Let me start by saying that I don’t sell any kind of search engine marketing service, I receive them. However, I am accountable for the success of programs I hire vendors to put in place. If the programs I put in place do not work and I can not show that they were successful, it is me who will take the fall. OK, there is more to it than that. I don’t live my life in fear that if every online program I put in place does not return a high ROI that I will loose my job, but who does not want to do a good job and ultimately succeed? I also have a genuine interest in online marketing and want to work in this field for the rest of my professional life.
As a result of all of this, like a lot of other people, I spend a fair amount of my free time learning about new online marketing ideas and how to perfect the existing ones. I attend seminars, scour the internet, sign up to receive emails, read articles, etc. There is so much junk out there it is hard to sort through it all. I often share my experience with others and get their feedback. I have found that some of my most beneficial learning has come from talking to other about their approach and experience.
Tracking Search Engine Optimization
My most interesting conversations and learnings have been related to search engine optimization. I have done SEO inhouse and hired vendors. I have used all types of vendors. I have used expensive vendors who have large teams and wowed me with great reports and more data than I knew what to do with. I have also used mid sized to smaller vendors. One company I worked with was a two man shop. I had challenges with all of them. Some challenges the same, others different.
Reporting ROI for SEO Efforts
One of the biggest challenges I have experienced with all vendors is how to report ROI. I would get these great looking reports that show all kinds of information. Everything from visibility (higher placement) to higher traffic to estimated revenue. At the end of the day I would often find myself looking at all the information and left asking, “Are these results good?”
Visibility
I am not a fan of reporting on visibility. I have used products like WebPosition and received reports that showed how our visibility has increase X%. So what? I work for a hotel company and I had a vendor brag to me that we had first page placement on Google when you did a search for “Accommodations in North Dallas”. My issue with these kinds of reports is, how many people search for “Accommodations in North Dallas” when looking for a hotel? Instead of “Accommodations” wouldn’t a person just use “Hotels”? Instead of “North Dallas” wouldn’t a person use the name of the suburb that are looking to stay in? So, I want to know how we do when someone searches for “Hotels in Plano”.
I know you want to optimize for multiple words and phrases, but you want to optimize for words and phrases that drive traffic. Visibility reports can be misleading. They can be helpful, but you need to take them for what they are worth. It does not show if you are getting more customers or business, just that you are showing up. Ask questions. Are people visiting your site from search engines? Has our traffic increased?
Traffic
Reporting on traffic growth is much better than reporting on visibility. If you can see more traffic coming to your site through the major search engines you know you are getting benefits from your optimization effort. I have been fortunate enough to work for companies that were able to afford reporting software products that have enabled me to see traffic generated from search engines. Vendors may be able to provide you with reports, but I always feel better if the data comes from my company as opposed to a vendor.
There are issues with reporting on traffic as well. Is the traffic coming to your site qualified customers? Here is a funny story. Years ago, I actually had one guy suggest adding porn related key words to a web site’s content and Meta data. That is an extreme example, but I think you get my point. It is more than just traffic you want, it is qualified traffic that is likely to purchase what you are selling.
Sales & Revenue
Common sense tells me that the best way to track success of an effort is to determine how much money it makes for you. This gets complicated as well. Do you look at growth over last year? Part of what makes this complicated is that internet traffic and the use of search engines are growing. How do you account for this growth? For example, you may see a 25% growth in traffic and revenue by doing nothing because more customers are using the internet and/or search engines. There are other types of growth that you want to consider as well. Growth of the brand that you are supporting for example. Is the brand you are supporting becoming more recognizable? Offline marketing efforts almost always have a positive effect on online traffic.
So, what’s the answer?
There is not a simple answer for all web sites in all industries. However, there are a lot of things that can be done to track the performance of a SEO effort. Here are a few recommendations I can make based on my experience.
First and most importantly, establish a benchmark before the effort begins. Look at the current traffic. Look at how much is coming from the major search engines. If possible, separate paid from natural results. I recommend that you look at year-over-year information. It is great if you can look at last year over the current year and keep tracking moving forward. I understand that not all systems can hold two years worth of data. Keep exports of the data whenever possible. I keep monthly, quarterly and annual Excel reports dating back several years. Believe it or not, I use them very regularly. Even the reports that are several years old.
So, what should you report on? I have made some huge mistakes in this area in the past. It is very easy to caught up in the data and want to report on every little thing. My advice is to keep it simple. This will really help when you are comparing current data to data that was produced previously that may have come from a different system. Report on people and money. In other words, visitors and revenue. Know how many people are coming from the major search engines and how much money they are spending. Keep it that simple.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of other data that is very useful. Conversion rate, average sale, unique vs repeat visitors, what search phrase people are using to find your site, etc. are all great and useful information. However, I always find myself coming back to how many people came to the site and how much money did they spend. The biggest benefit you will get is that it is easy to report on growth. How many people came to the site this month vs last month, etc.
I love data! I can get caught up in looking at numbers all day long and coming up with interesting information that it tells me. Here is the thing, I have always been a part of or run very “lean” organizations. Small teams that are expected to do a lot. I have found that it is more effective for me and my team to spend less time looking over the data and more time on other marketing efforts.
I hope this helps!
OK, I am done for now and I hope my perspective helps. Online marketing is more than my job to me. It is also a huge interest area for me. I am not saying I am some kind of sicko and let it run my life, but I do truly enjoy learning from others and sharing my experiences. There is so much information out there about different online marketing efforts I thought I would add my two cents.
