Doing search engine optimization (SEO) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can often feel like we have a never-ending list of tasks that need to be completed. In fact, it is just like that. SEO is a constant process of improving and adapting to the changing environment. From keyword research to content creation, link building to website optimization, there is always something that needs to be done.
So, how can we prioritize these tasks effectively? One popular method is using the Eisenhower Matrix. It’s a simple yet powerful method. By dividing tasks into four quadrants based on their urgency and importance, the Eisenhower Matrix can help SEO professionals like you (and me) determine which tasks should be prioritized over others.
This can help in preventing unnecessary stress and overwhelm, ensuring that the most crucial tasks are completed in a timely manner. This leads to better overall SEO results. Let’s explore how the Eisenhower Matrix can be applied to prioritize SEO tasks effectively.
Why Prioritizing Matters?
Prioritizing matters because it allows us to focus our time, energy, and resources on the most important tasks or goals. By identifying what needs to be done first or what holds the most significant value, we can make efficient decisions and effectively manage our workload.
Prioritization helps us avoid feeling overwhelmed, stay organized, meet deadlines, and achieve desired outcomes in both personal and professional domains. That being said, it also works well for SEO professionals.
What Exactly Is the Eisenhower Matrix?
We already know why prioritizing matters and that we should implement it in our daily tasks. The Eisenhower Matrix, also known as the Urgent-Important Matrix, is a productivity tool used to prioritize tasks based on their urgency and importance. It was popularized by former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower and has since become a widely used productivity tool in various industries, including SEO.
The concept is quite simple, and that's why it's a great tool. It shouldn't be difficult to include in our workflow, and there is not much of a learning curve. We don't need another chore, after all.
Ok, let's dig in. The Eisenhower Matrix consists of four quadrants:
- Urgent and important: Tasks in this quadrant are both urgent and important. They require immediate attention and should be dealt with as a top priority.
- Important but not urgent: Tasks in this quadrant are vital but don’t require immediate attention. They should be scheduled and given attention after addressing urgent tasks.
- Urgent but not important: Tasks in this quadrant are time-sensitive but not necessarily essential. These tasks may distract you from more critical ones, so delegate or minimize them if possible.
- Not urgent and not important: Tasks in this quadrant are neither significant nor necessary. These tasks can be considered non-essential and should be eliminated or postponed if they don’t contribute considerably to your goals.
The purpose of the Eisenhower Matrix is to help you focus on what truly matters, manage your time effectively, and reduce stress by prioritizing tasks based on their significance and deadlines.
What Is Important in SEO?
Now, let's briefly summarize what SEO consists of. This list is generic and universal for any size of company. However, in this article, I focus more on SMEs:
- Keyword research: Identify relevant keywords that your target audience is searching for.
- On-page optimization: Ensure your website has well-optimized meta tags, headings, internal links, and content that aligns with your target keywords.
- Website performance: Check the loading speed and mobile-friendliness of your website to provide a better user experience.
- Link building: Acquire high-quality backlinks from reputable websites to improve your website’s authority and visibility.
- Local SEO: This is mostly relevant for businesses operating locally, however, many companies do not realize they need it. Optimize your online presence for local search by claiming and optimizing your Google My Business listing and mentions in local media outlets.
- Content creation and optimization: Develop informative and engaging content that incorporates targeted keywords and meets the needs of your audience.
- Monitoring and analytics: Track key metrics such as organic traffic, rankings, conversion rates, and bounce rates to measure the effectiveness of your SEO efforts.
- Competitor analysis: Analyze your competitors’ SEO strategies to identify opportunities for improvement or differentiation.
Of course, each small company may have unique priorities based on its specific goals and target audience, but the above list shows all the areas of interest in an SEO landscape. It’s essential to continuously evaluate and adjust your SEO strategy accordingly.
Common Challenges in Prioritizing SEO Tasks, Especially for SME
There are several common challenges in prioritizing SEO tasks, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs):
- Limited resources: SMEs often have limited budgets, time, and manpower to allocate to SEO efforts. This can make it challenging to prioritize tasks effectively.
- Lack of expertise: SMEs may not have dedicated SEO specialists or teams, resulting in a lack of in-depth knowledge about SEO best practices. This can make it difficult to identify the most important tasks.
- Competitive landscape: SMEs often operate in highly competitive markets where larger companies dominate search engine rankings. Prioritizing tasks that can help improve visibility and compete with bigger players becomes crucial.
- Technical constraints: SME websites may have technical limitations that affect their search engine performance. Identifying technical issues and prioritizing their resolution can be challenging without proper expertise.
- Changing algorithms: Search engines regularly update their algorithms, making it necessary to adapt SEO strategies accordingly. Staying informed about these changes and adjusting priorities accordingly is essential but can be challenging for SMEs.
- Content creation and optimization: Generating high-quality content consistently is vital for SEO success. However, creating compelling content and optimizing it for search engines requires time and resources, which can be a challenge for SMEs with limited capacity.
- Balancing short-term vs. long-term goals: Prioritizing immediate needs while also focusing on long-term goals can be a delicate balance for SMEs. It’s important to find a middle ground between quick wins and sustainable strategies.
- Measuring ROI: Determining the return on investment (ROI) from SEO efforts is not always straightforward, especially for SMEs with limited analytics capabilities or difficulty tracking conversions accurately.
Limited manpower and a shortage of skilled team members responsible for the technical, marketing, and outreach aspects of SEO can be a major challenge for SMEs. With a small team or limited resources, it can be difficult to cover all areas of expertise required for effective SEO implementation. This can lead to delays in task execution, compromised quality, and missed opportunities for growth.
By addressing these challenges and developing a strategic approach tailored to their specific circumstances, SMEs can overcome obstacles and build a strong foundation for effective SEO implementation.
Audit First, Insights Later
An audit is a vital component of SEO as it helps in assessing the overall health and performance of a website. By conducting an audit, one can identify areas of improvement and potential issues that may be hindering the website’s visibility and ranking on search engines. It allows for a comprehensive evaluation of various aspects, such as site architecture, content quality, on-page optimization, backlinks, and technical elements.
Performing an audit before planning SEO tasks enables a clear understanding of the current state of the website, which helps in setting realistic goals and prioritizing tasks effectively to improve its overall SEO performance.
Eisenhower Meets a Small Company Owner
To optimize the Eisenhower Matrix for setting SEO tasks for a small company with limited time and budget, we could consider the following approach:
Urgent and Important (High Priority):
- Define audience: Identify who the clients and prospects are and create marketing personas. In the best scenario, the main audience should be defined in the audit preceding the SEO campaign. Other possibilities can be added later. Even if simplified, it helps to understand your niche and market.
- Keyword research: Identify the most relevant keywords to target based on existing content and future ideas (relevant to your audience).
- On-page optimization: Ensure meta tags (especially the page title), headings, content, and internal links are optimized. Often, there can be a lot of “low-hanging fruits” — easy-to-address problems that can give an SEO boost.
- Website performance: Check loading speed and mobile-friendliness. Not everything can be easily solved, but look for pitfalls that drag conversions down.
- Local SEO: It depends on the type of business, but if your company operates locally, optimize your Google My Business listing for local visibility, post news regularly, and connect it with Bing Places for Business (this can be automated).
Important but Not Urgent (Schedule):
- Link building: Acquire high-quality backlinks gradually over time. Consider possible backlink prospects when planning content.
- Keyword research: Look for less relevant keywords and long-tail phrases to plan your content.
- Content creation and optimization: Develop informative and engaging content aligned with target keywords and your audience.
- Website performance: Asses technical issues that should be solved for better performance, but are not vital and might be not easy to fix quickly.
- Competitor analysis: Regularly analyze competitors’ strategies for improvement opportunities. Remember that the copycat strategy is not for everyone. Consider the Unique Sell Propositions (USP) of the business and find your own, right path.
Urgent But Not Important (Delegate or Minimize):
- Monitoring and analytics: Choose the right tools for monitoring key metrics and automate summaries.
- Handling minor technical issues: Address website errors that do not significantly impact overall SEO.
Not Urgent and Not Important (Eliminate or Postpone):
- Non-essential tasks that don’t contribute significantly to your SEO goals, such as minor design changes or irrelevant optimizations, can consume too much time combined.
This list added on matrix should be a good, general roadmap for many small and medium enterprises. However, remember to regularly reassess and reorganize tasks within the matrix, as priorities may change based on the evolving needs of the company’s SEO strategy.
How to Communicate With Clients On What's Important?
It is important to explain to clients what and why you are doing in SEO, but it is not necessary for them to know every technical detail. Providing clients with a clear understanding of the overall strategy and objectives behind your SEO efforts can help build trust, manage expectations, and foster effective communication.
Clients should be aware of the key parts of your SEO strategy, such as the goals you are trying to achieve, the target audience you are focusing on, and the general tactics you will employ. This enables them to understand how SEO fits into their overall marketing strategy and align their expectations accordingly.
However, overwhelming clients with excessive technical details may not be necessary or beneficial unless they have a strong interest or expertise in SEO. Instead, focus on explaining the impact of your actions on their website’s visibility, traffic, and business growth. Provide regular updates on progress and results achieved to demonstrate the value of your efforts.
Keep in mind that each client is unique, and their level of understanding and interest in SEO may vary. Tailor your explanations to meet their specific needs, and ensure they feel informed and involved in the process without being overwhelmed by technical jargon. Effective communication and transparency will go a long way in fostering a successful client-you relationship.
Reassess and Reorganize
Reassessing and reorganizing tasks in SEO is an integral part of the process. As the digital landscape evolves and business goals shift, it is crucial to regularly evaluate and adjust your SEO tasks to ensure they align with current objectives. Reassessment allows you to identify new opportunities, address emerging challenges, and stay up-to-date with industry trends.
By reorganizing tasks based on their importance, urgency, and impact, you can optimize resource allocation and prioritize efforts that yield the greatest results. This ongoing evaluation and refinement of your SEO tasks enable you to adapt to changing circumstances and maintain a competitive edge in the ever-evolving online environment.
Use Tools for Planning
Even with a limited budget, you can use plenty of tools that will help you achieve your goals. There are several useful tools that can aid in introducing and implementing the Eisenhower Matrix for SEO tasks:
- Project management software: Tools like Trello or Notion provide a visual interface to create task boards and categorize them into different quadrants of the Eisenhower Matrix. These platforms allow for task tracking, collaboration, and setting due dates.
- Task prioritization apps: Applications like Todoist or Microsoft To Do offer features to organize tasks based on their urgency and importance. They often provide options to tag tasks accordingly and set reminders, making it easier to prioritize SEO tasks within the Eisenhower Matrix framework.
- Spreadsheets or Google Sheets: Creating a simple spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice Calc, or Google Sheets can be an effective way to list out SEO tasks and assign them to respective quadrants of the Eisenhower Matrix. This provides a customizable solution with the ability to add additional columns for task details, priority levels, and team assignments.
Remember that while these tools can facilitate the implementation of the Eisenhower Matrix in SEO task management, they should be used in conjunction with effective communication and collaboration among team members for optimal results.
Summary: Leverage Simple Techniques to Stay Organized
In conclusion, the Eisenhower Matrix provides a valuable framework for prioritizing SEO tasks. By dividing tasks into four quadrants based on urgency and importance, it helps SEO professionals focus on high-impact activities, increase productivity, and reduce stress. The matrix’s application in SMEs is particularly crucial given limited resources and the need to balance technical, marketing, and outreach aspects of SEO.
