An SEO strategy defines how to overcome critical challenges by leveraging competitive advantages.
So many SEOs fall back to tactics because there is no good SEO strategy framework on the web.
I plucked these 2 from the page because this SEO strategy will give you a huge advantage over others who are still in a queue waiting for their ranking to begin.
My SEO strategy is on the web, and can be explained in a short sentence.
When you submit new pages via GSC for indexing, "indexing & ‘Ranking’" will occur on the same day of indexing.
I think this is the best SEO strategy around today, what do you think?
Hey Jaroslaw, thanks for sharing. I would say strategy is usually much further removed from technical details. If indexing is the biggest challenge, which can happen, then I'd say the approach should be more multi-facetted than one single action.
Hi Kevin, One single action that most cannot replicate, where they are waiting for their organic ranking my pages are instantly ranking that is the BIG difference.
GOAT article 🔥🔥as good as your Semrush SEO strategy course. And in some ways even better. In that course, you only provided 1 example of a strategy statement. Although I understood it, I thought there could have been more examples + here you've added questions as well.
I've read this 3 times and I'm thinking about where I could have done better. I should have asked that client this question to get a better understanding of their current SEO so that I could deliver slightly better results. But what's done is done; I can't change the past. I've taken notes on all the questions, and I'll use them in the next client meeting, or any meeting so I can understand better.
And if you remember, I mentioned preferring "how-to guides" rather than case studies—I was talking about this type of article.
I guess I need to read this a couple more times to fully understand it.
I think you know your audience inside out. Send a newsletter on SEO strategies two weeks before the start of the school and professional year. Good idea :).
I want to thank you again for the quality of your work. Your article helps me a lot to acquire the ‘mentality’ or rather a good way to approach a strategy (SEO or otherwise).
I'm in the middle of building a Web Marketing strategy, and your article will help me structure this strategy.
Ok you have earned my subscription. I have ADHD and struggle to read a full sentence never mind a full article. But you got me to do it! Congratulations
As you write, it's baffling how often strategy is mistaken as tactics and goals like meeting a certain amount of "growth" per year. How do you (or did you) approach a client who seems to be "on the wrong track"? In your position with your credentials it's much more authority than if someone like me would say "I think we have to talk about strategy again". :D
Your update on this article is great. From all the things I read and learned about strategy, Richard Rumelt and the ideas of Roger Martin seem to hit the nail on the head most of the time.
Johan's approach (https://wngmn.de/wissen/seo-strategie including the provided sheet) and this new article of yours are my favorites on SEO strategy. Will definitely revisit this regularly! :)
I often ask challenging questions, which leads clients to quickly realize that they don't actually have a strategy. And yes, the background helps a lot (even though it shouldn't, but well, humans...).
Appreciate the compliment and will check out what Johan has written. Didn't even know you had a /wissen directory now!
That's also what I figured: Lead a client to the realisation that his/her strategy is actually not a strategy by asking careful questions. You could say to use judo or jiu-jitsu instead of karate is the way to go.
It's been there for a bit but we rarely reference it or add new stuff to it. The article I mentioned definitely stood the test of time though.
This is very helpful, thank you! Even as a former director of search strategy I often find - in practice - that distinguishing strategy from tactics got difficult at times. And even as I managed to answer many of these questions for myself, I found that communicating them got really hard when revenue was tracked daily and the pressure was intense.
Been there, done that. Communicating a strategy well is brutal. I've been steamrolled in meetings. And it also took me a long time to understand the difference between strategy and tactics. That's why I rewrote this guide :). What I've also found is that when the strategy clicks, it's very defensible and gets people excited.
Agreed Kevin. Seems like everyone mistakes "SEO strategy" with a series of tactics from an SEO audit. I like the 5 cascading questions. For me identifying the problem a business wants to solve and then how SEO can help achieve that, is always the first step. You'd be surprised how many times SEO is not the right channel for some businesses.
Yep, as SEOs it's easy to see everything as a nail. I'm also surprised how little creativity SEOs often have when trying to achieve a goal. Lots of cookie cutter approaches :).
An SEO strategy defines how to overcome critical challenges by leveraging competitive advantages.
So many SEOs fall back to tactics because there is no good SEO strategy framework on the web.
I plucked these 2 from the page because this SEO strategy will give you a huge advantage over others who are still in a queue waiting for their ranking to begin.
My SEO strategy is on the web, and can be explained in a short sentence.
When you submit new pages via GSC for indexing, "indexing & ‘Ranking’" will occur on the same day of indexing.
I think this is the best SEO strategy around today, what do you think?
Hey Jaroslaw, thanks for sharing. I would say strategy is usually much further removed from technical details. If indexing is the biggest challenge, which can happen, then I'd say the approach should be more multi-facetted than one single action.
Hi Kevin, One single action that most cannot replicate, where they are waiting for their organic ranking my pages are instantly ranking that is the BIG difference.
GOAT article 🔥🔥as good as your Semrush SEO strategy course. And in some ways even better. In that course, you only provided 1 example of a strategy statement. Although I understood it, I thought there could have been more examples + here you've added questions as well.
I've read this 3 times and I'm thinking about where I could have done better. I should have asked that client this question to get a better understanding of their current SEO so that I could deliver slightly better results. But what's done is done; I can't change the past. I've taken notes on all the questions, and I'll use them in the next client meeting, or any meeting so I can understand better.
And if you remember, I mentioned preferring "how-to guides" rather than case studies—I was talking about this type of article.
I guess I need to read this a couple more times to fully understand it.
Thank you for writing this😊
Thanks a lot for the feedback, Nilesh! Glad you're enjoying it :)
Hi Kevin,
I think you know your audience inside out. Send a newsletter on SEO strategies two weeks before the start of the school and professional year. Good idea :).
I want to thank you again for the quality of your work. Your article helps me a lot to acquire the ‘mentality’ or rather a good way to approach a strategy (SEO or otherwise).
I'm in the middle of building a Web Marketing strategy, and your article will help me structure this strategy.
Again, thanks a lot.
Ok you have earned my subscription. I have ADHD and struggle to read a full sentence never mind a full article. But you got me to do it! Congratulations
Nolan, that’s a HUGE compliment. Appreciate you!
As you write, it's baffling how often strategy is mistaken as tactics and goals like meeting a certain amount of "growth" per year. How do you (or did you) approach a client who seems to be "on the wrong track"? In your position with your credentials it's much more authority than if someone like me would say "I think we have to talk about strategy again". :D
Your update on this article is great. From all the things I read and learned about strategy, Richard Rumelt and the ideas of Roger Martin seem to hit the nail on the head most of the time.
Johan's approach (https://wngmn.de/wissen/seo-strategie including the provided sheet) and this new article of yours are my favorites on SEO strategy. Will definitely revisit this regularly! :)
I often ask challenging questions, which leads clients to quickly realize that they don't actually have a strategy. And yes, the background helps a lot (even though it shouldn't, but well, humans...).
Appreciate the compliment and will check out what Johan has written. Didn't even know you had a /wissen directory now!
That's also what I figured: Lead a client to the realisation that his/her strategy is actually not a strategy by asking careful questions. You could say to use judo or jiu-jitsu instead of karate is the way to go.
It's been there for a bit but we rarely reference it or add new stuff to it. The article I mentioned definitely stood the test of time though.
This is very helpful, thank you! Even as a former director of search strategy I often find - in practice - that distinguishing strategy from tactics got difficult at times. And even as I managed to answer many of these questions for myself, I found that communicating them got really hard when revenue was tracked daily and the pressure was intense.
Been there, done that. Communicating a strategy well is brutal. I've been steamrolled in meetings. And it also took me a long time to understand the difference between strategy and tactics. That's why I rewrote this guide :). What I've also found is that when the strategy clicks, it's very defensible and gets people excited.
Agreed Kevin. Seems like everyone mistakes "SEO strategy" with a series of tactics from an SEO audit. I like the 5 cascading questions. For me identifying the problem a business wants to solve and then how SEO can help achieve that, is always the first step. You'd be surprised how many times SEO is not the right channel for some businesses.
Yep, as SEOs it's easy to see everything as a nail. I'm also surprised how little creativity SEOs often have when trying to achieve a goal. Lots of cookie cutter approaches :).
Mere pe to hey E Na.