Elyssa Kirkham: Search Content Strategy & Optimization (SEO)

Hi, Elyssa here! I’ve been drafting online content in line with SEO best practices for content marketing, on-page SEO, and editorial SEO since 2010 (basically the beginning of SEO efforts).

  • Deep experience with implementing SEO best practices and on-page optimizations. I have 14 years’ experience creating and optimizing digital content for high performance on SERPs, including:
    • SEO-driven content strategy and creation that attracts links, builds domain authority, outperforms competitors, ranks highly in SERPs, and increases clicks and traffic.
  • Proficiency in content, SEO, online and data tools including:
    • SEO and onsite analytics tools: Google Analytics, SEMRush, Ahrefs and ClearScope
    • Content management systems: WordPress, Drupal, Skyword and custom CMSs
    • Digital markup including metadata, HTML, CSS, XML and JSON

Here’s a deeper look at my past SEO content experience and duties, including case studies and examples of work.

Content Strategist for the Facebook Help Center at Meta

  • Monitored SEO performance of 250+ help articles, analyzed search metrics and on-site data to identify and audit underperforming content, and then strategized and shipped SEO optimizations.
  • Developed team-wide SEO standards & practices: Participated in a Search Working Group to identify opportunities to improve SEO tools, technical search, operations, and processes. Researched best practices to improve SEO tooling and processes, then tested and measured the effectiveness of new tools or approaches. Applied learnings to develop and establish teamwide best SEO practices, operations and processes.
  • Led team SEO skill- and knowledge-building efforts. Measured team SEO knowledge and identified skills gaps and areas where team members needed training and support. Developed and led teamwide trainings on SEO knowledge, skills, and tools to enable content strategists to improve content and action against core SEO goals.

SEO Case Study: Optimizing content for user intent

Situation: I was tasked with creating and monitoring performance of help content for a new product, a hub for audio-based content such as clips, music, and podcasts. In doing so, I noticed one of these articles received significantly higher traffic compared to others on the same topic, paired with a below-average binary helpfulness rating.

What I Did: The combo of higher visits and low helpfulness signaled to me a potential misalignment in the on-page SEO and keyword usage, and user search intent. I investigated search metrics including search queries and traffic sources to validate this hunch, and found that many users intending to learn how to turn off sound on the Facebook mobile app were instead landing on my articles related to the audio hub product. I then strategized and shipped optimizations to resolve this issue:

  • Catalogued user search queries and the keywords that most closely matched them.
  • Optimized the relevant article (Turn off in-app sounds on Facebook) for these keywords across metadata and on-page content. Optimized the non-relevant audio hub articles to limit use of relevant keywords.
  • Researched competing content and found many provided instructions to turn off sounds for the iOS versions of this app, so I also added instructions for iPhone and iPad.

Result: The quarter after shipping these optimizations, visits increased by more than 50% to the more-relevant article, “Turn off in-app sounds on Facebook.” Helpfulness ratings also rose across all optimized articles.

Additional SEO Content Samples

In-House SEO Writer and Editor: GOBankingRates, Student Loan Hero, LendingTree

  • Ideated SEO content and conducted competitive research and keyword research, using tools such as SEMRush, Moz, Google Analytics and more.
  • Applied SEO and content best practices and guidelines (such as EAT and EEAT) to create consistently high-performing content that earned top spots in SERPs.
  • Strategized content that indirectly supported SEO efforts, such as studies and surveys that attracted media attention and links, boosting site credibility and domain authority.
  • Drafted and rewrote content to target high-value keywords by optimizing keyword frequency and placement, article structure and formatting, and content helpfulness and accuracy.

Case Study – Student Loan Hero: Targeting keywords related to getting personal loans with a credit score of 550 or less

As a writer for Student Loan Hero, I wrote many SEO-optimized articles that were among the highest performing in traffic, search rankings, and revenue with high rates of click-throughs to our affiliate lending partners. Here’s an overview of the

Situation: I was assigned an article for a competitive topic: taking out a personal loan with a credit score of 550 or below.

What I did: On top of the keywords I was assigned to target, I conducted keyword and competitive research to find additional keywords and phrases to target. I identified high-value information covered in competitive articles. I drafted a compelling article with a killer introduction, expert sources and quotes, comprehensive coverage and an easy-to-follow structure.

Result: Upon publishing, my article quickly climbed search rankings to become the top result for targeted keywords. Beyond SEO success, this piece was the top revenue-generating article on the Student Loan Hero site for over a year, with a 2% click-through-rate (CTR) to affiliate partners’ sites. (Unfortunately, the Student Loan Hero site has since been taken down along with this article.)

Additional SEO Content Samples