This article will guide you through creating a simple SEO plan. This plan is centered on a specific set of keywords relevant to your business’s specific services or products. It’s designed to be succinct and can be used on a single page.
Distinguishing SEO Planning from SEO Strategy
SEO planning is frequently confused with SEO strategy. While interconnected, they represent distinct phases of your overarching SEO endeavors, thus warranting separate consideration. Creating an effective SEO strategy entails pinpointing an SEO Unique Selling Proposition (USP) to differentiate yourself from competitors
SEO planning, on the other hand, involves the tactical implementation of your strategy. The aim is to streamline the planning process, freeing up your attention for the intricacies of SEO that are complex enough.
What is an SEO Plan?
An SEO plan consist of the methodologies for researching, documenting, creating, optimizing, and promoting content to improve your website’s search engine visibility. Its objective is to draw visitors and drive increased business from your site.
The plan outlined here offers a simplified approach that anyone can follow, serving as a springboard for your SEO endeavors. These steps use a simple On-Page SEO Plan template.
This plan intentionally maintains simplicity to keep your focus on the essentials. It eschews discussions about web design, technical SEO, generative AI, or other advanced features. Instead, it centers on what truly matters—creating exceptional content that gets favor with Google and achieves high rankings.
Step 1: Compile a Catalog of Keywords
The objective here is to assemble a comprehensive list of relevant keywords. Aim to optimize either your homepage, a specific product, service, or content piece, ensuring that all selected search terms directly pertain to this single item.
This process should yield multiple keywords sharing a common underlying intent. Next, aim to organize these keywords into a coherent group.
Several approaches can be used:
Discussion
Its advisable to engage in discussions with your team. Note down all conceivable search terms that come to mind. If your team includes members who interact directly with customers, their insights can be particularly valuable.
Use Google Autocomplete
Take your initial list and input these terms into Google search. Google Autocomplete will generate several suggestions in the dropdown menu. A helpful tactic is to append your primary term with successive letters of the alphabet to observe how it influences the suggestions. Select relevant terms from the suggestions and explore additional related searches at the bottom of the page.
Google Search Console
If you already own a website, you can review the search terms for which you currently rank. You can refine your search to focus on terms relevant to a specific page, compiling a list of terms that align with Google’s preferences, putting you on the right track.
SEO Tools
Several SEO tools are available to help expand your keyword list and provide insights into search volume and difficulty. It’s advisable to start with Google Ads’ Keyword Planner and document your findings in the provided on-page SEO plan template.
Your goal is to identify five to ten related keywords, ranging from shorter, more specific terms to longer, more detailed ones. Compile these keywords into a spreadsheet, including their search volume and relative difficulty (you can use PPC difficulty as a reference if you lack access to a paid SEO tool).
In case you encounter a keyword that extends beyond the scope of your current focus then, you should create a new on-page SEO plan tailored specifically to that term.
Step 2: Determine Search Intent
While it may be tempting to explore keywords only based on their numbers, a more strategic approach is necessary to refine your strategy. First and foremost, it’s important to grasp the search intent and how the returned content is categorized:
- Are the search results informative and helpful?
- Do they focus on commercial services such as products and services?
Answering these questions will provide insights into what users are seeking, as Google’s algorithms have already analyzed user behavior and adjusted the content accordingly.
Next, examine the types of content returned:
- Webpages
- Videos
- Images
- Informational Snippets
- News Articles
- Local Business Listings
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Often, you’ll notice a dominant format among the results (such as videos at the top of the page). However, at times, the presence of various content types suggests a diversity in the searcher’s preferences for answers to their query.
When considering intent, good details are important. Merely identifying posts as informational isn’t sufficient; you need to explore deeper. The search results often mirror the content you should aim to produce to rank for a particular term. It’s essential to understand their nature, similarities, references, and links, while also identifying any gaps or opportunities.
In your on-page SEO plan template, note down the following details:
- Determine whether the intent is informational or commercial.
- Identify the types of content present (videos, blogs, etc.).
- Specify the list-type articles and short actionable tips, limited to a maximum of 10.
Step 3: Develop a Strategy
A frequent issues in SEO is replicating existing content without significant improvement. While this approach might have yielded some success previously, it’s essential to strive for a stronger strategy. The reasons lie in scrutinizing current results, conducting an SEO analysis, and pinpointing areas for improvement.
A prevailing notion is that your creation should either be different or superior. If aiming for superiority, endeavor to integrate novel and distinctive elements that elevate the content beyond existing standards. When competing with industry giants, the imperative is to produce content that significantly surpasses what’s currently available.
Often, diverging from the norm proves advantageous. If competitors share a similar approach, innovation can set you apart and allow you to leverage the credibility of more established players. Another valuable strategy involves analyzing the content landscape to discern prevalent linking patterns. Whether it’s statistics, guides, checklists, studies, or data, identifying common trends can inform your strategy.
Your tasks here are twofold: first, recognizing commonalities to distinguish your content, and second, understanding what competitors link to, thereby enabling you to emulate successful promotion strategies.
Take notes in your on-page SEO plan template focusing on the following:
- Identify gaps and opportunities within the current landscape.
- Analyze the content that people are linking to.
- Formulate your SEO strategy by integrating original research, new statistics, and actionable resources such as checklists or worksheets.
Step 4: Content Creation
At this stage, you should grasp the existing landscape and devise a strategy to introduce something new, distinctive, or special. Now, it’s time to actualize your plans, and your audience will follow.
The specifics of this phase will vary. For instance, if you’re a local plumber, it might entail showcasing recent work through a gallery, presenting case studies, or highlighting testimonials. Conversely, for highly competitive search terms, offering something truly unique may need conducting studies or additional research.
The criteria for what constitutes “different” or “better” will differ based on the keyword and location. However, cutting corners here isn’t an option if you’re serious about SEO.
Note the following details in your on-page SEO plan template:
- Document the content you intend to create.
- Draft a basic outline of the content.
- Specify any necessary images, videos, or other assets.
Step 5: Optimization
In this phase, outline all the optimizations to be implemented on the page according to your plan, and ensure each task is completed.
On-page Optimization
Though not overly complex, having a checklist ensures you cover all essential aspects such as page title, headers, file names and alt text for images, keywords placement in the first paragraph, and content body.
On-page SEO requirements will vary based on the article’s topic and format. Your optimization efforts should seamlessly integrate with the reader’s experience.
Note the following details in your on-page SEO plan template:
- Compile a list of all on-page elements to be optimized.
- Specify the frequency of keyword usage.
- List all articles where you can integrate links to your new content.
Step 6: Promotion
To propel your content to greater visibility, promotion is important. This consists of both social media engagement, SEO, and PPC which should not be overlooked. However, building links is essential for your content to soar in organic search results.
There are two primary types of links to focus on:
Internal Links: Review your website and compile a list of all opportunities to include internal anchor text links to your new blog post. While content management systems like WordPress may handle some of this automatically, it’s essential to identify all relevant content pieces on your site where you can strategically link to this new content.
External Links: Quality external links, not the kind you can purchase for a mere $40 from link vendors, but genuine links from authentic bloggers, remain crucial, particularly for highly competitive keywords. Links signal to Google that your content is credible and deserves attention.
This underscores the significance of your strategy and comprehensive planning. People don’t link to websites with high spam scores; there must be something compelling about your content.
To give external links, especially those that enhance your credibility, consider the following tactics:
Google Prospecting: Conduct a simple Google search for the terms you wish to rank for and identify articles where your content, or a relevant aspect, could provide additional value. Reach out to the site owners via their contact form, email, or LinkedIn, aiming to establish a relationship that may result in a link.
Reverse Engineering: Use any SEO tool to identify the domains linking to high-ranking content. Compile a list of these linking domains, then, similar to prospecting, create a pitch and approach the site owners to request a link.
The Link Building Idea
The objective is to manually elevate the article’s ranking to a level where it naturally attracts links. Keep in mind, that achieving this entails featuring linkable elements, such as statistics. For an in-depth exploration of contemporary link-building practices.
In your on-page SEO plan template, note down:
- All articles and pages on your website where you can integrate links to your new content.
- Compile a list of external sites for outreach and link-building efforts.
As a concluding step, it’s essential to measure your results. In addition to SEO planning, it’s advisable to define your SEO objectives and establish a set of SEO metrics or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to ensure that your outcomes align with tangible business objectives.
Effective Strategies for Implementing a On-Page SEO Plan
SEO is a multiphased discipline, often consisting of a broad aspect even for a single website. To achieve success, akin to any professional endeavor, a well-defined plan is indispensable.
This approach changes focus away from the technical intricacies of SEO, streamlining the planning process for individual articles. It helps you to concentrate on the strategic and execution aspects required to propel a high-ranking article in a competitive niche.
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