SEO Strategy: How to Create One for 2024 (+ Template)

What Is an SEO Strategy?

An SEO strategy is simply a scheme to create, optimize, and beforehand contented to amended its visibility successful hunt motor results and pull much integrated postulation to a website.

In this post, we will show you really to create and execute an effective SEO strategy, measurement by step.

Use our template to travel along.

1. Benchmark Your Current SEO Performance

Benchmarking your existent SEO capacity helps you group goals, way results, and place what useful and what doesn't.

To begin, observe these cardinal metrics:

• Organic traffic
• Keyword rankings
• Backlinks

Monitoring these metrics gives you a broad image of your site's humanities and existent performance.

Organic Traffic

Organic postulation is the number of visitors who travel to your tract from unpaid (organic) hunt results.

There are respective ways to find your existent integrated traffic. You tin usage your favourite SEO instrumentality aliases Google Analytics if you person Google Analytics group up.

In this example, we’ll usage the Domain Overview tool. Domain Overview is chiefly a competitory investigation tool, but it tin beryllium a bully starting constituent if you don’t person an analytics instrumentality group up yet.

To start, participate your domain sanction and click "Search."

You’ll spot your estimated mean integrated monthly hunt postulation nether the "Organic Search Traffic" widget.

For this exercise, let's benchmark our existent integrated postulation astatine 158.9K per month.

You don’t request to export the afloat study now. Record your integrated postulation number successful the first measurement of the template.

Reminder: You tin entree the template here.

Keyword Rankings

Keyword rankings show your website's integrated positions successful hunt results for circumstantial keywords. They bespeak really precocious your pages look connected Google.

Analyzing keyword rankings is important because higher-ranking pages thin to person much integrated hunt traffic.

To get a snapshot of your keyword rankings, spell to the "Top Organic Keywords" conception successful Domain Overview.

You’ll spot the keywords that make the astir integrated postulation to your site.

Click "View details" to spot much circumstantial information.

You’ll get a array pinch further data. Look for these 4 things:

• The keywords you rank for
• Your ranking positions for those keywords
• The hunt measurement for each keyword (how galore times per period group hunt for them)
• How overmuch postulation they bring in

Note your apical 5 integrated keywords, on pinch your existent positions and monthly hunt volumes, and constitute them down successful your template.

Reminder: You tin entree the template here.

We besides urge exporting a afloat study for your benchmarking records.

Backlinks

Backlinks are votes of confidence. When galore trusted and applicable sites nexus to yours, hunt engines infer that your tract is worthy displaying connected hunt motor results pages (SERPs).

Websites pinch a precocious number of backlinks thin to person higher integrated hunt rankings.

Here’s really to spot your backlinks utilizing Backlink Analytics.

Enter your domain and click "Analyze" to spot a dashboard pinch important metrics:

• Authority Score: Estimates really reputable your tract is and really easy it tin rank, based connected backlinks and different factors (higher is better)
• Referring Domains: The number of websites pinch astatine slightest 1 nexus pointing to your website
• Backlinks: The full number of links pointing to your website

Make a statement of the existent number of referring domains, backlinks, and monthly visits successful your template.

2. Analyze Your Competitors' SEO Strategies

Analyzing your competitors' SEO strategies helps you place which keywords to target, what contented to create, and which links to build.

By knowing what’s already moving for others, you tin build upon their success.

Analyzing competitors tin thief you:

• Capitalize connected their weaknesses
• Replicate what’s moving for them
• Prioritize the astir important SEO tasks

Let's research really to do that.

Identify Your Competitors

Your main SEO competitors are the websites competing for your desired keywords successful integrated search.

To find them, spell to Organic Research, participate your domain name, and click "Search."

Then, spell to the "Competitors" tab.

Scroll down to spot a database of your apical integrated competitors, the keywords you share, and their estimated monthly traffic.

Look astatine the apical 10 competitors to place the ones astir applicable to your business.

Log your apical 5 online competitors into your template archive and move connected to the adjacent step.

Find Your Competitors’ Valuable Keywords

Your competitors’ keywords are keywords your competitors presently rank for, but you don’t. Each of these keywords represents an opportunity for you to seizure much traffic.

Here’s really to find these keywords:

Open Keyword Gap, participate your domain and up to 4 competitor domains, and click Compare.

Scroll down to the array and prime the "Missing" filter. This will show only the keywords you don’t rank for, but each of your selected competitors do.

Note your apical 5 keyword opportunities successful your template. For a deeper study and much insights, download a CSV record and activity pinch the information successful a spreadsheet.

The CSV export contains a "Keyword Difficulty" file (which indicates really difficult it is to rank highly for a fixed term) and a "Volume" column. These columns let you to benignant for higher-volume keywords that are besides easier to rank for.

Audit Your Competitors’ Backlinks

Backlinks are important for SEO success. Without them, you whitethorn struggle to rank. Audit your competitors' backlinks to find websites that nexus to them but not to you.

Why do this?

Websites that nexus to your competitors mightiness besides nexus to you, particularly if your contented is better.

Here’s really to find these backlinks:

1. Open the Backlink Gap tool
2. Add your domain and your competitors’ domains
3. Click "Find prospects"

The charts comparison your backlink floor plan pinch those of your competitors. This helps you spot which competitor has the astir backlinks.

Below the chart, a array lists each the referring domains that nonstop backlinks to your competitors.

Click the drop-down arrows successful the array to position elaborate accusation astir links from each referring domain to a competitor. This reveals the domain's Authority Score, anchor text, target URL, day the backlink was first seen, and more.

Export this study by clicking the "Export" fastener successful the upper-right corner. Add the exported information to your template document.

Now, you person a database of target websites to attack for backlinks to your content.

We’ll explicate really to scope retired to these websites successful much item later.

3. Set Your Goals and KPIs

Setting clear goals and cardinal capacity indicators (KPIs) helps you measure capacity and determine if adjustments are necessary.

Goals are the desired outcomes you want to achieve.

KPIs are measurable values that thief you way advancement toward these goals.

For example, an SEO extremity could beryllium to summation integrated gross by $100,000 complete the adjacent 12 months. The KPIs for this extremity could see integrated impressions, integrated traffic, and rankings.

The right KPIs to track dangle connected your circumstantial goals. However, present are 5 KPIs you should show closely:

1. Organic traffic
2. Keyword rankings
3. Backlinks
4. Average click-through complaint (CTR)
5. Indexing issues

We person already covered integrated traffic, keyword rankings, and backlinks. Now, let's analyse the 2 remaining KPIs: mean CTR and indexing issues.

Average CTR

Average click-through complaint (CTR) is the percent of users who click connected your tract aft seeing it successful Google hunt results. A higher CTR indicates much clicks and usually much traffic. Use CTR to gauge your website's visibility and capacity successful hunt results.

You tin find your mean CTR utilizing Google Search Console.

In Google Search Console, navigate to “Performance” and click connected “Search results.”

The dashboard will show your mean CTR.

Record your existent mean CTR successful your template document.

Next, export the study to way your CTR complete time.

To do this, click connected the “Date” action astatine the apical of the screen.

A day scope pop-up will appear. Select “Last 28 days” and click “Apply.”

Then, click the “Export” fastener successful the top-left area and prevention the record successful your desired format.

Indexing Issues

Indexing issues hap erstwhile a hunt motor tries to entree a page connected your website but fails to scale it. Examples see 5xx server errors, 4xx errors, copy URLs, and noindexed pages.

Regularly search these issues arsenic a KPI is important because correction pages mostly don’t get indexed. Indexing is Google's process of storing web pages successful its database to show them successful hunt results. If your pages aren’t indexed, they won’t rank successful hunt results.

You tin find your indexing issues nether "Indexing" > "Pages" successful Google Search Console.

Scroll down to the array to spot a database of reasons why definite pages aren’t indexed.

Click connected a circumstantial rumor to spot the affected pages and find which ones request to beryllium addressed.

Further reading: Crawlability Problems & How to Fix Them

4. Audit Your Site’s Existing Content

A contented audit is the process of analyzing your site's contented to find opportunities for improvement. This measurement helps you place pages that aren’t performing well, understand why they are underperforming, and find really to hole them.

Here’s really to execute a contented audit.

Find Low-Performing Pages

First, place the low-performing pages connected your site. Then remove, redirect, aliases optimize them. These pages apt don’t make postulation aliases sales, truthful addressing them is simply a apical priority.

You tin easy find underperforming contented utilizing Google Analytics.

Start by navigating to "Reports" > "Life cycle" > "Engagement" > "Landing page."

Then, benignant your landing pages by the lowest number of sessions.

Once you person identified these pages, adhd a nexus to the study successful your template.

Your adjacent measurement is to do 1 of the following:

• Delete the contented outright
• Optimize it
• 301 redirect the page to a akin page connected your site
• Merge aggregate pieces of contented into 1 post

The due action depends connected the circumstantial content.

For example, if you person a blog station astir an arena from 5 years ago, deleting it whitethorn beryllium the champion option. If a station is coagulated wide but lacks extent aliases usefulness, see combining it pinch different portion of contented aliases optimizing it.

Improve and Relaunch Content That Can Be Salvaged

Now, it's clip to heighten the existing contented you've decided to optimize. There are respective ways to amended your content, but present are a fewer approaches that activity good for astir types.

Add Visual Elements

If your contented is wholly text-based, see adding ocular elements for illustration graphs, charts, aliases infographics.

These visuals supply breaks successful the matter and thief simplify analyzable concepts aliases processes, improving the reference experience.

Update Everything

Find and switch dormant links and outdated images. Update the contented itself to bespeak the latest changes successful your industry.

This ensures everything useful arsenic intended, keeps your contented up to date, and improves your on-page SEO.

Make It Easier to Read

Older contented mightiness not beryllium optimized for mobile personification experience. Improve your content's readability connected smartphones and tablets to heighten accessibility and enactment competitive.

Cover More Ground

Consider turning a portion into an eventual guideline that covers an full taxable successful depth. This isn't astir expanding connection count; it's astir providing readers pinch a complete reply to their problem aliases question.

Further reading: The Step-by-Step Guide to Conducting a Content Audit

5. Build Out Topic Clusters

Topic clusters are groups of interlinked pages astir a peculiar subject. Topic clusters thief hunt engines understand the level of your website and validate your authority connected a circumstantial subject.

Clusters dwell of 3 components:

1. A pillar page focused connected a topic
2. A cluster of pages covering related subtopics successful much depth
3. Internal linking betwixt each the pages

By implementing these 3 elements, you create a taxable cluster.

Here are 3 elemental steps to get you started:

Choose the Topic You Want to Rank For

Before building a cluster, you request to prime a taxable (pillar). The taxable should beryllium a circumstantial conception that is wide enough, truthful you’re not limiting the magnitude of contented you tin create.

For example, a pillar taxable tin beryllium "SEO copywriting," and cluster topics tin beryllium "SEO penning tools" and "how to constitute SEO content." The cardinal is to deliberation successful position of topics, not conscionable keywords.

If you’re struggling to find ideas, spell to the Topic Research instrumentality and hunt for a word related to your industry.

We will usage "copywriting" arsenic our taxable (or pillar) for this example.

Once you participate your taxable and click connected the "Get contented ideas" button, the instrumentality generates a database of imaginable subtopics successful the shape of cards.

Like this:

If you click connected a card, you will spot much information, for illustration apical headlines, questions astir the topic, and related searches.

This is an effective measurement to make ideas for your content.

By default, the results are sorted by Topic Efficiency, which indicates a topic's hunt measurement comparative to its difficulty. But you tin besides take to benignant the cards by measurement aliases difficulty.

Like this:

The cardinal successful this measurement is to prime topics that person the imaginable to unlock much supporting subtopics. If you prime a constrictive topic, you won’t person capable keywords to take from. If the taxable is excessively broad, you will person to select done galore unrelated terms.

Export the afloat study for topics that you find absorbing and nexus it successful your template doc.

To study much astir generating contented ideas pinch the Topic Research tool, publication our detailed guide.

Conduct Keyword Research

Headlines, questions, and related searches from Topic Research supply ideas for position to see successful your writing.

However, conducting much in-depth keyword research is advisable.

Here are 4 approaches to conducting keyword research:

Find Different Content Formats

Identify contented formats to create pinch keyword research.

Open the Keyword Magic Tool, participate the taxable (keyword) for suggestions, and click "Search."

Use keyword modifiers—words aliases groups of words that make your keyword much circumstantial and targeted—to drill down and find applicable contented formats. Follow these steps:

1. Toggle the "All" tab
2. Select "Phrase Match"
3. Add modifiers to the "Include keywords" select pinch the circle adjacent to "All keywords" selected

Here are immoderate modifiers to place different formats suited to the topics you want to cover:

• "benefits" (a list-style portion detailing advantages)
• "best" (a roundup of bully options)
• "review" (an nonsubjective look astatine a merchandise aliases service)
• "examples" (a portion pinch existent examples)
• "tips" (an article pinch respective suggestions)
• "tools" (a database of options that thief execute a task)

Uncover High-Volume Question Keywords

Uncovering high-volume mobility keywords helps you build a database of keywords apt to thrust important postulation to your site.

Here's really to find them utilizing the Keyword Magic Tool:

1. Toggle the "Questions" tab
2. Select "Broad Match"
3. Set a minimum "Volume"

Adjust the measurement number based connected your taxable aliases preference. It varies by industry, but starting pinch 100+ searches is simply a bully starting point.

Remember that Semrush sorts results by hunt measurement by default.

Find Keywords That Trigger SERP Features

SERP features are typical hunt results that guidelines retired from accepted bluish links. Targeting applicable keywords and creating exceptional contented tin thief you unafraid them, making your consequence much salient and apt to thrust traffic.

Common types of SERP features see images, FAQs, knowledge panels, and featured snippets.

Here’s an illustration of a featured snippet:

Find position that trigger SERP features pinch the Keyword Magic Tool:

1. Toggle the "All" tab
2. Select "Phrase Match"
3. In "Advanced filters," take "Select all" nether "SERP Features"

This measurement helps you observe valuable position you whitethorn person missed utilizing different methods.

Discover Keyword Clusters

Keyword clustering involves grouping related keywords based connected hunt intent and optimizing your contented for them. This allows you to rank for aggregate variations of your main taxable and pull much integrated traffic.

For example, if you want to constitute an article astir "how to suffer weight," alternatively of targeting a azygous keyword for illustration "how to suffer weight fast," you tin cluster related keywords specified arsenic "how to suffer weight naturally," "how to suffer weight without exercise," and "how to suffer weight successful a week," and optimize 1 portion of contented for each of them.

Use Keyword Strategy Builder to effortlessly cluster keywords.

Open the tool, adhd a seed keyword related to your niche, and click "Create list."

The instrumentality generates a database pinch automatically clustered groups of topics and subpages.

Each cluster contains intimately related keywords focused connected a azygous topic. A basal maneuver is to create 1 page for each cluster, targeting each the keywords successful the cluster pinch a azygous portion of content.

Outline Your Pillar and Cluster Structures

After researching keywords, outline what your pillar and taxable clusters will look like.

Your pillar page should nexus to your subpages, and your subpages should nexus backmost to your pillar page.

This creates an organized tract structure, which helps Google crawl your tract much efficaciously and understand the taxable matter.

Outlining your cluster exemplary allows you to spot your related contented astatine a precocious level and shape what you already person and what you request to create.

Visualize each of your topics (pillars) arsenic cardinal points and database the subtopics you person uncovered astir them.

Start by leveraging your existing content, past adhd caller pieces to complete your clusters.

6. Improve Your On-Page SEO

On-page SEO involves optimizing your web contented for hunt engines and users. Proper on-page SEO is basal to your SEO strategy because it importantly influences Google's ranking factors.

Although Google has go much sophisticated, it still heavy considers accepted SEO elements, specified arsenic circumstantial keywords connected your page.

Common on-page SEO practices see optimizing:

• Title tags
• Meta descriptions
• Headings
• Internal links
• URL slugs (the past portion of the URL)

To audit your website's on-page SEO, usage an SEO tool. Let's analyse this process utilizing the On Page SEO Checker.

Follow the On Page SEO Checker setup guide to get started. You will spot a dashboard displaying the "Overview" report. On this page, attraction connected 3 elements:

• The full number of suggested on-page optimization ideas
• The estimate of really overmuch postulation you tin summation by implementing the suggestions
• A database of pages to optimize first

At the apical of the "Overview" report, you will spot the full number of ideas (e.g., 191), categorized into:

• Strategy Ideas: Identify your best-performing pages and optimize their on-page SEO for speedy wins
• Backlink Ideas: Build an outreach database and summation backlinks from highly trusted websites
• Technical SEO Ideas: View information from the Site Audit instrumentality showing your website's method issues
• User Experience Ideas: Analyze information from Google Analytics to understand really to amended your UX and rankings
• SERP Features Ideas: Analyze keywords triggering SERP features and use recommendations to unafraid them
• Semantic Ideas: Find related keywords to enrich your content
• Content Ideas: Analyze competitor contented and get actionable proposal to outperform them

Click connected each class to spot what you tin do to amended your site's on-page SEO.

Alternatively, position each ideas successful a table.

For example, the "Optimization Ideas" tab displays a array of your landing pages, corresponding target keywords, and full hunt volume.

You tin benignant the array by priority, URL, keywords per page, full volume, number of ideas, aliases past updated date. Click connected the corresponding file to sort.

To inspect an thought further, click the bluish fastener showing the number of ideas successful the statement of the page you wish to optimize. 

You will spot a study pinch each the ideas for that URL.

You tin now spot the nonstop recommendations for that page and the reasons to instrumentality them. 

Hover complete "Why should I do this?" successful the 3rd file to publication the reasoning down each recommendation's SEO value.

You tin export a spreadsheet (XLSX file) containing the different types of ideas. The export fastener is adjacent to the "Settings" cogwheel icon successful the top-right area of the dashboard.

The spreadsheet helps you shape your to-do database extracurricular of Semrush

If you activity successful a team, you tin delegate thought categories to different squad members. For example, springiness backlink ideas to your nexus builder, contented ideas to your contented writer, and method SEO ideas to your developer.

Add the afloat export nexus to your template archive for easy access.

Further reading: On-Page SEO: What It Is and How to Do It

7. Find and Fix Technical SEO Issues

Technical SEO involves optimizing your website to thief hunt engines find, crawl, understand, and scale your pages. The easier you make it for hunt engines for illustration Google to entree your content, the amended your chances of ranking.

However, method SEO is not conscionable astir crawling and indexing. To amended your site's method optimization, see different factors related to:

• JavaScript
• XML sitemaps (files that show hunt motor bots which pages you want indexed)
• Site architecture
• URL structure
• Structured information (also called schema markup)
• Thin content
• Duplicate content
• Hreflang (an property that specifies a page's state and language)
• Canonical tags (tags that specify the main type of a page)
• 404 pages (pages that return errors because they cannot beryllium found)
• 301 redirects (types of imperishable redirects)

And more.

You tin usage Google Search Console to show and troubleshoot issues related to these factors that tin effect your website's quality successful hunt results.

To do this, spell to the "Core Web Vitals" study nether "Experience."

You will spot a study indicating which URLs you request to amended for some desktop and mobile.

Bing and Yandex person their ain devices to find and hole method issues. Semrush besides offers devices for this purpose.

Site Audit is simply a instrumentality that allows you to show your site's SEO wellness and cheque for over 140 SEO issues, including:

• Slow load speed
• Oversized HTML
• Redirect chains and loops

In this case, we want to spot the method errors—the astir captious issues—so we click connected "Errors."

The instrumentality displays a database of each your errors, explaining each rumor and really to hole it.

Export the afloat study of each the issues and adhd it to your SEO strategy template document.

Start moving done the errors first, past move connected to the warnings and notices.

We urge moving monthly scheduled audits to notify you of immoderate caller issues that request your attraction earlier they go much superior problems.

Further reading: Technical SEO Basics and Best Practices

8. Work connected Your Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO refers to actions taken extracurricular your website that tin effect your rankings. Common off-page SEO actions include:

• Link building
• Encouraging branded searches
• Increasing engagement and shares connected societal media

Building links is cardinal to off-page SEO. Search engines usage backlinks to find the value of the linked content. A tract pinch galore high-value backlinks will usually rank amended than a akin tract pinch less ones.

There are a fewer main ways to get much backlinks:

• Earn backlinks by creating useful contented group want to nexus to
• Build backlinks by reaching retired to different tract owners, editors, aliases web admins and asking them to nexus to your site

Earning backlinks is straightforward, but building backlinks requires effort and patience.

Using Semrush’s Link Building Tool is simply a awesome measurement to get started.

Enter your domain, and the instrumentality originates collecting and analyzing information from your competitors and important keywords.

After a fewer minutes, it displays a database of prospects you tin scope retired to for backlinks.

You person 2 options to commencement your link-building campaign:

1. Download the study arsenic a CSV to prioritize your efforts and support way of your advancement (and nexus to it successful your template)
2. Use the tool's guidance interface to tally your outreach campaign

If you take the 2nd option, you tin cull prospects you don’t want to interaction by clicking the trash icon. Then, proceed pinch prospects you want to scope retired to by clicking the "To In Progress" button.

From the "In Progress" tab, click the "Contact" fastener to scope retired to your prospects via a connected email account.

The instrumentality suggests the number of emails to nonstop to each imaginable and offers recommendations for the email copy.

The Link Building Tool populates the email pinch default information, but you should customize it to make your transportation circumstantial to your campaign. You can:

• Choose which email addresses to nonstop your transportation to
• Add placeholders for automated items for illustration the imaginable URL and your domain
• Add formatting specified arsenic bold text, lists, and headers to your email

Once you’re finished, click "Send and proceed to next," and you will move connected to the adjacent domain without leaving the screen.

This is simply a elemental and effective measurement to commencement building high-quality backlinks.

Further reading: What Is Off-Page SEO? A Guide to Off-Page SEO Strategy

Refine Your SEO Strategy

Ranking successful Google tin beryllium challenging.

As you optimize for 1 keyword, rankings for different keywords whitethorn decline. Therefore, SEO campaigns are ne'er genuinely finished; each SEO strategies should beryllium cyclical.

Continuously measure your activity because location are ever opportunities for growth. Remember erstwhile you group your goals and KPIs? You request to measurement and study connected them astatine slightest monthly to enactment connected track.

It’s easy to show these numbers pinch Semrush. Try it today.