How I got a quick SEO win for a client new to the digital space — and targeted improved conversions with branding & UX work.

Opportunity

• Business: achieve better appearance and visibility in SERPs (search engine result pages) and improve showing/ranking for business-critical searches
• Brand & UX: improve brand visibility in organic search, as well as click-throughs and site engagement
• SEO: improve site authority, provide an actionable list of fixes, and uncover new opportunities for growth

The Way Forward:

September-October 2017: After Hostly was a new small business client that had a great business idea but just needed an SEO “point person” to identify the organic search opportunities, make short-term optimizations, and set them up for growth given a limited budget.

So my digital consulting model was perfect for them. In a few weeks, I was able to:

• Diagnose, contain and quickly resolve technical SEO issues with an efficient site audit tailored to their platform (WordPress) and opportunity analysis
• Get them high on page 1 of Google for their target geomodified search terms around “airbnb management”
• Clean up onsite content & boost UX, targeting improved conversions (contact form)
• Build site authority offsite with ethical offsite SEO tactics, including backlink building that leveraged competitive analysis

You can see the results in this Google Search Console snapshot (left). It’s been over a month since I’ve made changes, but I’m seeing that the site continues to pick up new positions and improve position overall around their geomodified terms like “chicago airbnb management.”

One thing to note with Search Console analytics too is that if you’re a new or growing site picking up positions for keywords, your avg. position (green line) as Google defines it tends to drop; since as you rank for new keywords you’ll start out lower for these. As I tell clients, the metric you should really be tracking instead is total impressions (orange line).

For many small-business WordPress sites, I can make a rapid difference like this with an efficient strategy & implementation package because I know the platform and common onsite issues/opportunities well. The key advantage for small business owners is that my SEO approach keeps costs contained.