What is an SEO strategy?

An SEO strategy describes the processes and plan behind the implementation of a Search Engine Optimisation campaign.

While SEO describes the process of improving your website in order to increase the chances of search engines ranking your pages, the strategy describes the underlying plan to achieve your specific goals. Think of it as a roadmap to follow to get the best results from your website in terms of visibility and organic traffic.

 

Why SEO strategy is important

Did you know?

  • The top three Google search results get 54.4% of all clicks (Backlinko)
  • 60% of marketers say that inbound (including SEO) is their highest quality source of leads (HubSpot)
  • SEO drives 1,000%+ more traffic than organic social media (BrightEdge)

 

 

If you want relevant people to find you online, SEO needs to be part of your marketing strategy. Appearing higher up in search results leads to increased traffic and leads and positions you as an authority in your sector.

Having a strategy in place is essential in order to align your SEO direction with the goals of your business and get the best return on your investment. Successful SEO can take time and patience - a strategy will streamline processes for optimum results.

What does a good SEO strategy look like?

A comprehensive strategy should include:

  • SMART goals and objectives
  • A holistic, cross-channel overview
  • Competitor and content research
  • Keyword research
  • Topic cluster mapping with themes and topics
  • A content marketing plan
  • Local and international considerations
  • Technical improvement plans
  • On page and off page strategies
  • Social media and PPC
  • Mobile and UX strategies
  • Timeframes and goal deadlines
  • KPIs to monitor

Our SEO strategy services

Explore our full range of services from SEO strategy experts…

SEO marketing strategy

Our experienced SEO strategists will work with you to develop an overarching marketing strategy that prioritises SEO to boost visibility, leads and conversions.

B2B SEO strategy

We work with a number of B2B companies, helping them to advance their SEO strategy. From B2B social media strategy to market insights and thought leadership content - we’ve successfully helped B2B organisations maximise their organic results.

SEO content strategy

Our content strategists can help you to accelerate your rankings and stay relevant to your audiences. We can help design a content roadmap aligned to key events that will help build up relevant topic clusters.

Keyword SEO strategy

We use industry leading tools to assess keywords by search volume, relevancy, intent and competitiveness in order to identify the best opportunities for your business.

On-page SEO strategy

On page SEO strategy focuses on all the elements of your website such as optimising landing pages and blog posts for long tail keywords.

Off-page SEO strategy

Off page SEO strategy encompasses all the processes outside of your website, such as social media, client reviews or guest posts on other sites.

Local SEO strategy

A local SEO strategy can help you get seen by relevant audiences in your area. An essential investment for local businesses.

International SEO strategy

A global or international SEO strategy encompasses practices to help search engines determine your location. This includes geographical and language data. We can help by optimising your Google my Business, domain structure and content for target locations.

Mobile SEO strategy

Our team can provide advice on reducing site speed and improving mobile UX strategy to capture this large portion of the digital market.

Social media SEO strategy

Social media can play a part in your overall SEO performance. We have a dedicated social media team to help you strategise for maximum engagement and impact.

eCommerce SEO strategy

Having a strong SEO strategy is vital for eCommerce companies looking to attract more customers organically. We’ve worked with large retailers, helping them to reach 500k page views resulting in a 20% increase in organic revenue year on year.

SEO migration strategy

If you’re migrating to a new site, having a comprehensive plan for SEO migration is essential. Without this, keyword rankings can easily be lost and you may experience a drop in organic traffic. We’re experienced at guiding companies through this process, offering technical, on-page and implementation support.

Technical SEO strategy

From website architecture to schema - we’ll work with you on your technical SEO strategy, aligning your website to the latest industry requirements and working on an integrated strategy to achieve your objectives.

PPC and SEO strategy

Your PPC strategy can assist your SEO by improving targeting and feeding your organic work with insights and data. A PPC audit will deconstruct your campaigns piece-by-piece and determine areas for improvement.

Website optimisation strategy

A strategy should include a plan for ongoing website optimisation. From internal linking structure to optimised metadata - this should all be covered in an integrated organic growth strategy.

SEO internal linking strategy

Building a strong internal linking structure within your website helps search engines navigate your site and rank content accordingly. Having a strategy in place helps to maximise ‘link juice’ to key pages.

Link building SEO strategy

Aquiring quality backlinks can improve the authority of your website and enhance your SEO. This can form part of a wider off-page SEO strategy.

SEO strategy reports

We monitor progress daily, weekly and monthly and provide a detailed monthly report with insights, recommendations and actions to help refine your SEO strategy.

Creating an SEO strategy that works

We’ve developed a tried and tested process for creating a successful SEO strategy that takes into account unique business needs and barriers. Here are some tips to help you get started…

Step by step SEO strategy

Step 1: Set SMART goals

In order to strategise effectively, you need to set clear and measurable objectives for your SEO activity. For example, this could be achieving x percentage increase in organic traffic over a specified period or achieving a certain number of new organic leads. Most traffic related goals can be monitored using Google Anayltics. We also use specialsied tools to track keyword rankings across your site.

Step 2: Audit your current website and processes

An audit of your current performance is a clever place to start as it helps you to identify any problem areas or opportunities for improvement. An audit should cover all aspects of your website and marketing efforts, including technical SEO, website structure, content and backlink profile.

For example, if you are looking to refresh your SEO content strategy, try creating a matrix of all published and planned content on your website. Assess each page according to type, views, exit rate, click through rate ect. to see what performs best, which pages lead to more conversions and if there are any gaps in your strategy.

Step 3: Research and competitor analysis

Competitor analysis allows you to benchmark your business against key success factors in order to identify any gaps, opportunities or weaknesses.

Competitor analysis could include a review of organic search rankings, content, customer reviews, site authority or site health depending on your goals.

As well as known industry competitors, don’t forget to look at content competitors - the websites that rank on page one for relevant search terms for your business.

Step 4: Keyword research and topic cluster identification

The next step is to research relevant words and phrases that your target audiences are searching for. There are several tools available to do this, some are free but many come with a fee.

When brainstorming keywords, think about search intent, the different stages of the user journey and what users may be searching for at each step. Focus on phrases or ‘long tail keywords’ that are more specific rather than generic words.

Keywords should be assessed according to search volumes and competitiveness.

To level up your keyword strategy, group your keywords into topic clusters. Creating a comprehensive content strategy based around relevant topic clusters sends a strong signal to Google about the type of content you are sharing and will help to get your pages seen by relevant users.

By assigning specific keywords for different pages on your website, you can avoid cannibalisation while helping Google understand what you offer and rank you accordingly.

Step 5: Content strategy

Once you have identified the topic cluster(s) you want to target, you can start planning supporting content to create and publish. This will likely consist of a mix of landing pages, service pages, blogs, guides, videos or newsletters.

Be sure to consider search intent when deciding on content types. For example, if a Google search for ‘best innovation tools for business’ comes up with videos and listicles, users may not be looking for case studies when they input this keyword.

Content that answers your client’s questions, solves problems or educates and inspires will improve your chances of ranking. Showcase your USPs, fill a gap or take a different approach to a popular subject to gain the edge over the competition.

It’s also important to publish content regularly - whether that means once a month or daily - so planning content at least 3 months in advance is a good move.

When thinking about content strategy, don’t forget to factor in what would work for video, mobile and voice search.

Step 6: SEO optimisation strategy

Ensuring that your website is optimised according to SEO best practice is another important part of any SEO strategy.

This includes:

  • Resolving technical website issues that could impact site speed, crawling or user experience such as fixing broken links
  • On page optimisation such as metadata and internal linking with targeted anchor text
  • Off page optimisation such as link building or guest blogs
  • Site structure and schema

This isn’t usually a quick fix but rather a long term, continual process.

Step 7: KPI tracking and continual improvement

Finally, factoring in performance monitoring into your plan is key. When we work with clients, we update KPI sheets weekly and provide a monthly report in order to assess what’s working and accelerate progress.

SEO strategy plans

A strategy plan can take many different forms. We like to work with shared digital folders, spreadsheets and slide decks to encourage a collaborative and transparent process with our clients.

A plan should include a project timeline, proposed time frames, hard deadlines and a list of key milestones, dates and events for your business. It should also clearly allocate tasks and responsibilities. An editorial or content calendar will also be needed to manage your SEO content strategy.

How to implement an SEO strategy

Once you have your strategy in place, the next phase is implementation. SEO improvements are a continuous process that require time and effort to take effect. From our experience, results come from relentless execution and regular performance assessments.

Your strategy should outline the who, when and how of implementation, whilst remaining adaptable in order to reflect changes in business need or in the market.

Depending on the resource you have available, we can fully manage SEO implementation or provide supportive guidance to your team.

Organic SEO strategy success stories.

Our SEO strategy work has achieved:

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Organic growth year-on-year for a publicly funded innovation supporter

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Increase in blog views year on year for a commercial kitchen space provider

No 1 rankings for a sports crowd betting community

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Reviews from business - SEO services

"They supported everything from strategy, SEO, social media management and content creation. They have a brilliant team and really take the time to understand the organisations needs."

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Reviews from business - SEO services

“Seventh Element were brilliant, did some really good SEO work on our luxury furniture website. Increased traffic and conversion rates, plus were an excellent team to work with.”

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Reviews from business - SEO services

“I worked with Seventh Element for several years, across multiple projects and they nailed the briefs every time - from content strategy to seo to ppc and to social outreach.”

Why choose us as your SEO strategy advisor?

We’re an SEO agency passionate about seeing tangible results in the businesses we work with.

With us you get:

  • Cross industry experience
  • SEO specialists in B2B
  • Flexible, custom services
  • A holistic approach to SEO strategy
  • Proven results

How it works

We begin with an initial consultation to get a full understanding of your business goals and requirements.

Next, we conduct a full SEO audit of your website to identify any issues and potential solutions. We will also conduct comprehensive sector and / or competitor research to understand your positioning and potential within the market.

Following this is keyword research where we use our industry leading tools to identify the search terms with the most potential for your business.

We can then create a strategic, cross-channel SEO roadmap to set you up your path towards greater visibility and organic traffic.

What’s included

When you work with us you get a unique set of services designed specifically for your needs and budget. You also get:

  • A free initial consultation
  • Fast response times
  • Ongoing support, advice and recommendations
  • First hand experience of a wide network of SEO experts
  • Updates on the latest Google algorithm changes

The SEO tools we use

We use a wide range of digital tools and platforms to generate SEO insights and data in the auditing and analysis stage of a project. We also use tools to automate processes in order to free up more time for bespoke consulting and implementation.

For example, we use advanced platforms such as SEM Rush and Screaming Frog to find keywords and competitor trends. In addition to free tools such as Google analytics for organic search and traffic analysis.

SEO campaign strategy

As all of our SEO consultancy services are tailored to your business needs, costing is determined on an individual basis.

Please get in touch to arrange an initial consultation.

SEO strategy London- expert FAQ

Find the answer to commonly asked questions…

Is SEO a marketing strategy?

SEO is one (important) branch of a brand’s marketing strategy and comprises all of the processes and best practice techniques to get your web pages ranked by Google.

How much SEO plays a role in your marketing strategy will depend on your business objectives. However, in order for potential clients or customers to see your content, it needs to be searchable and visible on the key search engine platforms. That’s why SEO often plays an essential role in awareness and lead-growing strategies.

What are the different types of SEO strategies?

Within SEO there are multiple strategies and techniques that need to be considered. For example;

  • On page SEO strategy
  • Off page SEO strategy
  • Technical SEO strategy
  • Mobile SEO strategy
  • Local SEO strategy
  • Global or international SEO strategy
  • Ecommerce SEO strategy
  • SEO content strategy

You may hear the terms ‘white hat’ SEO which refers to all strategies that align with search engine best practices and ‘black hat’ SEO which refers to spammy practices such as keyword stuffing. These so called ‘black hat’ strategies can harm your website in the long term and are never recommended by our team. Instead, we stay informed of all the latest algorithm changes and advice to ensure optimum website performance for our clients.

See our services section above for more details about the different strands of SEO strategy and how we can help.

How do I create an SEO strategy?

Creating an SEO strategy for your business can be broken down into the following steps:

  • Goal setting - what do you want to achieve and how will you measure it?
  • Keyword and competitor content research - what’s already out there?
  • Benchmarking, auditing and analysis - what are you currently missing?
  • Content mapping - what content do users want to see at each stage of their journey? And what are your USPs?
  • Multi-channel roadmap planning - what, when and how will improvements happen? How will you track them?

From technical SEO aspects to social media and local SEO - there are a lot of components to think about when creating an SEO strategy from scratch. Not sure where to start? Get in touch to find out more about our tried and tested process.

How long does it take to create an SEO strategy?

The length of time needed to put together an integrated SEO strategy will depend on the size of your digital business, your individuals goals and how much you already have in place.

Once implemented, it takes time before you can see the full impact of your SEO work which requires continual monitoring and optimising to keep up with the competition.

We recommend a full refresh of your SEO strategy each quarter, and provide our clients with monthly and weekly update reports to monitor progress and develop our approach.

What is the best SEO strategy in 2022 and beyond?

Recent Google algorithm updates have shown a continued trend towards people-focused website content. A good SEO strategy in the current landscape prioritises relevancy and helpfulness to the target user. User Experience (UX) will also play a key role as modern users expect smooth and professional looking websites that are easy to navigate both on desktop, and increasingly, on mobile.

Other key trends include:

  • Optimising for core web vitals such as page speed
  • Prioritising a topic cluster approach and long tail keywords
  • Targeting SERPs and rich snippets such as ‘People also ask’
  • Creating long form content that covers all angles

This means that the best SEO strategies for the foreseeable future will be multi-channel, content focused, and prioritise solving issues for users.

Grow with us

Whether you’re just getting started with an SEO plan for your new website, or are looking to future proof your long standing business - we’re here to optimise your strategy to get the best return for your business. Get in touch to see how we could work together…

Book a free consultation