SEO is often explained through keywords, rankings, backlinks, technical optimization, and content.
But working in SEO for several years teaches you something different.
You learn that SEO is not simply about getting a website to rank for a keyword. It is about understanding a website, understanding its audience, identifying problems, finding opportunities, and continuously improving the overall search experience.
I have been working in SEO for more than 10 years, and during this journey I have worked in an agency environment at HMLC and continue to work in the SEO field today.
Now, as a Freelance SEO Consultant, I want to share some of the practical lessons I have learned during my SEO journey.
My Journey in SEO
My professional SEO journey started with agency work.
Working at HMLC gave me the opportunity to work in an environment where SEO was not just theoretical. Websites have different structures, different industries have different levels of competition, and every project can come with its own challenges.
Agency work also taught me the importance of managing different SEO requirements and looking at websites from multiple perspectives.
Over time, I gained experience across different areas of SEO, including technical SEO, on-page optimization, keyword research, content optimization, and search performance analysis.
Today, I continue to work in SEO while building my work as a Freelance SEO Consultant.
SEO Is Not Just About Keywords
One of the biggest things I have learned is that SEO is much broader than keyword placement.
Earlier, it can be easy to think of SEO as:
Keyword → Content → Ranking
In real projects, it is rarely that simple.
A page can target the right keyword and still struggle because of technical problems, weak content, poor search intent, website structure, competition, or other factors.
This is why I now look at SEO more holistically.
The question is not just:
“Which keyword should this page rank for?”
It is also:
“Why should this page deserve to rank for that search?”
Every Website Has Different SEO Problems
Another lesson I have learned is that there is no single SEO checklist that works perfectly for every website.
For one website, technical SEO might be the biggest priority.
For another, the website may have technical health but lack useful content.
An e-commerce website may have thousands of product and category pages that need a completely different approach.
A local business may need stronger local search visibility.
This is why I prefer to understand the website first and then decide what should be prioritized.
Technical SEO Can Make a Big Difference
Technical SEO is one area that I have worked on extensively.
Technical problems can prevent search engines from properly crawling, understanding, or indexing website pages.
Some areas I regularly look at include:
- Website crawlability
- Indexing
- XML sitemap
- Robots.txt
- Canonical tags
- Redirects
- Broken links
- Website structure
- Page speed
- Mobile usability
- Core Web Vitals
However, technical SEO should not become a checklist exercise.
The important question is whether a technical issue is actually affecting the website’s ability to be crawled, indexed, understood, or used effectively.
Content Should Solve a Searcher’s Problem
Another important lesson from working in SEO is that adding more content does not automatically mean better SEO.
A website can publish dozens of articles and still struggle to generate meaningful organic traffic.
The content needs to have a purpose.
Before creating content, I try to understand:
- What is the person searching for?
- What information are they actually looking for?
- What type of page does the search require?
- Does the existing website already have a page for this topic?
- Can the content provide something genuinely useful?
This approach helps move content creation away from simply writing articles for keywords.
SEO Requires Continuous Analysis
SEO is not something that you complete once and forget.
Websites change.
Competitors change.
Search results change.
Content becomes outdated.
Technical issues can appear after website updates.
Because of this, SEO requires regular monitoring and analysis.
Tools such as Google Search Console, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and analytics platforms can help identify changes in organic performance and uncover areas that need attention.
But tools are only part of the process.
The important part is understanding what the data is telling you.
Rankings Are Not the Only Thing I Look At
Rankings are obviously important in SEO, but they are not the only metric that matters.
Depending on the website and its objectives, I may also look at:
- Organic traffic
- Search impressions
- Click-through rate
- Indexed pages
- Keyword visibility
- Organic conversions
- Landing page performance
- Technical issues
- Search queries
For a business website, the ultimate goal is usually not simply to collect rankings.
The website should attract relevant visitors who have the potential to become customers.
Agency Experience Taught Me Another Important Lesson
Working in an agency environment taught me that SEO often involves balancing different priorities.
You may identify ten things that could be improved, but that does not necessarily mean all ten should be done immediately.
SEO requires prioritization.
For example, fixing a major indexing issue may be more important than making small on-page changes.
Similarly, improving an important commercial page may have more business value than optimizing a page that receives very little search demand.
This is something I continue to apply in my freelance SEO work.
Moving Towards Freelance SEO Consulting
After gaining professional experience in SEO, I started developing my work as a Freelance SEO Consultant.
Freelancing gives me the opportunity to work more directly with businesses and understand their individual requirements.
Instead of simply looking at SEO tasks, I can focus on the bigger picture:
What does the business want to achieve, and how can SEO support that goal?
My work can include technical SEO, on-page SEO, local SEO, e-commerce SEO, keyword research, content optimization, and SEO analysis depending on the website’s requirements.
What I Am Still Learning
Even after 10+ years in SEO, I don’t consider SEO something that you simply finish learning.
Search engines continue to evolve, websites change, and new technologies are changing how people search for information.
AI is also becoming an important part of the search ecosystem.
For an SEO professional, continuing to learn and test different approaches is therefore important.
I regularly follow changes in search, analyze website performance, and continue improving my understanding of SEO.
My Approach as a Freelance SEO Consultant
My approach is relatively simple.
First, understand the website.
Then identify the problems and opportunities.
After that, prioritize the work based on potential impact.
Instead of applying the same strategy to every website, I prefer to build an SEO approach around the individual website, its audience, competition, and business objectives.
Final Thoughts
My 10+ years in SEO have taught me that successful SEO is not about following a fixed formula.
It requires technical understanding, content knowledge, analysis, patience, and continuous learning.
My experience at HMLC gave me a strong foundation in working with SEO in an agency environment, while my current work continues to help me understand the practical challenges businesses face with organic search.
Today, as a Freelance SEO Consultant, I use that experience to help businesses identify SEO opportunities and improve their websites’ search visibility.
SEO continues to change, and that is one of the reasons I enjoy working in this field.
About the Author
Rahul Shrivastava is a Freelance SEO Consultant with 10+ years of professional experience in SEO. He has worked with HMLC in an agency environment and is currently working in the SEO field. His areas of work include Technical SEO, On-Page SEO, Local SEO, E-commerce SEO, keyword research, and content optimization.
Visit RahulSEO.in to learn more about his SEO services and insights.
