If you want to grow your business without shelling out every month for ads… here’s the secret: Actionable SEO plans.
SEO is often this big mystery box that businesses throw money at.
But here’s the secret: SEO isn’t magic. It’s a process.
And when you have an actionable SEO plan in place…you can predictably and consistently grow your organic traffic month after month.
In this post:
- Why Your Business Needs An Actionable SEO Plan
- The Core Elements Of Effective SEO Planning
- How To Build Your SEO Strategy From Scratch
- Measuring Success: Tracking What Actually Matters
Table of contents
Why Your Business Needs Actionable SEO Plans
Did you know that 68% of online experiences start with a search engine?
Think about that for a second.
7 out of every 10 potential customers are starting their online journey on Google. If your business isn’t showing up for those searches, you’re invisible to the majority of your market.
But here’s where it gets interesting…
You’d be hard pressed to find a business that doesn’t think they “need SEO”. But knowing you need it and having an actual, actionable plan are 2 completely different things.
Partnering with a quality SEO services agency means you’ll get more than a bunch of random tactics. You’ll get a comprehensive strategy that includes proper SEO implementation from day one. A plan that makes sure every piece of your online presence works together to move the needle and drive results.
And the best part?
71% of small businesses that invest in SEO say they’re happy with their results. Which, when you think about it, is an impressively high success rate compared to other marketing channels.
The Core Elements Of Effective SEO Planning
OK, so let’s dive in a little deeper.
Actionable SEO plans isn’t a vague list of keywords you want to rank for.
It’s an end-to-end, all-encompassing master plan. One that covers every single element of your online presence.
Here’s what you need:
Technical Foundation
Your website’s foundation needs to be sound before anything else will matter.
This includes technical SEO elements like site speed, mobile responsiveness, proper URL structure and clean code.
Google won’t rank a broken website. Period.
Businesses spend thousands of dollars on content and links, only to realize later that their site architecture was 100% holding them back the whole time.
Keyword Research & Strategy
Keyword research is one of those places that most businesses just plain get wrong.
They either target keywords that are so competitive, ranking for them is essentially impossible.
Or they go the other direction and chase keywords with absolutely no commercial intent.
Your keyword strategy needs to be in the middle. A perfect balance of head terms, long-tail keywords and question-based phrases that your target customers are actually using.
Focus on keywords that have search volume AND buying intent.
Content Planning
Content is still king in the SEO world. But you can’t just throw up random blog posts every once in a while and expect them to do work.
Your content planning needs to align with your keyword strategy. You need to focus on creating valuable long-form content that provides insane amounts of value and directly answers questions your target audience has at each stage of their buyer journey.
Include images where relevant. Stuff that answers common questions (often in list format) and is at least 1,500 words long works best.
Link Building Strategy
Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors left.
Your SEO plans needs to include a clear link building strategy with specific targets.
This could be competitor backlink analysis to figure out where they’re getting links from, guest posting, broken link building, or running digital PR campaigns.
The key here is having a repeatable process that you can execute on a consistent basis.
How To Build Your SEO Strategy From Scratch
Building your SEO plan from scratch can seem overwhelming at first.
But when you break it down into individual steps, it’s actually super manageable.
Here’s how:
Step 1: Audit Your Current State
Start by getting a good understanding of where you currently sit. Run a complete SEO audit on your website to figure out where the holes are in your technical setup, content and links.
You can’t improve what you don’t measure, right?
This will also give you your baseline so you can track your progress as you move forward.
Step 2: Research Your Competitors
This one is critical.
Your competitors are already ranking for keywords you want to target. Study them. See what they’re doing. Look at their content. Check out their backlink profiles. Look at their site structure.
Don’t try to copy them. That’s not the point.
The point is to get an understanding of what’s working in your industry. To see what they’re doing so you can find holes they’ve missed.
Step 3: Set Clear Goals
Success for your business. What does that actually look like?
More organic traffic? Higher conversion rates? Rankings for specific keywords?
Set specific, measurable goals that tie back to your overall business objectives. “Get more traffic” is not a goal. “Increase organic traffic by 50% in 6 months” is a goal.
Step 4: Create Your Action Plan
Now it’s time to spell out exactly what you’re going to do. This includes your content calendar, the technical improvements you need to make, your link building targets, and a timeline.
Break everything down into monthly and weekly tasks. Make it so clear that anyone on your team could execute it.
Step 5: Execute & Track
This is where most businesses get stuck. They create this beautiful plan… and then fail to execute.
Execute your plan on a consistent basis. Track your progress weekly. Adjust based on what’s working and what isn’t.
Measuring Success: Tracking What Actually Matters
OK, now for a big one.
Actionable SEO plans needs measurable KPIs. Things that are actually going to move the needle for your business.
Here’s what you need to be tracking:
Organic Traffic Growth
Are you getting more visitors from search engines month over month? Track both your total organic traffic and your traffic to your most important pages.
Keyword Rankings
Keep an eye on your rankings for target keywords. But don’t get hung up on individual keyword positions.
What matters more is whether you’re ranking for more keywords overall. Whether those rankings are higher. Whether they’re driving traffic.
Conversion Rates
Traffic is awesome. But conversions pay the bills.
Track how your organic traffic is converting compared to other channels. If you’re driving more traffic but your conversions are flat, you may be targeting the wrong keywords or your landing pages may need work.
Backlink Profile Growth
Are you building high-quality links on a consistent basis? Track both the quantity and quality of your backlinks.
Tools like Ahrefs or SEMRush will help you track your domain authority growth over time.
Pulling It All Together
Building an actionable SEO plan is the difference between flinging money at random tactics and seeing predictable, sustainable growth.
You need a clear, comprehensive strategy that covers technical SEO, content, keywords and link building. But more importantly, you need to actually execute that strategy consistently over time.
SEO isn’t a one-and-done project. It’s an ongoing process. One that requires commitment, patience, and a willingness to stick with it even when results take time.
Start by auditing your current state. Research your competitors and identifying opportunities. Set clear goals. Create a detailed action plan with specific tasks and deadlines.
Execute your SEO plans. Track your progress. Adjust based on results.
The businesses that win at SEO are the ones who treat it like a marathon, not a sprint. They have a plan. They work that plan. And they stay consistent even when the needle is slow to move.
