We’re now into the third instalment of our ‘day in the life’ series. Our Search Performance Manager Ed and Content Marketing Specialist Chloe have shared their days with us, so now, it’s the turn of Search Marketing Specialist, Jamie Smith.
Local SEO plays a significant role in any search marketing strategy. In fact, 86% of people look up a business’ location on Google Maps, while 61% of mobile searchers are more likely to reach out to a local business if they have a site that’s mobile-friendly. And this is set to grow; last year saw the rise in Google My Business (GMB) features, a rare local SEO update, and only this past month did Google confirm that all sites will switch to mobile-first indexing by September. It’s therefore critical that a local search strategy is implemented for your business.
So without further ado, let’s hear from Jamie what it’s like to operate within the Local SEO sphere.
What does your morning routine look like?
The first thing I do when I get into work is go through my emails to check for any client queries. I read through industry newsletters and check for any important updates, paying particular attention to anything local-based.
Then, I review my clients’ ranking positions, assessing areas across each of my clients, and focus attention where required. As I specialise in Local SEO, this review will include both organic and Map Pack rankings.
What are you responsible for?
I’m responsible for monitoring each of my clients and am the head of Local SEO at Fibre. I regularly set objectives to ensure consistent good performance, ensuring that we are pursuing the correct keywords, optimising on-page content, and managing a site’s local presence.
Another of my core responsibilities is keyword research, which includes assessing key terms that users will search for and formulating a plan to target them, ensuring first position rankings.
What does a typical day at work look like for you?
Each day brings a new challenge – there is never a consistent day due to the constant changes within the industry.
Most of my days consist of assessing client websites; articles and on-page optimisation; reviewing of current strategies, and optimising for Local SEO (including GMBs, Bing Maps, and others).
There are many days that require full attention of keyword research or local planning, which includes reading around those topics and developing my knowledge around them.
What’s your most memorable work moment?
Watching a client improve organically due to my work is always memorable.
For this particular client, their website URL structure was changed in the previous year, resulting in a decline of organic sessions. After I picked the client up, I managed a strategy to restore and improve their organic sessions, which included on-page optimisation, building backlinks, and improving their local online presence.
The client is now 20% up for the period shown YOY (March – Feb), and saw their biggest month yet in Feb 2020!
What do you get up to after work?
I like to wind down from the day by socialising with friends, usually with a few drinks at the pub. Cheltenham’s great because it’s a thriving town that has lots to offer – The Miller is one of my favourite locations right now.
What do you want to achieve in your career?
Growing with Fibre has been a fantastic experience so far, and continuing to progress within the company is a core career goal. I want to be able to lead my own local team and continue to develop and further my knowledge of Local SEO.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone wanting to work in SEO?
Read! There are so many things that you need to know to work within SEO. The only way you can do this is to follow the industry experts and improve your knowledge, listen to podcasts, watch videos…try and learn as much as you can.
If you’re interested in SEO and want to know more about working in the industry, follow us on LinkedIn to see what we get up to here at Fibre. You can also find us on Twitter, where we share the latest updates within the search marketing industry.
