In today’s highly competitive digital landscape, mastering SEO can seem like a complex and never-ending task. However, by focusing on three core steps—Data Collection, Data Analysis, and Action Plan—you can boost your site’s rankings and skyrocket organic traffic.
This simple, actionable SEO strategy helped me double my client’s website traffic, and today I’m going to show you how you can do the same.
Step 1: Data Collection
To build an effective SEO strategy, you first need to gather the right data. This includes historical performance, query and page analysis, core update impact, and subfolder performance. Let’s dive into the details:
1.1 Historical Performance Review
- Analyze your last 16 months’ performance on Google Search Console (GSC).
- Compare the last 3 months year-over-year (YoY) to track growth or decline in traffic.
1.2 Query and Page Performance
- Analyze Top Queries and Top Pages with significant traffic drop-offs.
- Compare brand and non-brand clicks to understand where traffic shifts occur.
1.3 Brand vs Non-Brand Analysis
- Generate Regex Brand Exclusion to see how brand-related queries and pages perform versus non-brand.
- Perform a 3-month YoY comparison of both brand and non-brand pages.
1.4 Google Core Update Impact
- Assess the impact of any recent Google Core Updates on your traffic and rankings.
1.5 Subfolder Analysis
- Create a snapshot of subfolders and review each one’s performance in GSC.
1.6 URL Performance Segmentation
Segment URLs into categories:
- Dead URLs
- Weak URLs
- Fair URLs
- Good URLs
- Performance URLs
- Opportunity URLs
1.7 Indexing and Core Update Re-check
- Reassess page indexing and compare it against earlier snapshots.
- Recheck for core update impacts.
1.8 Technical SEO Checks
- Check manual actions, security issues, and consistency (WWW vs non-WWW, HTTP vs HTTPS).
- Inspect robots.txt and HTTP status codes.
1.9 Device, Search Appearance, and Country Analysis
Analyze your site’s performance by:
- Device (desktop, mobile, tablet)
- Search Appearance in GSC (rich snippets, FAQs, etc.)
- Country performance
1.10 Cannibalization and Internal Linking
- Identify query cannibalization (same keyword ranking multiple URLs).
- Analyze internal linking of key URLs.
Step 2: Data Analysis
With all the data collected, it’s time to analyze the information and find actionable insights.
2.1 Trend Analysis
- Examine 16-month traffic trends and YoY comparison from the last 3 months to identify growth opportunities or declines.
2.2 Query and Page Performance
- Investigate click drop-offs for high-value queries and key pages. Compare performance between brand and non-brand terms.
2.3 Core Update Impact
- Evaluate the traffic shifts due to any Google Core Updates, and assess what changes are required.
2.4 Subfolder Performance
- Analyze the clicks and impressions from each subfolder and identify subfolder-specific trends.
2.5 URL Segmentation
- Categorize your URLs (dead, weak, fair, good, performance, opportunity) and look for opportunities to boost performance.
2.6 Technical SEO
- Flag any issues from the manual actions, security checks, and consistency reviews.
2.7 Device/Search/Country Analysis
- Evaluate performance by device (desktop/mobile), search appearance (rich snippets, etc.), and country.
2.8 Cannibalization/Internal Links
- Identify cannibalization issues and correlate weak performance with internal linking practices.
Step 3: Action Plan
Now that you’ve analyzed the data, it’s time to act on your findings.
3.1 Trend Actions
- Adjust strategies based on trend data from the 16-month and 3-month YoY comparisons.
3.2 Query/Page Optimization
- Optimize pages that are suffering from click drop-offs.
- Enhance both brand and non-brand queries/pages for better rankings.
3.3 Core Update Adjustments
- If your site was affected by a Google Core Update, tweak your content strategy and on-page SEO to recover.
3.4 Subfolder Optimization
- Improve subfolder performance by focusing on underperforming sections of your site.
3.5 URL Actions
- Fix or remove dead/weak URLs and focus efforts on enhancing high-potential pages.
3.6 Technical Fixes
- Resolve any technical SEO issues such as manual actions, security problems, and inconsistencies in your setup.
3.7 Device/Search/Country Optimization
- Tailor your SEO strategy to improve performance based on device type, search appearance improvements (like rich results), and geographic location.
3.8 Cannibalization/Internal Links
- Resolve cannibalization issues and strengthen internal linking to boost page authority.
Results: 2x Traffic Growth
This exact SEO process has helped me double my client’s website traffic, and it can do the same for you. By following these three steps—Data Collection, Data Analysis, and creating an Action Plan—you can achieve sustainable traffic growth and improved rankings.
