If you’ve invested time and money on an SEO campaign, then you’ll want to be reassured that you’re getting results that justify that level of investment. When talking to small business owners, it’s clear that there’s some confusion about how the success of such a campaign should be measured.
In part, I think that this can be attributed to the fact that it takes some time for SEO to produce results. Unlike some alternatives, it’s unlikely to lead to an immediate increase in the number of visitors or sales. Indeed, return of investments may typically take months before you get to enjoy it.
This may lead you to think that you should not have any expectations during those early months. Nothing could be farther from the truth. A digital marketing agency should be looking to recommend changes to your website and offering advice on target keywords from the outset.
The importance of link building
There is a fair amount of misconception suggesting that the latest SEO techniques rely heavily on link building. Although links certainly play a key role, they are by no means the only visible signs of early progress.
As the link building campaign picks up speed, it is quite reasonable to expect transparency from any provider. They should be willing, for example, to inform you of the positioning of all links.
You’ll want to be sure that they are following an approach that is truly going to be sustainable. If you’re worried about any of the link building techniques that are being used, then it’s worth raising such issues at an early stage. It’s important to remember that many of the links that are being built will have an impact on the profile of your business. How do you want to be seen? Is the right image being portrayed? It’s questions like these that play a crucial role in determining the success of your SEO campaign right from the get go.
Monitoring results
Once the search engine positioning of your website starts to improve, you may imagine that all is well. But this is not a reason for complacency, this is but a single factor among many others that you should carefully consider. There’s very little point in achieving better search engine positions if that positioning does not lead to more inquiries, leads, or sales for your business.
That’s why it’s so important that you should measure SEO efforts against the actual aims and objectives of your business. Without doing so, you’ll find that it’s incredibly difficult to identify those elements that appear to be going wrong from those that are working well.
An SEO strategy is rarely static in nature. More often than not, there’s an opportunity for you to tweak it and change course as things progress. You may, for instance, identify the fact that some keywords are leading to better leads than others. In this case, it may make sense to consider the balance of your campaign. Could more effort be put into certain areas?
Online marketing is all about strengthening your business. If you’re unsure whether or not things are progressing in the right direction, then it’s perfectly reasonable to ask a few questions along the way.
As a search engine optimisation professional, Keith Barrett has worked on numerous SEO campaigns. He believes that any SEO project should be cost-effective and produce positive outcomes that can be clearly measured.
