Lin Zhao is the SEO Manager at ilk, a Leeds-based integrated marketing agency.
Named one of Prolific North’s Top 50 Integrated Agencies for 2024, ilk is approaching its 25th anniversary since being founded in 1999 by managing director Nev Ridley.
Lin Zhao joined ilk in 2023, having previously worked in SEO at ALT and LITTLE agencies in Leeds.
If you’ve ever wondered what an SEO manager does on a daily basis, fear not, Zhao shared a recent week in his life with us…
Monday
I start my week with black coffee. I can’t do anything before then. Once I have the caffeine in my system, I check my list of SEO clients. How was my organic performance over the weekend? Are there any ranking drops that need to be investigated?
If so, I immediately hunt down the competitors that are dropping my rankings and review and tweak their landing pages to get them back in the top spot. All of my tech audits are also scheduled for late Sunday night, so I jump in and fix any issues that the CMS can handle, or ask a close developer friend to solve what it can’t.
Tuesday
Another cup of coffee, black of course. It’s a very exciting day as we have new business on the way. As the broader integrated team is getting the lowdown on their pitch, I’m spending the day doing in-depth audits of their websites, SEO performance, and looking at competitors to inspire ideas for SEO campaigns and gain insights to share with the creative and communications teams. In my opinion, you can never do too much SEO.
Wednesday
It’s coffee time – you guessed it, black. After my Wednesday mug, I think about a strategic plan for an important client. I believe the best way to understand my client is to do a competitive analysis. So I create a content calendar based on the top-ranking content of my competitors and find out hidden trends and topics they may have missed. Once I’ve selected the best keywords, I send them a copy and design brief.
Thursday
Someone asks me if I want tea. Of course I don’t. This morning’s coffee leads to conversations with people I’ve been briefing throughout the week. Are they happy with their current work? Do they need more information or insight? How does this work relate to broader account activity? After that comes client meetings, SEO progress updates, and answering questions about my area of expertise. I finish my day by checking off a few tasks on my on-page SEO to-do list, drafting metadata, tweaking content, and updating schema data.
Friday
TGIF. Celebrate with… you guessed it, black coffee. Friday is analysis day, so I open Google Search Console to quickly check impressions and clicks, and GA4 to track user engagement. SEO tools also help me analyze my competitive landscape. I add up the week’s successes and not-so-successes to understand what went well and what needs tweaking. I end the week with more free time to see what’s happening in the SEO world by browsing SEO forums and Google updates. If there are any algorithm changes coming up, I want to know about them.
