SEO Strategy: Where The F**K Do I Even Start?

Have you ever been handed a new client working agency-side or joined a new role in-house and need to put together the SEO strategy? Have you ever thought 'where the f**k do I even start?'. Then this deck is for you.

From getting started in search, to understanding where to take your strategy next, by the end of the session you will understand exactly what you need to know to make sure your SEO strategy is successful.

https://www.brightonseo.com/conference-talk/seo-strategy-where-the-fk-do-i-even-start/

Transcript

1. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO
2. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Head of SEO at Absolute Digital Media Hi! About Lazy SEO strategy really pisses me off 6+ years in SEO
3. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 Contents Where The F**K Do I Even Start? What To Know Before You Even Look At A Website How The Audience Funnel Can Influence Your Strategy Competitors & Your Strategy Thinking Outside The Box Covering The Basics Prioritisation Ongoing Evaluation
4. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Where the F**K Do I Even Start? @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO
5. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Core Business Objectives Increased Online Visibility Increased Organic Traffic Increased Enquiries Increased Revenue Increased Transactions
6. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Never Just Assume...
7. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO E-Commerce Vs. Branding Not every e-Commerce website wants to prominently sell online. Sometimes, they want something different from their SEO.
8. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Not All Transactions Are ‘Valuable’
9. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO What Does ‘Success’ Mean To You? @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO
10. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Target Market W H O A R E T H E C U S T O M E R S Y O U W A N T T O C AT E R T O ? What are their profiles and visual personas? Target Market 01 Visualise the people who will turn to you for solutions. Target Market 02
11. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Audience Funnel Awareness Interest Desire Action
12. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Audience Funnel Awareness Interest Consideration Evaluation Engagement Action Loyalty
13. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO An average B2B buyer’s journey involves 13 pieces of content
14. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Consider all of the touchpoints along the user journey @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO
15. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Copying competitors is not a good ‘strategy’ But finding the gaps can be.
16. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Competitor Gaps Are your competitors capturing areas of the market that you want to appear?
17. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Discovering how your target market could be finding your competitors can help them to find you instead S E M R U S H K E Y W O R D G A P T O O L
18. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Competitor Gaps Are your competitors gaining links from publications that you want to see your brand in?
19. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Is your competitor’s link velocity higher? A H R E F S D O M A I N C O M P A R I S O N
20. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO But Don’t Just Rely On Tools
21. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO “” But I ran a few competitors through the tool and there wasn’t much that came out except some long-tail blog ideas, so I guess there’s not much else we can do
22. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO
23. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO “” The link tool came up with some link gaps but they’re all big publications, but the client doesn’t do digital PR so I guess we can’t get them
24. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO
25. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Thinking Outside The Box Can Push Your SEO Strategy Further
26. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Industry Niche Is Important For Any SEO Strategy…
27. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO …But A Blanket Approach Won’t Work
28. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Creative digital PR & technical SEO
29. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Content around the ‘Sciences’ of CBD to build trust
30. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Covering The Basics Will Always Be Important In SEO Strategy
31. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Keyword Mapping can help to structure your content strategy 01
32. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Allow you to target specific terms to the most relevant pages 02
33. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Help you to avoid content cannibalisation 03
34. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Can provide transparency to help promote buy-in 04
35. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Help you to properly structure your website’s architecture 05
36. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Understanding the funnel, competitors and objectives can help you with your keyword mapping
37. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO And your keyword mapping can help with your strategy targeting
38. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO And don’t forget your internal linking!
39. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO But What About Technical Health?
40. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Auditing technical health can help you with your priorities
41. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO If Google can’t crawl or index your site, then what’s the point?
42. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Accessibility Crawlability Indexing Architecture Page Experience Structured Data Rendering Pagination Elements
43. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Take A Step Back
44. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Prioritise your high impact, low effort tasks
45. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO See the bigger picture: what’s really vital?
46. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO How do these technical changes fit with the wider strategy?
47. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO What can you actually implement?
48. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO And then, there’s links…
49. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Your link acquisition strategy will be heavily influenced by budget
50. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Data-driven Campaigns
51. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Content Campaigns
52. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Reactives / Newsjacking
53. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Expert Commentary
54. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO FOI Requests
55. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO The final step out of all of this…
56. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Prioritisation
57. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Impact
58. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Effort
59. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Viability
60. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Know what you can & what you can’t do
61. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO And how many ears you need to bend to get what you need done
62. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO SEO could be an after thought for the brand you’re working on
63. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Pivot the focus, build trust & show the ‘why’
64. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Find the balance between SEO & brand
65. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO ‘Best practice’ for SEO won’t always resonate with the client
66. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO And it won’t always resonate with the target audience
67. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Ongoing Evaluation @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO
68. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO SEO strategy should never be a one-time process…
69. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO New competitors can enter the market
70. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Competitors might start investing more in their SEO
71. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Google could shake things up
72. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Business objectives can change
73. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Results might not come as expected
74. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Continually pivot your focus based on performance, market changes & new opportunities Continually pivot your focus based on performance, market changes & new opportunities
75. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Key Takeaways
76. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Understand The Business Objectives
77. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Understand The Niche
78. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Understand The Website’s Background
79. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Understand The Resource
80. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Understand The Priorities
81. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Understand The Viability Of What You Want To Do
82. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO And That’s Your Strategy!
83. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO But don’t forget to make sure your strategy evolves with the business
84. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO Thank you!
85. @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO @SophieBrannon #brightonSEO https://absolute.digital/meeting-with-jodie-whittle/