SEO strategy guide – 7 steps to success

Learn how to increase quality organic traffic from search engines and AI answer engines

How will this SEO strategy guide help me and my business?

SEO is still one of the most effective and low cost ways to drive relevant visitors to your website. Until recently some businesses delivered more than half their traffic and conversions from SEO through their SEO strategic mastery or the strength of their brand.

However, this has changed in the new era of AI-powered answer engines initiated by the launch of ChatGPT and later entrants such as Google Gemini, Claude and Perplexity. Organic search has also been redefined in Google with the launch of AI Overviews (AIOs), replacing the classic “10 blue links” with conversational answers.

This in-depth guide will cover both classic SEO and the newer approach of Generative or Answer Engine Optimization (GEO/AEO) which is built on the foundations of traditional SEO.

Who is this guide for?

This guide is aimed at marketers who are responsible for increasing the contribution of search engine optimization who want to create or update their SEO strategy as part of digital transformation.

Typical roles of marketers who find this guide useful include:

• SEO experts and specialists
• Content marketing managers
• Consultants and agency account managers creating plans for their clients

How is the guide structured?

The guide is structured around the questions you need to review to make sure you are maximizing your SEO impact either through the management of your SEO agency or in-house SEO team. The 7 steps recommended to review and improve your SEO in this guide are as follows:

• Step 1: Do an audit and set your goals
• Step 2: Make sure the search engines can find your content
• Step 3: Work on on-page SEO
• Step 4: Create awesome content for SEO
• Step 5: Gain more quality links
• Step 6: Refine your internal linking
• Step 7: Improving SEO through analytics

Resource Details

• Author: Dr. Dave Chaffey
• Format: Downloadable PDF guide, 118 pages

About the author

Dr. Dave Chaffey

Dave is co-founder of Smart Insights and creator of the Smart Insights RACE Planning Framework. He has consulted and trained for many businesses including large international B2B and B2C brands including 3M, BP, Barclaycard, Dell, Confused.com, HSBC, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, M&G Investment, Rentokil Initial, O2, Royal Canin (Mars Group) plus many smaller businesses.  For his full profile, or to connect on LinkedIn or other social networks, see the About Dave Chaffey profile page on Smart Insights. Dave is author of 5 bestselling books on digital marketing including Digital Marketing Excellence and Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. He has been recognized by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as one of 50 marketing ‘gurus’ worldwide who have helped shape the future of marketing.