Business, marketing, SEO. What do they have in common? Goals. Short-term goals and long-term business goals. Review smart objectives examples and how to leverage setting business goals to achieve your objectives.
As in, the goals of each need to line up with the goals of the others, or you'll have entire departments working at cross-odds. If you find yourself trying to define your SEO Strategy and objectives for the coming quarter and are running into a wall, we suggest you set the business goals first. Are you in Growth Marketing mode? Are you looking to make improvements to drive website growth? Are you looking to increase profits, market share, or brand awareness? Then check in with the broader marketing department and see how they will assist in reaching those overall business goals. And finally, you can set your SEO goals to align with the above. Sound simple? No? OK, let's dig in.
Start with SMART goals.
The key to smart goal setting is this: SMART goals are always more likely to be met. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Every goal should follow this rubric, whether for the entire organization, a single department, or even a single team within that department.
Examples of Smart Goal setting used here focus on Growth marketing and SEO. A broader example will show how to tie your goals to the bigger picture and should be part of any solid Marketing Strategy.
Specific
Put a number on it. If the boss comes to you saying, "We need more leads," that doesn't count as specific. Dig deeper. More than what? Last quarter? Last year? Last week? What was the total number of leads you sent to sales for each time frame? Now see what growth has been like, and respond to that boss with some ideas. Maybe they'll be on board with a monthly 10% lead growth or 8% more than last quarter. Nail it down. Define specific goals.
Example: "Grow the business" becomes "Increase active leads from our email list by 10%." "We have to get better with the customer" becomes "improve customer retention using this product or service by X% before the end of the year."
Measurable
How will you know when you have reached your goal? Is there an established KPI? If not, create one (or more) before getting into the weeds to have a solid metric against which to measure progress. This aspect of a SMART goal is easiest to see in action once you set up your goal's SEO aspect, as you can use tools like Moxpro or Google Adwords to get concrete numbers to measure against your KPI.
Example: "We saw a 6% gain in active conversions from the email list last quarter." Now you have something to measure this quarter's goal against.
Achievable
Realistically, can you do it? Can you and your team get to this goal in the timeframe laid out? Sit your team down, give them the outline of your goal now, and ask them, "can we do this?"
You'll know within moments, often from the looks on their faces, what the answer is and if you are dealing with an achievable smart goal.
Example: Considering 6% growth last quarter, a goal of 10% is reachable, given a strong focus. If you had said 25%, you might have caused some team members to pass out.
Relevant
What's the point? Does this goal accomplish something for the company as a whole? If so, lay that out as part of your goal. If your 10% increase in conversions will help bring the company closer to its goal of increasing yearly sales by 15%, state that right in the goal.
Example: "This increase is expected to bring in 1,500 new customers this quarter, and given our average sales figures per customer, that means increasing overall sales revenue by 7%."
Time-bound
What's the hard stop? When does this goal need to be accomplished? Setting a hard stop gives everyone the impetus to reach work and realize the goal in the allotted time.
Example: The part about “this quarter” in every example thus far that's the time-bound aspect of this goal.
How to set your SEO SMART goals
The key is to NOT start with SEO goals at all. Start by learning all you can about the current business goals for the company. Then work your way into the Marketing department's goals, learning how these goals align with the broader business goals you already learned about. Define your Inbound Marketing Strategy, and only then do you want to start thinking about your SEO goals. You need these goals to support the marketing goals that support the business goals.
So, learn about goals from broadest to narrowest. Then set about creating narrow goals that support their way back out to the broader level. This way, you have the entire picture before laying out a single SEO goal for your team. Once you do, you will know from the start what the relevance is, you'll have an idea of a timeframe, and you'll have an idea of the KPIs you need to meet. That leaves just the Specific and Achievable aspects to nail down, and you'll be up and running, secure in the realistic goal you've just set.
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Identify specific areas of your website you want to improve. These goals should be specific and clearly defined.
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Make sure that your goals are measurable so that you can track and quantify your progress. This could include metrics such as website traffic, search engine rankings, or conversions.
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Set achievable smart goals that are aligned with your resources and capabilities. Given your current circumstances, it's essential to be realistic about what you can achieve.
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Ensure you have relevant goals aligned with your business and marketing strategy. Your SEO goals should support and enhance your overall business objectives.
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Give yourself a timeline for achieving your goals to ensure that you stay on track and make progress promptly. This could include setting intermediate goals or milestones to help you stay focused and motivated.
Examples of SMART goal setting vs. Non-SMART goals from a broader perspective
Look at each level of this process, business, marketing, and SEO, and determine a SMART goal for each.
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Business goal:
- Increase sales = Not SMART
- Increase sales revenue by 12% over last quarter = SMART
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Marketing goal:
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Bring in more leads = Not SMART
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Grow leads by 5% via email newsletter conversions in the next month = SMART
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Achieve blog traffic goal = Not SMART
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Grow the number of blog visitors from organic search to 20,000/month by June 1 = SMART
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SEO goal:
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Increase click-through rate = Not SMART
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Redesign newsletter CTAs to generate more click-throughs. A/B test next quarter to determine which design is most effective. = SMART
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You can see how the SEO goal now supports the marketing goal, which supports the business goal. Once you know about the broader, company-wide goal, you can see how much easier it was to develop that SEO goal. To score significant Marketing Wins, start by setting relevant goals.
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