Thread by @darth_na

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::: Prioritising SEO :::

I see this topic appear every so often ... and notice that people tend to look at mainly 3 things:

1) Some form of "value"
2) Some form of "ease" or "difficulty"
3) Some form of "cost"

But there is So Much More to look at!

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#SEO #Prioritising

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The first thing most people miss (and I do mean Most!), is ...
GOALS.

Yes, you are doing SEO - but:
* SEO is not a goal
* Ranking is not a goal
* Traffic is not a goal (unless you are ad-rev based)

Money, Opportunity and Visibility are Goals.
SEO is just a method!

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So the first thing you should be "scoring" your priorities by is the Goal they will be contributing to.
In most cases, that's going to be Money (Rev., Profit, via Traffic, via Rankings, via Keywords etc.)

But SEO can be for other goals too!

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SEO can be used for Visibility (think of Perception and Reputation, raising Awareness, building the Brand etc.).
There's also Opportunity (Awareness, Exposure, building relationships etc.).

So sort your goals and get ready to apply them.

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Then we can break things down into two broad types:
* Positives
* Negatives

Now, you can be light with these;
+ Value/Gain
- Effort/Difficulty

Or you can get more detailed;
+ Scope/Influence
+ Probability/Confidence
- Cost/Resources
- Risk/Urgency

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You can also decide whether to be simple or complicated with the calculations.
You can score each item 1-5, 1-10, 1-100.
You can add the positives, add the negatives, then subtract negatives from positives,
or do multipliers and divide positive by negative.

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To help, here's a list of various potential factors to consider.

1. Goal (!):
Money, Visibility and Opportunity >
Reach, Influence, Perception, Reputation, Revenue, Profit, Awareness and Loyalty

2. Value (+):
Gain, Impact and Influence

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3. Potential (+):
Probability and Confidence

4. Scope (+):
Size, Amplitude and Quantity

5. Cost (-):
Time, Resources, Workload and Requirements

6. Effort (-):
Complexity and Difficulty

7. Risk (-)
Dangers, Errors and Resistance.

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Now, you can substitute the words, or expand them out ... or just use general labels and lump everything together ...
... so long as you are factoring in what counts!

You can then score up each and every possible approach/item, and then sort.

But you can go further!

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I like to "tag" my tasks with "influence".
Does it impact Rankings, User Experience or Conversions?

The more that any task covers, the more important it is
(consider first render time -vs- adjusting headings to include a keyword ... one does all 3, one does mainly 1)

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You can also tag in "speed" (or "time to effect").
Some things take a lot longer for G to react to than others (adding canonical link elements -vs- rewriting 100 pages of content).

Once you factor in things like these, you have a seriously ugly spreadsheet!
:D

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But, that spreadsheet will enable you to score and sort your tasks, in a way that provides the maximum benefit to the business/site.

Then you get to "optimise" the priorities!

(Yes - I did just say that!)

Review the tasks, and see how you can deploy for effect.

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If you have multiple people available -
you can delegate the tasks.

Some tasks are far faster to implement, and some show returns faster -
you can alternate between impact and speed.

No - it's not for the faint of heart.
No - you don't have to do it all.
But do prioritise