Welcome to another “This is how we SEO” series. In this episode, we talk to the amazing folks at Groww on their SEO journey.
Groww has been championing the SEO game for the last few years and their growth has been exponential recently. From under 1 Million to 9 Million in 12 Months!
He’s been with Groww for about 6 years now and have done and seen it all! Vikas shares several insights and nuggets that we could all make use of.
This is how Groww does SEO.
How do you define SEO?
For me, SEO is keeping up with the Google search universe. In Groww, we believe in customer obsession. Our goal is to optimize pages in such a way that when customers land on our pages, they derive value from it and are satisfied with the content.
What are some of the cool things you’re doing at your company?
We have received magnanimous growth in the last few years and that’s because we have been focusing a lot on what the customer wants to read.
We’ve come up with some cool technical tactics and knick-knacks which have worked positively. On the content side of things, we have tried striking a balance between evergreen content along with trending topics and identified what the consumer wants from us, through these techniques.
Which marketing channels do you use and prioritize?
SEO, Social, Email, Other
What is your biggest challenge in SEO and how did you overcome it?
I think, for my team and I, we had that little challenging period where we were worried about our website traffic. But the thing about SEO is that it takes time. You need to have patience.
From your end if you do the regular hygiene checks, adhere to basic SEO rules, and bring value to the table, your traffic will rise. It is easy to lose motivation while working with SEO, so patience is literally a virtue here.
What’s your idea of an SEO team – How should it be structured?
It all boils down to how much effort and hard work you put in. For me, an ideal team should consist of a content SEO analyst, a content editor and writers and an amazing tech SEO person! Someone for backlinks and PR as well. This structure can be maintained whether it is in-house or outsourced.
Where do you think SEO is headed beyond 2022?
I have seen vast changes in SEO and SEO tactics. I think, beyond 2022 it’s definitely headed for an exciting turn! With the focus on technology, it will be amazing to see what websites come up with to stand out.
Things are going to get super competitive, algorithms will keep improving, which will make it easier for the user to discover content that they want to read. Things will get convenient for users.
What are the biggest skills for an SEO in your opinion?
Hahaha. Three things!
Knowing how to add value to the consumer.
Keeping up with adhering to the SEO rules.
Patience (Lots and lots of it).
How do you stay updated with trends in the industry?
I read a lot and try speaking to more and more people in the industry and follow trends which are initiated by good websites. I think that helps a lot.
What’s something that you see a lot of people do and follow in SEO but doesn’t really work
A lot of folks come up with a lot of content but that content does not serve value to users and neither do they have a proper keyword research strategy. Eventually, the pages don’t rank.
What’s your advice to young SEOs who are exposed to a lot of information from the industry?
Do your own research and try speaking to people from the industry and do some knowledge sharing!
What do you think SEOs should do during and after a Google update?
See where you went wrong. Correct it asap and lay a foundation for next time, so that you’re not adversely affected. That’s all!
How important are page load times in your opinion?
10 on a scale of 10.
Sometimes it happens that one of your article tops No.1 on Google and after X months, slips down. What do you recommend to do in such situations?
Usually, you will be able to figure out why you lost your top spot and there can be a lot of small reasons. Figure that out and fix it asap.
What is your biggest learning from content marketing so far?
I am a tech guy, but since I work closely with the content team, I have realized that if you want to garner great organic traffic, content and tech need to work together. If you have great content but poor tech SEO, you won’t be able to reach the top and vice versa.
Any instance where you have had to correct yourself/your ideas? What was it?
None that I can think of. But yes, I have definitely realized that proper research and analysis is extremely important to secure the top index for a long period of time
Biggest challenge in SEO today?
SEO is extremely dynamic, this is a good as well as a bad thing. It means that you can work hard and beat websites to secure rank 1, but in order to retain it, you will have to work harder.
How do you recommend measuring ROI on SEO?
That varies from company to company and individual company’s goals. Some people focus on organic traffic, some on page views, some on conversions etc.
A marketing tool that you recently stumbled upon and is excited about?
I don’t use too many of them, but I like Google Webmasters.
What skills do you look for in SEOs when you’re hiring them?
I look at the basics. Whether they are updated with current SEO trends and if they can understand the user or not.
A quote that you live by
Want to build a great product?
I have one mantra for you. Customer obsession and user centricity.
What’s your favourite productivity hack?
Just work smartly. Know what your priorities are, focus on delivering them and repeat!
How does your typical day at work look like?
Code, code, SEO and code some more!
Happy to see Groww scale heights. Looking forward to doing another interview once you 10X that 9M!.
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