As a business owner or marketer, you’ve likely asked yourself: “Is SEO worth it?” The answer is a resounding yes, but you need to be able to prove it. SEO is not just about increasing search traffic or improving keyword rankings; it’s about driving revenue, generating leads, and growing your business. In this guide, we’ll explore the value of SEO and provide you with actionable tips on how to prove its impact on your business. Whether you’re a startup or a large corporation, it’s important to demonstrate the ROI of SEO efforts and show how they contribute to your company’s bottom line.
Key Takeaways:
- SEO is a valuable marketing channel that offers a high return on investment (ROI) and converts to revenue at a higher percentage than most marketing channels.
- Proving SEO value requires tying SEO efforts to business metrics, such as sales, leads, market share, and revenue, rather than just SEO metrics like keyword rankings and search impressions.
- Identify the metrics that matter most to the business and build out a marketing funnel to showcase how search traffic leads to business outcomes.
- Use better metrics to prove SEO impact, such as lead forms, phone calls, newsletter signups, and revenue, rather than poor metrics like search impressions and keyword rankings.
- Reporting is key to connecting the dots between SEO efforts and revenue-generating metrics, and tools like Google Analytics 4 and Amplitude can be helpful in measuring and attributing results.
The Value of SEO for Businesses
Before we probe the nitty-gritty of proving the value of SEO, it’s necessary to understand why SEO is so crucial for businesses in the first place.
Return on Investment (ROI)
There’s no denying that SEO offers one of the highest returns on investment among various marketing channels. With billions of people relying on search engines to find answers, conduct research, and make purchases, businesses have seen significant benefits from investing in SEO.
Conversion Rate
Investment in SEO typically yields a higher conversion rate compared to other marketing channels. As an inbound-based marketing channel, SEO allows interested customers to seek out your business, increasing the likelihood of conversion.
Plus, when someone searches for a specific product or service, you know exactly what they’re looking for, making it easier to tailor your content to their needs. This targeted approach leads to a higher conversion rate and ultimately, revenue.
Search as a Powerful Tool
Rate of growth aside, search engines have become an integral part of our daily lives, connecting consumers to businesses in a highly scalable way. The value of SEO for businesses has never been greater, making it an necessary component of any marketing strategy.
Return to the fact that search engines are the starting point for many purchases, and businesses have reaped the benefits of that over the years. By investing in SEO, you’re increasing your chances of being found by potential customers, ultimately driving revenue and growth.
Common Mistakes When Trying to Prove SEO Value
Any attempt to prove the value of SEO can be derailed by common mistakes that undermine the entire effort. Two significant errors can lead to frustration and disappointment.
Not Generating Any Value
The first mistake is not generating any value to prove in the first place. This occurs when SEO efforts are misdirected, ineffective, or lack a clear strategy. If your SEO campaigns are not structured correctly, you may not see any tangible results, making it challenging to prove their value.
Using the Wrong Metrics
The second mistake is trying to prove SEO value by using the wrong metrics. Some SEO practitioners focus on highlighting keyword ranking improvements, search impressions, and traffic changes in Google Analytics. While these metrics are crucial for SEO efforts, they are not sufficient to demonstrate the value of SEO to business leaders.
With the wrong metrics, you may be able to show improvements in search engine rankings or traffic, but you will struggle to connect these metrics to business outcomes, such as sales, leads, market share, or revenue. This is a critical mistake, as business leaders care more about the bottom-line impact of SEO than its technical aspects.
Instead, you should focus on metrics that matter most to the business, such as lead forms, phone calls, newsletter signups, and revenue. By doing so, you can build a marketing funnel that showcases the growth of search traffic and its direct impact on business outcomes. This approach will help you demonstrate the true value of SEO and its contribution to business growth.
Understanding the Right Metrics to Prove SEO Value
Many businesses struggle to prove the value of SEO, often because they’re focusing on the wrong metrics. To truly demonstrate the impact of SEO, you need to tie your efforts back to business metrics, not just SEO metrics.
Why SEO Metrics Are Not Enough
If you’re trying to prove SEO value by highlighting keyword ranking improvements, jumps in search impressions, or changes in traffic, you’re not telling the whole story. These metrics are important for SEO efforts, but they don’t necessarily translate to business outcomes.
Tying SEO Efforts to Business Metrics
Tying your SEO efforts to business metrics is crucial to demonstrating the value of SEO. This means focusing on metrics like sales, leads, market share, and revenue, rather than just SEO metrics.
Understanding how your SEO strategy impacts your company’s bottom line is necessary. By identifying the metrics that matter most to your business, you can build a marketing funnel that showcases the growth of search traffic and its direct impact on business outcomes.
Identifying Key Metrics That Matter Most to the Business
Enough of focusing on vanity metrics like search impressions and keyword rankings. It’s time to focus on metrics that drive real business results. This might include lead forms, phone calls, newsletter signups, revenue, or other metrics that are specific to your business model.
Right from the start, it’s necessary to identify the metrics that matter most to your business and build a reporting system that connects the dots between SEO efforts and business outcomes. By doing so, you’ll be able to prove the value of SEO and demonstrate its impact on your company’s growth.
Poor Metrics to Avoid When Proving SEO Impact
Unlike traditional marketing metrics, SEO metrics can be misleading if not properly contextualized. Here are some poor metrics to avoid when proving SEO impact:
Search Impressions
Impact of increased search impressions on business outcomes is often unclear. While it’s great to see more people viewing your content, it doesn’t necessarily translate to conversions or revenue.
Any increase in search impressions may not necessarily lead to more sales or leads. Focus on metrics that directly impact your business goals.
Keyword Rankings
Avoid using keyword rankings as a primary metric to prove SEO impact. Rankings can fluctuate daily, and a high ranking doesn’t guarantee conversions.
Avoid relying solely on keyword rankings to demonstrate SEO success. Instead, focus on how those rankings translate to tangible business outcomes.
Average Keyword Ranking
Search engines use complex algorithms to rank keywords, making average keyword ranking a poor metric to prove SEO impact.
Keyword ranking is just one aspect of SEO. Focus on metrics that demonstrate how SEO efforts drive business results, such as lead generation or revenue growth.
Domain Rating/Domain Authority
When measuring SEO success, avoid relying on domain rating or domain authority metrics. These metrics don’t directly impact business outcomes.
Another key point to remember is that domain rating and authority are just indicators of a website’s credibility, not direct measures of SEO success.
Better Metrics to Prove SEO Impact
After identifying the poor metrics to prove SEO impact, it’s imperative to focus on better metrics that demonstrate the value of SEO efforts. These metrics should be tied to business outcomes and revenue growth.
Below are some better metrics to prove SEO impact:
Lead Forms
With an increase in search traffic, you should see a corresponding increase in lead forms submitted. This metric is crucial for businesses that rely on lead generation, such as service-based industries or B2B companies.
By tracking lead forms, you can demonstrate how SEO efforts directly impact the number of potential customers expressing interest in your business.
Phone Calls
Any business that relies on phone calls to generate revenue should track this metric. With SEO efforts driving more search traffic to your website, you should see an increase in phone calls from potential customers.
This metric is particularly important for businesses like lawyers, doctors, or home service providers, where phone calls are a key conversion point.
This metric is also important because it can help you understand the quality of your search traffic. If you’re driving more phone calls, it’s likely that your search traffic is highly targeted and relevant to your business.
Newsletter Signups
On your website, you may have a newsletter signup form that allows visitors to stay updated on your business. With an increase in search traffic, you should see a corresponding increase in newsletter signups.
Forms that capture email addresses can help you build a list of potential customers and nurture them through the sales funnel.
By tracking newsletter signups, you can demonstrate how SEO efforts help build your business’s marketing pipeline.
Revenue
Newsletter signups are just one example of how SEO efforts can drive revenue-generating activities.
With an increase in search traffic, you should see a corresponding increase in revenue. This metric is the most important for businesses, as it directly impacts the bottom line.
By tracking revenue, you can demonstrate how SEO efforts drive real business growth and impact the company’s financial performance.
Lead generation is a key metric for businesses that rely on lead-based sales models.
Tips for Effective Reporting and Measurement
All too often, SEO practitioners focus on reporting SEO metrics, such as keyword rankings and search impressions, without connecting the dots to revenue-generating metrics. To effectively prove the value of SEO, you need to tie back SEO efforts to business metrics that matter most to the organization.
- Focus on metrics that matter: Identify the metrics that matter most to the business, such as lead forms, phone calls, newsletter signups, and revenue.
- Build a marketing funnel: Showcase how search traffic leads to business outcomes by building a marketing funnel that demonstrates the growth of not only search traffic but also key conversions.
- Use tools to measure and attribute SEO impact: Leverage tools like Google Analytics 4, Amplitude, Fathom, Twilio, Contact Form 7, and more to measure what happens after a search visitor hits a website and connect the dots to revenue-generating metrics.
Building a Marketing Funnel
You need to demonstrate how specifically that search traffic led to business outcomes. Building a marketing funnel helps to showcase the growth of not only search traffic but also key conversions.
Tools for Measuring and Attributing SEO Impact
An arsenal of tools is available to help measure and attribute SEO impact. Tips for using these tools effectively include:
Tips for using these tools effectively include setting up goals and conversions in Google Analytics, tracking phone calls and form submissions, and leveraging attribution modeling to understand the impact of SEO on revenue.
The Importance of Connecting Dots to Revenue-Generating Metrics
Little by little, you need to connect the dots between SEO efforts and revenue-generating metrics. Reporting solely on SEO metrics, such as keyword rankings and search impressions, won’t cut it.
Reporting is king, and being able to prove the value of SEO is part art and part science. You need to be able to talk about the value in a way that executives and business owners understand and care about.
To wrap up
Hence, to prove the value of SEO, you must tie your SEO efforts to business metrics, not just SEO metrics. Afterwards, identify the metrics that matter most to your business and build out a marketing funnel showcasing the growth of search traffic leading to business outcomes. Additionally, use tools like Google Analytics 4, Amplitude, Fathom, Twilio, Contact Form 7, and more to measure what happens after a search visitor hits your website and connect all the dots. Consequently, being able to prove the value of SEO is part art and part science, requiring both driving results and communicating value in a way that executives and business owners understand and care about.
FAQ
Q: Is SEO worth the investment?
A: Yes, SEO is worth it. It’s one of the highest ROI marketing channels, providing a higher conversion rate than most marketing channels. SEO allows interested customers to seek out your business, resulting in valuable leads and revenue.
Q: What are the benefits of SEO for businesses?
A: SEO offers several benefits, including a high return on investment (ROI), a higher conversion rate than most marketing channels, and the ability to connect consumers to businesses in a highly scalable way. Additionally, SEO is an inbound-based marketing channel, allowing interested customers to seek out your business.
Q: What are the common mistakes people make when trying to prove SEO value?
A: Two common mistakes people make are not generating any value from their SEO efforts in the first place, and trying to prove SEO value by using the wrong metrics. It’s imperative to tie back SEO efforts to business metrics, such as sales, leads, market share, and revenue, rather than just SEO metrics.
Q: What are some poor metrics to prove SEO impact?
A: Some poor metrics to prove SEO impact include search impressions, keyword rankings, average keyword ranking, and Domain Rating/Domain Authority. These metrics do not directly correlate with business outcomes and revenue.
Q: What are some better metrics to prove SEO impact?
A: Better metrics to prove SEO impact include lead forms, phone calls, newsletter signups, and revenue. These metrics directly correlate with business outcomes and revenue, allowing you to demonstrate the value of your SEO strategy.