A Day in The Life of An SEO Expert at Rock Content: What Does an SEO Specialist Do?

Picture this: someone lounging on the beach, casually glancing at their computer and shooting off a few emails.

Well, that’s far from the daily grind of an SEO pro at Rock Content, or anywhere else for that matter!

I’d love to spill all the beans about my job, but that’d be a whole ebook! So, let’s dive into the core tasks.

Here’s a peek into the daily life of an SEO expert at Rock Content. Get ready for a fun ride!

What Does an SEO Specialist Do In General?

To start off, let’s delve into some of the tasks that SEO specialists typically handle. Here’s a list of 10 common responsibilities:

• Keyword Research: Identifying relevant keywords to target in content and optimization efforts.

• On-Page Optimization: Optimizing web pages, including meta tags, headings, and content, for search engines.

• Content Creation: Developing high-quality, SEO-friendly content to improve rankings and engage audiences.

• Link Building: Acquiring quality backlinks to boost a website’s authority and visibility.

• Technical SEO: Enhancing website performance through tasks like improving site speed, mobile-friendliness, and schema markup.

• Competitor Analysis: Studying competitors’ strategies and identifying opportunities for improvement.

• Analytics and Reporting: Monitoring website performance, traffic, and SEO metrics to track progress.

• Algorithm Updates: Staying informed about search engine algorithm changes and adapting strategies accordingly.

• SEO Audits: Conducting comprehensive audits to identify and address issues affecting website ranking and performance.

• Local SEO: Optimizing for local search to improve visibility for geo-specific queries and attract nearby customers

But what about me?

As you can see, an SEO professional usually does a lot. So, in this blog, I’ll delve into the core tasks that occupy my days. 

You know, they are a real rollercoaster. 

These tasks, and a bunch more, are sprinkled throughout the month, and fitting them all into a single day? Mission impossible!

But hey, the title of this article is “A Day in The Life of An SEO Expert at Rock Content,” and I’m not one to break promises. 

So, how about we get a little imaginative? Let’s envision a day that magically stretches to 176 hours – that’s about the average I put into work each month. 

With limitless imagination, I can share more about my SEO routine. Buckle up!

Keyword Research to Start The Day

In charge of our blog’s evergreen content, my SEO teammate and I have a Slack channel where we brainstorm topic ideas. 

We draw inspiration from competitors, keep tabs on sales discussions, and think about what our buyer persona would like to read. 

When it’s time to plan our editorial calendar, I go into that channel and start thinking of keywords that relate to the topics we’ve added. 

Then, I turn to SEMrush to check, for example, how hard it is to rank for these keywords (keyword difficulty), how many searches they generate (their search volume), and why people are searching for them (their search intent). 

I also look for other related keywords and phrases we can use in our content.

Another tool I find helpful is AnswerThePublic, which tells what questions people are asking about specific keywords.

Besides, I rely on basic Google searches for insights. I pay close attention to the auto-complete suggestions that appear as I type, and the “People Also Ask” feature is another great resource. 

All this helps me gain a better understanding of the questions our audience might have and work on answering them.

With all this information, I plan out our editorial calendar and decide what content will be created.

Content Creation and Management to Keep the Morning Going

I might let you down a bit by saying that we don’t actually create most of our content. Although, we do create some, just like the very article you’re reading now.

It would be quite a heavy lift to generate the current amount of content if we did it all in-house.

Instead, we craft comprehensive content briefs and send them off to our trusted writers on WriterAccess.

Read also: Rocking Content Scaling: Our Step-by-Step Process

Hanging out on WriterAccess

I won’t dive into the nitty-gritty of our content briefs’ creation process since there are a few articles on that (like this one), but I encourage you to learn more about it.

Lately, the game has been changing with the launch of the AI Content Wizard, but the human touch is still essential.

In our content marketplace, WriterAccess, I place orders and enjoy getting in touch with our talented writers.

I provide feedback on each of their pieces and request revisions when the content doesn’t reach Rock Content’s quality standards. 

Read also: 5 Ways to Utilize AI Content Wizard for Enhanced Campaigns

WordPress time

When the content looks good and needs just a few tweaks, I copy it to WordPress and dive into more on-page SEO techniques beyond keyword research. 

This includes things like crafting metadata, incorporating/optimizing multimedia elements, checking keyword frequency, and reviewing the links within the content. 

We use WordPress, and it’s handy because we can plug in tools like Yoast to get tips on improving readability and making the content more SEO-friendly. 

Tools like these don’t handle everything on their own, though, and good SEO and linguistic knowledge are a must for any marketer who deals with content.

Content time travel

In the world of SEO, simply publishing new content isn’t enough; we’ve got to give some love to the old stuff too. 

Refreshing our older articles is a way of showing our readers that we’re committed to providing them with top-notch content.

And it’s not just about making our readers happy; it’s also about staying relevant and meeting our audience’s search intent to rank higher on the SERP. Honestly, I find this task quite enjoyable. 

It’s like a treasure hunt, where I spot areas that need improvement, add fresh insights, fact-check, and enhance grammar and readability.

I won’t lie, doing a full makeover on an article can be time-consuming. There was one time when I invested a solid five hours revamping an article from 2016. I couldn’t help but wonder if starting from scratch might have been quicker.

To save time, we’ve got a trick up our sleeves: quick wins. These are mini-makeovers that take no more than an hour. 

I typically focus on polishing the metadata, refining grammar, optimizing keyword usage and images, and adding new CTAs that align with our current strategy.

Our efforts in refreshing content have been paying off. Just take a look below. When we compare the traffic stats of an article before and after a full update or quick win, the results are exciting. 

A whopping 529.59% increase in traffic is definitely worth the few minutes to a few hours we invest.

Some SEO Auditing After Lunch

Fixing problems is my specialty, as you already know. Isn’t it satisfying to see broken things come back to life?

Besides the content issues mentioned in the previous section, as part of our routine, we tackle more technical aspects such as:

• Duplicate Content: Identify and resolve duplicate content issues within the site.

• Crawl Errors: Address crawl errors like broken links and 404 pages.

• Mobile Friendliness: Ensure the site is responsive and mobile-friendly.

• Schema Markup: Implement structured data to enhance rich snippets in search results.

• URL Structure: Check and optimize URL structure for SEO-friendliness.

• Robots.txt File: Review and optimize the robots.txt file for proper indexing.

• Canonical Tags: Implement canonical tags to address duplicate content issues.

• Content Gaps: Identify gaps in content and develop a content strategy to fill them.

Lately, my teammates and I have been dedicating extra time to addressing indexation problems, particularly 404 errors.

It occurs when a user or search engine attempts to access a web page that doesn’t exist or has been removed, resulting in a “page not found” error. 

If not fixed, it can negatively impact a site’s crawlability and overall SEO performance. To address this, we implemented hundreds of redirects.

What About Some Metrics For Snack?

As an SEO expert, I must be best friends with Google Analytics and Google Search Console (at the very least).

There’s no room for guessing games. Marketers in general need to rely on data to plan their next steps.

Some of the data I keep an eye on include:

• Our blog traffic in relation to monthly and quarterly goals.
• The performance of new articles in terms of traffic.
• Traffic performance following updates and quick wins.
• The number of sessions by North American users (the market we’re targeting).
• The number of conversions (users who clicked on WriterAccess’ trial link) and the pages they came from.
• Keyword behavior (new, lost, improved, and declined keywords’ volume and quality).
• Our top-performing pages.
• Sessions and trials originating from backlinks.

We share and discuss them in monthly meetings where we plan the next steps.

 

Replying to Partners as The Sun Goes Down

Contact outreach is an integral part of my routine at Rock Content. 

I won’t lie, most of the time, partners come to us seeking collaborations, and I spend a significant portion of my time researching and responding to their emails.

Some have already partnered with Rock Content in the past and email us to request new collaborations, as is the case with HubSpot:

Under these circumstances, it’s a no-brainer. We are aware of their reputation, are used to link to their content and the collaboration flows smoothly.

On the other hand, lots of unknown SEO specialists slide into our DMs, all like, “Hey, wanna trade links?” Well, that’s when we put on our detective hats and get down to business!

First things first, we gotta make sure they’re not up to any sneaky link-building schemes. Then, we check out their domain – does it have some serious authority? Is their content vibing with ours? Do we have some common interests in the keyword department? 

There are cases where we come across websites that are entirely unfamiliar to us. For example, we recently had a link-building proposal for a blog we couldn’t gather data about, and their website authority scores fell below the threshold (<40).

In this case, I reply to their emails thanking them for reaching out and explaining that their domain doesn’t meet our criteria for link exchange. It’s not personal, it’s just a matter of maintaining our standards and quality in the link-building process.

The process for guest post exchanges follows a similar pattern but tends to be more time-consuming. 

It starts with identifying the best partners, using criteria similar to link building but with a bit more rigor. 

Then, we craft content for another blog according to their specific guidelines and patiently await their review and publication.

In our case, we adhere to the same process. However, it’s not uncommon for us to receive guest articles that aren’t aligned with our guidelines. As a result, our review process tends to be more demanding.

A Cup of Coffee With My Teammates

Our daily routines might seem pretty alike, but you know how it is—everyone’s got their own take. 

So, I went ahead and asked my colleagues this: “What’s a regular workday like for you as an SEO pro at Rock Content?” Here’s what they shared:

“Usually, I spend the mornings conducting keyword research and creating content while my mind is still fresh. Once my engines are running, I take some time to analyze our weekly results and figure out what is working and what needs improvement. A few technical tasks might also pop up here and there, such as addressing issues flagged by Google Search Console. Although SEO is all about consistency and routine, our days at Rock Content are very dynamic. We’re constantly collaborating with teams like Growth and Product, to better understand user search intent and experience, and align those to our business goals.” Júlia Araújo.

“My routine typically involves checking Analytics numbers in the morning, assessing the week’s tasks, and establishing task priorities. Although we have a very constant routine with our editorial calendar, sometimes SEO news arises – like Google updates, for example, and I need to take a look at these points, discuss, analyze, and share them with the team. So, in short, the routine is made up of many tasks, but my days are never exactly the same thing.” Diana Martins.

Júlia brought up something really important: collaborating with other teams. This is indeed a big deal for us, and it often leads to some great results.

For instance, let me tell you about this checklist I put together with the growth team. They were in charge of creating the landing page for downloading the material, and they used some savvy email marketing tricks to promote it.

Guess what happened? We got a whopping 740 downloads in just one month and 8 MQLs. How cool is that?

Diana also pointed out the need to stay in the loop with the latest news that can have an impact on our work (and believe me, they do from time to time). She even wrote about Google’s most recent core update that rolled out last month.

A Few Remarks Before I Clock Out

The clock is ticking, and it’s almost time for me to call it a day. I hope you’ve had fun delving into a day in the life of an SEO expert at Rock Content.

If you’re also part of this exciting field, I’m curious to know if our routines align. 

And if you’re considering diving into the world of SEO, I hope this article has sparked some inspiration or at least shed some light on whether this path is your cup of tea or not.

Just a quick reminder: this wasn’t a step-by-step tutorial, and I apologize if that’s what you were expecting. But hey, no hard feelings, right? I never promised a tutorial in the first place.

One thing I almost forgot to mention is that, apart from our usual tasks, we SEO professionals at Rock Content occasionally get the chance to shine in webinars or create videos for social media.

It’s a fantastic opportunity to put ourselves out there and our knowledge to the test.

Before I bid adieu, I want to stress the significance of teamwork and collaboration. It’s a big deal here at Rock Content, and as SEO experts, we can’t do it alone.

And let’s not forget WriterAccess, the unsung hero that simplifies our lives. By the way, if your company could use a smoother content production process, I invite you to give it a spin with a free 14-day trial.

Well, that’s a wrap, folks! No overtime today.