How-to-guide: Creating Agile SEO Campaigns

1. How-to-guide: Creating Agile SEO Campaigns How-To Guide © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Creating Agile SEO Campaigns Executive Summary Most marketers are familiar with the buzzword of 2013 – “Agile Marketing” – and are taking steps to adapt current marketing practices to this model. Agile Marketing is the application of a simple process popularized by software developers of “build, measure and learn” to marketing practices. To learn more about the concept of Agile Marketing, review our How-To Guide – Getting Started with Agile Marketing. The practicality and versatility of the “agile” approach has led to its application in a variety of marketing initiatives, including social, lead generation and SEO. Organically, Agile SEO makes sense. With the constant addition of new web pages (51 million in 2012 alone – http://www.royal.pingdom.com) and the influx of new buzzwords every day, it seems only natural to continuously revise the content and keywords that are generated in order to optimize searches for services, products or content. This How-To Guide defines Agile SEO, the reasons to engage in Agile SEO campaigns and the key components of the Agile SEO approach. What is Agile SEO? “When people talk ‘Agile SEO’, they normally discuss the benefits of a procedural department-wide shift to the agile framework, or the development of technical tools to approach SEO problems with more of a programmer’s mindset. […] At the core of agile SEO development, the concept is to develop a system of releasing content through repeated cycles (iteration) and in smaller portions at a time (incremental). In this framework, the iteration is done with the early release of content and subsequent updating and ‘nurturing’ of this content.” -www.searchenginejournal.com

2. How-To Guide © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The Agile SEO approach recognizes that SEO is more effective when it is continuous and ongoing. Content on the web is always in flux, and Agile SEO matches the dynamic nature of the web. This approach calls for many iterations of incremental content change, fine tuning between each pivot to achieve optimal performance. Reasons to Engage in Agile SEO Campaign If you’re not formally conducting SEO, then adopting the agile approach to it is simple. If you’re switching from traditional SEO planning to an agile approach, it may seem like a daunting task. However, the effort to create Agile SEO campaigns will yield practical benefits and immediate ROI. The top reasons to utilize the agile approach for SEO are:  Stay Competitive – Remaining current on your keywords/content will allow you to build a solid foundation to protect from competitors seeking out similar keyword searches. Competitors will work tirelessly to rank #1 for their top keywords so it is important to keep a watchful eye on your rankings as well. Likewise, consistently monitoring keywords and content allows you to find opportunities to exploit via search engine marketing.  Continual Testing & Learning – The agile SEO method encourages testing of new ideas and concepts. This creates an atmosphere of experimentation for content development and generates an efficient way to build long-term keyword success.  Decrease Rate of Failure – The core of the agile approach diminishes the concept of failure. By continuously planning, testing, and evaluating SEO campaigns in short increments; you are constantly improving on your SEO strategy over time.  Adapt Quickly to Change – A great strength of Agile SEO is that it enables a quick response to changes. The continuous cycles of this approach provide ample opportunity to implement and measure fully integrated campaigns. How-To Guide © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The Agile SEO approach recognizes that SEO is more effective when it is continuous and ongoing. Content on the web is always in flux, and Agile SEO matches the dynamic nature of the web. This approach calls for many iterations of incremental content change, fine tuning between each pivot to achieve optimal performance. Reasons to Engage in Agile SEO Campaign If you’re not formally conducting SEO, then adopting the agile approach to it is simple. If you’re switching from traditional SEO planning to an agile approach, it may seem like a daunting task. However, the effort to create Agile SEO campaigns will yield practical benefits and immediate ROI. The top reasons to utilize the agile approach for SEO are:  Stay Competitive – Remaining current on your keywords/content will allow you to build a solid foundation to protect from competitors seeking out similar keyword searches. Competitors will work tirelessly to rank #1 for their top keywords so it is important to keep a watchful eye on your rankings as well. Likewise, consistently monitoring keywords and content allows you to find opportunities to exploit via search engine marketing.  Continual Testing & Learning – The agile SEO method encourages testing of new ideas and concepts. This creates an atmosphere of experimentation for content development and generates an efficient way to build long-term keyword success.  Decrease Rate of Failure – The core of the agile approach diminishes the concept of failure. By continuously planning, testing, and evaluating SEO campaigns in short increments; you are constantly improving on your SEO strategy over time.  Adapt Quickly to Change – A great strength of Agile SEO is that it enables a quick response to changes. The continuous cycles of this approach provide ample opportunity to implement and measure fully integrated campaigns.

3. How-To Guide © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Agile SEO Approach The Agile SEO approach implements a cyclical method of testing, applying and evaluating. The Agile SEO process workflow is simple: Utilize the action plan outlined on the next page to learn how to implement Agile SEO as part of your workflow. Plan Implement Measure Improve How-To Guide © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Agile SEO Approach The Agile SEO approach implements a cyclical method of testing, applying and evaluating. The Agile SEO process workflow is simple: Utilize the action plan outlined on the next page to learn how to implement Agile SEO as part of your workflow. Plan Implement Measure Improve

4. How-To Guide © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Action Plan: 1. Plan – Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your SEO campaign. This could include, but is not limited to: ROI, keyword ranking, click-through rate, order conversion rate, average order value, lead generation conversion rate, average cost per conversion, & search as a percent of site traffic. 2. Implement – Execute your SEO initiative. Begin by understanding the baseline performance of your current set of web content by reviewing the analytics data. Identify specific pages of web content that are underperforming and prioritize your efforts for these pages, keeping in mind that you’ll want to eventually use Agile SEO techniques on all your pages. Next, determine what keywords should lead to content on your site, and then evaluate these keywords using Google’s Keyword Planner to select those with the highest traffic and least competition. Make sure your web content is dense with these keywords – they should appear multiple times in a set of web content, not just once or twice. Increase your use of popular keywords where you have fallen in the ranks and/or consider utilizing recently discovered keywords more often as they seem to create better conversion. 3. Measure – Using the analytics data for your website, compare the results to the baseline metrics. Evaluate the success of your most recent efforts. If they have met your goals, shift your attention to the next set of web content on your priority list. If the results are not meeting expectations, make improvements as discussed below. 4. Improve – Identify areas of improvement by recognizing which keywords and/or content are proving to be the most successful for your KPIs. As necessary, make incremental changes to the content, increasing the keyword density, changing the keyword mix or both. 5. Repeat – Continue following the workflow mapped out above in “Agile SEO Approach”. Go through this Agile SEO process continuously, taking the time to revise and re-implement your keywords on a regular basis to constantly improve your rankings on search results pages. How-To Guide © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Action Plan: 1. Plan – Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your SEO campaign. This could include, but is not limited to: ROI, keyword ranking, click-through rate, order conversion rate, average order value, lead generation conversion rate, average cost per conversion, & search as a percent of site traffic. 2. Implement – Execute your SEO initiative. Begin by understanding the baseline performance of your current set of web content by reviewing the analytics data. Identify specific pages of web content that are underperforming and prioritize your efforts for these pages, keeping in mind that you’ll want to eventually use Agile SEO techniques on all your pages. Next, determine what keywords should lead to content on your site, and then evaluate these keywords using Google’s Keyword Planner to select those with the highest traffic and least competition. Make sure your web content is dense with these keywords – they should appear multiple times in a set of web content, not just once or twice. Increase your use of popular keywords where you have fallen in the ranks and/or consider utilizing recently discovered keywords more often as they seem to create better conversion. 3. Measure – Using the analytics data for your website, compare the results to the baseline metrics. Evaluate the success of your most recent efforts. If they have met your goals, shift your attention to the next set of web content on your priority list. If the results are not meeting expectations, make improvements as discussed below. 4. Improve – Identify areas of improvement by recognizing which keywords and/or content are proving to be the most successful for your KPIs. As necessary, make incremental changes to the content, increasing the keyword density, changing the keyword mix or both. 5. Repeat – Continue following the workflow mapped out above in “Agile SEO Approach”. Go through this Agile SEO process continuously, taking the time to revise and re-implement your keywords on a regular basis to constantly improve your rankings on search results pages.

5. How-To Guide © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Bottom Line Beginning an Agile SEO campaign is as simple as increasing the frequency of your planning. Instead of a yearly or quarterly SEO planning session, consider the continuous cycle of plan, implement, measure and improve that Agile SEO prescribes. If you do, you can stay a step ahead of your competition in the search rankings. How-To Guide © 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Bottom Line Beginning an Agile SEO campaign is as simple as increasing the frequency of your planning. Instead of a yearly or quarterly SEO planning session, consider the continuous cycle of plan, implement, measure and improve that Agile SEO prescribes. If you do, you can stay a step ahead of your competition in the search rankings.