SEO has evolved beyond recognition over the last decade, by the popular search engines and a shift in the way people are finding information through search engines. Planning your SEO strategy can actually present more difficulties than just simply doing the work. That's why one of the biggest SEO obstacles that businesses face isn’t implementing an effective SEO strategy; instead, they struggle with creating actionable goals for their marketing team to enact. Here are some basic guidelines for SEO goal setting.

Perform an SEO Audit

It is vital that you perform an SEO audit before you start setting any goals. The audit will be able to show you where your website’s strengths and weaknesses are. Such as internal site structure, domain maturity, broken links, and much much more. Without performing an audit, your efforts may be wasted on a site that simply won’t rank due to internal efforts.

Analyze the Competition

Taking a look at other websites allows you to not only observe your competition but also help you sharpen your knowledge of target keywords. Take notes on what kind of keywords keep reappearing and shape your strategy around them. Using specific keywords helps the target audience most likely to convert to actual sales or clients find your website.

Factor in Your SEO Budget

If you plan to execute your SEO alone, you will have less time to meaningfully target keywords and write valuable content. However, if you choose to hire an SEO specialist you will need to determine what you can reasonably accommodate your budget. Keep in mind that every business is different, and it is entirely up to you which path you choose to take.

Create Optimized Content for Your Target Audience

Content is no longer something that will matter in the near future, it’s matters right now. Using the latest tools to optimize your content for engagement is vital. The more users share, link and discuss your content, the higher your SEO ranking will climb.

Why wait to identify your SEO goals? If you have any questions identifying your SEO goals for your business or want help developing an actionable SEO strategy, get in touch with Red Shark Digital today.