How Carrying Out A SWOT Analysis Can Boost Your SEO

If you haven’t already heard of it, a SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool which can help highlight the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to project planning or business competition. It’s a technique which can work just as well for search as it can for anything else.

Indeed, with a huge list of SEO-related tasks facing all marketers, not to mention an incredible volume of data, a comprehensive SWOT assessment could prove invaluable in identifying the areas you should be prioritising. It’s true that keyword research should remain a work in progress and may well warrant an entire SWOT treatment in itself. However, we’re assuming you already know the best keywords to target currently, so here we offer a broader overview encompassing your whole SEO operation.

Strengths

Search engines give the highest rankings to those websites it feels have authority. That may seem a somewhat nebulous concept, but think of the strong content you have which ranks best for your main target keywords. Check your linking is as good as it can be and that the ‘right’ landing pages rank for the keywords you’re honing in on. Which pages are most likely to answer a searcher’s question and should therefore be landing pages?

Finally, if you’re doing well with the likes of YouTube, you should definitely consider adding more video content. If blogs seem to be a key strength of yours, then you need to be posting more of them.

Weaknesses

When it comes to both keywords and content, ditch those which clearly aren’t paying their way. Do a thorough website audit and, again, look at your backlinks to identify the most significant weaknesses.

Maximise the opportunities

Think about any high-value keywords which you should probably be ranking for but are not – even though your competitors may well be. You might want to take a closer look at exactly what your competitors are doing, especially in terms of their headings, title tags and internal links, so that you’re better placed to identify potential opportunities. Equally, research to see whether there are any keywords tools you are not using at the moment but which could help.

Be aware of possible threats

A number of threats can put the way search engines see your website at risk. Among them are poor-quality backlinks, unattributed duplicate content or the arrival of a new and potentially aggressive competitor. Stay focused and continue to produce unique content so that search engines continue to view you as an authority in your field – these potential threats are always present .

Front Page Advantage: here to help

In summary, strong, unique content, optimal keyword use and spot-on linking are always going to be important to any SWOT analysis. With our extensive SEO experience, we’re ideally placed to help you with all these, so that you’re building your authority, playing to your strengths and exploiting available opportunities to the full, while being aware of and minimising potential threats and weaknesses.

Get in touch today for an informal, friendly discussion about how to take this further.