PARA: A New Framework to Manage SEO Projects

Poor Prioritisation: The Silent SEO Killer

The wrong SEO issues get prioritised all the time. I find SEO agencies and in-house teams spending months fixing meta descriptions when their website can’t even be properly indexed all the time - just because it’s the ‘easier’ thing to do.

Surely enough, when the wrong issues are prioritised, SEO campaigns fail to deliver meaningful results, budgets get slashed and the business’s trust in organic search as an acquisition channel diminishes.

I’ve adopted some version of the PARA framework to manage SEO campaigns for 35+ websites. It’s a game-changer to help me get the most impactful tasks done first and still deliver on smaller issues.

In this article, I’ll walk you through this new framework, how I’ve implemented it in my SEO second brain, and how it can help you manage your SEO campaigns.

What is the PARA Framework?

The PARA framework is a system for organising digital information developed by Tiago Forte. The PARA framework stands for:

• Projects
• Areas
• Resources
• Archives

Here’s a quick definition of what each of them stands for:

Here are some examples of which SEO tasks can are suitable for each category.

Projects: Your most important and time-sensitive tasks

• Example: Optimise the internal linking structure for a core landing page by the end of the week

Areas: Your ongoing optimisation efforts and routine tasks

• Example: Create monthly performance reports

Resources: Shared credentials and background information

• CMS log-ins and target personas

Archives: Completed tasks and documentation

• Example: Title tags updated throughout the campaign

How does the PARA Framework help me manage SEO projects?

Most of us organise our projects in a static way. This means usually involves dividing different areas of work into different categories, such as:

• Keyword research
• Technical audit
• Link building
• Content production
• and so on…

But does this represent the way SEO projects are run? Does the very first piece of content written need to stay at the forefront of your strategy after 12 months?

By organising our projects in a static, categorical way, we mix documentation that should be a top priority with those that are no longer important.

When organising a kitchen, we have the stove, pantry, refrigerator and freezer, organising our ingredients based on whether they will be used in an upcoming meal. It'd be bizarre if someone were to tell you that they organised their kitchen by carrots, potatoes, meat and fruits. (Credits to Tiago Forte for this great analogy).

The same goes for your project management documentation. By structuring your documents in a static way, files and deliverables that are no longer relevant will start to ‘cross-contaminate’ your ‘fresh’ ones, making it increasingly difficult for you to navigate your project files to quickly find the most relevant piece of information in your next meeting.

Instead, the PARA framework provides a dynamic knowledge base, reflecting the ever-changing priorities and expectations that occur throughout a project:

• Your most immediate concerns and deliverables remain in the ‘Project’ folder.
• The ongoing effort is in the ‘Area’ folder.
• Key themes and background research in the ‘Resources’ folder.
• Delivered work and outdated information in the ‘Archives’ folder.

How to implement PARA in your SEO campaigns

Here’s an example of how I use the PARA framework on an existing SEO campaign for Adecor, Thailand’s first tile distributor to operate 100% online.

When a project is completed, they are moved to the other folders where appropriate. Here are some examples:

• If a technical implementation can be transformed in valuable documentation for future reference, it’ll be moved into the ‘resources’ folder
• If a piece of content is completed, only to be revisited for ongoing efforts like internal linking and future testing, it’ll be moved into the ‘areas’ folder

This framework may look drastically different for you. For instance, the number of projects and areas will vary greatly between different websites.

As with anything in SEO, remember to test and iterate this framework to see if it works for you!

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