A Beginner’s Guide to Building an Overall SEO Plan

SEO Top Google is one of the top goals marketers always want to reach. Knowing how to build a clear SEO plan, step by step, is key to getting the best results from SEO for your website. Read on for MONA Media will the most detailed guide to building an SEO plan for beginners, with 17 steps to optimize your website for search engines over 6 months.

An overview of SEO

Before looking at what an SEO plan is in detail, you first need to understand the concept of SEO:

Search Engine Optimization – Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing the quality and volume of traffic to a website by making the site or a webpage more visible to users on search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. SEO is about improving unpaid results ("organic" search results) and excludes direct traffic and paid ads.

• Theo Wikipedia

Here is an overview of what you need to know to run SEO effectively for a website.

An effective SEO process

SEO takes long, steady effort to get good results. In reality, a website will NOT get sustainable top rankings on Google in overnight ; it takes a proper process over many months.

The main tasks in the SEO process are:

• Keyword research: find the main and secondary SEO keyword sets.
• Build website content: to meet search demand.
• On-page SEO optimization: optimize on-page elements such as internal links, images, keywords and load speed.
• Off-page SEO optimization: how to build backlinks.
• Track results: so you can keep optimizing in later stages.
• Advanced optimization: using rankings and traffic, SEOers keep analyzing to optimize in depth, such as featured content.
• CRO - Conversion rate optimization: turn SEO into customers and revenue.

Why an SEO plan matters for a website

Building an SEO plan is the first thing SEOers need to do in any SEO project. When you start building the SEO plan you learn the specific goals to reach and the difficulties you will meet while optimizing the site on Google.

It also gives the project manager an overall view of the SEO work, so running SEO, controlling time, staff and budget, and measuring results become more accurate than ever.

Effective ways to build a website SEO plan

Choosing the right way to build the SEO plan for your website keeps the rollout logical, clear and coherent. SEO project managers usually use one of two methods to build an SEO plan that works best: the SMART method and the PDCA cycle.

The SMART method

The criteria the SMART model sets for a website SEO plan are:

• Specific: the goal is clearly defined and easy to understand.
• Measurable: the SEO goal must be measurable in numbers so it can be tracked and assessed.
• Attainable: the SEO goal must be feasible given your internal resources and capabilities.
• Relevant: the SEO goal must match the business's overall purpose and values.
• Timely: there must be a specific start and end date.

The PDCA cycle

The PDCA cycle includes these activities:

• Plan: set the goal and the steps to reach it.
• Do: carry out the activities in the plan.
• Check: use the goal metrics and actual results to check how far you got and analyze the data.
• Act – Act: based on the check, SEO marketers adjust the plan so the website SEO plan performs better.

SEO doesn't just raise your site's rankings. It is also a long-term strategy for attracting free, quality leads. MONA has run SEO since 2018-2019 and still maintains steady lead volume today, up to 70+ leads/day, helping them expand their business quickly. If you are looking to build an effective full SEO plan, watch the video below.

A detailed guide to building a full SEO plan for a website

Building a website SEO plan means laying out the steps  SEO Google so the team running it can follow and carry them out consistently. It also makes it easier for managers to control and optimize the work. Here are the 17 detailed steps in the roadmap for building an SEO plan you need to know.

Step 1: Analyze the website

"Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle" means you need to understand yourself, your competitors and the issues around you.

Researching and analyzing the website is the first important step when creating a website SEO plan. It shows you the strengths and weaknesses of the site and gives you an overview of the whole website.

The factors you need to check on the site include: site age, sitemap, content, homepage, page load speed, on-page optimization, indexing issues, URL optimization, rankings, backlinks and more.

-> You may also be interested in: Top 10 website analysis tools for evaluating a website effectively

Step 2: Research the market

Market research lets you see the overall state of the industry you are doing SEO in and how the market is moving. From there you can plan your SEO and build your website's brand better.

You can do marketing research with primary and secondary data. Market research involves the following:

• Define the business's goals and the problems it faces.
• Choose research methods such as behavior observation, sample interviews, in-depth interviews and experiments.
• Prepare a survey questionnaire with practical, meaningful questions.
• Collect information through the questionnaire responses.
• Analyze the data and evaluate the market.

Step 3: Analyze competitors

You need to analyze 3 to 5 websites of your direct competitors in the real world and and our own your competitors online. This shows you what competitors do well so you can learn from it, and what limitations to avoid.

The specific activities in this competitor analysis step of the website SEO plan are:

Analyze website content

• Articles: how they choose topics and meta, clear layout, accurate and up-to-date information.
• Originality of articles: use a tool to check whether the content is new or copied.
• Frequency of new posts per day.
• Check indexing - check keyword indexing to see how many indexed articles relate to the keyword being searched.
• Internal link whether it appeals to readers.

On-page analysis

• Landing Page: which pages of the competitor rank at the top, and what keyword set do those articles use?
• Age: check whether the website was built a long time ago or recently.
• Keyword rankings: check how many keywords the website has on page 1 and page 2, and at which exact positions.
• Site structure: whether it is judged SEO-friendly, and how internal links are routed.
• Optimizing elements such as heading 1 – 2 – 3 tags, meta and title… using the Web Developer add-on as the checking tool.
• User experience: assess the on-page experience, including load speed, layout…

Offpage analysis

The metrics to identify when running an Offpage SEO analysis include:

• Number of active backlinks and referring domains.
• Where do the links come from, and which content do they point to?
• Satellite website network.
• Bought or self-built backlinks.
• What is the quality of the backlink sources?
• Activity on social media platforms.

Step 4: Keyword Research

Run building the SEO keyword set is extremely important in the whole SEO plan. Keyword research requires the person doing it to understand customers, products and the tools that support this work.

So, to plan SEO keywords effectively for your website, you need to define your keywords clearly, as follows:

Define your business field and target customers

Each field or industry has different target customers, and each group has different habits when typing search keywords. So identifying the right search intent of your users will help you build an accurate keyword set that meets what people are looking for, and in turn grow traffic to your website effectively.

Identify the parent keywords

Parent keywords are short root keywords that serve as the starting point for developing other keywords. They are usually short keywords with high search volume and very strong competition. Once you have the parent keywords, use SEO tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush or Keyword Planner to find other keywords.

Check keyword difficulty

Checking SEO keyword difficulty tells you which keywords have a chance of reaching a high position in Google search results. In general, short keywords and parent keywords are harder to rank for than long-tail, informational and brand keywords. So a website that is new to SEO should go after long-tail keywords first to bring in traffic.

Classify your keywords

This means sorting keywords into groups with similar characteristics. It helps you understand the content each keyword calls for, so articles can be written in full and the SEO plan for the website fits best.

Buyer keywords

These keywords usually sit at the bottom of the funnel in the customer's buying journey. Buyer keywords have a very high chance of converting on your website . Examples in this group: hire SEO services, buy a camera, where to buy sweaters…

Informational keywords

Informational keywords sit at the early stage of the customer's buying process. These keywords aim to give customers information about products and services. Some keywords in this group are best electric motorbike, 18,000 BTU air conditioner, Samsung phone…

Navigational keywords

Navigational keywords are the terms people use to find a specific page or link. Common examples are MONA SEO, Youtube, Semrush blog, where is Trong Dong restaurant…

Step 5: Choose tools to find and group keywords

Finding and grouping keywords is now easy with free and paid SEO tools. With these SEO tools you can get hundreds or thousands of keywords in just a few simple steps. That makes building your keyword SEO plan fast, effective and accurate.

Here are the SEO tools that many SEO experts use and rate highly, which you can refer to:

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is an effective tool for evaluating your own website and your competitors', and for finding keywords quickly. To get keywords, you only need to:

1. Go to the website.
2. Choose Keywords Explorer.
3. Enter the keyword you want to research.
4. Choose the region you want to search.

Then click search. The results table appears and you can download it as an Excel file.

Keyword Tool

This tool lets you research long-tail keywords. To use Keyword Tool, follow these steps:

1. Go to the website and choose Google.
2. Enter the root keyword and choose the language.
3. Click Get data to see the keyword results.

Google Search

Google Search is a completely free and very easy SEO tool. Just type a keyword into the Google search bar, and the suggestion dropdown shows the keywords that are searched most and have had high traffic over time.

Group your keywords

The most common way to group keywords today is the Topic Cluster model. In this model you need a pillar page that holds the parent keywords and the hard, high-traffic keywords. The supporting pages are called clusters, and they all help clarify the main topic of the pillar page.

Step 6: Build the website structure

Building the website layout means linking and organizing the internal pages of the site with internal links. Site structure The tighter, more orderly and more closely tied to keywords this structure is, the more it helps the SEO plan succeed navigate.

Homepage keywords

Homepage keywords are usually the most valuable ones. They tend to be high-traffic, short keywords with a high level of competition.

Category keywords

Category keywords are the main, important keywords placed in category intro pages. They are also usually parent keywords: short and highly competitive.

Post keywords

Keywords for posts relate to product information, news and addresses. These are usually articles built on long-tail keywords with medium to low competition, so they have a chance of bringing a lot of traffic to your website.

Step 7: Set goals for the website SEO plan

Setting goals for the SEO plan lets you keep everything under control while carrying out SEO.

The elements to list when setting SEO plan goals are:

• Timeline.
• Method
• Resources involved.
• Results.
• Completion level.

Setting goals also lets you adjust in time when your SEO drifts away from the plan. The goals of an SEO campaign are usually traffic, number of customer inquiries, number of articles ranking high, conversion rate…

Step 8: Plan the budget and assign staff

Budget and staff are the resources the company has to provide to carry out a complete SEO plan. They are limited, so you should plan how to use them to suit your website and get the best results.

Infrastructure and technology costs for SEO

• Website building and optimization costs: buying a domain, hosting and a good-looking website design usually come to about 12,000,000 VND.
• Cost of SEO tools such as paid plans of Ahrefs and Keyword Tool.io: 9,000,000 – 11,000,000 VND.
• Cost of building satellite websites to bring in quality backlinks: 40,000,000 – 42,000,000 VND.

SEO staff costs

The cost of the people carrying out the overall SEO plan includes:

• Team leader – SEO manager: sets goals, makes the plan, assigns people and is responsible for the project, at about 15,000,000 – 20,000,000 VND/month.
• SEO specialist: carries out the leader's tasks (project management), the SEO cost here is about 10,000,000 – 12,000,000 VND/month.
• Content SEO: the person who writes articles and builds content, usually costing about 7,000,000 – 9,000,000 VND/month.

Risk costs

While carrying out an SEO plan, running into risks is hard to avoid.

• Staffing risks: staff who fail to finish their work or leave halfway through.
• Result risks: SEO does not reach the top, the website goes down, Google issues a penalty…

Step 9: Set up tracking tools

These tools let administrators easily monitor visitor numbers on the website. Setting up tracking helps you recognize, analyze and evaluate well the results that SEO brings to the site. Tools you can use include Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Ahrefs, SEOquake, Small Seo Tool…

Step 10: Optimize Technical SEO

Tools that help you optimize technical SEO for your website effectively include:

• Optimize website speed: Pingdom.
• Optimizing page load speed: Google Pagespeed.
• Check how mobile-friendly the site is: Google Search Console.
• Optimize crawlability: Screaming Frog.

-> Explore now the standard steps to optimize website Technical SEO – HERE!

Step 11: Write SEO-standard articles for the website

This is also one of the website SEO planning steps you need to take seriously when building the plan. SEO content depends on many factors, so you need to understand them in order to create content and check that your articles fit the SEO requirements Google has set.

Introduction (Sapo)

This is an important lead-in that keeps readers going deeper into the content. The introduction must present the topic in an engaging way. For best results, the sapo should contain the main keyword of the article and be no longer than 150 words.

-> You can refer to ways to write an engaging sapo that draws readers in – HERE!

Body

The body develops the arguments that support the main point, or title, of the article. The body is divided into Heading 2 – 3 – 4 tags… all of which support heading 1.

The body content must be meaningful and fully resolve what the article sets out. Other elements of the content, such as images and media, should also be optimized effectively.

Conclusion

In this part, you need to sum up the whole article and restate the point made at the start. The conclusion should also contain the main keyword and be no longer than 150 words.

-> Explore now – The detailed 10-step process for an SEO-standard content outline

Specifically, for your SEO plan to be as effective as possible, the step of writing SEO-standard articles needs special attention. An SEO-standard article needs to optimize the following elements effectively:

Optimize Heading 1

Heading 1 – the H1 tag is the title of the article and appears largest in Google search results. The title must contain the keyword, and the keyword should come first. The H1 should also be no longer than 70 characters.

Optimize subheadings (H2, H3, H4 …)

You need to split the article into subheadings so the content is clear and easy to scan. Headings 2, 3, 4… in the article should contain both the main keyword and suitable secondary keywords.

Also note that if an article has an H2 tag, it should have at least 2 H2s. The same goes for heading 3, heading 4, heading 5… and the text under each heading should not exceed 300 words.

Optimize the meta description

The meta description is the short summary that appears just below the SEO title. The meta for an article should be 155 – 160 characters in total. The description should be concise, cover the content of the article and spark the reader's curiosity.

Optimize images

Images uploaded to the website also need to be optimized, and you should pay attention to them to complete the website SEO plan. In general, images should be in .jpg format, named after the main keyword, without diacritics and joined with hyphens (for example: mau-ke-hoach-seo-tong-the). The image size should also be consistent across the article, centered, with a caption and alt text.

Step 12: Optimize Onpage

SEO Onpage is an important part of website optimization, and it helps improve the website's position on search engines effectively. So an SEO plan cannot skip this Onpage optimization step. At MONA, we have more than 8+ years carried out across many different SEO projects, so we can help clients reach their SEO goals effectively.

• Marketing team at MONA Media

Here are some important elements to list when building a detailed SEO plan; specifically, when doing Onsite optimization you need to cover the following:

• URL (article address): use a short, readable URL that contains the main keyword. Avoid special characters and unnecessary numeric codes.
• Title: should contain the main keyword; keep the title short and carrying the key information of the article.
• Body headings: organize the article content with heading 2, 3, 4… tags. Also pay attention to how the main and secondary keywords are distributed across these tags.
• Create a table of contents for the article: this improves the reader's experience and also helps the search engine (Googlebot) understand the structure of the page.
• Bold and italicize keywords: emphasize main and secondary keywords with bold and italics in the content.
• Optimize article length: the content should include all the necessary information, without being so long that readers lose interest.
• Images: use sharp images and optimize their size (to reduce page load time). Also use the "Alt text" attribute to describe images.
• Meta tags: optimize both the title meta and the description meta, making sure they are accurate and appealing.
• Readability: use easy-to-read text formatting with good spacing. Long content should be broken into short paragraphs to increase the time users stay on the page.
• Keyword count: avoid keyword stuffing; spread keywords naturally and keep a healthy keyword density in the article. Pay special attention to quality content by using a variety of keywords in the article.
• …

The market changes and algorithms change: have you changed how you do SEO? If not, watch this video now to update your SEO thinking for 2026!

Step 13: Run A/B testing

Running A/B testing will help you analyze user behaviour to identify what needs to change to optimize the website.

The A/B testing step in the detailed SEO planning guide will help you answer these questions:

• Is the website interface SEO-standard?
• Is the user experience on the website good?
• Does the content meet users' search needs well?
• Are the internal links good?
• Conversion rate, and the keywords that bring high conversion value.

Step 14: Optimize the conversion rate

Optimizing the conversion rate helps you generate revenue and shows that the website is high quality and valuable to users. You can do this with solutions such as remarketing campaigns, offers and promotions, appealing to customer psychology, optimizing traffic and directing visitors to the purchase page…

Step 15: Build quality backlinks and grow views for the website

Backlinks are links pointing to your site from other domains. SEO tips This work is carried out continuously throughout SEO so the website keeps getting stronger. Things to keep in mind when building quality backlinks are:

• Backlinks must come from quality domains.
• Choose reputable forums for posting links. This avoids being flagged for link spam or having backlinks removed.
• Articles used for backlinks must follow SEO technique.

-> Read more: How to check for bad backlinks and remove them from your website you make

Step 16: Manage the website

As the SEO manager, you need to keep maintaining and optimizing the website get it to keep the website running continuously and safely. This is an important condition for Google to rate the site as trustworthy, and for users to have a better experience. Website management activities include:

• Daily monitoring: number of posts, number of backlinks, traffic…
• Weekly tasks: check the number of articles, keywords, keyword rankings…
• Monthly activities: summarize the results for the month and plan adjustments and development.

Step 17: Measure SEO performance

This step of the overall website SEO plan helps you see the following:

• What your SEO efforts have achieved.
• Whether the planned goals have been reached.
• And how much of the goals has been reached.

From there, you can find effective SEO solutions to raise the website's ranking on search engines.

-> What is SEO KPI? Metrics for measuring results in SEO projects – READ NOW!

As you can see, performed optimize the site for SEO extremely complex. So if you do not have much knowledge or real project experience, you should use SEO services at MONA Media. We are leading SEO companies specialists in complete solutions that optimize websites effectively on search engines. The proof is that we have more than 8+ years of experience successfully running SEO for many clients across a wide range of fields such as “Phụ tùng xe Kim Thành” (Kim Thành vehicle parts), Phân bón Hà Lan, Saigon Vetro Vape, Giang Huy Logistics,… In practice, we have helped these websites grow traffic 2x – 5x within just 3 – 6 months of SEO. You can SEE THE DETAILS at the website: https://mona.media/dich-vu-seo/case-study/ What's more, we understand what clients need, so in every project MONA makes clear commitments. We work under a binding contract and take keywords to the top of search results as committed. We also help optimize the website to SEO standards to bring clients more organic traffic. MONA also offers businesses complete development solutions such as end-to-end website design, domain registration, hosting rental, branding services, management software, artistic photo and video production… If you need more detailed advice, CONTACT MONA directly for support and to receive full-scope SEO quote quickly. Address: 1073/23 Cach Mang Thang Tam, Tan Son Nhat Ward, Ho Chi Minh City Hotline: 1900 636 648 Email: info@themona.global

A 6-month roadmap for rolling out an SEO plan for a website

6 months is the average time for SEO efforts to deliver fairly clear results for your website. In this SEO plan roadmap, you break the work down into specific monthly activities as follows:

Overall website SEO plan, month 1

• Evaluate the website overall.
• Build the SEO task list.
• Work with the IT team to fix errors.
• Choose and set up measurement tools for SEO.
• Set goals.
• Build the content strategy.
• Analyze and agree on the keyword set.
• Analyze competitors.
• Define the customer persona.
• Check and evaluate backlinks and on-page SEO.

Website SEO plan, months 2 – 3

• Build and optimize content.
• Review and revise existing content on the site.
• Build internal links.
• Create social media accounts for the business to push backlinks.
• Create forum accounts for backlinking.
• Optimize local SEO.
• Improve page load speed.
• Optimize mobile display.

Website SEO plan, months 4 – 5

• Produce content according to plan.
• Optimize the website structure, on-page SEO and keywords.
• Optimize articles ranking in the top 5 – 20.
• Promote articles on social media platforms and forums.
• Build internal links and backlinks.
• Optimize lead generation rate, conversion rate, user interface and experience.
• Revise and update with new SEO techniques.

SEO plan, month 6

• Compile, measure and evaluate all results from the past months.
• Compare against KPIs and goals to see how much has been completed.
• Adjust the SEO strategy for the following months.

The the detailed 6-month SEO plan roadmap listed above. As long as you follow all the steps of this sample SEO plan correctly, your website will be well optimized on search engines such as Google.

A sample file for a detailed full website SEO plan

File SEO Plan Template should be created in Excel or Google Sheets (for easy storage), with specific sheets in one file. Here is a sample SEO plan drafted in detail by MONA.Media to help you run SEO effectively for your website.

You can CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW or join SEO COURSE at MONA Media

SEE NOW The SEO plan file compiled by MONA!

Things to know when building a website SEO plan

Making a suitable and effective SEO plan is not an easy job for any SEOer. Here are some points to keep in mind while making an SEO plan:

The SEO plan must fit the business's field

Each field and industry has its own website SEO plan template. This depends on internal resources, the purpose of the SEO and other factors. So you need to identify the right field to build a complete SEO plan.

Compare your website with competitors

Comparing the business website with competitors' sites is quite important. In particular, compare with sites that rank high in SEO. That shows you where you differ from your competitors, and it is an effective way to learn good practices from other sites.

Check the website domain

What is the state of the domain you are about to run SEO on? Is it a new domain or one that has been active for a long time? Has it been penalized by Google? Has it been used for risky black-hat SEO? Checking the domain helps you understand and fix problems and risks that may arise during SEO.

Identify users' search intent exactly

Identifying users' search trends helps you quickly grasp what information customers are looking for. As a result, the website gets traffic more easily and builds good credibility.

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FAQ

What is the purpose of making an SEO plan?

The ultimate purpose of making an SEO plan, and of communication efforts in general, is to generate revenue and profit for the business.

Which free tools help with making a website SEO plan?

Website SEO needs the support of many tools. The free ones you should not miss are Google Analytics, Google Trends, Google Search Console, SEOQuake, Yoast SEO, Google Keyword Planner, SimilarWeb…

How long does it take for an SEO plan to show results?

A complete SEO plan cannot deliver clear, lasting results after 1 day, 1 week or 1 month. According to professional SEO practitioners, 6 months is the time needed to judge the early success of an SEO project.

Above, MONA Media we have shared the information you need to know about a SEO plan in detail – specifically the 17 steps and the 6-month process. We hope this knowledge gives you more experience and a deeper understanding of how to build an SEO plan . If you need more advice on website SEO services package at MONA – please CONTACT US contact us via the hotline 1900 636 648 so we can serve you best!