There is a big misunderstanding regarding SEO and how it works. Suppose a goal is set to increase the amount of traffic to their websites, but if it doesn’t happen as soon as the strategy is implemented, the strategy gets rejected.

SEO is a long-term process. It takes time to show results. If the strategy is correct and ethical, it may take up to 12 months to get noticeable and favored results. Time is something that causes business owners to balk.

Many businesses think SEO as a mere technique to increase popularity. They have reduced the broad arena of SEO to merely choosing a few keywords. In reality, SEO is a hard work that needs time to develop, must be monitored and adjusted as per the performance periodically.

Not everyone has time to implement a long-term and effective SEO strategy. S.M.A.R.T goals can be a strong foundation for your online marketing.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals

S.M.A.R.T. is abbreviated for Specific – Measurable – Achievable – Realistic and Timely. It is a winning formula for defining SEO goals that are based on S.M.A.R.T techniques. You will notice the full power of SEO by going for it in the right way.

Here is a description of each element of S.M.A.R.T. SEO goals:

Specific Goals

Measuring the success and progress of the SEO strategy is quite difficult when goals are subjective and vague. Saying that you want the site to rank first for a specific keyword, but how will the top ranking achieved can help your business grow.

Many strategies don’t work even if they achieve top ranking. Hence prove useless to benefit the businesses. A better way to handling this dauntingly large task is to break it down into smaller targets that are more specific. Goal to achieve a particular number of leads, a defined number of visitors or any specific parameter.

Contribute to succeed at achieving specific goals, and it will ultimately lead you to the primary purpose of the strategy.

Measurable Goals

If there is no way to measure the results achieved by the goal, it is virtually pointless to practice it.

Ranking higher for a keyword is to increase the flow of traffic, which ultimately leads to more sales. In the rush of getting higher traffic, many businesses overlook the important analytics of the strategy.

Measure the smaller and specific goals such as how much traffic your site got, which items have more flow of traffic, what is the bounce rate, what time had higher traffic and better demographics. Measuring such goals will help you come up with improvisations so that you can get better results year after year.

There are many factors you can measure. Here is a list of a few metrics.

Achievable Goals

The goal needs to be practically achievable and not just on papers. In SEO, it’s never “now that you’re there, you’re done.” Achieving a ranking is less complicated than maintaining it. Innumerable competitors are competing to reach your position.

However, how do you know that your goal is achievable? Here are a few things that can help you understand that.

  • You have the resources to achieve it?
  • Are you on the right path on which top rankings are dominating?
  • Are you confident enough to deal with increased traffic?

Don’t waste your hard work in getting to a goal that is unreachable. It will end up resulting in an anxious and frustrating note. Goals should be challenging but not beyond possibility.

Realistic/Recorded Goals

Many terms can be fitted in the ‘R’ letter of the acronym S.M.A.R.T. Analyzing and assessing the health of resources is essential for the companies that set realistic goals.

Insufficient resources and high-end goals lead to failure, waste of time and frustration for the promotions team.

The keywords you are targeting must be relevant to the products or services offered by the enterprise. If your goal is to reach the first page for a target keyword, make sure that the content provided by you is relevant to the query of the user.

If you are not getting enough conversions despite an increase in traffic, it is an indicator that your SEO goals are not relevant.

Another meaning of “R” is “recorded.” It means that the goals are realistic and can be recorded or studied.

Timely Goals

There is no timeframe for the success of an SEO strategy. It can take months or even a year to see any positive results from SEO. Breaking down the large goals into specific, measurable and realistic goals can help attain their deadlines.

A timeframe of a goal helps you stay focused and gives you the motivation to achieve it. The goals without a timeline are more likely to be drawn out, postponed or abandoned.

Conclusion

There’s no magic in S.M.A.R.T. goals that it will create a top-performing SEO strategy for your company. These goals can help you design a winning strategy that will help your overall business and marketing goals to succeed.

Overview of S.M.A.R.T. goals is provided through this article. However, when it is taken in practice, it requires a thorough assessment of the business goal and particularly what you are focusing. The current market trends also need to be evaluated for getting a rise in products and services.