Areej AbuAli shares her experience implementing technical SEO recommendations at agencies and clients. She outlines the problems with traditional lengthy audit reports that see low implementation rates. Her solution is the RPI framework:
1) Recommend - Conduct focused, template-based audits with detailed fixes.
2) Prioritize - Prioritize recommendations based on their SEO impact and development effort using a priority matrix.
3) Implement - Implement the highest priority recommendations one at a time using Agile methodology, with testing and monitoring throughout. The goal is continuous improvement rather than a "done" state.
2. Quick Intro!
➔ Founder of Women in Tech SEO
➔ SEO Manager at Zoopla
➔ 7+ years in SEO: Agency-side → Client-side
➔ Co-author of Mastering In-House SEO
➔ The bigger & messier a site is, the happier I am!
@areej_abuali
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In 2019, I did a 220-slides talk
on indexability issues.
There was one slide that
resonated the most with
everyone.
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1. Conduct one audit at a time
→ Don’t try to cram everything in one audit
Recommend
Schema Audit Mobile Audit Speed Audit
On Page Audit Internal Links Audit Indexability Audit
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2. Split out recommendations by site templates
→ This is essential for large websites
Homepage Content Hub Product Pages
Recommend
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3. Document Issue and Fix
→ Outline each fix in detail and provide evidence
Example URLs Screenshots Appendix
Recommend
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Bonus → Deliver your recommendations in a format that
works best for the developer
Excel/Sheets Word Doc JIRA
Recommend
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SEO Impact → How much of an impact will this
recommendation likely have on your overall organic traffic?
Small (S) Medium (M) Large (L)
Prioritise
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Dev Effort → How much effort will this recommendation take?
★ Do not try to answer that yourself on behalf of the
developer, ask them directly.
Prioritise
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Dev Effort
This can be measured in number of sprints
Small = 1 sprint Medium = 2 sprints
Large = 3 sprints
Prioritise
X Large > 3 sprints
24. Prioritise: Prioritisation Matrix
PRIORITY RULE PRIORITY
If SEO Impact = L & Tech Effort = S High
If SEO Impact = L & Tech Effort = M High
If SEO Impact = M & Tech Effort = S High
If SEO Impact = L & Tech Effort = XL Mid
If SEO Impact = L & Tech Effort = L Mid
If SEO Impact = M & Tech Effort = M Mid
If SEO Impact = S & Tech Effort = S Mid
If SEO Impact = M & Tech Effort = XL Low
If SEO Impact = M & Tech Effort = L Low
If SEO Impact = S & Tech Effort = XL Low
If SEO Impact = S & Tech Effort = L Low
If SEO Impact = S & Tech Effort = M Low
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1. One at a time gets the job done
Implement
PRIORITY RULE PRIORITY
If SEO Impact = L & Tech Effort = S High
If SEO Impact = L & Tech Effort = M High
If SEO Impact = M & Tech Effort = S High
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2. Be the product manager of your own recommendations
→ Write those JIRA tickets yourself
Implement
Stand Up Backlog Refinement Sprint Planning
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3. Test & Monitor every step of the way
→ Test on dev environment before pushing live
→ When live, monitor changes in logs/traffic/rankings
→ Update issue status in audit and annotate changes in GA
Implement