Using SMART objectives to manage winning SEO strategies

Most online businesses underperform because their SEO and marketing strategies fail to to set any real objectives that directly support their long term marketing goals. Syllabus SEO Training responds to this by teaching SEO strategies through setting and achieving SMART Objectives.

What are SMART objectives

If the term is new to you, SMART is an acronym that describes the key characteristics of assessing, setting and achieving objectives. The acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timly.

Setting out your objectives before taking action is always the best approach to the SEO process, for several reasons:

It creates a common target to aim for.
Focuses the actions of participants on attaining the objective.

Goals vs. Objectives

Understanding the differences between a goal and an objective is important. Goals are usually fuzzy statements of intent that tend to be unattainable at the point of setting. Below is a typical goal:

I want to make mysite.com search engine friendly

Objectives are realistic, achievable steps that simplify achieving goals by breaking them down into a set of manageable processes. For example, to make my sitesite.com search engine friendly some objectives might include:

Ensure code validates to w3c standards
Replace flash navigation with text navigation
Remove query strings from URL's

What are SMART Objectives?

SMART is an acronym that describes the key characteristics of assessing, setting and achieving objectives:

Specific (concrete, detailed, well defined)
Measurable (numbers, quantity, comparison)
Achievable (feasible, actionable)
Realistic (considering resources)
Time-Bound (a defined time line)

Specific : What exactly are we going to do, with or for whom?

Specific means that the objective is detailed, focused and well defined. Furthermore, the objective should be straightforward, communicate a specific outcome represented in numbers, percentages, frequency, reach etc. and describe the actions required to achieve the outcome.

You will know your objective is specific enough if:

Everyone knows of their involvement
Everyone understands their responsibilities
Everyone has the skills to complete their responsibilities
Everyone understands the objective
Everyone understands why the objective has been undertaken
Everyone understands the importance of the outcome
Everyone understands when the objective is to be complete

Measurable : If you can't measure it, you can't manage it!

The objective must be measurable, this lets you know when the objective has been achieved. There may also be a requirement for interim measures to track and measure actions as you progress towards the objective.

For example, over the next 3 months you want to increase downloads of an influential whitepaper from 5000 to 9000 downloads per month.

You will know your objective is measurable if:

You know how to obtain accurate progress measurements
You know how to measure the achievement of an objective

Achievable : Is it possible?

Achievable is linked to measurable and form the two most important characteristics of assessing an objective. Its pointless considering an objective if you can't finish it, or one where you can't even tell if you have finished it.

The objective must be achievable within current market conditions, allocated time period, resources allocated, etc.

Is the objective achievable within in the proposed timeframe?
Is the objective achievable within the available budget
Iis the objective achievable using allocated resources?
Has anyone else done this successfully?

Realistic : Will this objective lead to the desired results?

The main reason an objective can be achievable yet remain unrealistic is low priority. Often something else needs to be done first, before you'll succeed. If so, set up two (or more) objectives in priority order.

A common mistake is to set objectives too high, if you are new to SMART the best approach is to start with smaller objectives that can easily be achieved within the allocated timeframe and budget. The outcome of the objective must directly support the companies long term goals.

Time-Bound

Time-bound means setting an achievable and realistic deadline for the completion of an objective. Without a deadline or timeline your objective isn't measurable, specific or realistic. Furthermore, a timeline can raise motivation and prompt action

For more information about our Search Engine Optimisation Training Courses contact Syllabus or call +34 693 475 142.