How to Automate Dull SEO Tasks

1 year ago 102

Some SEO processes impact repetitively clicking things connected a screen. Not the champion usage of your time.

With the close tools, however, you tin automate assorted SEO processes—and escaped up resources for tasks that request much creative, human input.

In this post, I’ll stock 2 examples of however I automate SEO tasks. 

Example 1. Record and email nonfiction assignments to writers

Imagine being capable to grounds and email nonfiction assignments to writers successful seconds utilizing a elemental signifier like this:

Airtable nonfiction  duty  form

Let’s look astatine however to acceptable this up.

1. Set up an Airtable database for your writer and nonfiction data

Sign up for Airtable and make a caller database with a array called “Writers.” The array should person columns for your writers:

  • Names
  • Email addresses
"Writers" array  successful  Airtable

In the aforesaid Airtable database, make a abstracted array called “Articles.” 

Set up columns successful this array for your:

  • Article titles.
  • Article outline links.
  • Article due dates.
  • Assigned writer (set this file up arsenic a linked record to your “Writers” array truthful that Airtable tin retrieve information connected your writers from it).
"Articles" array  successful  Airtable

You’ll besides request to add a lookup field to propulsion the writer’s email code from the “Writers” table. 

Add Airtable lookup field

2. Create an Airtable nonfiction duty form

Next, make an nonfiction duty signifier for the “Articles” table. You’ll usage this signifier to adhd caller nonfiction assignments to the “Articles” table.

Create Airtable nonfiction  duty  form

3. Set up a caller Zapier automation with a “New Record successful Airtable” trigger

When you taxable your details connected the caller nonfiction duty via the Airtable form, Airtable volition automatically grounds the caller nonfiction duty successful your “Articles” table. So that’s the archetypal measurement of the nonfiction duty workflow sorted.

Demo of however  Airtable automatically records caller   nonfiction  assignments erstwhile   the nonfiction  duty  signifier  is filled out

Now, we’ll usage the Zapier workflow automation instrumentality to automate the adjacent 3 steps successful the workflow—namely:

  1. Create a shared Google Drive submission folder for the article.
  2. Create a Google Doc submission papers successful the shared Google Drive folder.
  3. Use Gmail to email the writer the nonfiction title, outline link, owed date, and nexus to the shared Google Drive submission folder.

Sidenote.

Instead of Zapier, you tin besides usage immoderate different workflow automation tool, specified arsenic Make, arsenic agelong arsenic the instrumentality supports the automation triggers and actions you’ll need.

In Zapier, make a caller automated workflow (also known arsenic a “Zap”) with:

  • Airtable arsenic the trigger app.
  • New Record arsenic the trigger event.

With this trigger, your Zap volition commencement moving erstwhile you adhd a caller grounds to Airtable (such arsenic by submitting your Airtable nonfiction duty form).

 New Record successful  Airtable

4. Add a “Create Folder successful Google Drive” enactment measurement to your Zap

Next, adhd an enactment step with:

  • Google Drive arsenic the enactment app.
  • Create Folder arsenic the enactment event.

For the enactment step’s “Parent Folder” field, prime the Google Drive folder successful which the caller submission folder should beryllium created.

Also, supply a sanction for the submission folder successful the “Folder Name” field. You tin representation the nonfiction rubric information from Airtable present to sanction your submission folder aft the article’s title.

 Create Folder successful  Google Drive

5. Add an “Add File Sharing Preference successful Google Drive” enactment measurement to your Zap

The Google Drive folder created by your Zap volition person its sharing permissions disabled by default, truthful let’s adhd an enactment measurement to assistance folder entree to anyone who has the nexus to the folder.

This enactment measurement should have:

  • Google Drive arsenic the enactment app.
  • Add File Sharing Preference arsenic the enactment event.

Map the record ID of the Google Drive folder created successful the erstwhile enactment measurement to the “File Id” tract of this enactment step.

Map record  ID of Google Drive folder to "File Id" field

In addition, acceptable the “Sharing Preference” tract to “Anyone connected the net who has the nexus can edit.”

Set "Sharing Preference" tract  to "Anyone connected  the net  who has the nexus  tin  edit"

6. Add a “Create Document from Text successful Google Docs” enactment measurement to your Zap

Now, let’s acceptable up the Google Doc that the writer volition usage to taxable their draft.

We’ll person the Zap make this submission Google Doc successful the shared Google Drive submission folder. And since the Google Drive folder volition person wide entree enabled, anyone with the nexus to the Google Drive folder—and this includes you—will besides automatically get entree to the Google Doc.

No much vexation implicit writers forgetting to assistance entree to their Google Docs!

So adhd a caller enactment measurement to your Zap with:

  • Google Docs as the enactment app.
  • Create Document from Text arsenic the enactment event.

Map the nonfiction rubric information from Airtable to the enactment step’s “Document Name” field, and the folder ID of the shared Google Drive folder to the “Folder” field.

You’ll besides request to see immoderate default substance successful the Google Doc, specified arsenic “Write your nonfiction here!”

 Create Document from Text successful  Google Docs

7. Add a “Send Email successful Gmail” enactment measurement to your Zap

Finally, we’ll get the Zap to usage your Gmail relationship to email the writer the nonfiction title, outline link, owed date, and nexus to the shared Google Drive submission folder.

Add a past enactment measurement to your Zap with:

  • Gmail as the enactment app.
  • Send Email arsenic the enactment event.

Map the writer’s email code from Airtable to the “To” tract for this enactment step. Also, representation the nonfiction title, outline link, owed date, and Google Drive submission folder nexus successful the email body.

I besides urge adding your ain email code to either the “Cc” oregon “Bcc” tract truthful you get a transcript of the automated email (and tin corroborate it’s been sent).

Sample substance   for automated nonfiction  duty  email

Once you’re blessed with your Zap, deed the Publish fastener to activate your automation!

Example 2. Finding and verifying prospects’ email addresses for nexus gathering outreach

Finding email addresses for nexus gathering outreach tin beryllium a monolithic pain.

After all, astir prospects don’t advertise their email addresses publicly. And adjacent if you’ve managed to excavation up their email addresses (or conjecture them utilizing proceedings and error), there’s nary warrant they work.

But utilizing Ahrefs’ Content Explorer, you tin make a immense Google Sheets database of nexus gathering prospects that looks like this:

List of prospects successful  Google Sheets

Then arsenic you capable retired the “Approve?” file for each imaginable with data—such arsenic “Yes” oregon “Approved”—a Zapier automation volition automatically bash each these for you:

  1. Find the prospect’s email code utilizing the Hunter email lookup tool
  2. Add the email code to your Google Sheet database of prospects
  3. Verify the email code utilizing the NeverBounce email verification tool
  4. Add the verified email code to the Woodpecker.io email outreach instrumentality truthful you tin commencement sending customized outreach emails

Here’s however to acceptable this up.

1. Get your database of prospects

Launch Ahrefs’ Content Explorer and hunt for nexus prospects. 

For example, if you precocious published a selling survey with unsocial insights and statistics, you whitethorn privation to look for selling statistic pages to pitch. To bash this, simply tally an “In title” hunt for “marketing statistics.”

Report of webpages with "marketing statistics" successful  their title, via Ahrefs' Content Explorer

Next, filter your results to amusement lone webpages that are:

  • In English (unless you’re targeting webpages successful different language).
  • Live, arsenic it’d beryllium weird to scope retired and say, “Hey, I recovered you done [this webpage that nary longer exists].”
  • On websites with a Domain Rating (DR) of 20 to 80 due to the fact that you privation to prioritize pursuing backlinks from authoritative websites but besides that your chances of getting backlinks from ace high-authority websites are quite low.
Filtering for live, English webpages connected  sites with a DR betwixt  20 and 80, via Ahrefs' Content Explorer

Add a past filter to amusement lone 1 leafage per domain (since you privation to scope retired to lone 1 imaginable per website).

Ahrefs' Content Explorer "One leafage   per domain" setting

Click the Export fastener to export your database of prospects successful a CSV file.

2. Clean up your database of prospects

As mentioned, we’ll beryllium utilizing Hunter to assistance america find our prospects’ email addresses.

Hunter uses the archetypal names, past names, and domains of prospects to find email addresses, truthful we’ll cleanable up our database of prospects to supply Hunter with the nonstop information it needs.

Import your CSV database of prospects successful Google Sheets and delete each columns successful it but for:

  • Content Title
  • Content URL
  • Author

Also, immoderate of the prospects successful the CSV don’t person writer names, truthful it’s worthy removing these rows from the CSV. To bash this, conscionable filter for rows with bare writer names and delete them.

Next, usage the SPLIT look to divided the writer names into their archetypal and past names based connected the abstraction betwixt their names.

Using the =SPLIT() look   successful  Google Sheets to divided  writer  names based connected  the abstraction  betwixt  the archetypal  and past  names

Finally, adhd 2 caller columns to the sheet:

  1. Approve?: Adding information to this file volition trigger the Zapier automation we’ll beryllium mounting up next!
  2. Email Address: This file volition store the prospect’s email code (if found).
Adding of 2  caller   "Approve?" and "Email address" columns to Google Sheets

3. Set up a caller Zapier automation with a “New oregon Updated Spreadsheet Row successful Google Sheets” trigger

In Zapier, make a caller Zap with:

  • Google Sheets arsenic the trigger app.
  • New oregon Updated Spreadsheet Row as the trigger event.

Map the enactment step’s “Trigger Column” tract to your Google Sheet’s “Approve?” column.

 New oregon  Updated Spreadsheet Row successful  Google Sheets

With this setup, you’ll trigger your Zap whenever you adhd caller data—such arsenic “Yes” oregon “Approved”—to the “Approve?” file for immoderate imaginable row.

Adding of the connection     "Yes?" to the "Approve?" file  successful  the Google Sheets database  of prospects

4. Add a “Find Email successful Hunter” enactment measurement to your Zap

Next, adhd a caller enactment step with:

  • Hunter arsenic the enactment app.
  • Find Email arsenic the enactment event.

Map the “Content URL,” “First Name,” and “Last Name” columns successful your Google Sheet to the “Domain oregon Company,” “First Name,” and “Last Name” fields for this enactment step, respectively.

 Find Email successful  Hunter

5. Add an “Update Spreadsheet Row successful Google Sheets” enactment measurement to your Zap

The adjacent enactment measurement volition update your Google Sheet with a prospect’s email code if Hunter finds it. Use:

  • Google Sheets as the enactment app.
  • Update Spreadsheet Row arsenic the enactment event.

Map the Row Number of the updated enactment successful the trigger measurement to this enactment step’s “Row” field.

Map the enactment      fig   to the "Row" field

Also, representation the email code that Hunter recovered successful the erstwhile enactment measurement to the “Email Address” tract of this enactment step.

Map email code  to the "Email Address" field

Sidenote.

This email code does not exist. It is for demo purposes only.

6. Add a Filter enactment that lets the Zap proceed lone if Hunter has recovered an email address

Next, acceptable up a Filter enactment that lets the Zap proceed lone if the email code information recovered by Hunter contains the “@” symbol.

That’s due to the fact that each email addresses person the “@” symbol. If Hunter happens to find an email code worth that doesn’t see this symbol, we won’t privation to discarded clip verifying it.

 Only proceed  if email code  contains "@"

7. Add a “Verify Email Address successful NeverBounce” enactment measurement to your Zap

Now, we’ll usage NeverBounce to verify the validity of the email addresses that Hunter found. Add a caller enactment step with:

  • NeverBounce as the enactment app.
  • Verify Email Address arsenic the enactment event.

Map the email code that Hunter recovered to this enactment step’s “Email Address to Verify” field:

 Verify Email Address successful  NeverBounce

8. Add a Filter enactment that lets the Zap proceed lone if NeverBounce returns a “Valid” oregon “Catchall” presumption for the email address

When NeverBounce verifies an email address, it volition instrumentality 1 of 4 presumption substance codes: Valid, Catchall, Invalid, and Unknown. Email addresses marked with the “Valid” and “Catchall” NeverBounce presumption codes person the highest likelihood of being valid.

So we’ll adhd a Filter enactment that lets the Zap proceed lone if an email address’s NeverBounce presumption substance codification matches either “Valid” oregon “Catchall” exactly.

 Only proceed  if NeverBounce presumption    substance   codification  is "Valid" oregon  "Catchall"

9. Add a “Create/Update Prospect successful Woodpecker.co” enactment measurement to your Zap

Finally, we’ll acceptable up the Zap to adhd the verified email code to Woodpecker.co.

Create a past enactment step with:

  • Woodpecker.co as the enactment app.
  • Create/Update Prospect arsenic the enactment event.

Map the verified email code to the enactment step’s “Email” field, and your prospect’s archetypal and past sanction (as obtained from Google Sheets) to the “First Name” and “Last Name” fields, respectively.

 Create/Update Prospect successful  Woodpecker.co

Hit the Publish fastener to crook your Zap on.

Now, erstwhile you capable retired the “Approve?” file for prospects successful your Google Sheet, your Zap volition automatically bash the dense lifting of uncovering and verifying their email addresses utilizing Hunter and NeverBounce and adding the verified email addresses to Woodpecker.co.

You tin past customize your nexus gathering outreach emails successful Woodpecker.co for each verified email code and, hopefully, snag yourself immoderate backlinks!

Final thoughts

SEO automation takes immoderate archetypal setup, but it’s astonishing to ticker your processes tally automatically aft that. It’s astir like magic.

And isolated from the SEO processes we’ve shared here, determination are astir apt plentifulness others you tin automate.

Think of the apps you regularly usage for SEO work. If you tin link these apps utilizing Zapier oregon immoderate different workflow automation tool, automating the workflows they enactment is apt much than possible.

Got questions? Ping maine on Twitter.

Read Entire Article