Growth Hacking is a role where one is constantly experimenting and trying out different ways to increase the user base and conversions for their website. They prefer to use inbound marketing techniques to consistently drive traffic to their landing pages and avoid relying on paid means like advertising and social media promotions.
Designing and executing the SEO strategy is an important component of a Growth Hacking profile and has the potential to give a high ROI when it is compared with other ways to attract traffic to a website. A Growth Hacker never has a fixed strategy, as it always keeps evolving. Their success is exactly proportional to how well they are able to do their research and use the findings effectively to get ahead of the competition.
How people See the Growth Hacker role differs considerably.
There are a lot of ways in which a growth hacker contributes to the overall SEO efforts of an organization. The job of a Growth Hacker is not to directly assist in improving the search ranking, but creating a strategy that works. The Growth Hacker is the one who is also responsible for the SEO strategy, which is the backbone of all the SEO efforts for any organization.
Here are the top 10 ways in which a Growth Hacker contributes to a better search ranking.
1> Do Competitor Analysis
The fastest way to get to the top is to understand strategies used by competitors and learn from them. This is where a Growth Hacker spends a considerable amount of time. Comparing keywords, links, content and website design; one is able to easily figure out where one is lacking. Thus, by understanding the key metrics where one is lagging behind the competitors, they target those areas and ensure that the website is improving on all the relevant benchmarks.
2> Take Feedback
A Growth Hacker knows their users extremely well, so they can go ahead and design the right strategy to target them. For this to happen, they interact with current users and possible users for taking feedback either by directly approaching them or by using forms, surveys, etc. The insights that come out of this data, end up making the SEO efforts twice as effective. The more user-centric the website is, the higher the chances of its ranking in the long run.
3> Tracking the Ideal Users
The best organizations in the world have grown on the patronage of its loyal customers. The Growth Hacker knows whom to target and when to target them and for that they try to understand user intent/need first. They do this in various ways, like making a list of ideal users; noting down their demographic, age, profession and then following their online activities to know their interests and preferences. This helps immensely in Keyword Research and ensuring a high readership by creating the right content for the blog.
4> Take it Offline
There a lot of benefits to doing offline outreach and nobody knows it better that a Growth Hacker. One of the biggest advantages is that people come and type the name of the brand in the search engines. These type of branded keyword searches contribute to the increase the authority of the website and helps Google know that people have been hearing about the website and like what they see. The website can be assured of a higher push in the search rankings, the more people reach it with branded keywords.
5> PR Opportunities and SEO
Converting valuable PR opportunities into backlinks can boost SEO efforts in a big way. Take for example HARO, which is a platform where reporters post requirements for information. Anyone can volunteer to give that information to them and get featured in their story, thereby getting a valuable backlink in return. This can be a win-win opportunity for both the parties involved, but the websites have the greater benefit with the backlinks they get. So, a good Growth Hacker always keeps their eyes and ears open to convert any opportunity for a valuable backlink.
6> Capturing the User’s Contact Information
When a user visits a website repeatedly, Google can understand the trust they have on that website. For that to happen, the Growth Hacker is responsible for bringing them back to the website again and again. The Growth Hacker does this by collecting the contact information of all those who reach their website through organic search by adding forms in blog posts, encouraging users to ask questions directly and signing up to a newsletter. Once they have the contact information, they lure them back to the website with discounts, free white papers, blog posts, etc.
7> Capitalize on the latest Market Trends
A Growth Hacker thinks like an investor. They are experts in spotting trends that are starting to pick up and create a strategy to capitalize on the traffic generated by it. Google tells us that nearly 15% of searches each day are for something never searched before. Once, there is a hot topic, the number of searches for it increases by 200-2500%. When one has already created content for a trending topic before all its competitors, they will obviously rank above them and get a huge amount of traffic in a short time.
8> Get Referrals from Users
To expand the reach and convert more customers, Growth Hackers collect as many leads as possible. After all, only 5-10% of leads end up becoming regular customers. When one keep their customers engaged and happy, they would be happy to share the contact information of friends, colleagues who would be interested in the product. Growth Hackers approach these contacts with a newsletter and free product trial to get them interested. This increases the searches for the product and site visits, which are key factors in improving search ranking over time.
9> A/B testing
One of the best ways in which Growth Hackers help grow the audience for a website is by helping in optimizing the content. They regularly do A/B testing for the Headlines for blog posts, infographic designs, blog posts length so as to ensure that content is designed to the specific tastes of users and there is a lesser chance of dissatisfaction among users. After all, one cannot predict what users want or end up satisfying all the users, but with A/B testing one can ensure that a majority of the audience has a great User Experience.
10> Google reviews for the product
A Growth Hacker boosts the search ranking by building credibility for the brand online. One of the smartest ways in which they do it is by requesting some of the most loyal and regular users of the product to write reviews for the organization’s Google Business page. This helps in creating a huge difference in the Google rankings. Also if there is an App on the Google Play Store, they encourage users to give reviews either by contacting them directly or by prompting them indirectly.
Conclusion:
Growth Hackers are responsible for exponential growth in acquiring users, which is one of the biggest assets of any startup/organization today. But is it possible in SEO? Some say Yes, while others are still skeptical. We can assure you that, following these tips you can be sure to make a positive impact in the rankings in the short run.
After all, SEO is not only about links, keywords, and content; it is about customers finding a website valuable. So when you focus on creating a user-centric website with a continuous feedback loop to maintain user satisfaction, you end up delighting your users and consistently increasing your user base, with traffic coming in from both first-time users and returning users.
