Wilson
I'll start with two:
1. With all the expensive, paid SEO/SERP tools I have, I still love the (FREE!) Chrome extension SEO Ruler Extension.
1A. Two things to try right away: "Copy people also ask" in Search Engine Result Page (SERP). Click the relevant ones first, and it will bring up new, related questions. These questions make great H2 Q&A sections and can help you grab the knowledge graph/position 0.
1B. "Copy bold keywords (unique)" in SEO Ruler Extension. This will give you a list of all the unique words on page 1 (make sure to change your Google search settings to bring up 100 results instead of 10) When writing or updating content, make sure you naturally include all of these words.
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Wilson
2. The Pulno audit (shoutout Jacek) Using the Google Search Console (GSC) analyzer, this tool finds terms you're appearing in search for but ARE NOT included in your title. Once you add that keyword in, you'll likely see your Click Through Rate (CTR) increase and impressions as well.

Corina
1. Research and plan the ideal structure and architecture based on keywords, audience and niche
2. Craft a new site to fit the ideal structure, or adapt your existing site by moving pages, redefining content, updating navigation and addressing User Experience (UX) issues
3. Weave your keyword variations into the content to read naturally and ensure content answers visitors questions
4. Address remaining technical issues like permalink structure and redirects
5. Link the content to itself across the site, using keyword-rich varied anchor text to help users navigate and to please the almighty G.
Keith L Evans ^🎓
One shortcut I love to do in SEMrush is check pages and see what variety of keyword are ranking in top 100. For an easy win, I add the new keyword as <H2 and or related content. Boom! Ranking goes up and so does traffic!!!
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Noah Lopata ^🎓
Going into Search Console once a month and grabbing the top 100-200 high impression terms for the last 30 days and adding those to the rank tracker.
As there are always new terms popping up it's instant green arrows and upward trending ranks.
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Davi
To find the internal webpage Google considers the most relevant to a particular phrase I use an exact match site search.
Easiest way to explain this is with an example:
site:https://SEO-gold(.)com "Anchor Text"
Search Google with the line above replacing the (.) with a .
This searches my entire site (using the site: operator) for the exact phrase "Anchor Text" (an exact match search).
Since Google ranks site: searches in order of importance it gives you the best page in Google's opinion to link to with the searched for phrase.
It's useful when you've created a new article and you want to quickly find the best webpages to link to from within the body text.
Also useful for general interlinking/siloing links. Basically interlink related content together.
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Clarry
Outsource some of your processes to free up your time. Identify deliverables that could be outsourced ie. keyword research, prospecting and outreach, Website Quality Audit/Tech audits. You can either hire a VA, though training them would still take time, or find a reliable team that offers white label services that has a proven track record and sample files to show you 👍 this might not directly solve your problem of finding a better source of income with less work but this will definitely free up your time to take more clients.
Should you be interested on finding a team to help you with your processes, let me know as I can provide assistance on that part 👌
Zithri
I'd still advise you to start with your agency. The real fun in there is when you can change a life by working with you. When you manage the team buildings, provide funds/bonuses for a hardworking mum/dads/aspiring and hardworking person and more.
I shared this with my partner. I told her; I believe that life is meant to be shared. Think about it. Whether you are selling a product or a service, you help them (client/consumer) achieve their goal, satisfaction, cravings, etc.
The only time we feel so fulfilled is when we help our parents build their house, we were able to send our siblings to college, and we can buy our kids what they need/want. Or when we give back to the poor, a life is changed through our kindness, and someone finds new hope through you. These gestures give us deep fulfillment that money cannot buy.
I apologized for taking non-sense here. I just wish to share my insight. Feel free to delete this. Do what you love. All the best! 😊
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Frank
Outsourcing is not very different than having employees and starting and agency; the only differences are that you don't have to worry about hiring and you have little to no control over quality.
The business model of a consultant is to exchange time for money. If you're looking for "an easier life" you need to start charging more for your time. In order to be able to do this, you need to be differentiated in a way that people will be willing to spend more than they normally would.
Yamil ^🎓
You have the ability to create the type of agency you want and do things that are fun to you like keeping a pet SEO project to keep your juices flowing. The first step will be hiring but to do that you need to have your processes documented and figure out what's your hourly rate. Look at the tasks and decide which ones are costing you money and then hire the 1st employee to do those. Take it slow when building a team. Once you have that team member up and running and pretty much independent you can rinse and repeat the process. I know how you feel because I am in a similar situation but in a different industry. I have 2 team members and I am analyzing our workflow, tasks and who is responsible for which and I am addressing some workflow issues with them. The biggest issue for me has been not having time to do what I love (the SEO part) for our websites which is not allowing us to grow because I am in the middle of everything.

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Zamir
Make a team for each process. Don't give every process in 1 hands. Each process should have its own manager. Get the work done. Take reports from all managers. Still sitting at your own cabin and getting all reports daily will be fun.
LeVi
You have to build a team and become a better leader, also develop some good leaders who can do the work while you are not there. If you fly solo you never gonna make enough money 🙂

Brian
I ran into the same issue. After a trip a few years back where clients blew up my phone constantly and I wound up firing a few I took things inward and started buying websites, improving and either flipping or keeping for revenue. Like the model so far.
Sampson
If you can live a happy life with the money coming in stay at that if your living comfortable unless you want a top car to tv top house and have loads of funds just sitting in the bank just stick. Or maybe stick and do something for yourself create and rank your own site and run a reap higher rewards just need to find the labour maybe
Chris M. Walker ^👑
It really just depends on you.
Will you be happier being a leader, setting up processes, and managing staff than you are as a freelancer (assuming that's what you are now)?
Would you be happier selling services to other SEO users?
Maybe you'd prefer LeadGen/Rank And Rent.
Maybe you want to do affiliate or ecom, you could start doing that in your spare time and once it makes enough money you can start firing clients.
They are all workable business models that seem to fit the skill set you already have (Sales and Ranking) and they all have upsides and downsides so the decision needs to be based on what you like doing.
That said, what none of them are is hassle free or passive.
So the question you have to answer is which model gives me the most time doing the things I enjoy with the least time doing the things I don't.
Once you answer that you create a plan to make that your business model and you go all in.
Jayson
I own a medium sized digital marketing company 30 employees- my role is varied and it's the best thing as I get to deal with most sides of the business. But mostly now I work on the business not in it. If you truly want more time freedom you will need to give up the technician addiction and start being a business person – once your 2-3 years old your know if you love that more. I'm 52 and have complete freedom, In fact the business is not reliant on me and can exist without me, if you get to that stage then there's no reason you could take a technical role in your own company, although a bit strange it's not impossible to do. 😎 hope that sheds some light on agency ownership.

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