Why Aren’t SEOs Using More Project Management Techniques?

Many areas of business find themselves using Project Management strategies, without even realising it. Those who don’t should probably start realising and make an effort to begin taking project management techniques seriously. SEO is certainly one area where project management is needed across the board, in order to ensure the success of the campaign.

The basis of project management is to provide a framework to plan, implement and end projects with the objective in mind – and to plan ahead on how to adapt to change as the project progresses. Here are the three principal reasons that SEO campaigns fit neatly into the PM framework – and how to make it work for you.

1: Objective Setting

An SEO campaign falls easily into the project management framework because its objectives are so easily set. But it’s easy to be sloppy if you don’t use the proper goal-setting techniques. SEOs often overlook the objective of increasing conversions, instead seeing increased rankings as the ultimate goal. Using project management techniques will ensure the correct goals are set, with smaller targets and milestones as objectives that must be met along the way.

Saying you want to appear higher in the SERPs is not specific enough. Saying you want to increase traffic by X% and conversions by Y% is a goal you can work towards.

2: Planning

Thorough planning is a key feature of all project management methodologies. You should work backwards from the objective, working out what must happen immediately before each stage…until you get to where you are now. Working backwards means you don’t start out blind, e.g. you need to plan how and where to market your content before you start creating it.

Part of your planning will have to include consideration of the people you’ll be working with and how best to communicate with them. If you’re not the one setting the objectives, make sure that person is kept updated along the way. Think ahead about the departments you’ll be working and communicating with throughout your project and how best to manage these relationships.

Effective communication is critical to project management – which means it’s critical for the success of your SEO campaign.

3: Adapting to Change

Project managers acknowledge that, no matter how carefully they plan, change will occur along the way. SEO is certainly an industry where the goalposts change and part of your objective setting and planning process needs to include a contingency plan for when this happens. Google announces an algorithm change? You need to be able to restructure your plans to work around this.

When adapting to change, always keep an eye on the objective. Each time you change direction, take the time to work backwards from the objective again to make sure your course of action is the most efficient one.

Project management training is essential for SEOs, whether those beginning a campaign from scratch or those who are struggling to keep their campaigns on track. It is likely that skilled SEO project managers are going to be in increasing demand – so now is the time to start learning and implementing those project management skills.