SEO Strategy vs. SEO Tactics – What’s the Difference?

Everyone seems to have a basic understanding of what search engine optimization (SEO) is these days. Most understand that it’s what gets their website listed at the top of those all-important search engine results pages. It’s clear that getting those lucrative top spots means more visits from a targeted audience, right?

That’s a great beginning, but it’s not as simple as just tossing a few keywords into content and expecting to maximize SEO results. If a website owner hasn’t identified their SEO strategy and then reverse engineered it into a set of effective tactics, they don’t have a successful SEO marketing plan yet.

Let’s look closer at what SEO strategy and SEO tactics are and see how they work together. It’s time to create a personalized plan to maximize SEO results.

What is an SEO Strategy?

SEO strategy is the map that points the way to search engine optimization success. What would a person do if they heard about a new supermarket opening across town? Someone who knows a lot about the layout of your town but doesn’t know the new store’s exact location might pull up a map and type in the address to get directions.

The map ensures that the person doesn’t wander aimlessly around town, wasting gas and time while trying to find the supermarket. A good SEO strategy does the same by providing a direct path from a website’s starting point to where the owner hopes to end up with SEO. It stops entrepreneurs and businesses from implementing every SEO tactic invented, running in circles in hopes of stumbling upon success.

A solid SEO strategy is broad and inclusive. It provides a sweeping view of the big picture, allowing brands to identify success on their own terms and find the fastest route to get there. It allows website owners to master SEO without wasting resources.

SEO Strategy Example

Imagine an entrepreneur named Anna, sitting at her kitchen table with her third cup of coffee. She’s about to launch a new website for an innovative product that she spent the last three years developing. She wants to create an effective SEO plan that will accomplish the following:

• Establish the voice and mission of her new brand

• Educate members of her target market about the advantages of her new product

• Drive increased interaction between her brand and her market

• Generate sales leads and stimulate growth

What Anna just did was paint a picture of where she wants to go with her website. She then turns those bullet points into specific SEO goals that are easy to track and measure.

For example, she may establish the voice of her brand by developing a collection of high-value content on her website. Her goals may include a set number of blog posts, pillar pages, service pages, and so forth.

Once her goals are set, Anna knows where she’s headed with her SEO plan. She has created the bones of an SEO strategy but needs to fill in the fine details with SEO tactics.

What are SEO Tactics?

SEO tactics are the specific tasks that will lead to success with a well-designed search engine optimization plan. The SEO strategy is the starting point, and then the details are filled in by identifying long-term goals and making a list of actions that will lead to those goals in as little time as possible.

SEO strategy is all about creating the big picture, and tactics are all about creating an intricate network of houses, roads, parks, and businesses. The only difference is that this map is dotted with keyword research, content creation, backlinks, and other actions that make SEO effective.

SEO Tactic Examples

Let’s go back to Anna at her kitchen table. She has moved from coffee to water and is ready to get real about what it will take to reach her SEO goals. She takes them one by one, researching and creating a list of specific actions that will lead her to each goal.

This is where she turns to Vervology for help with digital strategy and marketing. She has a thorough understanding of what she wants to achieve, but she isn’t sure what tactics are the fastest and most effective options to get her there. Further, she wants to make sure that her SEO strategy blends well with other processes and strategies already established for her new brand.

Vervology helps Anna work through the small details like parameters for identifying the best keywords, effective steps for link building, and the best structure for her content. These are the tactics that are going to make her online marketing plan a success.

Tactical Consistency Leads to Strategical Success

Is it clear how SEO strategy and tactics work together? At this point, some of your readers may have identified powerful SEO goals and determined a starting point to their path forward. If not, that’s the first step. Website owners, businesses, and brands should spend some time daydreaming and planning. It’s important to identify the ultimate destination when it comes to SEO. What does success really mean?

The next step is to start creating the details of the plan, complete with tactics that lead toward that point of success. What must be done on a daily or weekly basis to get the desired results? The focus is first on identifying and then on following through with those tactics. That’s the road to SEO success.

When help is needed along the way, Vervology is here.