How To Monitor Your SEO Results
Monitoring the results of your search engine optimization campaign might not be as difficult as you think. Chances are if you have done your search engine optimization correctly it is working and its success depends on how much. Everyone has a different definition of success when it comes to SEO so make sure you are dealing with apples to apples when trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t. Search engine marketing is a slow process that takes time so make sure you understand that results will take time as well.
Analytics: If you don’t have any analytics tracking on your website that should be the very first thing you do. We recommend Google analytics because it is free and very powerful. You can track the progress of your SEO campaign by analyzing new daily traffic numbers directly from your search marketing campaign.
Phone Calls: Has the phone started ringing a bit more at your business? If you see an uptick in phone calls coming into your business chances are your company is starting to receive more traffic which is most likely a direct result of your search engine optimization efforts you might have recently executed.
Leads: Is your website really starting to produce more leads through your lead form? If you have more leads funneling through your corporate site chances are your search engine optimization and marketing efforts are really starting to take shape. If you are looking to start search engine optimization for your website only with anticipation of seeing ROI immediately you won’t. Search engine marketing is a long term investment that takes time to see especially if you are in a slightly competitive market.
Movement: My advice is to not get greedy. If you have a website that has been sitting around far back in the search results for a very long time and you all of a sudden see movement from your search marketing efforts be happy. Every space and niche grows increasingly difficult to obtain rankings in each and every day so if you are starting to see good movement be happy about that. Don’t be angry because you are not on page one yet.
Search Results: Are the search results for your business name starting to fill up nicely? You do realize that many people search online for branded keywords before they decide to make a purchase with someone so it is important to have the search results for your business name filled up at least a few pages out if you can.
Website Activity: Has your analytics information received a jolt of power after starting your search engine marketing and SEO campaign? If your SEO is starting to work you are going to see some activity in your analytics software.
SEO is a long term process where every month you have certain elements that compound on top of each other which eventually drive power to a certain destination point which is usually a website. Everyone has different idea of what SEO success means to them or their business. Some understand that it is a long term growing process and others don’t seem to get it at all. The good thing is that your efforts will always stay visible in search results of you continue to push them out the right way.
13 Responses to “How To Monitor Your SEO Results”
The Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Journal is Written by SEO Expert:
Nick Stamoulis
Tel - 781-999-1222
nick@brickmarketing.com
Brick Marketing - SEO Company
This is a nice way to break down ways to measure your SEO success. I find that analytics provides a massive amount of this information but as you said, leads and enquiries can be measured just as easily.
Thanks Rob for reading and sharing your thoughts!
I always recommend keeping it simple too. Sometimes, people tend to over analyze their analytics data…
Thanks again & Take care,
Nick
If you were going to put them in order of when they should occur, after Analytics I would put Movement, Search Results, Web Activity, and then put Phone Calls and Leads together as Conversions.
If your website is beyond page 3, you need to get to where the searchers can find you. Although they may be a few who search beyond page 3, not many will. So, the first thing you’ll see is Movement – and if it is done properly, you should see substantial movement in a reasonable period of time. Seeing some movement in a year is not going to cut it anymore.
Once your website reaches page 3, you will see some Search Results – now comes the fun part. Now you need to ramp up your efforts to get past the people who have spent a lot of time, effort and money to get where they are, and they’re not going to want you to knock them off. As you move up the rankings you will see more and more search results. When you make it to one of the first five positions on page 1, That’s when you’re going to see a substantial increase in Conversions – make sure you’re ready to handle them.
Hi Joseph,
Thanks for reading and sharing all of your great thoughts and recommendations. Once you hit top 5 positions the conversion rate does significantly increase!
Take Care,
Nick
Some really good pionts Nick! I think the best point you made was that SEO is much like investing money. The interest you accrue eventually begins to build on itself and compounds other marketing efforts. Much like investing though…PATIENCE is key!
Mike
Another great article Nick!
I personally would stress that page ranking is the ultimate goal isn’t it? SEO strategies all aim to achieve website optimisation to ensure people can find you within the search engines.
Leads, phone calls and conversation rates don’t necessarily relate to search engines, but in essence the effectiveness of your website and the user experience.
All good points though and another great read! (“,)
Kind Regards,
James
Hi James,
Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts!
The bottom line is the bottom line! SEO should not work in a silo and yes rankings are part of it (but not the good measurement alone), increasing visitors and looking at conversion metric, etc, is just as if not more important than rankings.
Anyway, that is my 2 cents…
Thanks again for reading & take care!
Nick
Yes, Nick.
You are absolutely right. Your tips on SEO are more brief and understandable according to my knowledge. I must mark your website unique and give more preference to gain more seo knowledge.
I just want to start working for some clients in the coming days personally. What is your view on it?
Great article, thank you. I repeatedly see the term “reasonable time”. What constitutes “reasonable time”….weeks? months? If so, 3 – 6? 6 – 9?
Hi Ron,
Thanks for reading and your comment!
It is all relative to the life cycle of your website and history as well. Also competitive factors play into this as well. For instance, if you have a new website targeting a national audience in a very competitive industry it might take you 6 months to do well on long tail keywords and 2 years to do well on highly competitive keywords…
Hope this helps and thanks again for reading!
Nick
Thanks Nick. I am now six months into a $1,250./mo SEO campaign (all the bells & whistles), and mine is an extremely competitive industry. I’ve hardly budged. All things considered, (price, competitiveness, results-to-date) am I throwing a lot of good money after bad money every month?….or worth it to keep fighting???
Hi Ron,
Thanks for reading and your question!
Without seeing your website or knowing nothing about your specific situation, I would say yes. SEO/Link Building (white hat of course) should help build your brand and trust of your website long term. I would also ask this question to your current SEO firm
Thanks again for reading!
Nick
A lot valid points in the article, id say that every SEO campaign is individual and you have to keep track of both your work and your goals, this way both the agency and the customers are happy.