Search engine optimization (SEO) has the power to elevate your business in many ways, and SEO strategists are the key to this. True SEO strategists use specific data to fix conversion problems, but far too many businesses have been burned by so-called “SEO experts” who only focus on vanity metrics. If your business has been burned like this, you may have a false sense of what SEO strategists actually do, so let’s set the record straight.
What is SEO?
SEO is a critical part of any digital marketing strategy, but you’ve probably heard that plenty of times before. Yet you may not have heard just how critical effective SEO is to your business’s strategy.
Digital marketers estimate that SEO has a return on investment (ROI) of 22:1 on average. This means that on average, businesses that invest $1 in SEO can expect to get $22 in value back. For a little perspective, let’s look at a more real-world example. If a small business invests $2,000 per month into an SEO strategy, it’s likely to see a return of $44,000 on its investment.
Such numbers show that SEO can be very beneficial to your business, but there is no SEO strategy without SEO strategists.
What does an SEO strategist do?
SEO strategy isn’t something that just appears out of thin air. Someone must create a strategy that’s tailored to your business’s needs and that aims to address issues that are stalling your conversion numbers. That someone is an SEO strategist.
These professionals must keep on top of the latest shifts in search engine algorithms and SEO industry tools and trends. SEO strategists should also be taking regular looks at your website to ensure that it is performing at optimal levels. During these regular audits, there are many pieces that an SEO strategist considers, but there are three items in particular that head their checklist:
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Checking organic traffic levels.
One key factor your strategist will likely consider is how much organic traffic is flowing to your site. Looking at this factor allows them to compare your current traffic levels to past levels. This comparison can indicate how effective any changes you’ve made to your website have been or how well your SEO content strategy is working.
However, it’s important not to expect a huge increase in organic traffic right away. SEO is a long-term performer, and it typically takes at least three to six months to see an increase in organic traffic after making a change. As a result, it’s good practice to have an SEO strategist checking your organic traffic levels regularly.
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Targeting conversion-focused keywords.
SEO strategists can also help create data-backed keyword strategies for a business’s content. Using tools like SEMRush, they can find conversion-focused keywords to use in your site’s content. SEMRush specifically also gives strategists a glimpse into the search intention behind the keywords. This is possible because this tool looks at the actions people take on Google after typing in those keywords (thank you, cookies).
But that’s not the only keyword-related thing they can help with. They can also use SEO tools like SEMRush, Moz, or Ahrefs to monitor your website pages and other content. Specifically, these pros can use SEO tools to see what keywords your highest-performing pages are ranking for.
They can take this information and compare it to the keyword strategy used to create the high-ranking pages. Then, they can use the results of the comparison to make adjustments to keyword strategies. Doing so allows your business to support high-performing content, and it gives you a better chance of creating content that will help build more traffic and conversions.
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Determining the number and location of conversions.
Organic conversions are the end goal of SEO and digital marketing generally. They can look different for every business. For merchandisers, a conversion might be when someone reads a blog post and then buys a product or service. For health care providers, conversions might take the form of filling out an appointment request form or calling to make an appointment.
However, if you don’t know which digital locations the majority of your conversions are coming from, it’s hard to improve that location or provide others. SEO strategists can apply heat mapping to your website to see where conversions are, and could be, coming from. This data makes it much easier for SEO experts to take the guesswork out of your SEO strategy. The data also helps them to further improve specific parts of your site by filling in gaps in your site’s user experience (UX) or user interface (UI) that are driving away conversions.
How can SEO strategists benefit your business?
Just like SEO can offer many benefits to your business, so can SEO strategists. Many of the benefits these pros can offer flow from what they do for your business. The benefits of having an SEO strategist working for your business include:
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Helping to increase traffic to your website.
Regularly checking the level of organic traffic coming into your website gives SEO strategists insight into how that traffic can be increased. For instance, your strategist may see that the majority of your traffic is coming from organic search results. They can then recommend increasing the content you’re creating that’s ranking so well in search results. In turn, this can drive organic traffic even higher.
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Increasing the number of conversions from your website.
From form fills to newsletter signups, conversions are something that every business should be looking for. After all, conversions have already shown that they’re interested in your products or services, and that means they may be more likely to become your client.
However, high organic traffic doesn’t always mean high conversion rates. It’s here that having an SEO strategist is beneficial. They can use hard data to look at your high-traffic webpages and ensure that you have the right UX, UI and conversion elements in the right places on these pages. If you don’t, they can advise your web team on what type of elements to create and where to place them to net the highest number of conversions.
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Boosting digital marketing spend effectiveness.
According to the 2023 CMO Survey, nearly 11% of companies’ revenue will be spent on marketing. The same report reveals that about 54% of those marketing budgets will be spent on digital marketing. Though these stats show that marketing spend is still strong, companies can, and should, be looking for ways to ensure that their digital marketing dollars are well spent. SEO strategists can help companies with this. The analytical and data-gathering abilities of these specialists allow them to pinpoint areas where digital marketing spend can be optimized. Let’s look at an example.
In this example, we’ll say that a company is spending $15 per click for a pay-per-click (PPC) display ad based on the keyword “sprained ankle treatment.” The company also has created an SEO blog post for the same keyword. This blog post is ranking in the second position in search results and the second position in the map pack on Google.
The SEO strategist working with the company gathers data on the blog post. This data shows that the blog post, which cost $150 to create, is bringing in about 20 conversions per month. Each conversion is valued at $1,000 per conversion. They then gather data on the PPC ad. That data reveals that the PPC ad is bringing in 10 conversions a month at a cost of $150 per month. In this scenario, the SEO strategist might recommend that some or all of the PPC ad spend for this keyword be reallocated to other digital marketing efforts based on the data they’ve gathered.
Clearly, SEO strategists do lots of things that can have an enormous impact on the companies they’re working with. However, not every SEO strategist is created equally. To get the most out of these pros, you’ll need to find strategists who are experienced at creating data-backed strategies, not building strategies that are essentially guessing games.
Want to have experienced, data-savvy SEO strategists on your side? BURG+CO. can help
Increasing traffic to your website plays a role in increasing conversions and landing new clients. However, it’s difficult to attract visitors to your site when you don’t know what to do. Fortunately, BURG+CO.’s team includes experienced SEO specialists who create tailored SEO strategies based on hard data.
Our team has years of experience in helping businesses improve their digital presence to attract new leads and retain existing ones. If you’re looking to perform better in search engine results, attract more visitors to your site and increase conversion numbers, we’re ready to talk to you to see how we can help. Contact our team today for more information about our SEO services or to schedule a complimentary consultation.
