In the first episode of our Meet the Marketeers podcast on Radio ditto, we talked to Matt Pyke, Founder & Managing Director of Fly High Media, about all things SEO. Specialising in search and paid social marketing, Matt is an expert in helping B2B firms improve their search engine marketing.

From the business case for SEO to conversion rate improvement, we enjoyed a hugely insightful exploration of how firms can better engage with potential customers. So, what can you do to improve your SEO and begin having a positive effect on your other marketing efforts? Matt helpfully laid out his five go-to actions – along with the tools he uses to rank in search results:

1. Audit your existing SEO position

Before you make changes, you need the tools to tell you where to begin. Software solutions that Matt uses with his clients include SEMrush, Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, Google Search Console, and Google Analytics.

2. Make the quick wins

You can’t get to the first page of Google overnight, but one way to make quick wins is to fix issues like broken links that Google Search Console and Screaming Frog will help you spot. All of this will improve your site’s user experience – improving your rankings and campaign conversion rate further down the line.

3. Create the content that prospects are searching for

To build credibility with the search engines, you need to answer the questions your audience is asking. So how do you know what their questions are? Quora is a tool that Matt recommends using to search for the topics of interest to your audience. And, once you’ve identified the relevant topics of conversation, you can get to building content around them – helping you to rank more highly when prospects search for them.

4. Build backlinks to your site

Backlinks are a crucial trust signal for search engines like Google. They show that your site is an authority in its field and worth ranking. The key to achieving this is quality over quantity – creating content that’s relevant to the context of your business. For Matt, a useful way to build these links to your site is to set up brand mentions for your firm (using tools like Google Alerts, SEMrush or Ahrefs). This shows you where your product, service or company is being mentioned; allowing you to claim the link back to your site.

5. Constantly review your targets and achievements

Improving your SEO is an ongoing journey. That’s why Matt recommends a continual process of reviewing your goals to track your progress. At set points (monthly, quarterly, etc.) look back over the work you’ve done. See what’s worked and what hasn’t – then create new goals to aim for. This will make sure you’re constantly improving your SEO bit by bit to push your site up the search rankings.

Discover more about how you can improve your SEO efforts – and why it’s a vital element in the success of your other marketing campaigns. Listen back to the full first episode of Meet the Marketeers below and catch further episodes, here.