Rashmi Saini

My name is Rashmi, and I have around 5 years of experience in like I have experience in. In order to enhance domain authority, what we need to do is, first of all, we need to analyze the entire website using different tools, like SEMrush is the one that I prefer. We analyze the entire website, audit the site, and then check out the issues. First of all, it all begins with technical SEO. So we check out the issues, and then we fix all the issues that are available. There'll be four zero four speed loading speed, everything. Once that part of the website is done, we move to the next step, which is uploading authentic content for our website, which includes whatever our website is related to. For example, if my website is related to data, I'll find the relevant keywords related to my product and then write blogs and articles about them, and then make them available through different sources of content. For example, articles, blogs, if there is any press release related to my product, all those things. And also, I'll make sure that I provide all the answers to the questions related to the keyword that users usually ask for, so that I provide all the information. So that is the type of content that I aim to provide on my website. Once everything is done, when the website is optimized technically, it has proper content navigation, proper navigation on the website. That is one part. And then after that, once all that is done, I can start with the backlinking process. That is totally authentic organic backlinking. I approach similar sites and ask for guest posts, website blog extensions, all those things. So a combination of on-page and off-page SEO can help me enhance the domain authority.

In order to ensure that my team keeps up with the latest Google algorithm update, I personally prefer one of the best websites that is Google Search Engine Journal. That is a really authentic site where you can find answers to all the questions, for example, what are the new updates on Google and everything else? Apart from that, there are other relevant sources for the Google algorithm updates like Backlinko. From there, I get information not only about the updates, but also about any improvement or change in backlinking strategies or everything else. So, that is how I can make sure that my team stays updated. It's not just about the team. Firstly, I check all the updates using different sources, and the most reliable is Search Engine Journal. I go through everything, and then I inform my team about it. Also, I ask my team to stay updated by going through these sites, such as Search Engine Journal, SEMrush blogs, and others, so that they also stay updated on all the new updates.

My experience with international SEO, so currently, the company I'm working with, and the company that I worked with in the past, that is. So both of them are US-based companies. So what I do is, to target international SEO, I make sure to choose keywords as per the region that I need to target. For example, if I'm targeting the US. While doing keyword research, I ensure that I do the keyword research with a filter for the US. For instance, in SEMrush or if you get everything, I search for "data observability." I'll see how much search volume is in the US. So I choose keywords based on the US search volume, and then I pick keywords from there and draft the content or ask writers to create the content accordingly. That's how I target specific countries for the content and the SEO part. Regarding language handling, if we have a preferred country, we can target content in their language. I don't have much experience with this, but I have tools like translation plugins available on Google that we can add to our site, which can help us translate the content to other languages. First, we target keywords accordingly, and then we use those translation tools.

The actual importance of voice search is increasing every day because if you look, we have options for images, voice search. So these are the new things that we need to target nowadays. For targeting voice search, what I prefer is, there is always an option to add a schema called FAQ in our content. So not just a schema. We make sure that whatever content we upload on our website, we need to add FAQs and the schemas for FAQs. What happens is, for example, there is a question like, what are the causes of a heart attack? And I address it in my blog, but I also add an FAQ session. I add one schema for FAQ, and I answer that particular question there as well. So the chances of appearing in voice search increase. While doing keyword research or finding particular questions, what I do is I also look at the section called "People also ask" in Google, where you get the types of questions that might help. Actually, it is not exactly voice search, but it is a type of question that people might ask. So what I do is I consider those questions also by adding FAQs. This has helped me target the voice search part of SEO and help us appear better when there is voice search.

Data plays a vital role, regardless of its form. So there is a high importance of structured data in SEO. For example, data could be anything. Data could be the keyword search volume, the keyword difficulty, for the keywords that I'm targeting. So for example, I'm targeting a keyword. For instance, let's say I'm targeting a keyword, "what are the main causes of heart attack in the US?" So if I'm targeting the keyword for US and consider the data for that particular country, if I look at the search volume in the US, if I look at the keyword difficulty that I might face in a particular region. This is how structured data helps, making it easier to target a particular region, a particular niche, or a particular country. It is very important to have structured data. And for me, structured data is the availability of proper data when it comes to keyword volume, keyword difficulty. Apart from that, another type of structured data that I rely on is the data I get after conducting a site audit, such as the number of 404s on my website, or the broken links. These are the soft 404s on my website. This data is most important while fixing technical SEO issues. Considering all three types of SEO – technical, on-page, and off-page – structured data helps us optimize the website better by providing a proper list of errors. I always make sure to create a proper list. When I have that proper list of errors, it becomes easier to target those questions and fix them properly. Content-wise, when I have structured data on keyword difficulty, volume, and everything else, it becomes easier for me to give guidelines to content writers on how to write the content and what type of content would be better. Additionally, when I have structured data about which sites I need to target for backlink exchange or organic backlinking, for example, if I'm targeting a health-related site and have proper data on other sites that upload similar content, it becomes easier to exchange a link with them. In all three aspects of SEO, structured data plays a vital role in making sure the entire process is smooth, and we carry out everything step by step, and SEO is done appropriately.

How would you identify and prioritize technical issues on a client website? Okay. My first approach whenever I do SEO is to technically audit the site because this is the beginning of the SEO. If the technical part of your website is smooth, it becomes easier to do any other things. If the technical part of my website is not strong, if there are a lot of errors, technical SEO issues on my side, so no matter what I do on page and off page, I will never get appropriate results. To always, I use tools like SEMrush to audit and Google Search Console also. So first, I target SEMrush. So I conduct the site audit and find out all the issues. Then, for example, if there are issues related to meta tags, I try to fix them on my own or give guidelines to the content writers so that this is how they can fix the issues. And since I have a background in content writing also, I take care of the meta tags part. And then if there are any other issues like 404s or any such type of issues that need more attention from the developers, I contact the developers directly. Also, I work directly with the developers. So I tell them these are the issues, and then I ask them to fix. Once the SEMrush part is in and my website health score is above 90, I prioritize errors, notices, and warnings. The SEMrush categorizes regular errors into issues. So I make sure I fix all of them. Once my health score is above 90, I go to Google Search Console, and then I check whatever the issues are. For example, if the pages are not crawled, I find out the reason why they are not crawled. And then I contact the developers and ask them to fix those issues. So this is how I do all the SEO stuff. And I make sure that the company or the client I'm working for understands the importance of technical SEO. Because this is where it all begins. Only then we can proceed further. Otherwise, no matter what we do, Google will never consider it a good site.

Content optimization is in line with SEO best practices. Okay. In order to ensure the content is in line with SEO best practices, I keep checking updates from search engines, SEMrush, and I totally rely on these sites. I check out whatever updates are there, and this is how I know what's going on in the market of SEO or in the current keyword scenario, so I have an idea. Then, the second part is what I do: after doing the keyword research and everything, I provide all those keywords to the content writer. And if it's the beginning, I make sure I explain content writers how SEO-optimized content is written. So that includes having your primary keyword. Like, you should have two types of keywords: primary and secondary, which you're going to target. So I make sure the primary keyword is included in the URL, in my header tags, in my introduction, and in the conclusion. It might sound old school, but it's very important to have keywords in the important parts of your content and also in the meta tags. Then I explain content writers how to include the keywords and tell them the appropriate structure. The appropriate structure for any article is to have a proper introduction, header tags, and a proper conclusion. Considering the current scenario, proper FAQs, and the keyword should be included appropriately. After that, the keyword should be present in the meta tags and the URL, which helps us better understand and target the keywords. For example, if someone is searching for a particular keyword and I have mentioned those keywords in my meta tag, in my URL, and in my header tags, and if a reader comes to my website and checks for that particular keyword again. So they have a clear idea that this is the particular keyword they were looking for, and I've included it. This is how content optimization works. It should have proper keywords, proper format, and it's not just about keywords; the content should also be reader-friendly. For example, I have a topic, heart attack. I try to include as much information as possible in the content. For example, what is a heart attack? What are the causes of a heart attack? Like, how do I identify if I have heart issues? I make sure to include all the information, and then if there's any important data, I provide an external link to an authentic site that refers to this data. For example, if I'm talking about how every year in the US, 5,000 people get heart attacks, I try to source this data from authentic sites like Statista or a.gov site. And then I link to those sites. It helps in two ways: first, it provides an external backlink, and second, it helps to boost the authenticity of the content. So, basically, a good content is one that has a proper structure, primary and secondary keywords, proper meta tags, and links to authentic sites to make our data look more authentic and reliable. Apart from that, I make sure there's proper internal linking also. If I have written something related to the current topic and it could be linked to any other blog on the site, I make sure that the interlinking is done properly. This is about the article, and for the homepage and other pages, the proper structure of the content and meta tags play an important role.

Would you handle the situation with the client's expectation regarding or get improved from SEO and GST? Okay. This is a very common issue that we face every day, literally in every company. Most of the people have this unrealistic expectation from SEO. They think that SEO will do wonders within a day or two. In this type of scenario, it is very important to explain the client by showing them proof from authentic sites. For example, in my past companies, it has happened. Like, people say that you don't need to write a longer form of content, or you just don't need to do backlinking, or you shouldn't pay attention to the technical issues so much. In this scenario, what I do is I pick data from authentic sites that only talk about SEO and such type of thing. Properly, I explain the client by providing them those links. See, this is what's going in the market, and I try to figure out what type of sources the client believes in. If they believe in video sources, I provide them those sources. If they believe in written articles or something, I do the same. My strategy is not just based on telling them things. No one is going to believe us if we just talk to them. It's always a good idea to explain them things with strong proof. So, that is always my strategy. I provide them strong proof and authentic information from authentic sources. This is how I make them believe that this is how the entire thing is done. And if they have any unrealistic expectations, I clearly tell them this can be done, but it might take so and so time, and I tell them the exact reasons with proper proof to make their expectations clear related to SEO. So, I always believe that to provide them proper proof of what actually should be done and can be done, SEO can be really helpful.