There are more than 300 factors influencing where your website is displayed in search engine results. For the average business owner, it’s too much to do, let alone keep up with. So, born were search engine optimisation (SEO) specialists to help.
An SEO Specialist is someone who is trained in what search engines — like Google and Bing — expect of a website to rank it well in the relevant search results. With the fast-paced nature of SEO, much of their job is to keep up with changes to search engine algorithms, as well as optimising websites.
We spoke with Localsearch’s Head of SEO Fulfillment, Caylee Pharoah, to find out how she became an SEO specialist and what she does in a typical day. She also provides her top tips for getting the most out of your SEO specialist.
About Caylee Pharoah, Head of SEO Fulfillment at Localsearch
Caylee Pharoah has spent more than 6 years paving her career as a master of search engine optimisation. However, her career in the field of growing businesses actually started out in content creation and marketing.
In 2014, Caylee completed a Bachelor of Arts, Fashion/Apparel Design, which included completing an internship at a high-end retail group. She continued to grow her skills as a content creator, working on everything digital and print media to social media at a magazine publisher, before completing her Postgraduate while working for a PR agency. Caylee then found her way to Localsearch in 2018.
Caylee at the Localsearch Annual Conference in 2019
What does an SEO specialist do?
A Morning in the Life of an SEO Specialist
7:30am/8:00am — The first thing I do when I get to the Localsearch office is to set my priorities for the day. I manage the fulfillment side of the SEO team here at Localsearch, so I have to balance my own tasks with guiding them too. So, I’ll go through my emails, internal messages and calendar and make lists of what has to be done that day and answer as many of them then and there as I can.
8:30am — Once I have my priorities set out, I’ll allocate our new SEO campaigns, so new businesses utilising Localsearch’s SEO services, to members of the team. We’re a full-suite digital marketing service, so many businesses are building a website with us, using Google Ads or Social Ads, etc. so who I assign the business to can depend on this. For example, if we’re waiting for their website to be finished versus if they’re already established, etc.
9:30am — At least once a fortnight, the entire SEO team will have a meeting to discuss strategies, industry news, campaign success stories, share ideas, problems and learnings. SEO is constantly evolving and is so broad, so doing these meetings helps us combine the power of an entire team behind every campaign.
10:30am — I’ll check on the performance of my assigned businesses every morning, ensuring there are no fluctuations in traffic or performance. This is when I may need to make some tweaks on these campaigns to improve their results, otherwise, I’ll move onto the scheduled SEO work, like blogs, for other businesses assigned to me.
If a business is new to Localsearch SEO, I’ll begin the on-boarding process, including keyword research, auditing their online presence and website, setting them up in our programs and conducting competitor analysis. For existing businesses, I’ll work on the technical side of their website and on-page structure, improve content and check on their competitors’ results and see how we can use this to improve the business’s results.
An Afternoon in the Life of an SEO Specialist
12:30pm — I always make sure I take a lunch break, even if it’s a walk around the lake or to the shopping centre. There is research about how crucial breaks are for productivity, so it’s important to add into your schedule, no matter how busy you are.
1:00pm — Localsearch has been expanding in the last few months, so we’re regularly conducting interviews for potential new team members. I’ll join the Head of SEO and Head of Search to ensure they’re bringing the right skills and would be a good fit for the team.
1:30pm — Throughout the day, I coordinate and help my team with their own assigned businesses and general SEO issues. As I mentioned, Localsearch is a full-suite service, so i’ll often have to work with other teams throughout the day to ensure our campaigns are working with one another for the best results. When I’m not doing this, I’m following up with campaigns to see further improvements we can make.
3:30pm — As I do help manage a team, my day does look a little different to many other SEO Specialists, as I’ll be juggling guiding staff, as well as my own assigned businesses. But, every day, normally in the afternoon, I’ll always read the latest industry news through e-newsletters, blogs, podcasts, videos, etc. Education really is key to success in doing SEO and getting good results.
4:30pm — Before I leave for the day, I check in with my team again, ensure my email inbox is clear and like to make sure I’ve ticked off all my essentials for the day. SEO is a never-ending process for anyone with a website, but no day looks the same. I love finishing my day knowing I’m helping businesses be able to make the most of everything ranking well on organic search engines, but still be able to do what they do with my help.
5 Ways an SEO Specialist Helps You Grow Your Business
1. Save you hours every week.
SEO is unfortunately not a set-and-forget activity. Major Google updates can have immediate or delayed effects on your search engine, so it’s important to keep an eye on your website traffic and positioning at least a couple of times a week — at a minimum.
When things do change, you need to take the time to figure out what happened and what you need to do. If a major drop in traffic happened, you need to be doing this fast. Even if your results are travelling well, you need to keep working on your website to ensure this remains the way.
Not only does an SEO specialist help you grow your business by doing the work, they also save you time on learning how to do so.
2. Tap into their years of knowledge.
Hiring an SEO specialist is like hiring any other professional (like a builder, accountant, etc.). You’re utilising their training, skills and knowledge, as well as their time and products to execute the job.
There are more than 300 factors search engines use to measure where to place your website in result pages. SEO specialists learn them all, including content and image optimisation, development factors, design implications and more. It’s no easy feat.
As SEO is an ever-evolving field, they also have to do daily education to ensure they can do their jobs. Things can change drastically overnight, so it’s important they keep up to date. Hiring an SEO specialist means you don’t need to do this.
3. Save money on programs.
You don’t need programs to do SEO, but they sure do help. They can help you track the exact search results you’re being shown in, ones you’re not turning up in but should be, where you have errors and more.
However, SEO software can be costly. Some programs start from as little as $99 a month for simple data, whereas some run into the tens of thousands. While expensive, they can help you stay competitive and make doing SEO a lot easier — but it may not be viable for just one business to cover the cost. This is where your SEO specialist comes in.
SEO specialists have spent years testing the programs they find work the best for getting good results. They acquire this software and then can split the cost across all of their clients to make it much more affordable to access such technology, with the added benefit of not having to lift a finger.
4. Improve user experience on your website.
These days, search engines are looking for what will serve their users’ best. As a result, SEO is very much about how to provide the best possible experience to visitors to a website.
The average website visitor gives you 15 seconds or less to impress them. This means in this time, if your website throws them any reason not to trust you (from a pop-up or misplaced images to poorly or irrelevant written content), they’re going to leave.
With good SEO, people aren’t only going to find your website easier, they’re going to enjoy what they find. It’s going to be relevant to what they’re looking for and easy to use. As a result, they’re more likely to find out what you do and potentially contact you. SEO’s primary goal isn’t leads, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t produce them.
5. Increase your website traffic.
One of the most obvious ways an SEO specialist can help you grow your business is through the results they achieve. While SEO can’t guarantee specific results (and if anyone does, run the other way), a specialist has a much better chance than someone without the training, time and tools.
This is where you can tell a good SEO service apart from a dodgy SEO agency. A dodgy SEO agency may be able to get you good rankings, but a good SEO service will get you them, and increase your website traffic.
For example, say you run a dog boarding business in Townsville. You would ideally want to be showing in search results for Townsville dog accommodation or holiday dog boarding Townsville, etc. When you’re in these results, people will click on you as you provide what they’re searching for.
However, some dodgy SEO agencies may show you how many first page positions you have, but not show you what they are. So, for example, they get your dog boarding business on first page results for dog boarding Gold Coast. Your website won’t be relevant to the user, they won’t choose you.
If you’re looking for award-nominated SEO services in Australia, Localsearch can help. Caylee is one of our many SEO specialists at Localsearch and can help you get the results you’ve been looking for. Contact us now for more information.