I quite enjoyed the process of writing my first “week in SEO,” and so I thought it was about time I put pen to paper (or keyboard to screen?) and wrote a second part. Of course, sequels never end up being as successful as their original counterparts, but I can at least give it a go.
I’ll touch on on-page SEO, brand tone of voice, and planning your workflows, so read on to learn about my experiences this week!
A Shoutout to On-Page SEO
This week, I’ve been focusing a lot on some of the more on-page aspects of SEO (of which there are many). Specifically, optimising clients’ sites to rank for specific keywords via their page titles, meta descriptions, and image alt tags.
Now, this isn’t ever done in isolation. As I mentioned previously, possibly the greatest and most visible ranking factor is the content that’s actually on your site, but this content goes hand-in-hand with on-page optimisation to build real ranking authority. Not only does this help to solidify your ever-moving target of trying to rank on Google’s first page, (because who even clicks on to page two?) but it’s useful from a user experience standpoint, too.
How so? Well, having a clear and well-defined page title makes it obvious as to exactly what’s on the page, and a clear, concise meta description is even better for pulling in traffic from the search results pages. As of right now, meta descriptions aren’t the most important ranking factors, but they’re still valuable for making page content clear before your target audience has even clicked through to your site.
Experimenting with Tone of Voice
Clients’ tone of voice (TOV) is paramount to effectively communicating their brand, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to writing content. Take our brand for instance – “no bullshit SEO” – would that work for a luxury clothing company?
It might sound obvious, but refining the communications and tone of voice of a brand is a constant process, and this is something we’ve really been focused on recently. You want to communicate the right message to the right group of people, and this can sometimes involve some experimentation. Always make sure to listen to clients’ wishes, and if they’ve already been writing content themselves, take steps to match or build upon their tone of voice.
Your tone of voice should be able to communicate your values and goals as a brand, and it’s massively important when trying to establish yourself at the top of your audience’s minds. Try to set yourself apart from others to become more memorable.
The Importance of Planning
I’ve taken steps to plan my monthly tasks a little more clearly heading into the New Year. It’s incredible how much time can be saved by spending a few hours planning your week.
Whether it’s as simple as thinking about writing this blog ahead of time (which didn’t end up happening) or organising meetings with clients before Christmas, there’s a lot to be said about managing your time properly. Also, having that meeting with a client might mean that you have one less day that’s free to complete all your SEO-related tasks, so it’s important to plan for that, too.
We use Notion to plan our workflows and ensure that every task that needs completing gets done on time. But, even using your phone’s calendar will do the trick on the day-to-day! The rest of my month is now planned out task-by-task, and that helps me to achieve my targets.
Make sure to stay tuned for my next brain dumping session, and for insights from the whole team at Eighteen!