Creating an SEO Roadmap for beginners

Delivered 21st September 2024

A talk on creating an SEO strategy and roadmap that factors business priority, seasonality, and search opportunity.

1. Creating an SEO strategy and roadmap that factors business priority, seasonality, and search opportunity Aimee Jones, SEO Strategy Manager
2. Did you know that…. 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine Source
3. That means if your business isn’t ranking high in the SERPs, you’re missing out on a massive portion of potential customers.
4. So, what do we do about this?
5. SEO Strategy & Roadmap
6. How to create an SEO roadmap Approach & what to include 1. Analyse your current SEO performance through audits (technical, on-page, link profile, rankings & visibility)
7. How to create an SEO roadmap Approach & what to include 1. Analyse your current SEO performance through audits (technical, on-page, link profile, rankings & visibility) 2. Define your priorities and goals
8. How to create an SEO roadmap Approach & what to include 1. Analyse your current SEO performance through audits (technical, on-page, link profile, rankings & visibility) 2. Define your priorities and goals 3. Create your physical roadmap
9. How to create an SEO roadmap Some considerations
10. Review and analyse your current SEO performance
11. How to review your SEO performance Example tools
12. How to review your SEO performance Beginner VS Advanced If you’re new to SEO, you may find these tools helpful: ➔ Sitebulb ➔ Keyword research tool in Ahrefs ➔ Indexing and error reports in Google Search Console ➔ Google Keyword Planner
13. How to review your SEO performance Beginner VS Advanced If you’re new to SEO, you may find these tools helpful: ➔ Sitebulb ➔ Keyword research tool in Ahrefs ➔ Indexing and error reports in Google Search Console ➔ Google Keyword Planner If you’re more experienced in SEO, you may find these helpful: ➔ Search Analytics for Sheets ➔ Screaming Frog (website crawler) ➔ GA4 ➔ Accuranker
14. Search Opportunities
15. Identifying search opportunities How?
16. Identifying search opportunities How?
17. Identifying search opportunities How?
18. Identifying search opportunities How?
19. Seasonality
20. Example of seasonal focuses Depending on business type ➔ Valentine’s Day ➔ Mother’s Day ➔ Father’s Day ➔ Christmas ➔ Black Friday ➔ Seasons, i.e. Summer, Winter, Autumn, Spring ➔ Veganuary ➔ September - Back to school
22. Seasonal fluctuations
23. Seasonal fluctuations PEAK SEARCHES
24. Seasonal fluctuations PEAK SEARCHES SEO EFFORTS SHOULD START HERE
25. Keyword focuses Core keywords Business priorities 1 2 Seasonal focuses Search opportunity 3 4
26. Defining priorities and goals
28. Align SEO goals with your broader business objectives for the coming year. Goals could include: • Increase organic traffic by __% • Improve domain authority to __ level • Rank #1 for ___ high-value keywords • Grow natural leads/sales by __% • Get quality backlinks from __ high-DR websites Make sure to establish SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound).
29. Creating your physical roadmap
30. Step by step to building your roadmap Technical, link profile & on-page audits STAGE 1
31. Step by step to building your roadmap Keyword opportunities STAGE 2 Technical, link profile & on-page audits STAGE 1
32. Step by step to building your roadmap STAGE 3 Seasonality considerations Technical, link profile & on-page audits STAGE 1 Keyword opportunities STAGE 2
33. Step by step to building your roadmap STAGE 4 Define your priorities and goals STAGE 3 Seasonality considerations Technical, link profile & on-page audits STAGE 1 Keyword opportunities STAGE 2
34. Step by step to building your roadmap STAGE 5 Create your roadmap STAGE 4 Define your priorities and goals STAGE 3 Seasonality considerations Technical, link profile & on-page audits STAGE 1 Keyword opportunities STAGE 2
35. Step by step to building your roadmap STAGE 6 The roadmap begins STAGE 5 Create your roadmap STAGE 4 Define your priorities and goals STAGE 3 Seasonality considerations Technical, link profile & on-page audits STAGE 1 Keyword opportunities STAGE 2
36. Example SEO Roadmap Organic Search September October November December January February March Technical SEO/Strategy Full stack technical SEO audit, including reviews of canonicals and indexation issues Keyword mapping exercise & site structure mapping Batch of high priority tickets for immediate implementation Support with implementation of site structure revamp Monthly Technical support & maintenance Content & Digital PR Content & E-E-A-T audit Creation of content calendar Recruitment & onboarding SME focused content & optimisations Digital PR ideation for data campaigns Digital PR Data Led Survey** Digital PR Content Creation Digital PR Campaign Activity and Outreach
37. Example SEO Roadmap
38. Example SEO Roadmap Technical Projects Team Dependencies Two week sprints Reworking of Tech WIP for fresh opportunities Team B Dev work Improvements to class timetables Team B Housekeeping, internal linking & redirects Team A Blog workstream: Schema, Authorship, focus on EEAT Team B Input from client to heighten EEAT across site and developer support from dev (if required) Strategy On page meta data rewrites Team B Approval of meta title structure Roadmapping / strategy support Team A Input on internal goals and plans so we can align activity Content Batch 2 of page optimisation (10) Team A Content approval Batch 3 of page optimisation (8) Team B Planning for specific local content Team A Q2 content planning Team B
39. Example SEO Roadmap Link to template
40. Track your progress Consistent tracking of SEO efforts against targets is vital for success. This involves: • Monitoring keyword rankings and traffic metrics weekly • Tracking conversion performance from organic visits
41. Track your progress Core metrics to track include: • Organic traffic • Keyword rankings • Site authority factors like backlinks & domain rating • Lead and sales conversion rates
42. Don’t forget If something isn’t working or an area of your site is underperforming, you can adapt your roadmap accordingly
43. Link to resources Screaming Frog (website crawler) Ahrefs free keyword tool Google Search Console Google Keyword Planner Sitebulb Search Analytics for Sheets GA4 Accuranker Google Trends