Understanding what makes a good strategy is key to winning in any competitive environment. This presentation showcases one of the greatest military case studies, the battle of Cannae in 216 BC. After that, it introduces Richard Rumelt’s framework for a good strategy and then deconstructs Hannibal’s victory using this. Finally, the kernel of a strategy, with its 3 main components - diagnosis, policy, and actions - is applied to the SEO environment.

1. Cosmin Negrescu, @ncosmin - Founder & CEO of @seomonitor
What makes a good SEO strategy?
#digitalzone

2. @seomonitor
What strategy is not
• Our strategy is to be the low-cost provider
• We are pursuing a global strategy
• The company strategy is to integrate a set of regional acquisitions
• Our strategy is to provide unrivalled customer service
• Our strategic intent is to always be the first mover
Consider these statements from well respected companies

3. @seomonitor
What strategy is not
• Goals
• Tactics
• Objectives
• Descriptions
None are actually strategies. They represent:
But not strategies. They can be components of an overall strategy.

4. @seomonitor
What strategy is not

5. @seomonitor
The beginning of strategy as a concept

6. @seomonitor
The beginning of strategy as a concept

7. @seomonitor
The beginning of strategy as a concept

8. @seomonitor
What strategy is
“A specific way of winning”
Challenging Competition
Problem solving High stakes

9. @seomonitor
The kernel of Strategy

10. @seomonitor
The kernel of Strategy
Diagnosis

11. @seomonitor
The kernel of Strategy
Diagnosis is about having a very realistic understanding of
the battlefield. It’s about constantly asking “What is going
on?”

12. @seomonitor
The kernel of Strategy
Hannibal had a few insights
• He saw Romans’ reliance on infantry as weakness
• He knew that Romans were arrogant and they would treat the upcoming fight superficially
If he played his cards right he could use this against them too. With the Alps behind him, Hannibal
took the field in front of the Trebia river.

13. @seomonitor
The kernel of Strategy
Insights is all about applying strengths to weaknesses

14. @seomonitor
The kernel of Strategy
Policy

15. @seomonitor
The kernel of Strategy
Policy
A set of guiding principles that should offer a framework for
overcoming obstacles and harvesting opportunities.
The goal for these policies is to guide the actions of the team.

16. @seomonitor
The kernel of Strategy
Action

17. @seomonitor
The kernel of Strategy
Action
A good strategy is judged on its actions. Built on top of the guiding
principles, the action plan should help put everything into perspective.
The actions a good strategy puts forward should also be coordinated to
offer a bigger punch.

18. @seomonitor
The kernel of Strategy

19. @seomonitor
SEO strategy
So is strategy necessary for an SEO campaign?

20. @seomonitor
Back to the definition
“A specific way of winning”
Challenging Competition
Problem solving High stakes

21. @seomonitor
Battles you can’t win: keywords where Google is the final destination now

22. @seomonitor
Battles you can’t win: keywords representing brands of other websites
Initialview
Firstscroll

23. @seomonitor
Battles you can’t win: keywords you can’t rank on… yet
Initialview
Firstscroll

24. @seomonitor
Keywords where you don’t match your content with the user’s intent

25. @seomonitor
Remember to constantly ask the most important question
“What is going on here?”

26. @seomonitor
Mobile search penetration

27. @seomonitor
Accelerated Mobile PagesInitialview
Firstscroll
Secondscroll

28. @seomonitor
The featured snippet

29. @seomonitor
Understand your website’s performance trend

30. @seomonitor
And what’s behind it

31. @seomonitor
Don’t be naive and let yourself fooled by the dataAnkara
Sisli,Istanbul

32. @seomonitor
Don’t be naive and let yourself fooled by the data

33. @seomonitor
And keep in mind that keywords form topics, and you always fight for a topic

34. @seomonitor
We focused a lot on the Diagnosis and gathering insights,
but remember that a good strategy is judged on its actions.
Execution closes the loop and gets you the victory

35. @seomonitor
1. Only choose the keywords you can conquer and target them with
laser-sharp focus.
2. Understand your website’s performance and what’s behind it.
3. Anticipate trends and find new tactics that others ignore. Staying one
step ahead of them gives you leverage.
So always ask “What’s going on here?” and…

36. @seomonitor
More about Strategy

37. Thank you!
Cosmin Negrescu, @ncosmin - Founder & CEO of @seomonitor