Most professionals have to grapple with economic downturns, budget cuts, and resource scarcity at one time or another. For SEO professionals, these challenges can significantly alter operational plans and goals. Yet, there are ways to be more strategic and intelligent about SEO efforts despite such constraints.
While SEO may not be immune to budget cuts in uncertain times, there are proven strategies to employ when faced with a reduced SEO budget.
In this guide, we share seven key actions you should consider when your SEO budget is limited, enabling you to maximize your resources.
1. Conduct a Demand Analysis
During periods of economic downturn, it’s critical to understand how your business and market conditions affect demand. This includes understanding whether there’s an overall reduction in the demand for your product, service, or market. Key questions to consider include: Are fewer people searching? Is there a noticeable drop-off in the customer journey? Has a new drop-off point emerged?
2. Re-evaluate Goals
When resources are limited, goal reevaluation becomes essential. If you’re dealing with a reduced budget or fewer resources, you need to reset both your expectations and those of the stakeholders. Assess what is achievable with the available resources, and communicate these revised goals effectively. This exercise should involve using tools like AI to help stretch your limited resources.
3. Limit Your Digital Footprint
Although this strategy might seem counterintuitive, it’s necessary in resource-limited scenarios. You can ensure your efforts have maximum impact by narrowing your focus to areas where the demand persists. This might involve concentrating on a specific part of your sales funnel, focusing on your most profitable product or service offering, or getting very detailed with a certain section, sub-section, or subdomain of your website.
4. Allocate Resources Strategically
SEO involves a collaborative effort from various resources such as IT, web developers, UX, content writers, brand strategists, legal/compliance, and management approvals. When budgets are restricted, you must focus on where the remaining resources can best utilize. This might involve prioritizing one aspect of your SEO over another, such as content over technical updates or CRO over link building.
5. Emphasize Short-Term Results
When budget restrictions are severe, you should focus on what can be gained in the short term. This might involve prioritizing local SEO, creating partnerships or affiliations with content, focusing on the bottom of the funnel in a keyword and content focus, or conducting full SEO scope/scale but on a very short list of topics/terms.
6. Strategize for Long-Term Gains
If you have the advantage of a stable budget amidst decreased demand, you can focus on long-term strategies that will build for the future. This approach could involve investing in website tech and infrastructure, building a content base, establishing a thought leadership platform, or positioning yourself as an authority in your industry.
7. Constantly Monitor and Measure Your Efforts
Measurement is crucial to any SEO strategy, but it becomes even more critical during economic downturns. Monitoring performance data allows you to draw correlations between budget reductions, markets, resources, and performance. It also provides benchmark data for the future. Always remember projections, expectations, and measurements should underpin all your actions.
In Conclusion
Facing an economic downturn with a reduced SEO budget is undeniably challenging. Yet, it’s better to have a reduced budget than none. By focusing on long-term strategies and maximizing your existing resources and opportunities, you can weather the storm and arise stronger on the other side.
As SEO professionals, resilience and adaptability are key. With the right mindset and strategic execution, you can continue to deliver value to your organization, brand, or clients, even in times of adversity.
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