If your business is practicing the “new year, new you” model on your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, you’ll definitely need to approach your changes with a plan. Rather than throwing all matters of SEO practices at the wall and seeing what sticks, we suggest taking baby steps throughout your business’s annual quarters to gradually build up a successful engine! We know you’re eager to start your new year off with a bang! So, let’s jump right into what SEO practices you need to focus on throughout the year.

Q1: January – March

Starting out in Q1, the first months of the new year should focus on what you’ve accomplished in the past, what your competition is working on, and how you can pave the way for your future success.

Perform an SEO Audit

The best way to start your new SEO strategy is to audit your current progress. An SEO tool like SEMRush makes SEO audits a breeze and gives you all of the information you need on essential SEO metrics. Through an SEO audit you can discover:

• How the speed of your site is performing
• Whether or not your site is mobile-friendly
• Indexing issues throughout your site
• The amount of organic traffic coming into your site
• What keywords you’re ranking for
• Your site’s bounce rate
• Your site’s click-through rate (CTR), and more!

While the initial discoveries from a first-time SEO audit may be jarring, not to worry! The rest of the steps we’ll take will help you scrub away any pesky site issues.

Take a Look at the Competition

While you’re on an audit kick, make sure to analyze your competitors and find out what’s working for their search engine rankings. Competitor analysis helps pave the way for your own site’s accomplishments. Some insight you can gain from a competitor analysis includes:

1. The websites competing sites are linking to
2. Keywords and phrases the competition ranks for
3. Who are your actual local competitors are

Get Started on Content

The start of a new year is the perfect time to begin planning out your content calendar for the year. Start this off with some detailed keyword research and a solid brainstorming session with your content team that highlights:

• What topics are most urgent right now
• What your target audience values
• What topics could be evergreen content
• How often do you plan to post your content

  While we mention content writing in the Q1 section of your plan, keep in mind that content is something that you and your team will need to create and update consistently throughout the year in order for your strategy to work. Remember, Google and other search engines rank websites based on the quality and relevance of the content they produce. So, make sure that content is at the forefront of your strategy throughout the year.

Start Technical Work

If your SEO audit uncovered issues like dead pages, broken links, or a slow-running website, now is the time to start working with your technical experts or SEO team to create a plan that resolves as many of these issues as possible at the beginning of the year.

Q2: April – June

So, you’ve hit the ground running and by now, your site should have a fair amount of content and most of its technical bugs worked out. What’s next? Well, site promotion of course!

Get Your Social Media Campaign Running

Although social media hits aren’t an absolute ranking factor on Google, keeping your brand relevant is important. The more that you post on social media, the more likely people will find your site in searches, share your relevant content, and bring even more organic traffic to your important web pages.

Start Quality Link Building

Now that you have some content set in stone, start sharing it around with sites that you want your links to associate with. Strong backlinks from reputable sites can strengthen your site’s authority, and in turn, increase your rankings. Yes, reaching out to desirable sites and getting the feedback you want will take time, but be patient. SEO is a slow-moving process, and eventually, you’ll start building a quality link profile that leaves your competitors agape.

Create a Google Business Profile

If you want your target audience to find your business in a mobile search you need to set up your Google Business Profile (GBP). Your GBP gives you the opportunity to flesh out your business on search engines and attract the local search traffic you need.     Make sure to completely fill out your GBP with the following information and qualities:

• Phone number
• Address
• Operating hours
• Your business’s health and safety measures
• Photos of your business
• Your logo

Once you’ve created your GBP, you’ll need to keep your profile updated by updating your photos, answering customer questions, and responding to both negative and positive reviews. This helps reassure your customers that you care about their input and will do whatever it takes to grant them the best experience possible with your business.

Q3: July – September

By now, you’ve completed the heavy lifting of your new SEO strategy. However, sitting back and relaxing isn’t ever part of the process. Here’s a look at some of the ways you can maximize your progress during Q3 of 2022.

Keep Tabs On Your SEO Progress

Take some time to perform another SEO audit. Find out what ideas are working and where you may need to pivot. SEO is a constantly evolving beast and tactics that may have worked even 6 months ago may already be on their way out the door by Q3. From updated keyword focus to technical SEO fixes and updating content, there are always ways to improve your SEO strategy. This is also an excellent time to focus on where you’re winning and give your team the morale boost they deserve.

Stay on Track With the Latest Updates

Google likes to release algorithm updates throughout the year. Some can even have a massive impact on how your website performs on search engines. Although we’ve placed this tip in the Q3 section of our post, make sure to always remain informed on the latest update news and how your site can best recover from any setbacks an update may cause.

Q4: October – December

The last quarter of the year is a time to start preparing for the upcoming year and performing some pruning across your website. End the year right with the following quick tips:

• Get rid of backlinks that are bringing down your domain rating (DR)
• Update pages and content that are underperforming
• Start setting updated SEO goals for the new year

Get Your New Year Planned to Perfection With Dallas SEO Dogs

Creating an SEO strategy from scratch can be a daunting task for a business owner that has their focus on everyday duties. However, with the help of an experienced team like Dallas SEO Dogs, owners can keep their eye on the prize and let us handle their search strategy in the background. We’d love to meet you and show you how our digital marketing services can help you succeed in your industry. Reach out to us today to schedule your free consultation with a member of our team.   About the author: Dallas SEO Dogs is one of the leading digital marketing agencies in the United States. We are a close group diverse in ethnicity, gender, age, personality, interest, and religious background. Team members have different experiences, perspectives, and insights into a wide array of business types and audience demographics.