This was a presentation for the conference EmpowerB2B, about how to kick off an SEO program and keep it rolling in an agile manner. See the video presentation and the transcript of it here: https://thegray.company/blog/agile-seo-101-building-a-continuous-improvement-machine-for-seo

1. Agile SEO: Building a
Continuous Improvement
Machine for SEO
Tory Gray @GrayDotCo
#Empower2021

2. Why SEO?
Compound Interest
Simple Interest

3. Dominate with an SEO Moat
Foundation/Ross Simmonds: https://bit.ly/3eGB8e2

4. Continuous
Improvement
Machine for SEO
IS NOT IS
● A tool (e.g. Yoast) you
can “set and forget”
● Spammy text “An SEO
walks into a bar, pub…”
● For Google
● Growth hacking
● A silo
● Strategic
● Relative to your online
competitors (SEO is a
race!)
● Ongoing time & effort
that you measure and
improve
A framework for data-driven, iterative growth.

5. Ideally, you’ll learn...
What’s Needed to Launch
a SEO Program (and
What’s Not Needed)
A Process for Improving SEO
Results in an Agile Fashion

6. Where to start...

7. Keyword Strategy for Core Landing Pages
● Use good tools, data to learn what users are seeking
● Pick keywords that are accurate, brand-aligned, and have opportunity
● Organize keywords/pages by their “intent” (map them in a Matrix)
● Craft metadata and onpage copy for these pages with this data set in
mind
1
Templates: https://thegray.company/empower

8. Strategic Content
● What subjects/keywords have you not already covered?
○ Different content for different personas
○ Review pain points
○ Target the various customer funnel stages (TOFU head terms vs. BOFU longtail ones)
○ Create How Tos, FAQs, documentation & case studies
○ Thought leadership/perspective pieces
● Focus on:
○ Where you provide unique value (UVPs), or you can fill a market gap
○ Experimentation & strategic bets
○ Building comprehensive context & authority for your subject matter
● Publish stuff you are proud of
2

9. Best Practices
● There IS a place for best practices
● It’s a place to start and improve upon over time
3

10. Rinse & Repeat
● Execute, execute, execute.
● Collect data & evaluate the results.
● Refine your process. Work out the kinks.
4

11. Watch your SEO funnel & KPIs
SEO is slowest at the beginning, so watch for leading indicators to ensure
things are moving in the right direction:

12. What this is NOT
NO
Bias
for
Action
Move Fast
and
Break Things
6 Months of Strategy + No Action

13. Next level...

14. Your SEO
Strategy Inputs
Defined
Business Goals
TAM/Keyword
Universe
Data & Results
Competitive Audits Website Audits
Stakeholders

15. Defined, Prioritized Business Objectives

16. Define Opportunity: Keyword Universe/TAM
● What is your “Digital” Total Addressable
Market?
○ How frequently is your target subject matter
searched for, and clicked on?
○ How much traffic, and revenue, could that translate
to?
● What do you stand to gain?
● What do you stand to lose - if a competitor
captures this instead of you?

17. Competition Analysis: Current & Investment
Current:
● Audit your competitor’s site(s.) What are they doing better (and worse) than
you?
Investment:
● How many butts do they have in critical seats, and where are they hiring?
● What are they building? (tools, content, features)
● Did they just raise money?
● What results/revenue does that drive for them?
Templates: https://thegray.company/empower

18. (Own) Site Analysis: What to Evaluate
Tier I
Accessibility &
Indexability
Tier II
Trade-off of
Value vs Effort
Do you let search engines “in the door”?
When you do, do you allow them to index
your content?
Do you make it worthwhile for a search
engines to do this work?
Potential Areas / Activities
● Technical SEO / Technical SEO Audit
● JS Access / JS Audit
● Site Architecture / IA
● UX/UI & User Accessibility / Usability
Testing
Potential Areas / Activities
● Quality (Content Audit, On-page Audit)
● Rendering (Mobility & UX/UI Issues & JS
Effort Level)
● Performance (Core Vitals Audit, GSC
Audit)
● Backlinks (Link Building Audit, Internal
Linking Audit)
● Added Value (E-A-T Audit, Schema Audit)
● SERP Features Opportunities
● Local, International, Niche Aspects

19. Your Data & Results
● How well is your funnel growing? Where/when are users
dropping off?
● How are you ranking overall, and for your target terms?
○ How are you doing relative to competitors for those same target terms?
● Is your keyword footprint growing?
● How quickly are you scaling (quality) content?
● Does your content address all target personas, at all stages
of the customer funnel? Where are there gaps you can fill?
● Are you accomplishing your goals?
○ If not, why not, and what do you do about it?
○ If so… what’s next to con’t the amplification trend?

20. … One Last Critical Addition
Consult your stakeholders, and prioritize those efforts that also support:
● Brand Strategy
● Content/Editorial
● Email Marketing
● Social Media Marketing
● Sales
● Customer Service
● Product/Engineering
● Data Science
● Etc.

21. Combine your inputs to create your plan
Rinse & repeat every 6-12 months (or as needed).
● Pull in the latest & greatest objectives, strategies and KPIs
● Latest results
● Updated, timely audits
● Don’t forget to CONNECT THE DOTS… what tactical work are you doing &
why? What strategies and objectives does that work align to?
Templates: https://thegray.company/empower

22. Keep going...

24. Thank You!
Connect with us!
Site: https://thegray.company
Templates:
https://thegray.company/empower
Social: @GrayDotCo
Special Thanks
@samTorresATL
@techSEOWomen