CREATING

AGILE SEO
CAMPAIGNS

HOW-TO GUIDE
 Creating Agile SEO Campaigns
HOW-TO GUIDE

Most marketers are familiar with the buzzword – “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 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 develop-
ment of technical tools to approach SEO problems with more of a program-
mer’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 itera-
tion is done with the early release of content and subsequent updating and
‘nurturing’ of this content.”

www.searchenginejournal.com

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.

2 CREATING AGILE SEO CAMPAIGNS HOW-TO GUIDE

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 – 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.

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.

Agile SEO Approach

The Agile SEO approach implements a cyclical method of testing, applying and evaluating.

Plan

Improve Implement

Measure

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, imple-
ment, measure and improve that Agile SEO prescribes. If you do, you can stay a step ahead of your
competition in the search rankings.

3 CREATING AGILE SEO CAMPAIGNS HOW-TO GUIDE

 Action Plan
STEP 1 - Plan

Planning with your Search

1 Plan
Engine Optimization
Playbook

2 Implement Define Key Performance

Indicators (KPIs) for your SEO
campaign.

This could include, but is

not limited to ROI, keyword
ranking, click-through rate,
3 Measure
order conversion rate, average
order value, lead generation
conversion rate, average cost
per conversion, and search as
a percent of site traffic.
4 Improve

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION PLAN

Playbook & Toolkit

5 Repeat
Follow this simple step-by-step playbook to develop an SEO plan that increases
your competitive position, reduces advertising expenditures, and implies authority.

Search Engine Optimization Playbook

VIEW RESOURCE

4 CREATING AGILE SEO CAMPAIGNS HOW-TO GUIDE

 Action Plan
STEP 2 - Implement

Planning your Search

1 Plan
Engine Optimization Effort

Execute your SEO initiative. Begin

by understanding the baseline
2 Implement 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,
3 Measure
keeping in mind that you’ll want
to eventually use Agile SEO tech-
niques on all your pages.

Next, determine what keywords

should lead to content on your
4 Improve site, and then evaluate these
keywords using Google’s
Keyword Planner to select those
with the highest traffic and least
competition.

5 Repeat

SEO Keyword Database

VIEW RESOURCE

5 CREATING AGILE SEO CAMPAIGNS HOW-TO GUIDE

 Action Plan
STEP 3 - Measure

Analyzing Data with the

1 Plan
Website Metrics Dashboard

Using the analytics data for

your website, compare the
2 Implement 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

3 Measure web content on your priority list.

If the results are not meeting
expectations, make improve-
ments as discussed below.

4 Improve

5 Repeat Website Metrics Dashboard

VIEW RESOURCE

6 CREATING AGILE SEO CAMPAIGNS HOW-TO GUIDE

 Action Plan
STEP 4 - Improve

SEO Optimization Checklists

1 Plan
for Improvements

Identify areas of improve-

ment by recognizing which
2 Implement keywords and/or content
are proving to be the most
successful for your KPIs.

As necessary, make incre-

mental changes to the content,
3 Measure increasing the keyword
density, changing the keyword
mix or both.

4 Improve

SEO Optimization Checklists

5 Repeat
VIEW RESOURCES

7 CREATING AGILE SEO CAMPAIGNS HOW-TO GUIDE

 Action Plan
STEP 5 - Repeat

Using Your Agile Marketing

1 Plan
Guide and Toolkit

Continue following the work-

flow mapped out above in
2 Implement “Agile SEO Approach.”

Go through this Agile SEO

process continuously, taking
the time to revise and re-im-
plement your keywords on
3 Measure a regular basis to constantly
improve your rankings on
search results pages.

AGILE MARKETING

4
Playbook & Toolkit

Improve

Follow this simple step-by-step playbook to develop an Agile Marketing plan

that supports your company’s goals & objectives.

5 Repeat Agile Marketing Playbook

VIEW RESOURCE

8 CREATING AGILE SEO CAMPAIGNS HOW-TO GUIDE

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