In SEO, it’s important to have clear goals in mind. Setting vague goals like “get more leads” or “get more traffic” won’t give you focus or direction. These vague goals waste time and result in generic SEO work that doesn’t help your mission.
Goals provide you with a target to work towards. Having a target allows you to check if your actions align with your goal. Goals also help measure your progress. If you’re not making progress, you may need to change tactics or update your goals. On the other hand, seeing progress towards a goal gives you a sense of accomplishment and motivation.
SEO goals aim to improve your SEO and support your wider marketing and business objectives. This involves targeting awareness and engagement with potential customers on search engines. When improving SEO, you’ll look at factors like rankings, impressions, click-through rates, and clicks. You might also consider keyword volume and impressions.
To set practical goals, follow the SMART goals framework:
Specific: Clearly define your goal so that it can be measured.
Measurable: Make your goals quantifiable so that you can track progress.
Achievable: Ensure your goals are realistic within your resources.
Relevant: Align your goals with higher-order business and marketing goals.
Time-bound: Set a deadline to aid in measuring progress.
SMART goals are widely used in project management, personal development, and psychology. They can be applied to SEO to drive performance. Let’s break down each stage of SMART goals and see how you can create your own SMART SEO goals.
S: Specific
Make sure your SEO goals are specific and actionable. Avoid broad goals like “better rankings” and instead aim for something like ranking in the top 3 results for a specific keyword.
M: Measurable
Ensure that your goals can be measured. There are various SEO metrics you can track, like rankings, organic clicks, impressions, CTR, and more.
A: Achievable
Set goals that are challenging but still within reach. Consider your resources and the competitive landscape. Focus on what you can do better compared to your competitors.
R: Relevant
Make sure your goals align with your overall marketing goals. Explain how your SEO goals contribute to the larger picture and use conversion data from paid search to support your reasoning.
T: Time-bound
Set a target date to achieve your goals and create milestones along the way to track progress.
Remember that SEO takes time, so be patient and review your goals as you make progress.