SEO Snack: Week of February 18th
Quick Week Summary
What I worked on this past week
This past week had a large portion of time going towards reviewing new content (new pages, page edits, new blogs, rewritten blogs) and optimizing it all before sending off to clients for approval or edits. This is normally the timing for this so that we can have some time before months end to get all of this content live. Another portion of the week was working on reviewing Q1 strategies as we’re coming into a new month and starting to gather some information and ideas for Q2 strategies (crazy to think we’re only a month away from Q2…).
Week Insights
What I struggled with
Passing off Work
One little struggle (that will likely continue but I still want to hit on it) is still giving up part of the process to others. It is 100% what should be happening because my teammates are 100x better at certain pieces of the process than I am but it’s still not easy to do.
One thing I think we SEO folks have to be aware of is that we might have more insight into search tendencies, keywords, analytics, etc. but unless you’ve been writing or designing for a while, you’re likely “off” on this piece and could/should pass this part off to someone with more experience.
What was a bigger headache than it needed to be
GA4 Referral Traffic Spikes
We’re still having some trouble with GA4 not showing “accurate” analytics. This past week, there were a few clients with a spike in referral traffic. Not 100% sure why… still looking into it (maybe this should be in the section above but I’m willing it to be in this one since it’ll be solved soon…).
What went well
Wrapped Up Client Onboardings
Wrapped up a lot of client onboardings this past week! Not sure if anyone else in SEO experiences this but it seems like they come in batches (which is good) but it can “clog” up other work in the month.
What to look out for or tune into
Impact of Social Sharing Images
One thing I’m a bit curious about is the impact that social sharing images truly have on social media analytics (and ultimately website traffic).
It’s something I’m researching a bit more when I have time but the true question is, is it like a YouTube thumbnail amount of importance? Or is the weight more reliant on the title and social media copy included in a post? TBD right now (if you have insight, opinions, or analytics behind any of this, I’d love to hear!)
What weird things happened
GA4 Referral Traffic Spikes Part 2
Going back to the “headache” section, we had an odd amount of clients have referral traffic spikes this past week. Most have high numbers of users and sessions but their engaged session numbers are very low in comparison.
Still a rocky relationship with GA4 but we’re in therapy to work on it (fingers crossed).
Key Takeaways
1. Analytics vs. Actual Conversions
I’m guilty of getting into the weeds a bit with analytics… What I’m working to do is have more conversations with clients about the amount of leads they have and how many are QUALITY leads.
Traffic to the website is great, form submissions even better, but QUALITY leads, that’s where it’s at (mainly speaking to myself here….).
2. Client Feedback is a MUST
Feedback from clients is a must! I don’t know how much this is done in the SEO or agency world in general but the amount of impact asking for feedback from a client has is insane.
It helps us see if they think we are having the impact they expected, have the knowledge of them and the industry like how they want us to, and so much more.
The tough part is sometimes you might think you’re “crushing” it for a client but then you get that feedback and they aren’t feeling the same way… In my eyes, this is perfect because then you can at least have conversations about what needs to change instead of just “crawling along” like everything is perfect.
Resources To Look At
1. Topic Clusters
A great blog from SEMRush about what topic clusters are and how to create them.
2. Ranking Factors 2024
A lengthy (and I mean leennggtthhyy) resource on ranking factors for 2024 from SEMRush, it’s worth it though.
