SEO Onboarding: What to Expect in the First 30 Days | Datastrom

When you partner with an agency or freelancer to handle your SEO, the first 30 days are critical for laying the groundwork for long-term success. SEO onboarding is more than just technical setup—it’s about ensuring the SEO practitioners understands your business, your goals, and the challenges you face in the market. So, what exactly happens in the first month? Let’s break down the SEO onboarding process and what you can expect during this pivotal period.

Client Onboarding and SME Interviews: Gathering Critical Business Information

The onboarding process starts with a series of discovery sessions. The goal here is to gather as much information as possible about your business, objectives, and the roadblocks you’ve faced. These sessions often involve interviews with subject matter experts (SMEs) from your team, ensuring that the agency understands your products, services, and competitive positioning. Key areas discussed include:

• Business goals: What are the primary growth targets? Are you looking to increase traffic, drive more leads, or improve brand awareness?
• Challenges and roadblocks: What has prevented you from reaching your SEO goals in the past?
• Competitive analysis: Who are your biggest competitors, and how do they rank in search results?
• Audience insights: Who are your ideal customers, and what are they searching for online?

By the end of the first few onboarding sessions, the agency should have a clear understanding of your business landscape and where SEO can make the biggest impact.

Initial Audit and Baseline Establishment

Once the discovery phase is complete, the SEO will conduct a comprehensive audit of your website. This audit is crucial for identifying existing issues and establishing a baseline for future performance. The audit will typically cover:

• Technical SEO: Identifying issues with site speed, mobile-friendliness, and crawlability.
• Content Audit: Reviewing existing content to identify opportunities for optimization.
• Backlink Profile: Assessing the quality and quantity of backlinks to your site.
• Keyword Rankings: Understanding your current positioning for critical search terms.

This initial audit provides a starting point from which to measure progress. It also helps prioritize which areas need immediate attention to begin generating results.

Setting Realistic Expectations for Timeline and Results

SEO is a long-term investment, and it’s important to set realistic expectations early in the process. During the first 30 days, the agency will outline timelines for seeing results. While some improvements (like technical fixes) can yield faster wins, others—like climbing the search rankings—take time.

Key factors discussed include:

• Timeline for Results: SEO typically takes 3-6 months to see substantial progress, but this depends on the competitiveness of your industry and the current state of your site.
• Incremental Milestones: Expect improvements in traffic, keyword rankings, and site performance within the first few months, with measurable gains over time.

Setting these expectations ensures transparency and helps avoid frustration down the line.

Key Deliverables in the First Month

In the first 30 days, you can expect several key deliverables that set the foundation for your SEO strategy:

• SEO Audit Report: A detailed report highlighting technical, on-page, and off-page SEO issues.
• Keyword Research: Identification of high-potential keywords relevant to your business goals.
• Competitor Analysis: A breakdown of your competitors’ SEO strategies and their ranking performance.
• SEO Roadmap: A high-level plan outlining the steps needed to improve your rankings over the coming months.

These deliverables provide a clear picture of the current state of your website and outline the specific actions required to achieve your SEO goals.

Common Challenges and How to Address Them

No SEO strategy is without its challenges. During the onboarding process, it’s common to face a few roadblocks, but knowing how to address them is key to staying on track. Common challenges include:

• Technical Issues: Fixing site speed, mobile optimization, and broken links can take time, but addressing them early is crucial for long-term success, especially for larger websites.
• Content Gaps: Your current content may not be aligned with the search terms your audience is using, which could require substantial rewrites or new content creation.
• Slow Initial Results: SEO results don’t happen overnight, and the first few months may feel slow. Staying patient and trusting the process is important.

Communication Framework: Staying Aligned and Informed

Effective communication is the backbone of a successful SEO partnership. To ensure alignment, most agencies establish a communication framework during the onboarding process. This often includes:

• Bi-weekly meetings: Expect to meet with your SEO team every other week for 30-60 minutes. These meetings will cover completed work, upcoming tasks, and any adjustments needed to the long-term strategy.
• Progress Reports: Regular updates on KPIs like traffic, rankings, engagement, and conversions ensure you’re always informed about how your SEO strategy is progressing.

This consistent communication helps keep both the agency and the client aligned on goals and ensures that adjustments can be made quickly if needed.

Tools and Reports for Tracking Progress

Data is crucial for understanding how your SEO efforts are performing. During the onboarding process, the agency will introduce the tools they use to track progress and provide detailed reports. Common tools include:

• Google Analytics 4 (GA4): Tracks user behavior, traffic sources, and conversion data, giving insight into how visitors interact with your site.
• Google Search Console: Monitors site performance in search results, including clicks, impressions, and keyword rankings.
• Ahrefs/Semrush: Used for keyword tracking, competitor analysis, and backlink audits.
• Screaming Frog: Conducts detailed technical audits to ensure your site is free of errors that could impact search rankings.

These tools provide ongoing data that helps measure progress and refine strategies as needed.

Build a Strong SEO Foundation in the First 30 Days

The first 30 days of an SEO campaign set the tone for long-term success. By focusing on goal alignment, thorough audits, clear communication, and realistic expectations, you create a solid foundation for your SEO strategy to thrive.

Looking to get started on a goal-driven SEO strategy? Datastrom’s SEO services guide you through a structured onboarding process to ensure your business is set up for success from day one. Contact us today to begin your SEO journey!

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