SEO: The New Frontier in Marketing Strategy
Marketing principles
The 2023–2024 Helpful Content Updates have transformed SEO from a primarily technical discipline into a comprehensive marketing tool. Modern SEO now incorporates classic marketing principles—user psychology, engagement, and campaign strategy—essential for building lasting connections with your audience.
What does this mean?
SEO specialists have long got a bad reputation – often well deserved – the number of SEOs agencys I have had to report on that were responsible for driving mis-matched traffic to websites and then asking the client to change their business model, pricing or marketing funnel is extensive – in the worst cases this has lead to massive disruptions, especially in the luxury sector, allowing cheap immitations to gain a foothold in the market. Consequently completely disrupt our ability as a customer to choose to buy quality, ethically or on grounds other than price via online search.
This is now changed – and changing, with advanced technical and AI capabilities the word ‘intent’ should be your mantra and your hope for achieving real gains in 2025.
How to improve your SEO on WordPress.
It also means that you need a balanced approach – technical SEO is essential – if your site is slow or badly structured with no regard to logic or how bots can essentially catagorise your content then you will not be able to make any in-roads amongst the competition. However, if you ignore the user perspective – content marketing and UX for example – you will equally be left flailing. To have competant digital Marketing Managers with the ability to apply traditional marketing principles, understand and be able to deliver compelling and engaging content and tie-in across omnichannel campaigns is the way forwards. SEO is your shop front – to be #1 with a featured snippet, image or video pack is worth the same as what would have equated to a shop front with high footfall – that is if that search query is commercial and your strategy also returns well during the intial fact-finding searches involved in the purchase journey. You may decide to opt for freelance wordpress SEO services or outsource your digital to an agency – but the following factors are essential elements of your organic search performance and SERPs results.
Click Psychology & User Intent
In today’s SEO, understanding and aligning with user intent is paramount. SEO now goes beyond keyword optimisation; it’s about anticipating why users search, what drives their clicks, and how to guide them through an engaging experience on your site. This focus on click psychology means crafting titles, descriptions, buttons and content that not only match user queries but also spark curiosity, providing solutions users are eager to explore.
Lead Times and Engagement
SEO is now a strategic part of the user journey, recognising the importance of lead times in different industries. For example, a user looking for home improvement services may browse multiple options over several months, while someone searching for a gift may make a quick decision. By understanding typical engagement and lead times, we help tailor content and call-to-action strategies that meet users exactly where they are in their buying journey, increasing the chances of conversion. Whats your USP! For some reason one of the fundamental purchase drivers seems to be being openly obliterated by ‘price’. No-one wants to be ripped off – but if you clearly guarentee – next day delivery – make sure you provide a promise. If you clearly can guarentee – transparent comms – deliver it – it’s really not rocket science.
Campaign Planning and
User Journey Mapping
Successful SEO today involves mapping out the entire user journey and integrating SEO with broader campaign objectives. This includes planning around seasonal trends, personalising user experiences, and aligning site optimisation with other marketing efforts to ensure seamless engagement. With the right content and a strategic campaign approach, SEO becomes more than just a traffic generator—it’s an engine for selling, creating brand awareness and sustained user engagement and brand loyalty.
Experience, Expertise, Authority,
and Trust (E-E-A-T)
with a Marketing Twist
While E-A-T remains a pillar of Google’s rankings, it now demands a marketing-driven approach. Building trust and authority online involves high-quality backlinks, digital PR, and authoritative content, but it also extends to how your brand is perceived at every stage of the customer journey. We integrate SEO with branding and engagement strategies to make your site not just a destination but a memorable experience that resonates with users long after they leave.
Our SEO Packages
(Including Data-Driven Insights)
Using the latest search trend data, all of the Freelance SEO services offered by AVF offer a comprehensive, data-informed approach tailored to your industry’s needs. If you are worried about commiting to a monthly retained programme – I can offer the following monthly SEO packages. You can dip in and out as you please – I would recommend that most sites would benefit from a mix of all three – in different weightings. If you are looking for ecommerce specific services for content – opt for option 1.
1. Content and Site Structure
– £850 per month
Keyword and trend analysis tailored to industry-specific terms
Data-driven content creation with trending, season-specific topics
Structured site architecture and internal linking to improve UX and SEO
2. Technical and Page Speed
– £850 per month
Site speed optimisation, ensuring minimal impact from core web vitals on search ranking
Technical SEO adjustments based on recent algorithm changes and performance data
Regular reporting on site health, crawlability, and ranking improvements
3. Local SEO and PR
– £850 per month
Google My Business optimisation with trends for localised search terms
PR outreach aligned with high-interest content and trending industry topics
Localised keyword targeting to meet your regional audience’s specific search behaviour
Local Freelance SEO Essex – if you are looking for local SEO services across the UK or are looking for a freelancer local to Essex it is worth enquiring. The link above provides more detail on the sectors of experience I can offer. I also partner with agencies and have PM and DM experience and am happy to provide no obligation quotes and general consultancy.
**If the amount of technical SEO required to make a real difference to your site is too great in value to make commercial sense – we will advise you, for example – it may be more cost effective to build a new site – this especially true if your site is more than 5 years old.
freelance web development services can be provided – the average price is around £5,000
** It is a professional obligation of any contracted service to provide ‘professional advice’ as such it is our (as a business owner) obligation to provide this information to you.
I am also able to provide introduction or pitch documentation for those of you looking for sites at around £1k-£2,500 or those around the £10k-£50k bracket
4. Retained Freelance SEO Plans
- Technical SEO audits, updates and improvements
- On-Page strategy, UX, CRO and internal linking
- Guestposts, outreach, PR and backlinks
- Content, strategy, structure and creation
- Marketing management – omnichannel
- Retained SEO services start at £1480 per month and are crafted bespoke to your needs. That’s a senior specialist on your site, your business, your brans and your sales – for £17,000 per year – leaving you enough budget to afford direct employees – and their national insurance contributions!
UK Small Biz SEO Package
- Rolling package
- £150 per month – but no contract to tie-in
- Simply pay £150 when you want to top-up your account and activity
- Outline roadmap/plan provided prior to payment
- If you refer someone who takes up the offer – get a month free!
- Pay for 8 months out of 12 and get a free templated WordPress site and migration
** free site only applicable to those sites of less than 4 pages upon initial contact
Other Articles relating to SEO and content
Take a look back through some of these useful articles providing further insight into the Freelance Digital Marketing Services provided to improve WordPress SEO and digital marketing services provided to a range of clients in the UK.