Create a SEO Plan Before You Sign Another Vendor

Every business website who wants leads from Google needs a plan. At a minimum, potential customers should be able to search your company name and find you on the first page. Best practices for Search Optimization include routine website maintenance and upgrades. Stop before you sign-up for another service/vendor/SEO fix. Start a plan you can use as requirements for your next contract.

Getting the SEO Action Plan Started

Google Search Console

Want to know how your site is doing in search? Let Google tell you. If you have not setup an account on Google Search Console or are not sure if an account is setup, start here. This is a free tool and this will be your number one resource for technical checks on your website. When Google has an issue with your website, Search Console will tell you. Signup for an account and verify the connection to your website. There are many options you are given to verify your site. If your webmaster already did this, you won’t need to, you should start to get data right away.

Run a Basic Scan for SEO Issues

A basic scan of your website will give you an introductory look at how much work is needed. When you talk to a new vendor it will help if you have an idea of the extent of the work involved. Sometimes the best way to get a project started is to have a to-do list. If you are new to SEO you may not feel confident deciding what needs to be done. There are some really good tools that can create a list for you. Try www.semrush.com or siteimprove.com for a free report to get you started.

Download Your 2024 Website Strategic Plan

Prioritize SEO Resources

Not every business has unlimited resources for SEO. If you had to choose one thing, where would you focus your resources? Are you looking at improving SEO because you have a problem you are trying to solve? There are two potential paths for SEO improvement. Technical SEO or Content Improvement. Both will be beneficial to your site in the long run. You could start with one this year and work to add more as you go. Our Website Strategic Plan has a worksheet to help you decide which route to go.

Technical SEO makes physical changes to your website and website environment. If your site is older, this may be the place to start. Improving things like site speed and mobile compatibility will attract users as well as search engines.

The other path would be to focus on content improvement. Search has always been about quality content. This became even more important after the September 2023 and March 2024 Google Core Updates. Better content is always time and money well spent. You can focus on adding new content to your site. Or if your site is large, work to refresh existing content. New content could bring new traffic, maybe entire new audiences. Refreshing old content could revive past website content investments. Bring new attention to an existing business/product.

Focusing on content will require a heavy resource investment on internal staff. If you can’t spare the resources, focus on the technical upgrades instead.

Examples of Technical SEO Action Plan

Improving Core Vitals Score
Page Speed Optimization
Schema/Structured Data/Rich Text coding

Examples of Content-Driven SEO Action Plan

Update Keyword Research
Audit of Existing Content for On-Page Optimization
Blogging Strategy

Are You Sure SEO is What You Need?

There is a lot of change happening with SEO right now. Think seriously about if this is really the right time to start a new SEO program. Many businesses are looking at alternatives to market their website for the first time in a long time. SEO works best when your business has progressed to where you are clear about who your customers are and what you are selling. You can take that specific knowledge and use it to craft a website to further your growth. Before you invest, are you sure this is what you need? Be aware of the following realities:

Does SEO make sense for your business? – I have spoken with clients where their CEO was obsessed with being #1 on Google. They were putting a lot of time and resources towards this goal. Their product could only be used by about 3500 businesses in the whole world. Implementation of their product was a major deal, a long sales process. I question putting big spending towards SEO in a scenario like this. If you already know who the 3500 people are that you can sell to, wouldn’t you spend your resources going directly to them? Instead of hoping they notice you in a search query?

SEO is not free. – The purpose of SEO is to work towards higher rankings in the organic listings of search engines. Yes, its true that organic listings are earned, not paid. The work that goes into improving organic listings is not free. SEO is labor intensive. Someone will need to do the research, write the content and the post the updates. You will need to dedicate an internal employee or find a contractor to help.

SEO is not quick. – SEO is a long-term marketing strategy. Industries that are highly competitive offline will be just as competitive online. Working up the rankings against big competitors takes time. There are no magic tricks that will instantly make your website a success. Getting content in good shape to rank well takes time. Look at SEO work as an investment for the future.

SEO cannot save a product/business. – If your business is in trouble, this is not something you want to start as a last resort to keep the doors open. There is no guarantee how fast you will see results and that might not be soon enough. If you need quick traffic, your best bet is paid traffic.