SEO with Cade Burk from The Container Store
As the very first SEO manager for The Container Store, Cade Burk is responsible for leading and growing all of the brand’s SEO efforts. We had the chance to sit down with him the other day and talk about some of the changes the brand has seen recently as well as the upcoming Share conference. It was a great conversation and we wanted to share some of the highlights. 
On changes for the brand
BrightEdge (BE): What has been the biggest change for your company in the past year?
Cade Burke (CB): There have been many exciting changes to The Container Store online department in the last year. This includes launching our SEO department in 2014. We have also been working on improving our mobile usability and functionality while also doing a site-wide, URL restructure. These efforts have been yielding some great results as we are eager to see where the next year is going to take us.
BE: What are you doing to shift the focus from keyword to page performance strategies?
CB: Since our SEO efforts are new, we still have to do a considerable amount of work with keywords. We believe that keyword research is the basis of a successful SEO platform. As we begin to look beyond these basic SEO techniques and reach towards page performance, we have been leveraging BrightEdge in a variety of ways. The platform, for example, provides us with social recommendations to increase social shares. We have also launched a new lifestyle blog, Container Stories. We hope that with our efforts to create highly relevant, SEO- friendly content we'll see a rise in our performance in the SERPs.
BE: How are you aligning your content and search optimization efforts?
CB: As the leader of storage and organization in the retail world, it is important for The Container Store’s online efforts to reflect this same level of authority. In doing this, like most, we want to better understand what it is our customers are searching for and what their basic need is when inquiring on a search engine. By creating fresh content on our new lifestyle blog, Container Stories as well as constantly updating our website’s content we hope for our content marketing and our SEO efforts to become synonymous. It is important for us to still remain in line with the Hummingbird update and to provide not only a “best answer” approach, but also supply semantically related searches that portray a conversational approach to our content as well. We want to aim to tell a cohesive, keyword- friendly story throughout our content and pages.
The SEO journey at Share15
BE: Can you tell us a bit about your topic for your Share15 presentation? You do not have to give away the game, but we would love to get some teasers.
CB: At The Container Store we only really created an SEO department last year, so SEO is still a pretty new initiative for our brand. I plan on using my presentation to discuss our SEO journey. I think a lot of the attendees will be interested in seeing how a major corporation begins such a project from the ground up. BrightEdge has been a powerful ally for us in this journey, and we plan on discussing how we have learned through our partnership and what we have been able to accomplish so far.
BE: What are you looking forward to most about attending Share?
CB: Personally, I am looking forward to learning more about how other SEOs work in their day-to-day. I am interested in their team structures and how they tackle SEO initiatives at their respective companies.
The role of BrightEdge in this journey
BE: Speaking of BrightEdge, what has been your favorite part of the platform?
CB: I love the inventive reporting options as well as the possibilities that are built into the platform. I feel as though I am constantly learning something new when I sign in. There are aspects that I have not quite mastered, but I am looking forward to seeing what else the platform is capable of doing. One tool in particular, however, saves my team and me hours of work - the Data Cube! We love the insights and analysis available. We are also very pleased with the level of communication we receive from our BrightEdge representatives and account managers. Everyone has been incredibly helpful and a fantastic resource to have.
The fun stuff
BE: Can you tell us something fun about yourself?
CB: I love to travel! Last summer I climbed Machu Picchu. For my next trip, I want to do the TransAmerica bike trail across America. I am also an avid reader and have recently been trying to step up my golf game! It was great having a chance to chat with Cade before Share begins and we look forward to continuing the conversation in just a few weeks.
If you have not yet registered for Share, visit our event page to learn more. We look forward to seeing you there!
Conference Details September 21-23 Westin St. Francis San Francisco, CA.
