Search engine optimization is all about improving website traffic through better search engine rankings. But contrary to popular belief, SEO is not a marketing plan in itself. It is in-fact a part of the actual Marketing strategy of an organization, and like any marketing plan it requires to be managed. Just because a company employs SEO tactics effectively doesn’t mean that the campaign will be successful. The success of a campaign is also decided by the skill with which projects, people, clients are managed, and ironically the more difficult parts of the SEO will work itself out if the project or organization is managed well. This is not to imply that SEO can be ignored, but it doesn’t require obsessing over every tiny smidgen of detail. With increasing complexities of a strategy, learning how to manage the project is an important ability to help manage expectations, deal with problems, and create ways to get buy-in on an idea.
Understanding and acknowledging that effective project management is an essential SEO skill, we attempt to outline the 5 Best Practices for SEO Project Management.

The devil is in the detail- PLAN

It is virtually never that a project is initiated with a precise and complete set of project requirements. Besides being complicated, SEO strategies are also iterative to allow the project to the adapted to ever changing demands. This means having a plan in place to know how the team will manage any and all starting from scope change, risk, quality, communication, and so on. Besides being meticulous about the project management, it also requires a pro-active attitude to ensure that the team and all stakeholders are aware of how the project will be managed.

Actions speak louder than words – EXECUTE

An SEO strategy with no actions is terrible- an actionable strategy with no-one to actually do the work is so much worse. Prioritize based on importance and time-sensitiveness, know the capabilities of your team, and delegate tasks. Doing these keeping in mind deadlines and who’s responsible for what will do wonders here. More importantly communicate what works, and make sure everyone’s up to speed and ready to go.

A good workman never blames his tools- USE THE RIGHT TOOLS

Finding the right tools to work for your project is essential, and different projects teams use different tools based on what works best for them. It is not the complexity of the tool, but the aptness of the same that matters. Depending on the requirement, people use various tools for tracking time and keeping up with dates, to share docs and files, and to communicate. SEOmoz software is also used to handle everyday SEO tasks, right from analyzing keywords, researching back-links, doing on-page analysis, finding accessibility issues and tracking rankings all in one easy-to-use management platform. The tools will not do the work but assist in managing SEO projects effectively.

Round and round we go – REVIEW

As mentioned earlier, search engine optimization is not a onetime proposition. It requires constant iterations and during planning stages provisions are made keeping this in mind. As the client’s product and service offering changes, the keywords may change; content and blogs will need to be written and updated and link building never ends. Besides planning the SEO in stages, there is a need to control the changes and keep track of things moving forward.

Customer is King

In the project the ultimate aim is to optimize, improve ranking, increase traffic, build links and create buzz to generate revenue for the client. Idealistic and impressive as this is, it is also pertinent that the client is happy. Effective project management will ensure the client is happy, while the best efforts are made to achieve the goals. This is may mean making choices that may not be the best possible in a particular scenario, but without compromising on the ultimate goal of the project. At times it is required to manage the project so that possible negatives are borne but it is better than to push effective SEO/link building tactics for short term gains, and losing the client to someone who’s going to harm their business.
In conclusion, having a strategy is better than none at all; an actionable strategy with people to do the work is better than one with no one to implement it; a plan with the proper tools to implement it, is better than one attempted with ineffective tools; a dynamic and actionable strategy is better than a stagnant plan that becomes stale with time; and finally a happy client is better than none.

Source : business2community