SEO Strategy: 7 Steps to Set Up a Winning One

What is an SEO strategy

An SEO strategy is a plan of defined actions to increase traffic from search engines to your website.

An SEO strategy can be designed by a company or brand, by a dedicated team or by a single person who manages the project, the SEO Specialist .

These actions are all focused on achieving the goal of improving the positioning of a website in search engines . Be it an e-commerce, a blog, a newspaper, a magazine or a company website.

An SEO strategy works to increase visits from Google (and other search engines), conversions of users who navigate from the search engine, generate new qualified leads, improve brand awareness of the brand.

I have already explained why you can no longer do without an SEO strategy for your business.

But if you need some convincing again, read below the 5 essential steps in an SEO strategy for a first reading.

And then you will come back to this article to get into the heart of SEO operations!

What You Need to Create a Successful SEO Strategy

How to Build Your SEO Strategy Step-by-Step

Developing a winning SEO strategy involves a clear definition of steps and steps to coordinate.

Before you dive right into building your winning SEO strategy, you should take a look at this roadmap so you can be clear about the purpose of each step.

From idea to execution, skipping steps will limit your performance.

It is important to make sure that your SEO strategy has the right tools and resources. Otherwise, you will not be able to see the search engine growth that you have set out to achieve.

 TIP: Arm yourself with a lot of patience. A digital marketing SEO strategy brings long-term results . Plan the steps of your SEO strategy calmly. It is not an operation of a few minutes or a few hours. And there are phases that are impossible to ignore.

Before you start designing an SEO strategy, make sure you have these 3 things under control:

1. A well developed website set up to be positioned
2. The right data analysis tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics
3. An updated Google My Business listing

What should not be missing for an SEO Strategy?

1. A well-developed website in code and navigability

If you don’t have a proper shoe rack to store all your expensive shoes, you may have to replace them soon because they will be ruined!

Your website is where your organic traffic flows and your users convert.
It needs to be ready to do that.

Having your business website online will not automatically allow you to receive visits.

Or rank at the top of search engines.

Your website should be professional, clean, fast and easy to navigate . Whatever your SEO plan, make sure you have a site that clearly expresses who you are and what you do.

2. Data analysis

I recommend that you set up your data analysis tools before you start.

Basically, you may only need two tools: Google Search Console and Google Analytics . These two tools, provided by Google for FREE, will give you all the information you need to make decisions about how to optimize your traffic and where it comes from.

You can set all your tags and tracking codes directly from a single tool called Google Tag Manager . It is also a free tool owned by Google.

These are a bit technical operations. I recommend that you get help from an expert or ask me for help if you have difficulty setting up these fundamental steps for your SEO strategy.

Once you have these SEO tools set up, you will be able to know the key elements of your site: where your traffic is coming from, what people are searching for to find you on Google, and much more.

3. A Local Strategy with Google My Business

This is one of the most underrated tips in an SEO strategy .

Set up or claim your Google My Business listing . With Google’s latest updates, local listings have taken priority over general results.

This is why Google My Business has become a huge boon for small businesses trying to compete with the SERP giants.

By setting up your listing and filling out all the information, you will take a significant step towards boosting your website traffic and brand recognition.

How to build a winning SEO strategy, the step by step description

1. Define your target or audience

Before you get your hands dirty, do some research. It’s a good idea to focus on your target audience and ask yourself: “ What do they want? ”, “ What does my audience need? ”.

By answering these questions you will be able to outline your content strategy and choose which content to highlight over others.

When you talk about target audience, think of a very specific group of people to whom you are addressing to sell your product or service. In another article of mine I explained the importance of target and buyer personas . If you want, you can go deeper into the topic!

2. Set your budget

First crucial step. The assumption is that different budgets correspond to different SEO objectives. Have you already asked yourself where you want to get to with your SEO plan? Brand positioning , generic traffic, traffic aimed at conversion ?

A limited budget often means you have to compromise on some areas. Whether you work alone or with an agency, a small budget often means:

• Lack of time
• Few resources
• Poor knowledge
• Money for advanced activities

If you have a limited budget

Chances are you can’t devote much time to a serious SEO strategy. You may not have enough time to do all the tasks that need to be done.

You risk not having access to all those tools (free or paid) that an SEO specialist uses . If you have a limited SEO budget, your team or internal resources are not that specialized. This can leave room for a series of gaps in the project.

A lack of money means you don’t have the  resources to work outside of your skills. Leverage advanced and level knowledge to explode your success. It’s a matter of priorities!

3. Keyword Research: Research and choose keywords

Make a list of keywords associated with your product, your service, your brand. In short, everything that would come to mind to the user when he decides to search for you or something related to your sector.

The most used method to find keywords was Лучшие методы отслеживания sim-карты once Google Keyword Planner . A free tool available for any Google Ads account. Today, the Keyword Planner has changed structure and some of the free data once available has been hidden by Google.

Today the only way to have

A clear picture of the quality of the selected bab directory keywords, competition rate, seasonality, average cost per click in SERP is to rely on a dedicated tool that supports your SEO strategy.

In this article I have explored the Keyword  Research activity for SEO Copywriting .

Generally, it is a good idea to consider two types of keywords : general match or long-tail match.

General keywords do not specify the target of interest. Long-tail keywords are long phrases, even real propositions, more complete, and allow you to select a more specific keyword.

As a result, they give you the opportunity to be reached by more qualified visitors.

Why should you focus on general keywords as much as long tail keywords?

You should know that single-word keywords convert about 10% of total searches. Queries consisting of two or three words have a conversion rate of 15%.

All that’s left is long tail keywords . We’re talking about a 75% conversion rate. Amazing, isn’t it?

Remember : in your strategy you can NEVER afford to neglect the monitoring of your keywords on the SERP. Especially that group of keywords that bring more traffic to your site.

4. Monitor Errors, Anomalies and Reports

If you have already published content and your SEO strategy has reached a dead end, you need to pay attention to this step. In addition to having a mobile-friendly and well-structured site , you need to constantly check your pages to make sure they are free of errors.

Your portal or e-commerce must be monitored and treated from every potential element that could compromise navigation or loading of contents. I’m talking about:

• 404 Errors
• Broken links
• Duplicate content
• Half-empty, neglected or under construction pages
• Images not optimized for SEO

Having a list of all monitoring activities for the prevention of the main SEO structural criticalities is a fundamental step in a long-term strategy.

5. Analyze your competitors

Competitor analysis is an integral part of a marketing plan . But how does it fit into an SEO strategy? In this case, what matters most to you is to check which are the main competitors positioned for the keywords you have chosen.

TECHNICAL TIP

It will be essential to analyze your competitors’ sites and domains to identify keyword gaps, that is, which keywords your competitors are positioned for and you are not. This work allows you to find ideas and editorial choices that can improve your content and overcome the competition.

6. Create a Link-Building Strategy for Your SEO

Link building is an SEO technique aimed at increasing the number of incoming links to your website, with the aim of increasing its popularity.

Publish your articles on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube. Get hosted by other bloggers on their blogs with links to your site ( I talked about gest blogging here ). Or write blog articles about events or current news in your industry.

7. Stay up to date on the latest SEO trends

Staying up to date with current trends is a daunting task, the SEO specialist knows it well . However, there are several online resources that make it easier to know the news of the SEO world and the latest updates. What are the trends that can influence your website and your SEO strategy.

SEO Strategy, Here Are Some Resources That Will Come in Handy:

• Introductory guide to search engine optimization
• The official Google blog
• One of the most competent international blogs on SEO
• Never forget SEO positioning factors, your compass at sea

The answer is no! There is no one and only way to work with SEO.

It all varies depending on the type of site you are working on and the target audience you are targeting. A Search Engine Optimization strategy changes based on the needs of the website .

For example, an SEO strategy for e-commerce is completely different than one for a blog. SEO strategy can differ depending on the geographic location of web users.

An international SEO strategy will necessarily be different from an SEO strategy for a single country. This is due to keywords to be covered, competitors to be monitored, and many other factors to take into account.

For example, the status quo of the site, its PageRank, Domain Authority, Page Authority, number of backlinks present.

SEO Strategy Mini Glossary

• PageRank : PageRank is an algorithm patented by Stanford University but owned by Google and one of its founders, Larry Page. PageRank assigns a numerical value to each element that is part of a set of documents connected to each other by hyperlinks. For example, the set of pages of a website on the World Wide Web. This allows you to quantify the relative importance of the elements within the web.
• Domain Authority : Domain Authority is an indicator of the reputation value of your website. Search engines use Domain Authority to ensure they provide the highest quality content on a specific topic. Developed by SEO software company Moz, Domain Authority is a search engine ranking score that predicts a website’s ability to rank in search engine results.
• Page Authority : Page Authority (PA for short) was also developed by the company Moz. The Page Authority value is a score from 1 to 100 that provides indications on how a website page will be classified within the SERP. Page Authority is roughly the equivalent of Domain Authority, but only the data related to a specific web page is taken into account.

Must Read: 10 Essential SEO Ranking Factors to Rank First in Search Engines

Is blogging part of an SEO strategy?

Blogging is always a great solution for an SEO strategy. Having a blog helps keep users interested in your site and can be integrated into an SEO strategy.

Opening a blog , keeping it updated and writing articles consistently is an extra chance of achieving a better positioning on Google and other search engines.

However, creating quality content that meets search engine indexing standards is a great way to provide useful information to your audience and rank high on Google’s results.

It is good to create valuable content that interests your target audience. Write about what the reader needs. Blogging offers a lot of opportunities that can literally extend your content strategy and web positioning capabilities.