Importance of Project Management for Local SEO

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When the world moves to the digital space, every search and result on the search engine counts and does business, it is the responsibility of the SEO project manager to take charge and get the company at the top of SERP.

This is where SEO comes into play and thus the importance of project management. 

For your local business, local SEO plays a crucial role. Understanding why you need good project management skills to implement local SEO effectively is essential. 

Let us look at nine reasons project management is important for Local SEO.

9 Reasons Why Project Management is Important for Local SEO

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1. Prioritizing Tasks

Once you decide to take your local SEO game up a notch, you should understand that prioritizing tasks is crucial. Good project management skills come in handy here. It helps plan, strategize, and achieve desired output within the planned timeline. 

Take a look at the below screenshot showing a sample of project management. 

An SEO project manager will help you know which keywords to target, how to formulate a strategy, and more. 

Tools To Prioritize Tasks For Local SEO Project Management

• Asana: A tool to prioritize, manage and keep track of all the tasks
• Trello: Collaborate, manage and achieve productivity all at the same time
• Slack: Communicate and collaborate with team and peers

Tips For Prioritizing Tasks For Local SEO Project Management

• Identify what you want to do and understand why
• Outline all the tasks you want to accomplish, just as an example shown in the below image

• Underline your resources, their strengths, and weaknesses
• Be consistent with benchmarks and reports

2. Setting Realistic Goals

For your local SEO project to succeed, you need to set realistic goals and strategies to achieve them. 

An excellent local SEO management project sets the plans after considering multiple aspects. If you set realistic goals, you will see remarkable results. 

Tools To Set Realistic Goals

• Basecamp: Put everything you do in one place and track every task
• Goal Buddy: A tool to help you achieve your business goals effectively

• Goalscape: A visual goal-setting software to support task achievement

Tips For Setting Realistic Goals

• Create goals that align with your local business. Ask yourself how your SEO efforts will contribute to it.
• Divide short-term and long-term goals. Plan for both
• Understand what you'll need to achieve those goals and work towards it
• Always factor in monetary goals while setting milestones

3. Finding and Training People

An SEO project manager must understand why and how SEO project management contributes to local SEO. 

Among many other essential things, a crucial task accomplished by SEO project management is finding and training people suitable for the job. To deliver a successful job, you need a star team. 

You can create one or hire someone who knows what to do. Find them from job portals or, even better, from LinkedIn, as you can run through candidates' profiles to know their experience.

Tools For Training People For Local SEO Projects

• SEMrush: A tool to learn all you need to know for SEO
• Ahrefs: A guide to SEO growth and ideas for other marketing opportunities
• Keyword Planner: Learn the basics. Find the right keywords for your local business here.

Tips For Training People For Local SEO Projects

• Always share the importance and goals with the team
• Understand their strengths and weaknesses and work accordingly
• Set goal-oriented tasks to keep them motivated and share rewards with them
• Keep them updated with everything happening in the SEO world

4. Effective Resource Allocation

Your local SEO efforts will shine through if you have the right plan. For example, a business may have panned their local SEO, as shown in the below image:

But while planning your SEO tasks, ensure that you understand your resources. 

Based on the strengths and weaknesses of your team, budget, and other vital aspects, see what fits best. One primary task of local SEO project management is effective resource allocation.

Tools To Choose Adequate Resources For Your Local SEO Project

• Hive: A project management tool to customize workflow and enhance communication 
• Monday.com: View, prioritize and assign tasks at the same time on one platform
• Podio: Have tight collaborations with clearly defined roles and more

Tips For Effective Resource Allocation For Your Local SEO Project

• After creating a robust SEO strategy, underline your resources
• According to the set targets, check who is equipped enough to carry out tasks
• Set priorities and work towards finishing tasks
• Ensure your resources are provided with on-site and off-site optimization, including link building.

5. Tackling Technical Issues

SEO or local SEO is not just about on-page and off-page optimization. When you call for SEO project management, you also heed technical SEO. 

The local SEO project management will ensure that your website is optimized on the backend. It will take care of navigation, interlinking, sitemaps, good page load speed, etc.

Tools To Tackle Technical Issues In Local SEO

• Screaming Frog: Spot advanced technical issues on your local website that are in a format as shown in the screenshot and fix them

• Google Search Central: Understand site performance and fix issues on your website
• Google Page Speed Insights: Check page speed report, page speed score, etc.

Tips For Tackling Technical Issues In Local SEO

• SEO project management will be successful if you conduct site audits regularly
• Create a list and keep track of issues and their resolutions
• Check your website sitemap and navigation
• Ensure that website crawlers can understand your website properly 

6. Knowledge About CMS

A website is nothing without content. To create visibility for your content organically, you need good SEO practices. 

You invest in steady content streaming while indulging in local SEO project management. An SEO project manager must have better knowledge of CMS and its nitty-gritty.

Top CMS Software’s

• WordPress: One of the best CMS platforms to build any website you want

• Hubspot CMS Hub: A fully-integrated CMS built to cater to the needs of businesses and marketers
• Drupal: Build customized and data-centric websites with Drupal 

Tips For Better Project Management With Good CMS

• Keep your website simple and let your content speak
• Leave room for growth and change for a long-term and sustainable future
• Keep all the SEO elements in the loop while finalizing the CMS
• Ensure that CMS is flexible and scalable

7. Keeping Track of Industry Updates

Is it worth a penny if the SEO project management doesn't keep up with upgrades and updates? 

It is essential to test how updated they are when hiring SEO project managers. 

You must have proper, updated, insightful SEO tasks for your local SEO growth. While forming an SEO project management guideline, don't miss out on this crucial aspect.

Blogs to follow for SEO industry updates

• Google Search Liasion: Follow this Twitter channel to get the official updates from Google. 

• Ahrefs Blog: Get the latest updates on technical SEO, keyword research, etc.
• Search Engine Journal: Get an in-depth study into what works for SEO and what doesn't
• Moz Blog: Get more than just SEO updates. Find updated online marketing guides and surveys here.

Tips To Keep Track Of Industry Updates

• Follow Google and other search engine blogs and guidelines. 
• Check digital blogs that keep updated with everything going on in SEO
• Understand user behavior and make a list of predictions yourself
• Attend webinars and conferences held for SEO

8. Analyzing Local SEO Performance

Like any other project management task, this is equally important. 

Your efforts will be reflected in the analysis. Local SEO project management will help you analyze your actions, strategies, and tasks. It will further help in deciding what works and what doesn't. 

Besides, what is an effort worth if you can't analyze and learn from it.

Tools For Local SEO Analysis

• SEMrush: What leading brands like Amazon, Nike, Tesla, and more use to analyze website performance

• Ahrefs: Perform site audit, content exploration, keyword analysis, and more
• Moz Pro: Crawl and analyze your website. Site opportunities for improvement

Tips For Local SEO Analysis

• Check if you have met your SEO goals and company goals
• Analyze challenges faced and solutions provided
• Use the best tools for the correct data and improvement suggestions
• Consider monetary gains from your local SEO efforts so far

9. Getting The Job Done

What is the true purpose of SEO project management? 

It is to get the job done with a website focused on a local market. Suppose you intend to grow it organically and do business with it. 

Then project management is a good investment. You can achieve everything mentioned above if you have a good strategy and execute local SEO plans.

Tips For Finding A Good SEO Project Manager

• Look for an individual who is organized and updated with the SEO industry
• The individual must have a goal-oriented outlook
• They should be good team managers with a keen eye to spot strengths and weaknesses.
• An SEO project manager should be analytical and intuitive

Key Takeaways

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• Prioritize tasks with effective project management for local SEO and set targets
• Set realistic goals to match company and SEO goals within a timeframe
• Finding and training the right set of people for the task at hand
• Allocating resources effectively after analyzing their strengths and weaknesses
• Spotting technical issues and tackling them with optimum measures
• Knowing everything about CMS for best SEO practices
• Keeping up with SEO trends and industry updates for a better SEO strategy
• Tracking and analyzing SEO performance as per the plans and targets
• Getting the job done with the resources and budget assigned