content.
Technical SEO Professional
A full website audit with regular reviews, is often referred to as “Technical SEO”. For some projects this technical SEO audit may be the first item on the “to-do” list. A webmaster should ensure the website is fully “mobile friendly”, loads fast, is secure i.e. HTTPs, rather than http and does not have errors, such as broken links, canonical issues or duplicate content.
You could write a full book on the type of errors that can occur, but a SEO expert will have the experience to understand most problems or have access to the professionals who have the solutions .
A good technical SEO tool to start any website audit is the “Google Search Console”, which will show certain errors. Again there are many basic tutorials and information on the web for this, but often a more complex understanding is required
Taking a Project Website To The Next Level
This is where a good search engine optimisation strategist will earn their salary. Ever guessed why you see many positions being advertised on recruitment websites for a UK SEO Strategist by digital agencies? They are looking professionals with several years experience that can see through the jungle and created real unique solutions, that will empower an online presence and improve organic performance.
Hint: It is also true that some of these positions are advertised on high authority job websites in order to gain a powerful backlink to the relevant agency website.
For competitive keywords implementing what everyone else is doing is a good basic SEO plan but often not enough to command better power rankings.
“I have spend some time researching these advanced strategies, from those who were good enough to share or from my own day to day testing and, case studies and trial and error.”
Going Beyond Basic Keyword Research
Google claimed back in 2017 that 15% of all search terms have never been used before, which is a big hint not just to copy the competition after all the initial work has been completed. So a proficient SEO expert will look beyond the obvious opportunities.
Some affiliate marketers aim for thousands of long tail keywords within their copy articles, which is not as easy to do as many may think, as the copy still needs to be of high quality and not spam. Many digital marketing campaigns have focused on content as their primary strategy, understanding the online marketing success factors can be very rewarding.
“Spending quality time keyword research on this can really improve visibility if done correctly.”
Semantics and synonyms can take the written copy to an even higher level. Content strategists will know if they are good enough to write the content or if a professional writing service needs to be employed, for both core content and blog posts.
Engagement Signals, Can Mean the Difference
The Search Console and Google Analytics shows some very useful metrics on search marketing. Key data signals include, but not conclusive. Understanding these engagement signals and maximising their effectiveness, is another trait of a UK SEO Expert.
- “Bounce Rate” this is where a visitor only visits one page and then clicks the back button to go back. Clearly this can be a bad sign if many visitors choose not to stay in the first few seconds of arrival.
- Time on site (retention). Clearly it people are staying and reading content, then this is a digital marketing signal that all is good.
- Pages visited, what pages are visited etc.
- Click though Rate (CTR). This is often denied by Google representatives, that this is used within the algorithm. But most experts will argue a good click though rate with positive engagement, sends positive signals to Google.
SEO Reporting Tools Used By The Professionals
- Google Search Console/ Google Analytics Dashboards
- Ahrefs
- Majestic
- SEM Rush
- Screaming Frog
- MOZ
- Yoast for WordPress
- Grammarly
- LongTailPro
- Copyscape
There are many more reporting tools, most of the above have a monthly or yearly charge associated with them. The SEO tools that are used daily, would add up to a considerable sum each month.
What Is Right
For You?
Understanding what type of service you need is important. I don’t work with corprate or large companies, these are more suited to full service agencies.
Mark Flanighan