{"id":144127,"date":"2022-09-15T16:22:42","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T16:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/?p=144127"},"modified":"2022-10-13T11:02:39","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T11:02:39","slug":"an-seo-strategy-flywheel-to-win-leadership-buy-in-and-drive-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2022\/09\/15\/an-seo-strategy-flywheel-to-win-leadership-buy-in-and-drive-results\/","title":{"rendered":"An SEO strategy flywheel to win leadership buy-in and drive results"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"well\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-144136\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/An-SEO-strategy-flywheel-to-win-leadership-buy-in-and-drive-results-1024x273.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"171\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/An-SEO-strategy-flywheel-to-win-leadership-buy-in-and-drive-results-1024x273.png 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/An-SEO-strategy-flywheel-to-win-leadership-buy-in-and-drive-results-300x80.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/An-SEO-strategy-flywheel-to-win-leadership-buy-in-and-drive-results-768x205.png 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/An-SEO-strategy-flywheel-to-win-leadership-buy-in-and-drive-results.png 728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>30-second summary:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From my experience, every SEO has struggled to get buy-in on a recommendation at some point<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An SEO\u2019s job has changed a lot in a decade. Now, prioritization is mandatory for success<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To have proper prioritization in your roadmap, you need a framework that builds in opportunity analysis, discovery, and measurement<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It can be challenging to win-over stakeholders because there is skepticism against advertisers\u2014and SEOs can have competing interests if we don\u2019t get early buy-in and speak in terms of business KPIs rather than SEO KPIs<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The SEO Strategy Flywheel outlined below is your ticket to unlocking SEO roadmaps that get implemented<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In today&#8217;s SEO industry, human challenges far exceed technical challenges. Our job as SEOs has evolved dramatically in the last 10 years. To show value a decade ago, SEOs manually audited sites and created a laundry list of SEO action items to fix. Prioritization wasn\u2019t imperative to success because marketing teams were limited, websites were smaller, and SEO didn\u2019t have an obvious home\u2026should SEO live with development, content, creative, or marketing? As we love to say, \u201cit depends.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the decade since we\u2019ve learned that SEO does require meaningful prioritization to get buy-in from all stakeholders. Prioritization is now mandatory for two reasons: <\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Resources are finite\u2014as SKUs and sites grow, the SEO resources usually don\u2019t<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tools have replaced the need for manual audits but cannot replace human expertise in prioritizing against business needs and objectives<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">John Mueller, Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, even says this on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/SEO\/comments\/oyp74h\/anyone_else_not_buying_core_web_vitals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reddit<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As an SEO, a part of your role is to take all of the possible optimizations and figure out which ones are worth spending time on. Any SEO tool will spit out 10s or 100s of &#8220;recommendations&#8221;, most of those are going to be irrelevant to your site&#8217;s visibility in search. Finding the items that make sense to work on takes experience.<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, modern <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2022\/01\/04\/the-not-so-seo-checklist-for-2022\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SEO success<\/a> also requires more than just excellent prioritization. We\u2019ve agreed on a common belief that regardless of where SEO sits within an organization, it is marketing! SEO = marketing. And, whether we like it or not, that makes us as SEOs advertisers. SEOs = advertisers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unfortunately, I have bad news for you: people <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">despise<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> advertisers, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/1654\/honesty-ethics-professions.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">according to Gallup polls<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-144134 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Gallup-Poll-1024x542.png\" alt=\"Advertisers aren't people's favorite\" width=\"640\" height=\"339\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Gallup-Poll-1024x542.png 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Gallup-Poll-300x159.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Gallup-Poll-768x406.png 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Gallup-Poll.png 728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So this presents obvious challenges for us as we try to win over folks like business executives, developers, content writers, etc., with this inherent bias against us as advertisers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Introducing: The SEO strategy flywheel<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The SEO strategy flywheel was hard-fought through my personal experience. The best part is that this flywheel can be used by in-house SEOs, freelancers, and agencies!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Myriam Jessier says to SEOs, \u201cHeart surgeons use checklists. You are not above them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To take this further, we are not above process either &#8211; and in today\u2019s world, the process must go beyond traditional SEO expertise. SEOs must use processes to overcome human and technical challenges. Processes can feel mundane, boring, and possibly even robotic. Far too often have I witnessed SEOs painfully living in chaos with no defined roadmaps, processes, or regular workflow cadence. But the truth is: we are not above process and it does not turn us into robots.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rather, creating process makes us more human. It eliminates the need to focus on \u201csurvival\u201d tactics and reserves bandwidth to focus on more impactful strategic initiatives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having a team and various stakeholders commit to a process improves efficiency, allows for more collaboration, and ensures we can see our recommendations implemented.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-144130 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Strategy-Flywheel-1024x743.png\" alt=\"Introduction to the SEO strategy flywheel\" width=\"640\" height=\"464\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Strategy-Flywheel-1024x743.png 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Strategy-Flywheel-300x218.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Strategy-Flywheel-768x558.png 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Strategy-Flywheel.png 728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>1. Opportunity analysis &#8211; Build confident humility into your process<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Step one is our opportunity to reassess our strategic vision, layered against the new competitive landscape from the previous quarter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Too often, we as SEOs are either too stubborn in our strategic vision or too passive to make recommendations that may be experimental or challenging to get approved. This leads to either armchair-quarterback syndrome where you\u2019re blinded by hubris or imposter syndrome where you\u2019re too meek to make difficult cases compelling. The goldilocks spot is what Adam Grant calls, \u201cConfident Humility\u201d in his book &#8216;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Think Again&#8217;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The opportunity analysis commits all teams to consistently review site performance, and analyze and prepare for any industry\/vertical change. In short, the opportunity analysis forces confident humility. And confident humility is how we get better\u2014quarter after quarter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-144133\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Confident-Humility-Graph-1024x611.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"382\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Confident-Humility-Graph-1024x611.png 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Confident-Humility-Graph-300x179.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Confident-Humility-Graph-768x458.png 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Confident-Humility-Graph.png 728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most important in the opportunity analysis is to ensure that there is an \u201coutside\u201d perspective from another SEO expert to ensure that your findings are sound. At Brainlabs, this includes check-ins and QA with the Group Account Director and VP of SEO. This outside perspective allows us to help narrow in on the most impactful findings for our recommendations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4>Tips<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Doing an audit, you will find someone somewhere along the line made a mistake (for example, unimplemented content, wrongly implemented schema, and the other). Make sure to rectify this before the Discovery Meeting where you recap findings so you don\u2019t burn a bridge with an important stakeholder like a developer.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Always put the opportunity in business KPIs, not SEO KPIs.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-144132\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Business-_-SEO-KPIs-1024x377.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"236\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Business-_-SEO-KPIs-1024x377.png 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Business-_-SEO-KPIs-300x110.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Business-_-SEO-KPIs-768x283.png 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Business-_-SEO-KPIs.png 728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<h3>2. Discovery meeting &#8211; Get buy-in from stakeholders early<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The most collaborative part of the process is my personal favorite and the most influential: the discovery meeting. The discovery meeting is our time to build relationships with <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">all <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">stakeholders\u2014and understand available resources and appetite for change. Put simply, robots can\u2019t build relationships\u2013that\u2019s still something we have over any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.overthetopseo.com\/seo-marketing-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SEO auditing<\/a> technology.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having meaningful questions to ask stakeholders is part of the reason why the Opportunity Analysis is the first step\u2014you don\u2019t want to go to this meeting empty-handed. The questions I like to ask can be grouped into 4 buckets: Partnership, Business, Industry\/SEO, and Resources. While templated questions are a great start, you should always tweak the questions to be relevant to the brand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example questions include:<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><b>Partnership:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What project has been your favorite so far? Should we do more of that?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Business:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are there any changes in your industry or business that can\/will impact the website or marketing efforts?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>SEO:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is there anything in the backlog of projects that you\u2019re excited about? What can we provide to make a case for implementation?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Resources:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the economic uncertainty, will resources stay the same on your side?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Tips<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This meeting can be folded into a QBR-esque meeting or, if you can swing the time, it can stand alone on its own, which is my preference.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Invite stakeholders from multiple teams to get perspective (for example, developers, execs, content, brand marketing, and other relevant members)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If time allows, have a mock call to ensure that the questions and presentation are well-crafted and the team is comfortable delivering them. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>3. SEO roadmap creation &#8211; Put rubber to the road<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most SEOs try to skip directly to this step first. But\u2014be warned from my experience\u2014it is a costly mistake (in both time and political capital). Beginning your SEO project with a roadmap results in a long list of unprioritized recommendations and little implementation, and the end result is a loss of trust and frustration with stakeholders.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The roadmap, when preceded by proper opportunity analysis and an effective Discovery meeting, will successfully accomplish three things:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lay out projects with enough detail for early buy-in<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identify participants for each activity to avoid a collective action problem<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Act as an activity log which makes measurement easier<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The sheet below is an example of an SEO quarterly roadmap. We define each project and quantify the impact on the business using relevant SEO KPIs<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> business terms (outlined in pink).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-144135\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Roadmap-Image-1-Project-Details-1024x277.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"173\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Roadmap-Image-1-Project-Details-1024x277.png 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Roadmap-Image-1-Project-Details-300x81.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Roadmap-Image-1-Project-Details-768x208.png 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Roadmap-Image-1-Project-Details.png 728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Next, we include a RACI model (outlined in blue) to define project participants by who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-144128\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Roadmap-Image-2-RACI-Model-1024x279.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"174\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Roadmap-Image-2-RACI-Model-1024x279.png 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Roadmap-Image-2-RACI-Model-300x82.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Roadmap-Image-2-RACI-Model-768x209.png 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Roadmap-Image-2-RACI-Model.png 728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lastly, once the Roadmap is approved we add the middle Project Status section (outlined in black), and track each activity so we can measure pre- and post-implementation success.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-144129\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Roadmap-Image-3-Project-Status-1024x278.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"174\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Roadmap-Image-3-Project-Status-1024x278.png 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Roadmap-Image-3-Project-Status-300x81.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Roadmap-Image-3-Project-Status-768x209.png 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-Roadmap-Image-3-Project-Status.png 728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<h4>Tips<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Exercise ongoing confident humility with the roadmap and know when to pivot a project<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Continuously update the roadmap and use this to guide status calls<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use the roadmap to define resource allocation and project management\u2014that is, new projects to be added must be done in place of something else<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>4. Implementation &#8211; Get sh*t done<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While site implementation may fall to different teams, the important part is being able to assess who needs approval for which implementations early on. That way, by the time each recommendation is finalized then it can immediately be ready for implementation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4>Tips<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since you have a roadmap with defined timelines, get development tickets submitted early so the implementation team can prepare resources for them in an upcoming sprint<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">QA all implementations to ensure that the final result matches your recommendation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use a site change tracker tool to see when stuff gets implemented<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>5. Measurement &#8211; Identify winning efforts to scale<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Step five is where this framework turns into a flywheel: Measurement. Having an activity log in your roadmap allows you to easily identify pre- and post-implementation impacts. Being able to tie performance back to a specific subset of optimizations allows you to scale those efforts to yield the compounding effects of SEO.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s no better way to win influence over a site\u2019s development team than by following up and sharing the results of their work.\u00a0 Make sure they see the post-implementation report and watch how easily SEO projects get added to the development roadmap in future sprints!<\/span><\/p>\n<h4>Tips<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make sure implementation dates are accurate (including site adjustments)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ensure to account for seasonality in your analysis<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Track pre and post-measurement from the soonest crawl date after implementation, rather than implementation itself as it can take upwards of three months for a page to be recrawled<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can use the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.screamingfrog.co.uk\/how-to-automate-the-url-inspection-api\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GSC URL API in conjunction with Screaming Frog<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to streamline this process<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use an <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2021\/01\/20\/how-to-perform-seo-a-b-testing-in-google-search-console\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SEO A\/B testing<\/a> tool for testing ranking\/traffic impact\u2014like <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.searchpilot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SearchPilot<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for large sites\u2014and\/or a conversion testing tool like <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/optimize\/answer\/6197440?hl=en#zippy=%2Cin-this-article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google Optimize<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to test for engagement\/conversion impact<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Set up tracking for <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2021\/07\/22\/how-to-show-the-business-value-of-your-seo-proposal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SEO KPIs<\/a> as early as possible to get enough pre-implementation data<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Process = Success<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The SEO strategy flywheel allows you to dedicate your SEO team\u2019s time and resources to SEO rather than reactively resolving prioritization conflicts. Committing to this process builds confident humility into your work, gets stakeholder buy-in early, and easily allows you to scale winning efforts. I encourage you to modify this process to fit in with your existing workflows and share your modifications with others in the comments for inspiration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Next quarter&#8217;s<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> planning is right around the corner\u2014go get it!<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Travis Tallent is the VP, SEO at Brainlabs overseeing the SEO product to ensure account teams have the right talent, tools, tech, and process to do their jobs well. Travis spends time enjoying nature, playing saxophone in a local band, and volunteering for LGBTQ+ organizations.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Follow Travis on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/travistallent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LinkedIn<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tallentspeaks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Subscribe to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/#newsletter-modal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Search Engine Watch newsletter<\/a>\u00a0for insights on SEO, the search landscape, search marketing, digital marketing, leadership, podcasts, and more.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Join the conversation with us on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/61126\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sewatch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A hard-fought model developed through years of personal experience that will empower in-house SEOs, freelancers, and agencies to get stakeholder buy-in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1092,"featured_media":144136,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[22,28176,1119],"content_type":[],"class_list":["post-144127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo","tag-seo","tag-seo-budgets","tag-strategy"],"acf":{"tad_independentcommercial":"Independent","tad_content_format":"Expert commentary"},"post_info":{"name":"idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com","title":"","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/An-SEO-strategy-flywheel-to-win-leadership-buy-in-and-drive-results.png","category":"SEO","timeago":"3y"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144127"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=144127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}