Managing SEO Strategies

To increase website performance Search Engine Optimization will have to be applied. Deciding on which specific SEO strategies will be most beneficial is one thing, managing them another. Here are a few suggestions that can help you optimize your website and SEO management skills.

Set Goals & Objectives

Anyone developing website SEO strategies will need to have some specific objectives in place. ‘Adding more keywords' and ‘higher rankings' is a good start for an objectives foundation, but should not be the end of it. Goals have to be outlined and specific, but not to the point where they leave no room for additional targets and limits your maneuverability.

Involve the client

When creating goals and objectives you need to involve the entire team. This includes the client you are working for, or the boss who gave you the assignment. They have to agree with your intentions and understand why you chose them. Other reasons for their involvement are that frequent communication creates a trust between you and them, and if you need their help or suggestions they are already informed about your implementations and future plans.

Create indicators

To prove that your SEO strategies are working you will need to either implement analytics tools or develop indicators that will show the progress of your work - especially if the strategy will go on for more than a few weeks. This may be a bit challenging, but worthwhile if your client or manager is checking up on you and wants to find out if specific search terms are performing better because of increased domain diversity. In that case, your leading indicator should be to monitor and determine the progress of domain linking to your site.

Assign responsibilities

The fun part of the project kicks in as soon as objectives, strategies and indicators are in place. Delegating tasks and handing over responsibilities to other team members may be exciting, but has to be done with precision. If the work is assigned to the wrong person, the success of the project may be in jeopardy. The best way to handle this task is to create a spreadsheet with a list of tasks, specific responsibilities and due dates. Furthermore, know your team member's abilities.

Take actions

It does not matter how attractive your SEO strategies appear, they will not succeed unless you act upon your results. This means that if you notice that one of your SEO concepts is not performing as expected, adjustments may need to be made and changes applied. For example: change keywords and keyphrases or build more links if website traffic does not increase according to plan.

Schedule reviews

Assessments are essential throughout the project and should be scheduled as soon as the assignment is accepted - put them on your calendar and add early pop-up reminders. The market may change, some SEO tactics may not work properly, team members forget things, or are running behind schedule for whatever reason and may need assistance to get back on track. These are all obstacles that may show up any time throughout the mission and should be dealt with as soon as possible. It is also important to continue informing your client or boss during these reviews about indicator results and what will be done in case these findings are not as expected.

Final words of wisdom

• Always remember that progress is never spread out evenly. You may be booking a huge success in the first weeks, but the next few may show hardly any growth. Be aware that many factors beyond your control will influence your SEO applications, a fact you may also want to pass on to your client or employer.

• Manage your team proficiently and follow all the steps mentioned above. If one step is missing your SEO strategy may fail miserably, a situation you want to avoid at all cost. You want to succeed, and not only for yourself. Never forget that your team member's future depends on you and that your client or employer also counts on your managerial talents and technical abilities to lead the strategy to success.

Shout is one of the fastest growing online marketing companies in Australasia. Shout specialises in SEO, Search Engine Marketing, website conversions, usability testing and social media marketing. Not only do Shout SEO achieve top search engine rankings for the most competitive keywords, they deal in all things web that help maximise ROI on your website.