This How-To Guide defines Agile SEO, the reasons to engage in Agile SEO campaigns and the key components of the Agile SEO approach. To obtain this document, visit us at http://www.demandmetric.com/register

1. How-To Guide
© 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Creating Agile SEO Campaigns
Executive Summary
Most marketers are familiar with the buzzword of 2013 – “Agile Marketing” – and are
taking steps to adapt current marketing practices to this model. Agile Marketing is the
application of a simple process popularized by software developers of “build, measure and
learn” to marketing practices. To learn more about the concept of Agile Marketing, review
our How-To Guide – Getting Started with Agile Marketing.
The practicality and versatility of the “agile” approach has led to its application in a variety
of marketing initiatives, including social, lead generation and SEO. Organically, Agile SEO
makes sense. With the constant addition of new web pages (51 million in 2012 alone –
http://www.royal.pingdom.com) and the influx of new buzzwords every day, it seems only
natural to continuously revise the content and keywords that are generated in order to
optimize searches for services, products or content.
This How-To Guide defines Agile SEO, the reasons to engage in Agile SEO campaigns and
the key components of the Agile SEO approach.
What is Agile SEO?
“When people talk ‘Agile SEO’, they normally discuss the benefits of a procedural
department-wide shift to the agile framework, or the development of technical tools to
approach SEO problems with more of a programmer’s mindset. […] At the core of agile
SEO development, the concept is to develop a system of releasing content through
repeated cycles (iteration) and in smaller portions at a time (incremental). In this
framework, the iteration is done with the early release of content and subsequent updating
and ‘nurturing’ of this content.”
-www.searchenginejournal.com

2. How-To Guide
© 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
The Agile SEO approach recognizes that SEO is more effective when it is continuous and
ongoing. Content on the web is always in flux, and Agile SEO matches the dynamic nature
of the web. This approach calls for many iterations of incremental content change, fine
tuning between each pivot to achieve optimal performance.
Reasons to Engage in Agile SEO Campaign
If you’re not formally conducting SEO, then adopting the agile approach to it is simple. If
you’re switching from traditional SEO planning to an agile approach, it may seem like a
daunting task. However, the effort to create Agile SEO campaigns will yield practical
benefits and immediate ROI. The top reasons to utilize the agile approach for SEO are:
 Stay Competitive – Remaining current on your keywords/content will allow you to
build a solid foundation to protect from competitors seeking out similar keyword
searches. Competitors will work tirelessly to rank #1 for their top keywords so it is
important to keep a watchful eye on your rankings as well. Likewise, consistently
monitoring keywords and content allows you to find opportunities to exploit via
search engine marketing.
 Continual Testing & Learning – The agile SEO method encourages testing of new
ideas and concepts. This creates an atmosphere of experimentation for content
development and generates an efficient way to build long-term keyword success.
 Decrease Rate of Failure – The core of the agile approach diminishes the concept
of failure. By continuously planning, testing, and evaluating SEO campaigns in short
increments; you are constantly improving on your SEO strategy over time.
 Adapt Quickly to Change – A great strength of Agile SEO is that it enables a quick
response to changes. The continuous cycles of this approach provide ample
opportunity to implement and measure fully integrated campaigns.

3. How-To Guide
© 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Agile SEO Approach
The Agile SEO approach implements a cyclical method of testing, applying and evaluating.
The Agile SEO process workflow is simple:
Utilize the action plan outlined on the next page to learn how to implement Agile SEO as
part of your workflow.
Plan
Implement
Measure
Improve

4. How-To Guide
© 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Action Plan:
1. Plan – Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your SEO campaign. This could
include, but is not limited to: ROI, keyword ranking, click-through rate, order
conversion rate, average order value, lead generation conversion rate, average cost
per conversion, & search as a percent of site traffic.
2. Implement – Execute your SEO initiative. Begin by understanding the baseline
performance of your current set of web content by reviewing the analytics data.
Identify specific pages of web content that are underperforming and prioritize your
efforts for these pages, keeping in mind that you’ll want to eventually use Agile SEO
techniques on all your pages. Next, determine what keywords should lead to
content on your site, and then evaluate these keywords using Google’s Keyword
Planner to select those with the highest traffic and least competition. Make sure
your web content is dense with these keywords – they should appear multiple times
in a set of web content, not just once or twice. Increase your use of popular
keywords where you have fallen in the ranks and/or consider utilizing recently
discovered keywords more often as they seem to create better conversion.
3. Measure – Using the analytics data for your website, compare the results to the
baseline metrics. Evaluate the success of your most recent efforts. If they have met
your goals, shift your attention to the next set of web content on your priority list.
If the results are not meeting expectations, make improvements as discussed below.
4. Improve – Identify areas of improvement by recognizing which keywords and/or
content are proving to be the most successful for your KPIs. As necessary, make
incremental changes to the content, increasing the keyword density, changing the
keyword mix or both.
5. Repeat – Continue following the workflow mapped out above in “Agile SEO
Approach”. Go through this Agile SEO process continuously, taking the time to
revise and re-implement your keywords on a regular basis to constantly improve
your rankings on search results pages.

5. How-To Guide
© 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Bottom Line
Beginning an Agile SEO campaign is as simple as increasing the frequency of your
planning. Instead of a yearly or quarterly SEO planning session, consider the continuous
cycle of plan, implement, measure and improve that Agile SEO prescribes. If you do, you
can stay a step ahead of your competition in the search rankings.