Each SEO campaign typically involves a number of different strategies, projects, and tasks. Because so much goes into SEO, it usually takes a team of people to launch a single SEO campaign.
Some people might be responsible for communicating with the client and conducting keyword research, whereas others may handle content creation or analyzing post-campaign results. To launch an effective SEO campaign, it’s important for everyone to understand what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and what their role is in completing the work.
One way to keep everyone on the same page working toward the same goal is to use an SEO marketing workflow.
What is An SEO Marketing Workflow?
A workflow is a series of scalable, repeatable tasks that must be performed in order to complete a specific project. An SEO marketing workflow is a series of scalable, repeatable tasks that must be performed to complete a specific SEO-related project.
Every SEO workflow is unique. But in general, an SEO tool for workflow marketing automation must address:
- Who is involved in the project
- Each project member’s responsibilities
- The sequence in which the tasks must be completed
- Deadlines for each task and the project as a whole
It’s important to note that the purpose of a workflow is to complete projects, not to reach organizational goals. For example, the outcome of a workflow might be to create optimized content for your website, not to drive traffic to your website, which is an organizational goal.
What Are the Benefits of SEO Marketing Workflows?
There are many benefits to using SEO workflows, including:
- Identify unnecessary steps. Defining workflows for your SEO campaigns will make it easier to identify unnecessary steps that can be removed to streamline your efforts.
- Ensure consistency. If everyone on your team follows the same workflow, everyone will be forced to take the same steps when completing specific projects. This ensures that your team produces–and your clients receive–consistent, high quality work.
- Reduce errors. Defining workflows will prevent errors that occur as a result of team members skipping over certain tasks that must be performed to complete a project.
- Easier to manage SEO campaigns. Having clearly defined workflows makes it easier to manage complex SEO campaigns since everyone will know what to do and when to do it.
- Improve productivity. Establishing workflows for your SEO projects will improve your team’s efficiency and productivity.
- Shift your team’s focus. Creating defined workflows will allow your team to spend less time on managing their work and more time on the strategic aspects of their work.
- Easier to train new hires. Outlining the steps involved in your workflows makes it easier to train new hires. By looking at the workflow, they will be able to quickly see what their role is in the project, so they can dive right into their work with minimal training.
- Improve transparency. Managers can quickly see the status of every project and what everyone is working on, so they won’t need to micromanage to stay up-to-date on pending projects.
How Can You Create An SEO Marketing Workflow?
Now that you understand the benefits of using SEO marketing workflows, it’s time to create a workflow that fits the needs of your business. Follow these simple steps:
- Identify SEO Projects
- Outline Tasks for Each Project
- Assign Roles and Responsibilities
Identify SEO Projects
Start by making a list of all of the different types of SEO projects your team completes on a regular basis. Some examples of SEO projects you may want to create workflows for include:
- Content creation
- Keyword research
- Technical audit
- Blogger outreach
- Link building
- On-page SEO
Be as specific as possible when creating this list of SEO projects. For example, you may want to break “content creation” down into “blog creation,” “landing page creation,” and “infographic creation” so you can create unique workflows for different types of content.
Outline Tasks for Each Project
The next step is breaking down each project into smaller tasks. When working on this step, make sure you include every task that needs to be performed in order to complete the project, regardless of how small or insignificant it may seem.
After outlining the tasks for a project, decide the order in which the tasks need to be completed. Write them down in sequential order so you can visualize what your workflow looks like. This makes it easier to identify missing pieces or errors.
It’s best to ask your team to collaborate with you on this step. Even if you are a project manager, chances are you aren’t completing all of the SEO work on your own. You may not know exactly what goes into the work performed by other members of your team, which will make it harder for you to define a workflow on your own. You need input from your team members to ensure you cover everything in your proposed workflow.
Every team works differently, so there’s no “right” or “wrong” workflow. But here’s a good example of a workflow to create blog content:
- Assign topics
- Write content
- Edit content
- Writer edits, if needed
- Add images and internal links
- Client review/approval
- Writer edits, if needed
- Publish content
Decide how long it will take to complete each task in the workflow. For instance, you may want to give the writer two days to create content and the editor one day to edit it. Talk to your team about how much time they need to produce high quality work.
It’s important to note that you may need to create different workflows for different teams or clients. For example, one client may want to review and approve content before it goes live on their website, but another may trust you to publish content without their approval. In this case, you would need to create two different workflows for blog content creation. The workflow for client A would include a client approval step, whereas the workflow for client B would not.
Assign Roles and Responsibilities
The final step in the process is determining who is involved in each workflow and the role each individual plays in completing the project.
Take another look at the example of a blog content workflow from above. In this example, the roles and responsibilities might include:
- Assign topics: SEO project manager
- Write content: Writer
- Edit content: Editor
- Writer edits, if needed: Writer
- Add images and internal links: SEO project manager
- Client review/approval: Client
- Writer edits, if needed: Writer
- Publish content: SEO project manager
Now, everyone involved in the project will clearly understand their role and responsibilities.
Tips for Implementing SEO Marketing Workflows
There are certain steps you can take to ensure the implementation of your new SEO marketing workflows is successful. Here’s what to do:
- Discuss the changes with your team. Make sure everyone understands that you will now be shifting to follow SEO marketing workflows when completing SEO-related projects. Explain how this will affect your team’s roles and responsibilities, answer their questions, and address their concerns. Having this conversation will ensure everyone is on the same page.
- Use visual aids. If following defined workflows is new to your team, try using visual aids to help them understand their new SEO marketing workflow.
- Test the workflow first. Before you introduce the workflow to your team, run a few tests to ensure the workflow meets your expectations. This way, you can address any issues in the workflow before your team starts to follow it.
- Adjust as needed. Ask your team for feedback on your new workflows. You may need to make adjustments to the tasks, team members, or sequence of tasks in a workflow based on your team’s feedback.
- Find the right SEO marketing workflow tool. The easiest way to implement new workflows is to use an SEO tool that will help your team follow defined SEO workflows.
What is the Best SEO Marketing Workflow Tool?
Help your team transition to your new workflow with Gryffin, a SEO marketing workflow tool designed for digital marketers by digital marketers. Gryffin is built with all of the features you need to successfully implement SEO workflows, including:
- Customization: Every team is unique, so every team may require a different workflow, which is why Gryffin gives you the power to customize workflows. You can use Gryffin to build countless custom workflows for different projects, strategies, or clients.
- Automation: Gryffin allows you to automate your workflows to eliminate manual, repetitive tasks that waste time and cause unnecessary delays. Eliminating these tasks will keep your project moving forward toward completion at all times.
- Dashboard: Your dashboard will display all of your projects in one place so you can quickly see what’s on your plate and the status of all pending projects.
- Centralized communication: You can discuss specific tasks or projects with your co-workers directly within Gryffin. This centralizes all project-related communication and makes it easier for your team to find the information they need to complete their tasks.
Learn more about Gryffin and how it can help by signing up for a free 14-day trial today.