Search Optimisation Optimisation in 2024: Top SEO expert shares his insights

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is increasingly in demand as cost conscious brands seek to reduce reliance on paid media and increase organic traffic.

Today we are sharing some of the highlights from an interview with Mehmet who is one of the UK's top search experts. Here are some of his key highlights -

✅ Ran the search engine optimisation product at the number 1 performance marketing agency in the UK (iProspect)

✅ Managed Mondelez International search activity across 40 countries

✅ Managed a team running SEO projects for enterprise level brands including Allianz, Sony, Shell, IKEA and Dell

✅ Founder of SEO global practice at the Number 1 media agency (MediaCom)

✅ Managed search (paid and organic) for Proctor & Gamble one of the largest advertisers in the world incorporating brands such as Gillette

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We asked him some questions about the field of search engine optimisation.

What should businesses look for when hiring an SEO expert?

1.  You should look for a track record of producing results for similar businesses. An experienced SEO consultant should be able to share their previous work  successes to establish their competency. Additionally, they should be able to demonstrate how search engine optimisation contributed to the client's bottom line.

2. An SEO expert should be up-to-date on best practices and latest trends in SEO. This is very important as SEO is a fast evolving discipline. They need to have a strong platform knowledge and understand today's search engine ranking factors plus combine that with the ability to apply that knowledge to improve results.

3. Often underestimated, you should look for a creative individual who can come up with ideas as well as implement them, and measure their impact.

4. Finally, businesses should look for a strong collaborator. SEO often requires cross team collaboration - working with technical teams, content teams in house and 3rd party representatives to get stuff done.

What are some of the new techniques that SEO experts are using in 2024?

👉🏽 AI in SEO Automation

Some of the mundane tasks can be automated using AI tools. In the past, one had to be an Excel expert or know a programming language such as Python to perform some of these SEO tasks, e.g keyword grouping, writing SEO titles for 15,000 pages, conducting detailed keyword research, and even coming up with ideas for the next blog post for a website. Today much (though not all) of the leg work can be done with automation.

👉🏽 Usage of Structured Data

The role of structured data is expected to expand significantly in the coming year. Structured data is a method of tagging web pages with machine-readable codes, such as RDFa, Microdata, and JSON-LD, to provide information about the page's content and how it relates to other pages.

This helps search engines understand the information available on a website and index it correctly. By incorporating structured data into your website's code, you can improve its visibility and increase the chances of appearing at the top of search engine results. This is crucial as it can help your business stand out among competitors who may offer similar products or services.

What should we look out for next in SEO?

TikTok is starting to influence how consumer discovers products and brands. We are seeing a definite increase in search behaviour on Tik Tok particularly for certain verticals e.g travel. It makes sense therefore that brands start to think about how to optimise their assets not just for discovery on search engines but also for Tik Tok.

Chat GPT and other AI tools are going to have a massive impact on consumer search behaviour. And consequently SEO. Consumers are very quickly going to be turning to AI to answer questions rather than retrieve lists of websites. We don't yet know the impact on SEO as a discipline, but it will be fundamental. So for now, pay attention to these new tools, and if you are reliant on organic search for your traffic and revenue, be prepared to shift SEO strategy because the AI impact on search is going to be big and fast.

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A big thank you to Mehmet for his insights, and of course if you'd like to chat with Mehmet or another of our SEO experts, just submit a brief here.

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