Understanding SEO Strategy

When it comes to marketing any new project sooner or later you are going to come across the veritable goldmine of SEO. The lure of all that free, juicy organic traffic will send you tumbling down the SEO rabbit hole sure enough.

Shortly after that, you are going to realise that SEO is no easy option.

In this post, I want to give you a brief overview of how to identify if SEO is the right tactic for your project and if so, what a basic SEO strategy should look like for your project.

Hopefully, I will help you set some realistic goals and avoid some of the common SEO pitfalls that new marketers fall into.

What gives me the right?

Well, I have worked as an SEO for some time now, approx 22 years, prior to the launch of Google Ads. I have also done SEO for just about every type of business out there - from small local businesses to major brands to international SaaS companies (and everything in between).

I am not your typical Guru or paper champion. I have been, and still am in the SEO trenches 5 days a week. If you are interested in my credentials you can Google "Marcus Miller SEO" or check out my agency at https://www.bowlerhat.co.uk

SEO - some common misconceptions

SEO is not some magical silver bullet strategy that fixes all your marketing if you can just unlock the secrets of Google.

SEO can be an important factor in a well-structured marketing strategy, but it is important to set realistic (SMART) goals for SEO.

It is also important to figure out how SEO contributes to your overall marketing strategy.

Yes, SEO can help bring people to your site.

But it will not walk them through the entire process from start to finish.

SEO needs some supporting players and works best as one cog in a greater marketing machine.

It is also important to realise that SEO is not easy. Not at all.

SEO will never be good, fast and cheap. It can only ever be two of those:

• Fast & Good - it won’t be cheap
• Fast & Cheap - it won’t be good
• Cheap & Good - it won’t be fast

You get the picture. Don’t blunder into this thinking SEO is some magical marketing tactic that fixes all your problems. This will lead you to waste time, money and effort with little to show for your time.

SEO Strategy - the basics

Your first job is to ensure you understand how SEO works, the types of SEO and whether SEO is right for your project.

Let’s start with the most basic example - a local business.

For a plumber, serving a local area, the goal will be to rank for a handful of relevant terms that may generate leads.

• Plumber
• Plumber near me
• Plumber <location>
• Boiler repair
• Boiler repair near me
• Boiler repair <location>
• Etc

The plumber will then need to have a decent website, good reviews, testimonials and most importantly be responsive to phone calls and leads via the website.

The SEO strategy is simple - get in front of the right people at the right time (and look the part).

With an app or a new product, the strategy is often not so straightforward.

With a local business, there is only local competition. The plumber is a big fish in a small pool. Getting noticed is relatively easy.

If you are doing something new or trying to enter existing marketing then things are much more difficult.

You are either a small fish in an ocean of competition.

Worse still, people may not even be looking (searching) for what it is that you do.

SEO Strategy here becomes much more important.

SEO Strategy - 2 main components

The two key components any SEO strategy needs to cover are for the on the nose terms that relate to what you do, we tend to call this transactional SEO. The second component is content that covers questions that your potential customers may ask on Google which we often call informational SEO.

1. Transactional SEO:

The first part of your SEO strategy is to be visible when people search for what it is that you offer. This is the transactional part of your strategy so you can be found and be considered by the warmest of possible site visitors.

Example - If you are a productivity app then you want to be found when someone searches for “productivity app” and other related keywords with a similar intent.

This is difficult and not where you should start in most cases.

2. Informational SEO:

The next part of the strategy is a little more complicated and is slightly earlier in the customer journey.

The three key areas to consider here are:

• your prospect's goals
• your prospect's pains and problems
• your prospect's jobs

You now need to create content that helps your prospect achieve their goals, removes their pains & problems, and helps them deal with the myriad jobs that stand in their way.

This would typically take the form of helpful content, could be written content, could be video, there is no right or wrong, it just needs to be the content that makes the most sense for that question.

This should be the main thrust of your SEO efforts.

Bridging the gap from content to customer

It is important to note that the content you create has to connect to the features and benefits of your project. That is, the content has to show folks how to fix their problem, but also show that the easiest and smartest way would be to use your tool.

This has to be subtle. It can’t be a marketing piece. The content must illustrate your expertise but also create an association with your product.

You also need to then capitalise on that initial click and build out the connective marketing tissue required to gradually move that prospect along your marketing funnel.

I am a big fan of classic, time-proven, robust marketing methodologies like AIDA.

AIDA - Attention, Interest, Desire & Action

Your content is the first step in your AIDA funnel and you now have to build interest, stimulate desire and finally, get action.

Building a lead generation funnel with SEO traffic

In its simplest form, you will end up with something like this

Helpful Content (SEO)
Lead Magnet (download of some sort)
Email List
Remarketing

Generally, you will see several articles clustered around one relevant lead magnet.

You will then advertise using remarketing and try to generate engagement with your email marketing. You will be looking to get your prospective customers interested and build interest, desire and get them to take action.

Typically this takes the form of:

helpful article (SEO)
lead magnet
email list
remarketing (social / banner ads etc)

This is the simplest of possible funnels but it is where you should start.

You may also have some different kind of call to action on your content and the specifics really depend upon the product or service but this is the general template you should start from.

If only it were so easy…

Unfortunately, SEO is difficult. The planning is difficult. The execution is difficult. Best of all, even if you do everything right, you may not rank and you may need to do lots of promotion (authority building) before you have any results from organic search and SEO.

I favour this content-led approach as the traffic you are targeting with your informational content can also be targeted using paid tactics. So, whilst you build up your organic visibility you can also promote your content and drive traffic into your funnel.

What Google wants

A good way to look at this is to think about what Google actually wants and to work with them.

Google just wants to provide the best answer to a given question for search engine users.

You then want to be the best answer to that question.

If you do that, then everything gets so much easier.

You are helping the search engine do its job rather than trying to game the system.

Don’t game the system. Google is all kinds of smart.

Developing a killer SEO mindset is likely a bit out of scope for here but I wrote about this in a little more detail on the Bowler Hat blog

How to tilt your SEO towards success

Okay, so, if you are still with me, we know a few things now.

SEO can be incredibly powerful

But…

SEO is difficult

SEO is slow

The best way to tackle these issues connects nicely to your overall business strategy.

If you are trying to compete in an already saturated market with some big players - this will be tough. You have to have some kind of angle or niche.

You want to have an angle. Offer something truly unique. Having a USP - Unique Selling Point, another classic bit of marketing advice, has never been more relevant.

If you can have a niche. Like a really deep, strategic, unique and valuable niche, then you become a bigger fish in a smaller pool.

The best way to beat the competition is to stop trying to beat the competition and carve out your own niche.

Make the competition irrelevant.

Make the fight winnable.

If you have a unique business strategy then your SEO content strategy builds on this.

SEO strategy is just the beginning

I wish this was everything you needed to know.

Getting your SEO strategy right from the start is crucial.

Identifying if SEO is even viable for your business is crucial.

Determining if SEO is a long or short term strategy is important.

Ensuring your content strategy and funnel can be bought to life with paid promotion (search, native, display, social etc) will get you moving more quickly.

Determining how other SEO tactics factor into your overall approach is also important.

There are a lot of moving parts.

Strategy is the foundation.

SEO - Start with strategy

SEO can be powerful but you have to figure out what that looks like for your completely unique situation.

It is highly likely that SEO can play an important role in your marketing strategy but it will not be fast, easy or quick.

You should ensure your product has a clear niche and USP and your SEO content strategy should build on this.

You should ensure anything you put out is truly the best possible answer so Google wants to return your content over the competition.

It should be possible to test your content and funnel using paid tactics to promote your content whilst you wait for SEO traffic to build.

Making that traffic work will also require some kind of funnel and nurturing system. Typically this takes the form of content pieces, lead magnets, email marketing and remarketing. The specifics of this recipe will vary based on the unique facets of your business.

Build an SEO mindset around delivering informational value to your prospects.

Give Google that content to serve and Google will give you traffic.

Reciprocation. Give and you will receive.

No quick wins. No dirty tricks.

It is a long road ahead, but, with time and effort can be a powerful channel.

Ask me anything.

Marcus @ BowlerHat.co.uk