Steffen Ploeger
Verified Expert in Marketing
Marketing Expert
Toronto, ON, Canada
Toptal member since April 30, 2024
Steffen is a seasoned professional with expert knowledge in on-page and off-page SEO. He's well-versed in creating technical site audits, conducting keyword research, and implementing internal linking and pagination strategies. Steffen is also proficient at developing organic search strategies aligned with business objectives through actionable goals and roadmaps.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Ahrefs
- Content Marketing
- Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
- Off-page SEO
- On-page SEO
- Screaming Frog
- Semrush
- Technical SEO
Work Experience
SEO Specialist
Resulta
- Worked with senior executives to build a purge, merge, and keep strategy for existing content.
- Performed competitive analysis and identified strategies to facilitate our clients' reaching the top of their industry. I also discovered and evaluated organic competitors and prepared content gap analysis reports.
- Collaborated with different teams in website management, business intelligence, content, UI design, branding, and engineering to successfully execute projects.
- Conducted keyword research, identifying and updating semantic or topical content strategies.
- Handled timely follow-ups across teams to ensure technical on-page and off-page recommendations were actioned correctly.
- Recommended and implemented an internal linking and pagination strategy.
Senior Technical SEO Strategist
Ayima
- Conducted competitor analyses and technical site audits to bring the client back into the top five in keyword searches.
- Led the client strategy and drove client revenue using technical SEO.
- Performed major technical site audits, providing and implementing recommendations.
- Collaborated with website migrations for enterprise companies, including eCommerce sites.
- Executed competitor and content analyses for several enterprise companies.
- Guided and trained junior team members as required.
Bilingual SEO Specialist – German and English
Nav43
- Produced high-level keyword analysis while tracking, managing, and helping to create timely organic traffic, insights, and KPI reports.
- Performed site audits to ensure priority site sections were crawlable and optimized for proper keyword focus.
- Conducted competitor analysis by comparing backlinks, total keywords, and search volume on the first Google page.
- Provided clients with strategic guidance and tactical expertise in all SEO-related matters.
- Created link analyses, including reports on broken links, redirects, and cross-linking opportunities.
SEO Specialist
9thCO
- Increased an educational client's average ranking for all track keywords from the third results page to the first by performing keyword research and by creating a new keyboard map.
- Reached the "featured snippets" and "people also ask" rankings for several clients by leveraging Ahrefs and creating better and more structured content than competitors.
- Improved organic traffic and online sales by over 100% in 12 months for several eCommerce sites in the furniture and book industries by performing competitor research, schema markup, and on-page SEO.
Bilingual SEO Specialist – German and English
Critter Search Inc.
- Carried out SEO audits for new clients and provided strategies accordingly.
- Wrote news articles and translated documents from German into English and from English into German.
- Boosted clients' rankings into the top three Google searches and increased organic traffic by over 100% for several gambling and healthcare clients.
- Regained top 10 rankings in Google searches after rankings had been affected by the Google Panda, Hummingbird, and Penguin algorithm updates.
- Developed an online gambling website and managed to get it into Google News.
- Sourced, interviewed, hired, and mentored new team members.
Project History
Ranking Optimization and Organic Traffic Increase
Regained the top 10 ranking in Google search engine results pages and increased organic traffic for several clients.
I boosted clients’ rankings into the top three Google searches and increased organic traffic by over 100% for several gambling and healthcare clients. This was successfully achieved after rankings had been affected by the Google Panda, Hummingbird, and Penguin algorithm updates.
Traffic Decline Investigation Due to Algorithm Update
Managed to bring the client back into the top five in keyword searches within several categories.
I worked with a leading enterprise eCommerce client in the US that had lost its market share due to several Google algorithm updates. As a result of these updates, keywords landed on page two or three of the search engine results pages. Based on competitor analyses and technical site audits, my team and I brought the client back into the top five in keyword searches within several categories.
Ranking Improvement for Educational Client
Tracked keywords and managed to move the company's rankings from the third results page to the first.
This project involved increasing an educational client’s average ranking for all tracked keywords from the third results page to the first. This was achieved by performing keyword research and by creating and implementing a new keyword map. In addition, I helped the client reach the “featured snippets” and “people also ask” rankings by leveraging Ahrefs and by creating better and more structured content than competitors.
Education
Ausbildung in Healthcare Administration
AOK Health Insurance - Schwerin, Germany
High School Diploma in Biology
Sports Grammar School - Schwerin, Germany
Skills
Core
On-page SEO, Off-page SEO, Content Marketing, SEO Content, SEO Tools, Local SEO, Keyword Research, WordPress SEO, Backlinks, Social Media, SEO Audits, Content Marketing Strategy, Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Platforms & Tools
Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, Botify, Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Yoast SEO, Google Analytics, Moz
Technical
Google Search Console
Other
Google, Semrush, Basecamp, Slack, Gmail, Administration, Customer Support, Customer Service, Email, Data Entry, Technical SEO, Google Sheets, Microsoft PowerPoint, Confluence, Jira, WordPress, Gutenberg Editor, Product Reviews, Schemas, Source Code, DOM, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Strategy, Communication, Presentations, eCommerce SEO, Knowledge Management, Biology, Computer, Microsoft Excel, Content Management, Competitive Analysis, Drupal, Gambling, Translation, Google News, Content Audits, Content Update, Sitemaps, AI-based Content SEO
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
Share your needs
Choose your talent
Start your risk-free talent trial
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring