SEO Growth Playbook

Inside this guide

SEO GROWTH PLAYBOOK / V2 REVISED EDITION · SIGNAL & NOISE Stop countingimpressions. Count whatclicks. An operating plan for taking a business site from almost no organic footprint to a traffic engine that survives contact with the current search results page. REALITY CHECK — AVERAGE SITE-WIDE CTR clicks ÷ impressions The original brief asked for 200,000 impressions and 50,000 clicks. That is a 25% average CTR — roughly four times what a healthy site achieves. One of the two numbers has to move. Everything in this playbook follows from picking which one. FOR SITES UNDER ~1K IMPRESSIONS/MO HORIZON: 3–9 MONTHS 12 SECTIONS CONTENTS 00 Fix the target 01 What changed in search 02 Diagnose first 03 Foundation 04 Capture what you have 05 Coverage that clicks 06 Authority & local 07 Compound 08 Honest measurement 09 90 days, with gates 10 The non-negotiables 11 How this fails 3–8% · where real sites live 25% required 200k impressions → 50k 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% SEO GROWTH PLAYBOOK V2 1 / 10 00 Fix the target before you plan anything Site-wide CTR sits at roughly 3–8%. The top organic result earns 20–30% — but only when it is the first thing on the page, which it increasingly isn't. So pick a version of the goal and commit to it. SCENARIO A RECOMMENDED 200k IMPRESSIONS → 12–20k CLICKS Needs 6–10% CTR Achievable in 6–9 months in a normal niche. A genuinely strong outcome. SCENARIO B LONG HAUL 600–900k IMPRESSIONS → 50k CLICKS Needs 6–8% CTR Holds the click target by finding 3–5× the content and authority. Plan on 12– 18 months. SCENARIO NOT AN SEO GOAL 200k IMPRESSIONS → 50k CLICKS Needs 25% CTR Only possible if most queries are branded or bottom-funnel and you rank first. That's a brand- building programme.…