Last Updated on December 8, 2022 by Arif Chowdhury
For a company to be successful online, it needs SEO. And if you are an SEO agency, knowing how to start an SEO project and manage it should be your top priority.
More people will visit your website if your site ranks higher in search engine rankings. Increasing the number of people who visit a website may boost the number of people who convert.
Implementing an excellent SEO strategy is your greatest bet for climbing to the top of organic results. You may also learn to use SEO software to make the process flexible and quick.
However, staying on top of an SEO strategy may be challenging when so many moving elements are involved.
Using a project management strategy may keep your SEO project under monitoring and help you achieve your goals. This session will cover everything to get the most out of SEO project management.
Before diving into the details, dispelling a few myths is essential.
Definition: SEO project management.
Everything that goes into planning and executing a successful SEO campaign is included in SEO project management.
A technical SEO audit and content optimization, such as keyword research and creating a content strategy, may be included in an SEO campaign.
Failing to follow the job hierarchy is an easy way to sabotage an SEO strategy. For instance, you shouldn’t plan your content creation until you complete keyword research and overall design.
By dividing everything into smaller, more manageable tasks, SEO project management may help you remain organized. For the best results, we recommend using SEO project management tools such as Ahrefs, Moz, etc.
Take a look at the following SEO audit as an illustration:
Crawling websites and finding issues without using Screaming Frog or Deepcrawl may be a hassle. Other operations may be divided into subtasks, such as looking for redirect chains and broken redirects, orphaned sites, and non-indexable pages.
After completing the SEO audit checklist, you should develop a to-do list for the development teams under “technical SEO activities.”
Each problem may then be divided into tasks, including a list of issues and instructions for the developer to address them. As the developer works to find a solution, they may remove items from the list.
You can create well-structured SEO campaigns using SEO project management, which will help you get more done with less effort. Additionally, the whole task management should be open and transparent, even amongst SEO team members and consumers.
Quick Note: Content marketing is the best way to receive organic traffic to your site. You also have to implement link-building techniques to increase your search engine ranking. Besides, social media is an excellent way to receive referral traffic.
Recommended Reading: What is the Keyword Optimization Technique? (Beginner’s Guide)
Why does your SEO project need proper management?
By its very nature, an SEO project will take a long time to complete.
Project management techniques may help you plan and finish each job on schedule regarding SEO.
It’s common for SEO outcomes to take many months to show after a campaign has begun. As a result, it’s critical to handle your SEO project effectively, so you can show your customer exactly what you’ve planned and accomplished.
When an SEO campaign begins, it is more difficult to showcase positive results. Thus, showing your team or customer success is more challenging without a complete project plan.
Quick Note: You must be competent in convincing your clients because most won’t realize that you cannot achieve SEO success overnight. They have to wait a significant period to see any positive results.
The responsibilities of SEO project management.
It is your job to plan the SEO project’s course of action, formulate a strategy, and supervise the execution of the plan.
You have to identify the project’s requirements and ensure that each job is completed correctly and on schedule falls to them.
With a solid understanding of search engine optimization, it is easy for project managers to effectively explain their ideas to customers while emphasizing the advantages to their companies’ bottom lines.
Therefore, they’ll need to be well organized, articulate, and efficient with their time to be successful.
How to manage your SEO project with intelligent planning?
The basic knowledge of SEO project operation is now under your belt, so let’s get right in. The best practice is a well-thought-out plan.
In this guide, we’ll take you to step by step through the process of creating a successful SEO project by planning from top to bottom.
Thus, to manage your SEO efforts, it’s essential to divide them into manageable phases and tasks. In addition, it explains the whole process for your staff as well as the client.
The steps outlined below are critical if you want to manage an SEO project successfully.
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Method #1: Define your project objectives.
The first step in any SEO campaign is determining your objectives. To get started, sit down with your customer and discuss their goals for working with you.
Lastly, ensure the project is customized to meet your customer’s requirements.
Plan your SEO campaign to assist you in meeting your goals. Choose goals and make them smaller sections. Thus tasks will become doable, and you more likely get success quickly.
Examples of potential SEO goals are as follows, although there are many more:
- 1,000 unique visitors per month with 30 days
- Traffic increases by at least 10% every month
- Get on the 1st page of search results for primary keywords
- Establish an industry-standard conversion rate within three months
- Regularly update existing pages and blog posts
- Reduce bounce rate to an industry standard within six months
- Receive 100 high-authority backlinks every month
Method #2: Choose your resource wisely.
Make a list of the things you need to achieve your goals once you’ve set them among the most crucial things to consider.
Search Engine Optimization Tools.
Working on an SEO project often necessitates the use of specialized equipment. However, with the help of SEO tools like Moz, Ahrefs, etc., it is possible to create an effective SEO plan.
In addition, they show you just how well you’re doing in terms of your goals. For example, you may utilize Agency Analytics while working on an SEO project. It will help you track your targeted keywords, keywords gap, tracking backlinks, and technical SEO, among other things (particularly when it comes to maintaining pleased customers).
Project management software may help you stay on budget and schedule with your SEO strategy. Breaking down a large SEO job using different project management tools is simple.
Teamwork and constant communication are the keys.
You’ll need the complete support of all parties involved if you want your project to be successful. Consequently, you’ll have to communicate and collaborate effectively with them throughout the project to keep them updated on your ideas.
Many people are involved in an SEO project: the technical SEOs, SEO strategists, content managers, outreach managers, etc. All your team members will have to improve their communication skills to keep everyone up to speed on the team’s activities.
Many project management software exists on the market for agencies that allow you to interact with your customers by enabling comments on assignments and internal conversations. There is also a central repository for all project-related information.
Recommended Reading: 9 Best Project Management Software for Small Teams (Reviewed)
Monitor progress continuously.
You’ll be able to maintain your project far better if you collaborate with others. Kanban dashboards, KPIs, and task lists may all be used to keep track of your progress from start to end.
With all these tools, strategizing and visualizing your SEO efforts will be a breeze.
Kanban boards include columns labeled “To do,” “In progress,” and “Out for review” that make it easy to see where your jobs are in the workflow cycle.
Thus, using a bar graph, a Gantt chart depicts your projects from top to bottom. It aids in estimating the time and resources required to complete a task and identifying key milestones and subtasks on the route.
Effective time management.
Use a time monitoring tool to determine how much you should charge your customers. If you handle your invoicing correctly, your SEO company will be profitable.
Analyzing how much time is spent on each job in detail may show where your project succeeds and where it fails.
When you know how long something will take, it will be easier to handle effectively. Another advantage is that it provides transparency for your customers, allowing them to feel confident in your job.
Recommended Reading: 9 Best Online Booking Systems for Small Business (Tested and Reviewed)
Budget management.
Consult with your customer in advance on the project’s cost. The amount of money you have determines the scope of how much you can do and the resources you may use.
If you’re going to spend money, everyone should be on the same page. Your customer should be aware of every step of the process.
Staying on top of your finances has never been easier than it is with a budget. However, spend extra carefully since you may wind up paying more than you intended.
Method #3: Proper outlining of the task and schedule.
A project’s specific goals should always be tied to the activities you want to complete.
Boosting website traffic, increasing income, and enhancing brand awareness are all achievable goals. Keep in mind how the work you and your team are doing may help you achieve your objectives.
Look at the big picture, for example, while trying to enhance a client’s position in search engine results for specific keywords.
Break down the whole project into tiny subtasks and actionable tasks. Organizing and monitoring your SEO efforts will be a lot easier now. First, identify your most important responsibilities and any current functions that may interfere with them.
You may create a custom to-do list using project management software and then reuse it in another project using the same template.
Quick Note: The most brilliant plan is to crack the whole job into small sections with specific time limits. Assign those small tasks to different team members within your group, which will speed up the entire process.
Method #4: Maintain the planned schedule.
Create a timetable for completing your project, including all tasks and subtasks. Therefore, time management is necessary to fulfill deadlines, as previously stated.
Try to accommodate your client’s needs by working together to find a time that works for both of you.
Focus on achieving key project milestones. It aids in project organization and simplifies choosing the best path to your goals.
Method #5: Distribute responsibilities promptly.
Once you’ve established the plan for the project and created a schedule plan beforehand, start giving your team members responsibilities.
Thus, to succeed in a project, it’s critical to acknowledge how much skill, knowledge, and resources are required to complete the project’s different responsibilities.
Assign each job to the team member who is most qualified for it. Then, be clear about your expectations for them going forward.
Making oneself available for assistance is as important as ensuring all deadlines are met.
Method #6: Organized report is the symbol of professionalism.
An excellent way to determine what’s working in your SEO campaign is to track and collect relevant data.
Using this data, you may inform a client about your progress. Use measurements that align with your company’s project’s objectives to show its success.
Talk to your client about the project to obtain their input and incorporate it. Depending on what you observe, they may request adjustments once you’ve viewed the data. Always provide relevant and up-to-date information while giving out information to the public.
Robust management necessitates iterating on what works. Therefore, the project must be fine-tuned or eliminated to meet its goals.
Conclusion.
Once you’ve learned how to successfully use SEO project management software, planning, and strategy, you should implement your newfound knowledge.
When working on an SEO project, communicating should always come first. You can make better project choices if you and your customer agree.
The more effectively you handle your SEO efforts, the greater your chances of success. However, to guarantee the project’s success, effort must continue after it is completed.
Because SEO is a dynamic process, staying on top of your tactics is critical.