Discovery: Loop Checklist

Welcome to the SEO Discovery Loop Checklist.

The goal of this checklist is to help SEOs synthesize their notes during discovery work and provide context to their SEO oppurtunities.

This basic checklist can be used to connect the dots throughout the discovery process.

I use this checklist as a way to keep track of notes when understanding a business, craft a Problem Statement and create valid SEO oppurtunties which can drive results for users and the business.

Stay safe.

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Step 1: Understand the Business

1. The Business Strategy

What is the business and what is the domain(s) being worked on?

What is the scope of the project?

Try to be as specific as possible.

This section is key.

It will require you to integrate management and other team members.

What is the key challenge the business is trying to overcome?

What is the north star metric everyone pays attention to?

Phase	Details	Questions
Business
Domain
Scope
Mission
Strategy
Goals

2. The Business Model

Phase	Details	Notes
Category
Price
Cost
Channels

3. Key Metrics

Phase	Model	Notes
Business Metrics

4. Resources

Phase	Structure	Notes
Inventory
Team
Technology
Tools
Templates
Partnerships

5. Market Differentiation

Phase	Competitors	Notes
Direct Competitors
Indirect (SEO) Competitors
Adjacent Markets
Unique Value Differentiation

6. Digital Channels

Phase	Primary Strategies in Use (Mark with X)	Overview of Strategies
Paid
Content
SEO
Social
Sales
PR
Affiliate

7. SEO Channel Fit

Phase	Questions	Attributes
Product/Service	Is the product(s) or service(s) profitable for the business?
Budget	What is the budget to invest in SEO?
Visitors	Does the website get 500-1000+ visits from other channels per month?
Content	Does the business have a content team or writer?
Developer	Does the business have a developer or engineering team?
Experts	Does the business have access to experts in their target topics?
Tech Stack	Does the website or web app allow for content and SEO changes?

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Step 2: Define Target Audience

1. Target Audience

Phase	Audience	Details
Total Addressable Audience
Serviceable Available Audience
Target Audience

2. The Problem

Phase	Description	Notes
Wants
Pains
Implications
Problem Statement

3. Business Solution

Phase	Insight	Notes
Products/Services		https://wise.com/gb/multi-currency-account/
Solution proposition #1
Sub-benefit #1
Sub-benefit #2
Sub-benefit #3
Solution proposition #2
Sub-benefit #1
Sub-benefit #2
Sub-benefit #3

4. Outcomes

Phase	Question	Insight
Business	What is the business outcome?
Impact metric	What is the key business metric to measure success?
Signal Metrics	What business metrics can be used to track progress?
SEO	What is the SEO outcome?
Impact Metric	What is the key SEO metrics to track progress?
Signal Metrics	What SEO metrics can be used to track progress?

5. SMART Goals

We are working to improve:
By measuring:
We will be successful if:

Specific	Define specific goals related to the business and SEO outcomes.
Measurable	Identify key metrics to track progress and measure success.
Achievable	Ensure the goals are realistic and attainable given the current resources and constraints.
Relevant	Align the goals with the broader business objectives and SEO strategy.
Time-bound	Set a clear timeline for achieving the goals.

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Step 3: Clarify the Problem

1. Problem Statement

Phase	Question	Insight
Business Strategy	What is the business strategy?
Business Goal	What is the business goal?
Situation	What is the current SEO situation?
Complication	What is the event that is disrupting the situation?
Problem Statement	Synthesize the situation and complication to create a problem statement.

Step 4: Validated Opportunities

1. SEO Growth

Phase	What SEO strategies are being invested in?	How to improve SEO Tactics?
Problem Statement	–
Business Outcome	–
SEO Outcome	–
SEO Goal	–
Technical SEO	Are they investing in tactics to improve how well search engines crawl, index, and understand their website?
Editorial SEO	Is the company investing in a content team to write, edit and publish content?
Programmatic SEO	Is the company using product inventory to create category and product listings?
International SEO	Is the company entering into new international markets?
SEO Growth Loops	Does the company use customer data to build new pages, get more visitors and get those visitors to create more data?	–

2. Product Constraints

Phase	How have you validated the opportunities?	Insights
Viability	Why should the team implement these opportunities?
Feasibility	Are the opportunities and proposed solutions technically feasible?
Usability	Can the user or customer understand the solution?

3. Risks vs Assumptions

Phase	How have you validated the opportunities?	Insights
Assumptions	What are your assumptions about the opportunities?
Risks	What are the high-risk ideas?
Mitigation	How are you going to mitigate high-risk ideas?