Marketing Executive at Jobago

The Challenge

Jobago entered the outplacement market as the affordable, modern alternative to legacy providers. But to compete effectively, they needed a research-backed SEO strategy that reflected their challenger brand positioning, while navigating the constraint of not yet having pricing published on the site. I led the research and SEO strategy development, conducting deep audience analysis, competitive intelligence, and keyword research to build a foundation for sustainable organic growth. This work established the five content pillars that now guide all of Jobago's marketing efforts.

 

Part One: The Research Phase

I began by analysing the outplacement market and its key players including LHH, INTOO, and RiseSmart. Several critical insights emerged. Legacy providers content is generic, corporate, and gated, and they focus almost exclusively on supporting departing employees while ignoring the HR leaders who actually execute layoffs. The SME market is largely neglected by competitors charging $4,000+ per employee, creating a massive underserved segment. Additionally, artificial intelligence in outplacement was barely addressed anywhere, presenting a first-mover advantage for Jobago.

To truly understand the audience, I developed empathy maps for HR leaders facing layoffs. This revealed their emotional reality: they feel overwhelming guilt and anxiety, and while publicly they say the right things. Their greatest need is practical help that works immediately. This insight became the north star: HR leaders at 3am do not want a sales pitch. They want help, and they want it now.

From this, I built three buyer personas. Each persona informed the content strategy that followed.

 

Part Two: The SEO Strategy

With research complete, I developed a comprehensive SEO strategy organised around five content pillars.

The first pillar is Affordable Outplacement, focused on value, ROI, and SME needs, speaking directly to Overwhelmed Olivia. The second pillar is Modern and AI-Powered Outplacement, covering technology differentiation and AI tools, speaking to Strategic Sarah. The third pillar is Employer Brand and Employee Support, addressing brand protection and reputation during layoffs. The fourth pillar is Crisis Resources, providing practical tools like scripts and templates for HR leaders in active transition. The fifth pillar is Provider Comparisons, offering vendor selection guidance and competitor analysis for Procurement Paul.

From these five pillars, I built a keyword universe of over three hundred terms, prioritised by search intent, volume, and business value. I mapped all keywords by funnel stage to ensure content would address users at every point in their journey: awareness, consideration, decision, and crisis moments.

 

Part Three: Execution with SEO tools

I selected SEO tools for its balance of features and affordability. I created a project for jobago.ai and added competitor tracking for LHH, INTOO, RiseSmart, Right Management, and Mercer. Using the Keyword Lists feature, I built five pillar-based lists containing the hundreds of keywords I had identified. I added priority keywords to rank tracking for weekly monitoring.

Competitor gap analysis proved particularly valuable, revealing quick-win opportunities. The Content Ideas tool helped benchmark top-performing articles. The AI Writer feature assisted in drafting pillar pages and blog posts, always with careful human editing. I ran regular site audits to fix technical issues and used the Backlink Opportunities tool to build a targeted outreach list for future link-building.

 

Part Four: Results and Impact

Early indicators showed strong momentum. Organic traffic grew by over thirty percent in the first six months. Keyword rankings improved steadily across all five pillars, with several entering top ten positions. Resource downloads from ungated content increased month over month. Demo requests from organic traffic rose steadily, demonstrating that the strategy was attracting qualified prospects. Technical issues identified through site audits were systematically resolved.

More importantly, the five pillars provided a clear framework that prevented content sprawl and kept all marketing aligned with business objectives. Every piece of content created could be mapped back to a specific pillar, audience, and funnel stage.

 

Key Learnings

Starting with audience empathy made everything easier. Understanding the HR leader's 3am feeling shaped the tone, content, and approach from the beginning. Content pillars created focus and prevented sprawl, ensuring every piece of content served a strategic purpose. Tools are only as good as the strategy behind them; Ubersuggest proved powerful because research had already defined success. Transparency is a journey, not a switch; even without published pricing, Jobago built trust through competitor research and practical resources. Crisis moments are marketing opportunities, but only if you show up to help, not to sell.

 

Conclusion

For Jobago, I built a complete research and SEO strategy from the ground up. I started with deep market analysis and audience empathy, developed five clear content pillars rooted in brand positioning, built a comprehensive keyword universe of over three hundred terms, and executed a tactical SEO plan using Ubersuggest. The result is a foundation for sustainable organic growth that aligns perfectly with Jobago's mission to make career transitions more humane, more affordable, and more effective. The five pillars remain the heart of everything, turning Jobago from challenger to trusted authority in the outplacement space.