Where SEO Professionals Spend Time and Budget: Insights from the State of SEO Survey

In the digital marketing landscape, SEO remains a crucial element for brands looking to enhance their online presence and drive traffic. The State of SEO Survey provides a comprehensive look at how SEO professionals allocate their time and budget, revealing key insights that can guide your digital marketing strategy.

Where to Spend Your Time and Budget in SEO

The following tasks are recommended for SEO professionals to allocate their time and budget effectively:

Content Creation: Spend 3-6 hours per week researching and creating content. This includes keyword research, editorial planning, and content optimization for search engines. Competitive Research: Spend 4 hours per month on competitive analysis to identify new keyword opportunities that aren't highly competitive. Tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs can be invaluable. Technical SEO: Dedicate 4 hours per month to optimize technical SEO using tools like Ubersuggest Site Audit. Link Building: Spend at least one hour daily on link building and content promotion. Utilize social media and outreach strategies to expand your reach. Email Campaigns: Allocate 3 hours per week writing and scheduling emails for your email subscribers using tools like HelloBar Optin Master. Social Media: Spend 3 hours per week creating and scheduling content for the strongest social media platforms. Ensure you understand your audience and tailor your content accordingly. Lead Magnets: Develop one lead magnet per month to capture leads and generate interest in your brand.

How SEO Professionals Allocate Digital Marketing Budget

According to the survey results, content marketing emerges as the dominant area of budget allocation, with 62% of SEO professionals dedicating all of their digital marketing budget to this area. Digital PR, meanwhile, has the least budget allocation at a weighted average of 2.55.

Here are some key findings from the survey:

Content Marketing: Leadership in budget allocation, with a weighted average of 2.98. Digital PR: Least investment in digital PR, with 17.9% of SEO professionals not allocating any budget and 30.4% allocating little budget, resulting in a weighted average of 2.55.

Time Allocation for SEO Tasks

The survey reveals that SEO professionals spend the most time on keyword research, with 36.3% applying most of their time to this task. Additionally, 8.2% apply all of their time to analytics, highlighting the importance of data-driven decision-making.

Suganthan Mohanadasan of Snippet Digital highlights the importance of keyword research, stating, 'Keyword research is the most important SEO task. When done right, it can map your content calendar for the next 12-24 months and show gaps and opportunities quickly.' However, Dave Davies from Beanstalk offers a differing perspective, suggesting that while keyword research is critical, dedicating the majority of time to it might be excessive and detrimental.

Technical SEO also plays a vital role, with Mohanadasan emphasizing, 'I spend most of my time doing technical research and implementations. My main responsibility is to ensure all of our clients' sites are technically sound and optimized within the limitations of the platform, and at times look beyond and find new and alternative ways to overcome limitations.' This underscores the need for continuous optimization and adaptation.

Summary: Content marketing is the dominant area of digital marketing and an area where you should focus your budget to stay ahead of competitors. While keyword research is crucial, consider how you can enhance it to identify emerging trends and new opportunities. Additionally, ensure that your sites are technically sound to provide the best user experience.