How To Set Proper Goals?
User: OK, I am a SEO specialist and I need to create SEO plan for a new client. The task is
pretty straightforward, but there are so many options! What do I need to do firstly? And what operations don't matter?
Yes, there are too many options and it can be very hard to set primary goals that will get your SEO project to the top of search results. SEO experts are likely already provided you with recommendations that contradict with each other.
- Disregard the SEO stuff. Content is king!
- Content doesn't matter. Page Rank does!
- You need more backlinks. We will create them for you. Sign In here for $1500.00
Sounds familiar?
Things don't need to be so complicated. It's seems to be evident that you are not the first person who faced this issue and, thus, your SEO plan is not required to be a something the world have never seen.
You need to simply review sites already created by your competitors and perform the same operations they did in the past
Step #1: Investigate the Competition
Let's say you have a site that sells hats. The users find your site by entering 'buy hat' in Google. You know that your goal is to be at the first place in the search results each time the users enter 'buy hat' keywords.
What operations do you need to perform to be at the first place? Let's see how your competitors managed to do this:
- Open Google and enter 'buy hat'.
- Open the page that appears at the first position in search results.
- Write down the PR of the page you entered.
NOTE: Google Toolbar is required to get information on the PR. If you don't have Google Toolbar installed, follow the URL: toolbar.google.com. - Get information on the competitors' backlinks by entering the following query in Google:
"CompetitorSite.com" -site:CompetitorSite.com and write down the value
- Does the competitor has keywords in Title?
- Does the competitor has keywords in URL?
Step #2: Process The Results
As a result of operations above you should have a list with neat goals. It is clear that in order to be at the first position in the search results you need to
- Obtain PR 5.
- Get 47,400 links to your site (gosh!).
- Create the pages with words 'buy' and 'head' in title and in the URL.
Follow the recommendations above, get your site to the top and be happy!
PS By the way, our new tool Google SEO Recommendations performs the operations listed above automatically. It also provides you with SEO-recommendations.
Gushchin Dmitry is the creator of Easy SEO Tracking service. The service allows users to track the SEO parameters of theirs sites.
Guest posts do not necessarily reflect SEP's professional opinion
Nice points although I don’t know if I would put so much trust into Visual PR 🙂
.-= Alex Sysoef recently posted: SEO Blogger – Firefox Extention For Simpler Keyword Research =-.
Dmitri,
I am pretty upset that you paint the picture like its so easy. Competitor has a PR4 and 47,000 links, therefore all you need is a PR5 and more than 47,000 links?
That is ridiculous. Linking and PR is not a pissing match. It is NOT that simple. And IF it was then everyone would be ranked #1!
I mean this is the type of stuff that gives legitimate SEOs a bad name and quite frankly I am a bit upset and surprised to see this post here as I had a great deal of respect for this blog and its staff. Jeff, you really need better editorial on these guest posts. And all it ended up being was a shameless plug for an SEO tool.
I hate it when people “out” but legitimate SEOs cannot let this type of misinformation to continue to spread in our midst.
Dmitry I understand that you have a product to promote but please do not suggest that rankings are as easy as obtaining more links and higher PR because that is just not true.
.-= Miguel recently posted: Cheap SEO Costs More =-.
I hope this is satire.
.-= MikeTek recently posted: How To Turn Your Marketing Into Solid Gold =-.
This is one good tip. Thanks for posting. Lots of amateur as well as veteran SEO buffs will really get hold of these tips.
.-= trey Smith recently posted: Why some “launches” fail… =-.
What is the different between your methode with SEO Elite from brad callen ? because i know and its sounds that similar
These are kinda of shady recommendations, IMO. You don’t need the same PR or number of links of your main competitor to outrank him. You can have lower, but better quality links, for instance. If the anchor texts were better, you could have a lower PR, but better chances to rank well.
Also, the emphasis should be, not on ranking for “buy hat”, but ranking for a number of keywords AND optimizing the site so that visitors spend more time there, see more pages and convert better.
Hello Miguel!
Thank you for the feedback. I appreciate your concerns. My comments are below:
Miguel: I am pretty upset that you paint the picture like its so easy. Competitor has a PR4 and 47,000 links, therefore all you need is a PR5 and more than 47,000 links?
Dmitry: I totally agree that the goals are not that simple, but at the high-level – the recommendations are correct. The recommendations provided by the tool give user an idea on the complexity of his/her targeting task. For example: the tool might say that the user need to obtain page rank 9 – it means that a niche the user selected is very competitive and most likely (s)he need to find a new one.
Miguel: And all it ended up being was a shameless plug for an SEO tool.
Dmitry: I believe there is a some kind of micommunication occured. Please note that the tool itself doesn’t perform any work usually performed by SEO specialist. Instead of this – it’s provides recommendations. I believe setting the goals is 5% of entire SEO project. Once the goals are defined – the SEO specialist begins to create the pages with proper keywords, obtaining backlinks, investigating the niche, submitting press releases and things like that.
Miguel: Dmitry I understand that you have a product to promote but please do not suggest that rankings are as easy as obtaining more links and higher PR because that is just not true.
Dmitry: Totally agree – they are not that simple.
But I also believe that the recommendations provided above are very effective first steps when users are in the process of defining the goals for their SEO project.
Please let me know if you have any comments.
Thank you.