About a decade ago, SEO was not something commonplace or even something considered to be a business necessity. Today things are very different. According to an article published by Forbes magazine, SEO services are essential for businesses today. Some of the reasons for this include outreach, cost-effectiveness and the fact that it is currently a marketing norm.
Evidence of how important SEO services are in this day is evident with the amount being spent on the same. A current forecast suggests that an excess of USD 80 billion will be spent on SEO services within the US alone by the year 2020.
How Can I Tell if the SEO Services I am Investing in are Worth It?
The SEO industry, like the digital world in general, is one that is fast changing. Apart from known current trends in SEO, clients need a way to gauge whether or not the services they are investing in are doing their business any good. We’re going to elaborate on a number of metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) to help you gauge the level of the SEO services you are receiving.
A Little more on Metrics
For those of you who may be unclear on what we mean by metrics or KPIs, we’re talking about standards of SEO success that can be measured and hence, can also be quantified. The data points we elaborate on below are ones that can help you judge how effective or not the SEO work being done for you is or isn’t.
Organic Web Activity/Traffic
This relates to the number of visits or hits you get on your website via general web browsing as well as information on user activity while logged in to your site. The reason this is an important indicator as opposed to the total web traffic is that SEO services are meant to help your company or business rate higher via Google rankings when relevant keywords are searched. Higher rankings mean your site link and meta details will show up on the first page (ideally) of Google search results and higher up on the list of results.
This helps generate organic traffic; hence, good SEO services can translate to an increase in organic web activity. You can use Google Analytics to easily track your progress in this area and see if your organic traffic correlates to your SEO efforts.
CTR
Your CTR (click-through-rate) is indicative of how many people proceed to visit your site against how many people ran search queries where your details showed up. A poor click through rate may indicate to a need to improve aspects of your SEO.
Aspects you can work on to improve your CTR include page content and even more importantly – meta tags. A high CTR means your meta tags and other site information is catchy enough to generate attention or curiosity.
Bounce Rate
The bounce rate is the term used to measure the number of site visitors who do not stick around on your page and leave after viewing the first page they click on. This could mean that your SEO is lacking once again by way of web content or even by way of overall website design.
A low bounce rate would mean that people are clicking on your links and continuing to explore your site which means you have managed to hold their attention.
Page Speed
If you have a highly optimized website, one of the things you will need to be mindful of is page speed. Your page speed may be inversely affected by certain site additions, which is why it is important to keep ensuring that your site can take the load of whatever is being added.
A reliable SEO service provider will also help ensure that your site speed isn’t affected. Efficient site speed means higher usability and user retention.
Keyword Rankings
Keyword rankings are quite changeable hence most reputable and competent SEO companies make sure their professionals are up to date on the same. Luckily, as a business owner who is investing in SEO, keyword rankings are also something you can look into yourself. Relevant Google searches will tell you exactly where the keywords being used rank in the general scheme of things.
If you find the SEO company you have hired is consistently using low ranking keywords, this might just be a red flag.
Domain Authority/Relevance
Domain authority or relevance describes how the Google engine algorithm/interface reads and perceives your website. Relevant and up to date content and SEO strategies result in higher domain authority. This means you rank higher and will also have access to an automatically generated knowledge graph. Though it is not easy to gauge your domain authority, you do have online tools that can help you with the same.
Fresh Back links/Referring Domains
The term incoming links is used to describe the general body of web-based links which direct users to your main site or page in their entirety. Referring domains, on the other hand, refers to domains that are not directly related to your site and hence can be described as unique.
References and links from external or unrelated sites improve your overall domain authority and any good SEO service will ensure that these are in adequate supply!
Winding Down
The metrics or KPIs mentioned above are the ones most easy to gauge and understand as a user or client. There are other indicators that you could also look into such as crawl errors and local visibility. Other metrics such as conversion rates require setting up of priorities and goals, which is in a sense one of the most important things to do when it comes to your SEO.
Proper search engine optimizing is a specialized process; working with an experienced and competent SEO company is of utmost importance. If the SEO services you receive are up to the mark, the benefits it will bring to your business are immense. The points discussed here should help you determine whether or not the company you have chosen is really on the ball!
