Prioritizing organic opportunities is a science and an art. Multiple teams, stakeholders, or agencies have probably given you guidance on what content is needed and your team’s plate is likely overflowing as so many marketers have been asked to do more with less. If you are thinking… What is most important? What will impact our performance the most? Where should we start? The priority scorecard attached below will help you answer those questions, plus more.
The SEO Process
- Uncover opportunity - Find potential areas where you can improve search visibility and rankings. Opportunities often arise from competitive research, new service/feature/product launches, performance declines, or gaps in user experience.
- Organize supporting data - Working together to gather data that represents your opportunity. Most likely, this will be in the form of Keyword Research (target keywords, search volume, current rankings, etc.)
- Prioritize with other opportunities - We must be able to score this opportunity versus all of the others to make a priority list. This walkthrough explains how our scorecard accomplishes this.
- Build recommendations - Once your opportunity becomes a high priority, next steps are taken. Most likely, this will be in the form of creating new content or editing a current page.
Get ready to say, “This is how we are prioritizing SEO growth opportunities that contribute to our goals!”
We have delivered this scorecard or something referred to as a priority matrix, to do just that, prioritize recommendations for our clients. While the version shared above is a great starting point, we encourage you to customize it based on your needs and questions, just as we do with every client that uses it.
How this SEO priority scorecard works
Before adding your opportunities and filling in data columns there are three areas to cover.
Objectives
- Assist in managing ideas and topics from multiple teams, stakeholders, and agency partners in a single place.
- Assess the priority of organic search opportunities by weighing the potential impact.
- Help teams focus on opportunities with the highest potential impact.
Rubric
It all starts with The Rubric; this is how the priority list is scored and ranked. The rubric should be based on business goals and an understanding of the most critical factors for driving organic search traffic and revenue.
The rubric should be maintained and revisited regularly to ensure all teams are consistently prioritizing topics based on changes to search, business needs, and expected impact.
*Prioritization score is not always the all-important element. Some items may be prioritized outside of the score according to business needs and requests.
Factors
These are individual line items. Each comes with a weight, definition (scoring rules), and rationale.
One example for our template is, “Competitors With Similar Content”
Factor: Competitors With Similar Content
Weight: 20%
Definition: Do our main competitors have content on this topic?
- Competitors have a page on a related topic, but it is not exact
- Competitors have a similar page but are NOT ranking on page 1
- No other competitors are discussing this topic, which is relevant to our business
- Competitors have a similar page and ARE ranking on page 1
Rationale: If other providers have content, current and potential customers could be going there to get answers, increasing their brand awareness, authority, and chances for conversions.
Another example is, “Monthly Search Volume”
Factor: Monthly Search Volume (MSV)
Weight: 20%
Definition: What is the MSV of the target keyword(s)?
- under 500
- over 500-1,500
- over 1,500-5,000
- over 5,000
Rationale: Measuring MSV gives you a data point highlighting how popular this topic might be and how much opportunity there is to gain visibility and engage with your audience.
Project Columns
|
Topic |
Origin / Supporting Data |
Owner |
Recommendation |
Status |
|
Topic title - 1-5 descriptive words Example: Soccer ball sizing |
Description of where this idea came from - include a link to supporting data when possible Example: Paid / SEO Efficiency Analysis |
Who will be responsible for responding to questions/comments on this item? Example: Seer Interactive |
Description of what is planning to be done on-site Example: Create a new blog page |
Description of this topic’s status Options include: Keyword Research Delivered |
The objective of these first 5 columns is to inform practitioners and stakeholders about the given opportunity, where it came from, and where it currently stands.
Data Columns
|
Page / URL |
Page Type |
Target Keyword(s) |
Monthly Search Volume (MSV) |
Paid Conversions |
Reach (Location) |
|
Page title - 1-5 descriptive words, include a link to URL if applicable Example: How to choose the right soccer ball |
Description of the page type I.E. Blog |
What is the primary target keyword(s)? Example: soccer ball sizes, official soccer ball size, soccer ball size by age |
Monthly Search Volume from the Location used in the previous column |
Paid Conversionsfrom the previous 12 months of the primary target keyword |
Is this a global opportunity, specific to a country, region, or city? Example: United States |
The next 6 columns are meant to be customized based on your rubric and factors. The example above includes some standard data points that you should consider including.
Why are paid conversions included? Paid data helps you to understand the market value of keywords and create content that converts, among other things!
Prioritization Scores
Prioritizing each opportunity comes last. Per your rubric, each factor is scored based on your definition. Each score is weighed against the maxim and calculated to give you an overall priority score. Calculation formulas are included in the template provided.
After opportunities are given a priority score they can be ordered within the sheet. Once all opportunities are added and scored, you have your priority list!
Important side note: Prioritization score is not always the all-important element. Some items may be prioritized according to business needs and requests.
Download Our SEO Priority Scorecard Template
Navigating the landscape of your SEO opportunities can be difficult and time-consuming, but not when our SEO priority scorecard is your compass. We understand the challenges of managing numerous ideas and inputs from multiple teams. That is why we’ve created and used this customizable template firsthand. Whether you want to enhance search visibility, rankings, or overall performance, our priority scorecard provides a comprehensive approach. Download it below today, customize it, and prioritize opportunities aligned with your business goals.
