The way I view the format of an SEO Strategy deck is simply:
Tell them why the team exists
How you're going to operate
What over-arching goal is
How these goals support the business goals
How you're going to measure success
What resource you need to get there
What actions you're going to take to get there
How you're allocating resource
The frequency of review and amending the strategy
So far I've covered most of these elements, but haven't yet covered the precipitant factor: why the team exists and how you're going to operate.
This should be the first slide (after the cover slide) and should definitely go before the summary slide of the four disciplines of execution). The Vision, Mission & Goals sets the scene and should get the audience excited as to what's to come. It gives a benchmark of your ambition and focuses the mind on the clarity of the strategy you're about to present.
The Vision
This focuses the team and senior leadership on what you want the end state to be at a point in the future. If you have few issues to resolve then the Vision may be at the state of SEO at the end point of that strategy - perhaps 3 years. If you have a lot to resolve, it may be an end point many years in the future and that you're simply working towards that end point.
It needs to be ambitious and galvanise the team and stakeholders around purpose.
It should be clear on that you need to change state i.e. it should start with either "become" or "be".
It should also communicate the importance you would like the department having to the organisation in the future.
The Mission
This is a one (at a push, two) line articulation of why the team exists. It should be ambitious and clear. It should also enthuse the team around a singular purpose.
It should look at the team's impact beyond SEO and how it will contribute to the success of the oganisation and it should cover how you will deliver that value.
To break it down:
1. Deliver value
Whether that's retail sales, registrations, ad revenue. This is your primary yardstick - the business' lag measure.
2. How you're going to do it
This will be the core strategic element - this is how you're going to deliver the change. It could be "effectively aligning resource, focus and effort"
it should clearly state you're moving to a state of (greater) focus and clarity around the projects that will deliver the greatest impact on your goals.
3. Acknowledging the here and now
This later part many not always be relevant. But a good strategy to my mind should acknowledge that often that strategic change takes time, perhaps 1+ years and you still will have to deliver incremental growth by nudging certain resource in the meantime.
Bringing the elements of a good Mission together we have:
Deliver X by doing Y given Z.
Goals
This first slide should articulate ~three goals. But the number and nature of this will be dependent on a number of factors.
1. Central Strategic Objective
Clearly it should specify a target metric for the primary problem to solve you've articulated in the strategy - the single, clear problem that's holding back performance and if you solved it you would unlock a massive amount of value.
This wouldn't be a business-level lag measure, but the next is. Your first goal should be a department-lag measure that predicts success for the business-level lag measure.
2. Business Level Lag Measure
The second should be business-Level lag measure and tie into the value the strategy aims to deliver in the Mission Statement.
3. Specific Business-Wide Programme
Every organisation is in a state of flux and most have strategic initiatives that SEO needs to support. That may be a rebrand, replataform or reorganisation. Ensure you understand how you can define the impact you would have on that primary initiative.
For a rebrand it may be average rankings for the new brand name for not only the exact match but also CX-level broad matches to the right type of content - but crystalise that sentiment with a clear goal - don't worry about the detail here.
For replatform - this may cover not exceeding a maximum drop in Organic traffic x days after migration compared to the period before.
For a reorganisation - that may be supporting a department team morale/survey score.
Possible enhancement - Values
I didn't need to call out values as I talked to them in the deck when I reviewed the RAG status of "Ways of Working" . But you can talk about the moral compass of the team, the approach of inclusivity and cooperation with other teams - a desire to always come out of meetings with the best ideas, not necessarily the "SEO team's ideas". There's quite a lot from product management can help here, especially the 12 principles of Agile.
Summary
The Vision, Mission and Goals are about setting your stall out - making it crystal clear of why you exist, how you're going to do it and what you're going to achieve. The next slide will be the summary slide that will cover the Four Disciplines of execution: what are main areas of focus, your principles of focusing on the activities that drive progress against those rocks, how you're going to measure the movement and how you're set up to enhance your approach.