SEO begins with a strategy: here are my 6 steps
SEO begins with a strategy: here are my 6 steps
This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Digital PR agency Search Intelligence. See their case study at the end of the newsletter.
Last week I had the extremely unique privilege of presenting at a Google event on the topic of SEO. When I first started my SEO journey nearly twenty years ago, I would have never imagined Google even having events that shared insights on SEO, and I certainly would have laughed if you would have told me that I would be speaking at one.
For a very long time, everyone that practiced any sort of SEO considered Google to be the “enemy” always out to prevent them from getting any free traffic from Google. At the same time, Google was guarded in how they shared any insights in how to do well on Google and while they sent representatives to various search conferences, that was mostly the extent of their relationship with SEO.
A change for the better
A few years ago, this changed significantly for the better. Google has dedicated team members who utilize many social channels to answer questions, Google publishes an SEO guide, they invest in tools to help with SEO (Google Search Console is so much more useful than it used to be), and they participate in the SEO community by having events at Google for SEO.
I am grateful to the specific individuals who interface with the SEO community regularly, but I am sure they are just the tip of the spear. They are supported by many others at Google who agree to the requests they make on behalf of the SEO industry and fund them. At the conclusion of my presentation at Google, I asked everyone to stand and applaud the members of the search team in attendance, and I totally forgot to take a picture. They deserve our gratitude.
My presentation linked below was on the topic of building an SEO strategy in order to make tactics the most effective. Throughout my career, I have used these 6 steps to develop an ideal strategy and thereby unlock likely billions in organic revenue.
Pick the end and know the customer
Like any journey you ever undertake in life you have to know where you plan to end up in order to know the right turns to take. Too often SEO efforts begin without a defined goal. It doesn’t matter whether the goal is logical, possible, or even allowed, you need to have a goal.
That goal should be specific, have a timeframe, and be meaningful for the business. A goal like growing revenue from SEO by 10% by the end of next year is a good meaningful goal. A goal like “increase rankings” is not. To make that goal as effective as possible you also need a very specific target. Internet users or travelers are not specific enough for an SEO strategy. Female Gen-z students in East Coast four-year universities whose parents make $100k+ is a far more specific target for an SEO strategy.
Kill the bad ideas
Once you have an idea in hand this is when I prefer to have the discussion over whether it is a logical or possible goal. I have found that when you first discuss what is possible, you artificially prevent yourself from coming up with moonshot ideas. If you shoot for the moon and can’t disprove its feasibility you just might make it.
Ideas that make it past the bad idea filter should then be shortlisted for prioritization.
Find the dependencies and breakpoints
While an idea might entirely be feasible it might be impossible due to specific constraints within the company. This is when you discover if you have the right software, people, and/or structure to make the goal a reality.
You also want to identify the risks that might make the goal difficult to obtain. Some issues can be addressed while other risks are just important to know about beforehand so they can be mitigated when they arise.
I find the best way to identify these issues is to ask lots and lots of questions. The questions that have no answers or bad answers point to potential problems.
Align with partners
SEO is completely reliant on the efforts of many other leaders and team members and without their support, the plan will never be implemented.
Use diplomacy and soft skills to get alignment on the plan and strategy you attempt to deploy because you can’t count on the support of others unless they are on board.
Draft an actual written plan
When you know what your possibilities are for SEO goals, you have ascertained their feasibility, you know the dependencies and you have team alignment, you are ready to write out an actual plan.
I like to use the RICE method of project management to prioritize initiatives and projects. (Email me for the template). This will help you strategically work on projects that will your efforts and allow you to reach your goal.
Your written plan should be as specific and public as possible so everyone around the org knows what you are doing and how they are supposed to be supporting you.
Implement tactics
With a very clear roadmap in hand, you will have a better idea of the tactics you need to use to reach your goals. You may be surprised that the tactics you intended to use at the outset with a strategy might not be required now.
Your tactics should also be added to your written plan, so you can monitor the outcomes of each effort and pivot to something different if it doesn’t produce the expected result.
Absent strategy, often SEO becomes just a slew of tactics. If the ultimate goal of an SEO effort is to achieve a specific revenue outcome but no one ever spelled that out as the goal, it is likely that goal will never be achieved.
Follow these six steps as detailed or as loosely as you want, and I assure you that the outcomes will be significantly better than just opening SEO tickets because something needs to be improved.
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