Tell us a bit about Wild SEO and how you got started…
Wild SEO Agency helps make your website more friendly in the eyes of Google (a robot) and to humans (your visitors) so that you appear when people search for things on the search engine. This is known as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Wild SEO Agency started out as a bit of an escape for me. I was a new mother to a little boy born in March 2020, and ten days after giving birth we went into the first lockdown. Everything I was expecting when becoming a new Mum was no longer a possibility – no healthcare checks, no baby groups, no friends and family cooing over my baby… And as someone who likes to plan and feel prepared, this was not a comfortable time for me. I was craving normality and desperate for a safe haven from the craziness that the world and everyone in it – was experiencing.
So once I got into the flow of motherhood and my brain was a little less filled up with the countless questions and worries that come with being a new parent, I unexpectedly found myself with a fair bit of spare time (while the baby was sleeping) and a lot of probably quite nervous energy with nowhere to channel it… and so Wild SEO Agency was born!
It started off with me wanting to upskill and update my knowledge of SEO, which was a tactic I had loved right from the start of my digital marketing career 7 years prior and it slowly grew from there. I did some work on a few friend’s websites to brush up my skills, I then won my first paid project at the end of 2020 and eventually it became what I guess nowadays we’d refer to as a bit of a side hustle… but with a big vision!
What kind of clients do you work with?
My main focus is to work with small businesses, charities, churches. This is because from my experience, these are the types of clients who are likely to have little-to-no knowledge of SEO, but are likely to reap huge benefits if they were to rank higher on search engine results pages.
Also, it seems that these organisations don’t typically have a dedicated marketing person or SEO, nor a large marketing budget to throw at acquisition tactics, meaning that great value-for-money is vital to them. So I find that these types of clients are willing to bring in someone like myself with my experience, for a fixed-term project at an affordable rate, to invest in optimising their number one owned acquisition tool – their website.
What has the agency growth looked like after the past few years and what has been the main contributor to this?
It’s been a slow and intentional start for Wild SEO Agency since I took on my first paid project at the end of 2020… I spent the majority of 2021 juggling being a wife and a mother to a toddler, with a baby on the way, while working a full-time job and trying to stay sane during lockdown and the ever-changing restrictions – so as you can imagine, my capacity was limited for Wild SEO Agency. But despite this, I was still able to deliver on SEO strategy for over ten different clients, launch and optimise my own website (wildseo.agency), grow my social media presence (great for networking and bringing in new clients) and set myself up with a rebrand and launch at the start of 2022.
And now that we’ve entered the new year, I am beyond ready to throw everything I have at growing my business. I have the time, mental-capacity and expertise to grow Wild SEO Agency into hopefully, a very successful yet sustainable business that is going to have a real impact on those that I deliver SEO on behalf of.
What are your 3 top tips for someone who is looking to get their SEO in a healthier position?
My first top tip (and probably the biggest thing that I harp on about when I’m introducing people to SEO) is do not be afraid to learn how to do it yourself! There’s no denying that some aspects of SEO are more complex and technical, but so much of it really isn’t as scary as people first think. There are so many resources out there (Ahrefs, Moz, Blue Array to name a few) that I truly think anyone who has a basic understanding of their own website, could implement basic SEO practices without even breaking a sweat.
My next top tip would be to set your website up on Google Search Console. It’s quick to set up and gives you direct access to the information that Google has on your specific domain. You can see exactly what people are typing into Google in order to click through to your site (this can help you generate content that your audience is looking for) and it’s the go-to place to fix any major issues that may be stopping Google from ranking your website altogether. It’s a must-have in SEO.
And my third top tip would be to undergo (if you’re keen to learn) or commission (if you have the budget) keyword research. It will provide SO much data-based insight into what your audience are actually looking for online that you’ll be generating content for days/weeks/months. These keywords can be used right across your website, from page titles and URLs, to image file names and alt-text, as well as for use within all of your website copy and of course a blog if you have one (and we recommend that you have one!).
What systems do you recommend to analyse SEO and traffic? (free or paid)
There are so many that I honestly feel overwhelmed just thinking about trying to write them all down. I would say for analysing your SEO, use the browser Google Chrome and add free extensions like MozBar or Lighthouse by Google. Lighthouse scores your website (which is great for benchmarking) and then lists recommendations on how to make your website better for both search engines and users.
Google Analytics is another fab free tool which will help you to analyse the traffic of your website and share insights like demographics and user behaviour on your website, which you can then turn into tangible actions to optimise your site. And of course Google Search Console will be your best friend in SEO analysis.
In terms of paid tools there are two routes you can go down depending on your budget and commitment to improving your SEO. You can either invest in individual tools to monitor and optimise based on the different pillars of SEO (technical, link building, content and user experience), or subscribe to one tool that does it all! There are pros and cons for both, but if you want individual tools, then Majestic is a good start for links, as is Link Research Tools. ContentKing is great for content and SEMRush who offer a number of different on-site auditing tools. Moz Pro is great for keyword research and content generation, as is the Chrome extension Keywords Everywhere. And while there are a number of SEO ‘all-rounder’ tools on the market, my own personal preference is SEMRush. While it is costly, it really does a great job at bringing together analysis from all corners of SEO.
Quickfire questions:
Ideal blog length
The longer the better, on the basis that the blog is relevant and brings value to your audience; that you use headings and subheadings to break up the content; and that it is a minimum of 200 words.
How long will it be until I see results?
SEO is a complex process – there are no quick fixes or instant results (unfortunately). So as a general rule, I would expect to start seeing return 6-9 months down the line.
Longtail or shorttail keywords?
A mix of both. We call long-tail keywords ‘low-hanging fruit’ in SEO because typically it is easier to rank higher for them because there is less competition. However they have lower search volumes which means less traffic to your website… which is where finding short-tail keywords that have those higher search volume are beneficial and worth playing the long game for.
Best place to go for effective link building?
Other than me? (Shameless plug)… To learn about how to do it yourself, I would recommend using resources like Moz Resources or reading blogs like Ahrefs. In terms of tools, Link Research Tools is great for specifically focusing on link building. However if you don’t have the budget to pay for specialist tools for the different areas of SEO, then SEMRush is my recommended ‘SEO all-rounder’ tool.