SEO Tasking Goals - Where & How to Compromise

@AlanBleiweiss

SEO Tasking Goals -

Where + When to

Compromise

Presented byAlan Bleiweiss

http://AlanBleiweiss.com

#SLCDMC

@AlanBleiweiss

SEO Tasking Goals - Where + When to Compromise

http://AlanBleiweiss.com

#SLCDMC

@AlanBleiweiss


Sustainable SEO is possible whether a site has never had problems, or has had severe problems

#SLCDMC

@AlanBleiweiss


Sustainable SEO is possible whether a site has never had problems, or has had severe problems

#SLCDMC

@AlanBleiweiss


Sustainable SEO is about creating a stable environment with consistent signals designed to increase revenue.

#SLCDMC

@AlanBleiweiss


#SLCDMC

@AlanBleiweiss


To ensure you have a system of sustainable SEO in place, you need to evaluate your situation so you know what to do.

#SLCDMC

@AlanBleiweiss

Planning

Proper PlanningPrevents

Pathetic Performance

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@AlanBleiweiss#SLCDMC

Planning


Planning

@AlanBleiweiss

Proper PlanningPrevents

Poor Performance

#SLCDMC

Planning

@AlanBleiweiss


SEO TASKING GOAL PLANNINGDetermine ObjectivesEvaluate Needs & LimitationsDetermine Where & When to Compromise

#SLCDMC

@AlanBleiweiss

What are the goals?

X new sales? X repeat sales?

X new visits? X return visits?

X page views? X new Leads?

Increase brand awareness?Authority? Trust?

Community impact?

Improve User Experience?

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Planning – Determining Objectives

@AlanBleiweiss

What are the Goals Within Each Goal?

X new organic visits? Y new visits by z date?Y additional visits year over year?Y new visits that result in z new conversions?

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How Granular do you Go?

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What Tasks Need to be Performed?

X new evergreen pages per y frequency?X new blog posts per y frequency?X new infographics per y frequency?X supporting PPC/social/email/offline campaigns?Reduce Page Speeds by XIncrease Click-through Rates for X Phrases?

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@AlanBleiweiss

How realistic are you goals?

Are they important enough at this time? Do you have the resources available?

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Evaluate Needs & Limitations



How difficult are your goals to reach?Existing Weakness Assessment

Existing Opportunity Assessment Existing Competitive Landscape Challenges

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Is an Audit Needed?

Too often, site owners & managers fail to evaluate properly before diving into action.

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An audit can help clarify and determine what’s realistic, what’s important, and what’s possible

A proper auditbecomes the road map to success



Strategic AuditsLook at the big pictureLook at trendsLook for natural & unnatural patternsRely on sampling across several signal pointsOffer overall directional recommendations



Tactical AuditsFocus on singular goalsLook more closely at relevant opportunitiesTake a deeper dive into relevant dataAre more worthy of competitor evaluationsOffer more specific recommendations



Even if you don’t perform an audit, you still need to know what data to look at.

Understanding where weaknesses and opportunities exist, where to focus your attention is critical.


Define Tools & Resources


Where & How to Compromise

If you set a goal for x new pieces of content in y period of time, what if you don’t have the capacity?

What about technical tasking? Does the existing framework allow for needed changes?



Need to compromise on goals? Remember this, above all else:

The 5 Super-Signals of SEO are your guiding principles



For Resource Limitations-Is your in-house team limited?








Sometimes it’s better to outsource than overwork your team




For Resource Limitations-

Sometimes a hybrid approach works. Can you outsource project management while having work done in-house?







For content-

If you can’t produce at the scale needed, scale up over time instead.



For Topical Focus –Understand hierarchy of reinforcement.




Page Titles are more important than H1 headlines




H1 headlines are more important than H2 headlines





Bold text is more important than plain text






Main content sections are more important than sidebar content

Bold text is more important than plain text





For Topical Focus –Remember the five Super-signal factor




Completeness of communication of concepts is more important than keyword frequency




Writing in natural language to provide value, evoke emotion, is more important than keyword variation effort

Completeness of communication of concepts is more important than keyword frequency





For content-

Can’t produce as much as you think you need?

Consider doing more social & PR work to boost signals.

Supplement Organic SEO with PPC as an alternative.



For content-

Getting enough high quality inbound links can often compensate for fewer pages or blog posts.



For content-

Inbound link shortcuts are toxic.





For content-

Work on fewer pieces of content, where you put more energy and effort into each page or post.



For content-

Bigger pages & posts can win over smaller, more frequent, as long as quality, uniqueness & relevance remain.



For content-

Sometimes you can win by just working on the most important pages first.



For content-

Focus on the most valuable product categories initially. (revenue potential + profit margin)



For speed improvements-

Pages take 30 seconds to load? Can’t get them to 3 seconds? Shoot for 10 seconds to start.




Consider working on speed bottleneck types in phases. Just server issues; just file sizes; just 3rd party scripts…




Consider an upgrade – PHP 7 can dramatically boost speeds & may be all you need to do.




Consider improving the most important pages or template types first.






Consider reducing the number of adsand ad networks you display






Consider the Google Accelerated Mobile Page project as a limited solution.



For Code Overhauls-

Can you band-aid the existing site while working separately on a rebuild? This is worth consideration.



For Code Overhauls-

If you band-aid while rebuilding separately, don’t copy & paste toxicity into the new site!





Sustainable SEO requires initial push, then ongoing support just like all marketing methods


SummaryTo reach sustainability, you need a plan.

Begin by determining goals, prioritizing their importance, then evaluating opportunities & limitations.

At that point, you can work toward tasking to take advantage of those opportunities while resolving limitations or finding viable workarounds.

Taking shortcuts and failing to remember the five Super-signals at each point in the process will eventually come back to haunt you.

When big tasks need to be tackled, consider breaking them down into phases.


Bonus – Stay Connected

Staying connected online helps ensure we’re aware of the latest industry news, changes and insights






Summary

Forgot to take notes or pay attention? I’ll make this deck available online and tweet the link using the #SLCDMC hashtag on Twitter.

Also - follow me @AlanBleiweiss if you have any questions!

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SEO Tasking Goals - Where & How to Compromise