Learn From the Best: Getting Expert Advice On Enhancing Website Performance

Ever since the start of the pandemic, many businesses have had to go through rapid digital acceleration. While some were well-prepared to move their services online, others needed to learn on-the-go.

Back in May, we decided to run a peer-to-peer campaign to help site owners get expert advice on how to maximize their site’s SEO performance.

To open up this possibility to the wider community, we set up the following campaign rules:

• To enter the campaign, users had to drop a link to their site within the comments section under our LinkedIn post.
• We used a randomizer to select the winner. In this case, this was Interbrands Packaging. 
• Together with Julio Hugo Sánchez Leyva, the Digital Strategist of Interbrands Group, we set up a project within Semrush to run the website through 11 tools. 
• Then, we shared project access with 8 leading SEO experts to collect their site improvement ideas*.

One month into the campaign, we're ready to share their expert tips on how IB Packaging can improve its site performance by looking into different areas, from content to technical to off-page SEO strategies. 

How to Maximize Site Performance: 8 Easy-to-Implement Tips From 8 Leading SEO Experts

Interbrands Packaging is a green packaging service company based in Texas. From creatives, graphic design, and printing to structural engineering, package production, and testing, IB Packaging provides turnkey packaging solutions to any company, big or small.

Website-wise, their site is run on WordPress using Yoast. The website has two subdomains that target both the US and Mexican markets, using hreflang for featuring pages in both English and Spanish.

This is how IB Packaging’s site performance looked like at the time of the campaign:

From site health and visibility score to content performance and backlink portfolio, thanks to Semrush intel, our experts had access to the entire range of stats on IB Packaging’s site performance. 

Let’s see what our industry pros had to say about the ways to boost this site’s visibility across the web.

#1. How to Run a 360° Website Review by Tim Capper, Google My Business Product Expert and Local SEO Consultant at Online Ownership

Tim Capper provides a very thorough review of IB Packaging’s website, addressing everything from technical SEO to content issues. 

Watch the video below to see Tim show:

• How to use keyword research to find out what exactly potential buyers are searching vs. how site owners go about creating content for their website;
• How this discrepancy results in issues ranging from site structure to missing reach and purchasing opportunities.
  

You can connect with Tim Capper on Twitter and LinkedIn.

#2. How to Improve Content Relevancy by Joe Williams, Founder of Tribe SEO

By taking a glimpse at the site’s homepage, Joe Williams shows how to: 

• Use search-driven content strategies to enhance site structure;
• Pinpoint which keywords should be added to relevant pages to best meet user intent by leveraging insights from Semrush’s Keyword Overview.
  

Connect with Joe Williams on Twitter and LinkedIn.

#3. How to Fix Performance-Hindering Site Issues by Lukasz Zelezny, Director, Co-Founder — SEO Expert and Consultant at SEO.London

Lukasz Zelezny unwraps the most powerful approach for giving the site an instant visibility boost — finding high-impact keywords to tackle.

Tune in to the video to see Lukasz give some tips on how to:

• Discover untapped keyword opportunities by running the site through Keyword Gap;
• Spot the most relevant ones using the competitor discovery feature within Domain Overview;
• Proceed with rank tracking using the power of Position Tracking (teaser: add more non-branded lower-ranking keywords that tackle various URLs).

Connect with Lukasz Zelezny on Twitter and LinkedIn.

#4. How to Ensure Quick SEO Wins by Ulrika Viberg, CEO & Founder at Unikorn (Sweden-based digital agency)

Ulrika Viberg focuses on ways to run quick site fixes using insights from Site Audit. 

In the video below, she reveals how to address the key errors:

• Dealing with http and https issues;
• Getting rid of duplicate title tags; 
• Getting the site HSTS-ready for a faster and more secure experience.
  

Connect with Ulrika Viberg on Twitter and LinkedIn.

#5. How to Enhance Site Usability by David Rosam, Founder at David Rosam Digital Marketing, Digital Marketing and SEO Consultant

David Rosam dissects the key site usability issues:

• How to address the lack of informative content and optimize the use of visuals;
• How to deal with navigation issues and broken pages. 

Watch David’s quick overview below to find out how to prioritize site enhancement efforts to see instant results.

Connect with David Rosam on Twitter and LinkedIn.

#6. How to Address Core Web Vitals by William Rock, Director of Search at Dynamic Consultants Group

William Rock offers a comprehensive website review, walking through the entire site health assessment workflow using Site Audit. 

He gives tips on:

• Implementing small improvements that can make a big difference;
• Enhancing your online advertising efforts and even enriching content creation with the help of Keyword Overview and Keyword Magic Tool.

The key site performance issue, though, has to do with loading time which can affect user experience and hinder the site’s performance — especially once the Core Web Vitals update has fully rolled out. Go through the video below to discover William’s tips on addressing slow site speed.

Connect with William Rock on Twitter and LinkedIn.

#7. How to Implement On-Page and Off-Page SEO Tricks by Rob Peck, Director of Client Services at O3M Directional Marketing

Rob Peck gives a comprehensive on-page and off-page SEO performance overview for the site, highlighting the top opportunities that are currently missed:

• Using Site Audit intel, Rob creates a “laundry list” that features every site aspect that has some space for improvement — from images to interlinking.
• For identifying content opportunities, he uses the On-Page SEO Checker, suggesting how to turn IB Packaging’s website into their niche’s Wiki + Amazon.
• Looking for some off-page SEO opportunities, Rob leverages Semrush’s Backlink Gap tool to unravel potential link-building prospects for the website.

Make sure to check Rob’s analysis below to see how to go about on-page and off-page SEO improvements. Don’t miss his original tip on using Brand Monitoring to effortlessly build new backlinks!

Connect with Rob Peck on Twitter and LinkedIn.

#8. How to Maximize Home Page Content by Chima Mmeje, Content Strategist and SEO Copywriter at Zenith Copy

Chima Mmeje focuses on the site’s gaps in content that drive people from top to the bottom of the funnel, spotting cases where the site does not even rank well for branded keywords.

Chima also takes an in-depth look at the site’s home page to give tips on delivering a greater user experience on the main page by better reflecting product value, simplifying design elements, and adding more social proof.

Connect with Chima Mmeje on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Over to You

While our SEO experts all focused on various site improvement angles, you can see that there were some overarching issues pointed out by everyone:

• Unclear site structure;
• Underperforming and/or insufficient content;
• Usability issues;
• Untapped keyword and backlink opportunities.

Most of the problems highlighted for IB Packaging’s site are actually among the most common SEO mistakes. 

If you want to get this kind of expert advice for your website, stay tuned to Semrush’s LinkedIn and Twitter pages. We’re planning to run similar campaigns on a regular basis, so you may be the next lucky winner who’ll get their website reviewed by top SEO pros! 

*Disclaimer: All the recommendations shared in this post come as mere suggestions. Since every site and industry are different, we do not recommend you to blindly follow our experts’ tips and implement changes to your site based on their recommendations.