Having a solid SEO action plan, backed by insights from Google Search Console and Google Analytics, is like owning a map that leads straight to online success. It will help you perform well on search engine results pages. But let's be honest: SEO can feel like learning to juggle flaming swords while riding a unicycle.
SEO is like a giant puzzle with hundreds of pieces that need to fit together perfectly. But before you deal with the whole thing, you need to start with the edges—the foundation. The first step in your SEO action plan isn't just a to-do; it's the cornerstone that holds your entire strategy together.
Without a solid beginning, you might end up chasing trends, guessing keywords, or worse—wasting precious time and energy.
Understanding SEO Strategy and Its Importance
What is an SEO Strategy?
An SEO strategy is a comprehensive plan designed to improve a website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). It involves a series of deliberate actions and tactics to enhance various aspects of a website, including keyword research, on-page optimization, technical SEO, content strategy, and off-page optimization. A well-planned SEO strategy helps focus on the most impactful activities, such as targeting relevant keywords and optimizing content, to improve a website’s search engine rankings and drive more organic traffic.
Benefits of an SEO Plan
A solid SEO plan offers numerous benefits for a website’s online presence. Some of the key benefits include:
- Increased visibility and credibility in search engine results: A well-executed SEO strategy ensures your website appears prominently in search results, making it more likely for users to click on your site.
- Improved website traffic and engagement: By targeting relevant keywords and optimizing your content, you attract more visitors who are genuinely interested in your offerings.
- Enhanced brand awareness and reputation: Consistently appearing in search results builds brand recognition and trust among users.
- Increased conversions and sales: Higher visibility and targeted traffic lead to more conversions, whether it’s sales, sign-ups, or other desired actions.
- Better understanding of target audience and their search intent: Analyzing search data helps you understand what your audience is looking for and tailor your content to meet their needs.
- Improved website structure and user experience: SEO involves optimizing your site’s architecture, making it easier for users to navigate and find information.
- Increased return on investment (ROI) from digital marketing efforts: Effective SEO strategies yield long-term results, providing a higher ROI compared to other marketing tactics.
What's the First Step in an Effective SEO Action Plan?
The SEO action plan first step is conducting a comprehensive SEO audit. Before diving into keyword research, content creation, or link building, you need to evaluate your website’s performance. An SEO audit acts as your roadmap, revealing what’s working, what’s not, and where opportunities lie for improvement. It is crucial to configure the robots.txt file to properly guide search engine bots for effective crawling and indexing of your website's pages.
Think of an SEO audit as a check-up for your website’s health. It identifies technical issues, content gaps, keyword weaknesses, and other core web vitals, setting the foundation for a targeted and effective SEO strategy.
Benchmarking Current SEO Performance
Benchmarking current SEO performance is essential to understand the strengths and weaknesses of a website’s SEO strategy. It helps identify areas of improvement and set realistic goals for future SEO efforts.
Organic Traffic
Organic traffic refers to the number of visitors who come to a website from unpaid (organic) search results. It is a crucial metric to track, as it indicates the effectiveness of a website’s SEO strategy. To benchmark organic traffic, use tools like Google Analytics to track monthly users, sessions, bounce rates, pages per session, average session duration, and conversion rates from organic channels over the past 12-18 months. Analyze trends to identify opportunities to provide more valuable and shareable content that satisfies search intent. Segment users by source, keyword, landing page, device, and geography to uncover additional insights into the performance of target keywords and pages.
By understanding these metrics, you can gain a clearer picture of how well your SEO strategy is performing and where adjustments are needed to drive more organic traffic and improve search engine rankings.
What Does an SEO Audit Include?
Here's what a comprehensive SEO audit must cover:
Technical SEO Check with Google Search Console
- Evaluate site speed, mobile-friendliness, and crawlability.
- Fix errors like broken links or improper redirects.
- Configure the robots.txt file to properly guide search engine bots for effective crawling and indexing.
On-Page SEO
- Meta tags, headers, keyword usage, and content quality.
- Analyze which web pages are performing well and which need improvement.
- Spot gaps where new, high-value content can be created.
Keyword Analysis
- Assess your current keyword rankings.
- Identify opportunities for targeting better or more relevant keywords.
Backlink Profile Review
- Analyze your backlinks' quality and quantity.
- Disavow spammy links and plan for future link-building efforts.
Competitor Insights
- See how your site stacks up against others in your niche.
- Find inspiration in their strategies and uncover untapped opportunities.
Why the SEO Audit as the First Step Matters
Here's why an SEO audit is the ultimate foundation for a successful action plan:
It establishes a baseline for improvement
An SEO audit offers a clear picture of where your website stands. Before you can set goals or implement strategies, you need to understand:
- How your site is currently performing
- What's working well
- What's holding you back
This baseline becomes your reference point, allowing you to measure progress as you implement your SEO action plan.
It highlights quick wins
Not all SEO fixes take months to show results. An audit often uncovers low-hanging fruit—small, actionable changes that can have an immediate impact
Examples of quick wins include:
- Fixing broken links.
- Updating outdated meta titles and descriptions.
- Optimizing images for faster page load times.
- Quality internal linking
- Optimizing internal links for better navigation and crawlability.
By tackling these first, you build momentum while working on larger, long-term strategies.
It uncovers technical issues
Even a well-designed website can struggle to get high search engine rankings if it's bogged down by technical issues. An SEO audit dives deep into the backend of your site to identify problems like:
- Slow page loading speeds.
- Mobile-friendliness issues.
- Crawl errors that prevent search engines like Google from indexing your site.
- Poor URL structures.
Addressing these issues ensures that your site is search-engine-friendly, giving your content a better chance to rank.
It identifies content gaps and opportunities
Your website's content is a major driver of organic traffic, but is it aligned with your audience's needs? An SEO audit analyzes:
- Which pages are performing well
- Which pages need improvement
- Where there are gaps in your content that could be filled with high-value topics
For example, if your competitors are ranking for “best eco-friendly cleaning products” and you're not, the audit can highlight this as a missed opportunity.
It evaluates your keyword strategy
An SEO audit includes a deep dive into the keywords your site is targeting. Are they relevant to your audience? Are they driving the right kind of website traffic?
By assessing your current keyword strategy, the audit can reveal:
- Keywords you're ranking for but could optimize further.
- Keywords with high potential that you're not targeting.
- Pages competing against each other for the same keyword (known as keyword cannibalization).
This clarity allows you to refine your focus and prioritize the right keywords moving forward.
It analyzes backlink health
An audit looks at your backlink profile to ensure it's helping—not hurting—your rankings.
Key insights include:
- The quality of your backlinks.
- Whether you have spammy or toxic links that need to be disavowed.
- Opportunities to build new, high-quality backlinks.
A healthy backlink profile strengthens your domain authority, making it easier for your site to rank.
It provides a competitive edge
Part of an SEO audit involves analyzing your competitors. By comparing their performance to yours, you can identify:
- Keywords they're targeting that you're not.
- Content strategies that are driving their traffic.
- Backlink opportunities they've leveraged.
This competitive analysis helps you pinpoint what you need to do to outperform them.
It prevents wasted effort
Without an SEO audit, you're flying blind. You might spend time optimizing the wrong web pages, targeting ineffective keywords, or ignoring technical issues that are dragging down your rankings.
An audit ensures your efforts are focused on the areas that will deliver the most impact, saving you time and resources in the long run.
It aligns with your team
An SEO audit provides a clear roadmap for what needs to be done, making it easier to align your team's efforts. Writers, developers, and marketers can all work from the same set of priorities, reducing miscommunication.
It sets realistic expectations
SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. An audit helps you set achievable goals based on your current performance and the level of competition in your industry.
For example:
If your site has a low domain authority, an audit can show that targeting highly competitive keywords isn't realistic—yet. Instead, you can focus on long-tail keywords or local SEO strategies to build momentum and be visible on Google search results.
Final Thoughts
Starting your SEO action plan with an audit is a smart move. It's the key to a focused, efficient, and successful strategy. By uncovering weaknesses, identifying strengths, and highlighting opportunities, an audit lays the groundwork for everything that comes next.
Think of it as the ultimate tune-up for your website, ensuring it's in top shape to tackle the competitive world of search rankings. Use a free SEO audit tool or work with an agency that offers comprehensive search engine optimization services. So, before you dive into keywords, content, or link building, make sure your first step is a comprehensive SEO audit. Your future rankings will thank you.
