New to the SEO World - Understanding SEO

[sookaman]

Hi All,

This is my first time using the Webmaster World forum.

I am keen on understanding more about initiating, planning and implementing a SEO campaign. Any advice or guidance would be appreciated.

[aakk9999]

Hello sookaman and welcome to WebmasterWorld.

It is very difficult to answer your question without knowing a bit more on the background as the answers - do you already have a website that you want to plan the SEO campaign for, how old it is, has it had any SEO done at all in the past, have you defined what you want to achieve as a result of a SEO campaign. It would also help to know if you have ever done any SEO before or not.

You might also have a read of the following thread which may help:

Returning to SEO after 5 years - please bring me up date
Jun 30, 2014
https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4683839.htm [webmasterworld.com]

[sookaman]

Hi aakk9999 and thanks for you reply.

I have multiple website that I manage and I provide some SEO services for. This is generally and more so on page with some off page such as indexing site to google, add to webmaster tools and submit sitemap, create Google my business and Google+ account, create other social media accounts.

However, my question is more so geared toward understanding deliverables and reporting during the SEO process. In short, how do I illustrate the success of a websites SEO?

[FranticFish]

For each website, ask yourself what it aims to do for the owner (e.g. sell products, sell advertising, generate business, push affiliate sales or leads, and so on).

Answering that question tells you what you need to measure. You can also look at measuring the steps towards a 'conversion' action - this is usually called the 'funnel'.

You should also ask yourself what the visitor / customer would expect the site to do. What sort of people are your target market? Can you narrow down your audience by age, sex, interests and other factors?

Understanding your audience and their needs then tells you what you need to do with the website, the sort of content to use on the site (and in your online marketing), and what other websites you want to be associated with.

[aakk9999]

Exactly what FranticFish said.

Different websites have different aims and therefore SEO sucess is measured differently. Ideally, you will define what you consider your "conversion" and measure that.

You could look at the traffic increase, but you have to be careful here because your traffic can increase by attracting non-relevant traffic that will never convert - in this case this would not be a SEO sucess.

In the past some of KPIs were ranking position for a relevant basket of keywords, number of keywords driving traffic, number of keywords ranking on the page 1 of SERPs, but these days it is much more difficult to measure these because of keywords not provided and personalisation. It is still possible however to get a very crude picture on these using Google Webmaster Tools / Search Console. Whilst this data is lacking a lot, it can indicate larger ranking shifts.

However we are way beyond evaluating SEO based on only keywords/ranking and ultimately, you need to define your own measurable criteria for each website you operate and this will depend on the space it operate and the type of website itself.

[sookaman]

I guess that is the issue I am finding with SEO, it is all very vague and there are usually "round-about" or "it depends" type response given. As you have mentioned, the clear measurable indicator is conversion, that is, turning website visitors into paying customers (sales).

Is this measured through an SEO campaign that from the date SEO work starts the clients business starts making more money?

[tangor]

SEO is such an ambiguous term (and mostly used incorrectly) that there is no general answer or list of steps.

To determine a site's success is exactly the same as the success of a brick and mortar location: net profit.

This is just common place business sense.

You can manage your net profit by doing things that bring business into the location and a sales pitch that will convert those visitors into buyers. Makes no difference what the product/service might be. The larger the net profit, the better the business is doing, and the long term objective is to continue what works and stop what does not work in that regard.

Locate what your conversion is (ads, product, services, manufacturing, entertainment, travel, etc) and how it is accomplished on a web site, and start from there.

[sookaman]

My clients seem not to care too much about the traffic reports that I send them about their website, or even that their website is ranked number one for keyword(s).

The key concern for any business owner is...net profit, sales, revenues, making money really. So how do I then translate this so it shows that my hard SEO or Webmaster work is paying off?

[tangor]

Are you rolling out these "seo" changes over a period of time, or all at once? If gradual, then your reports will not show magic shifts in "results".... the changes will be too small, though year on year reporting (if you have that earlier data) will show that difference.

If the client is not knowledgeable re: the workings of the web and analytics then you can't EASILY prove anything to them. That's the nature of the beast.

As for ranked number one for keywords, that won't mean a thing if they are not the RIGHT keywords, and that sometimes happens with the best of intentions and effort.

[FranticFish]

The key concern for any business owner is...net profit, sales, revenues, making money really. So how do I then translate this so it shows that my hard SEO or Webmaster work is paying off?

If sales are made on the website then this is very easy to track. If sales are made offline then you want to track leads. Form completions and emails sent are very easy to track. Phone calls are a little harder - and only free if you use AdWords.
See [adwords.blogspot.co.uk...]
and [google.com...]

[aakk9999]

year on year reporting

This is what I do, for web sales, traffic and ranking for agreed basket of keywords. There is a corelation, although there were also cases where traffic and ranking stays the same/similar but conversion increase if the on-page usability is improved.

But this also means that they should listen if you suggest some changes to pages that according to your judgement, would improve conversion.

Have you asked your clients what would they like reported from you and start from there?

[sookaman]

To be quite honest, no questions have been asked by my clients but I want to be able to demonstrate the hard work I am putting in... for SEO sake (pardon the pun)

As it all happens in the background, the clients don't actually see the hours that are put in.

[tangor]

If you are in a client relationship, stick with the web guru, technician, coder paradigm. Avoid the SEO label if possible as they will expect that! Some of us see SEO as an occupation similar to rainmaker, snake oil salesman, and water dowser.

[netmeg]

Just make sure you know what you're doing before making sweeping changes. Bad SEO can be worse than no SEO. (I'm a little shocked you took on SEO services for clients before knowing much about SEO)

[samwest]

^ "give a (boy) a rope he wanna to be a cowboy" - uncle gus

[Leosghost]

(I'm a little shocked you took on SEO services for clients before knowing much about SEO)

Hell, I'm not..just look at the number of people who sign up here and use SEO in their nick and then ask questions that make it obvious that they have no idea what it means, still less on how to use it, but as their "clients" have no idea either, they get away with calling themselves an SEO..

The blind leading the blind..and the process(ion) is usually lubricated by copious amounts of snake oil..

Like writing MD after your name..because you bought a first aid kit..

I came across this recently..as usual the comments there made me laugh more than the article..although the title of the article did raise a grin out of me..;)


[theregister.co.uk...]

How many people see SEO.

[sookaman]

I am pretty taken back by some of the responses here. My purpose in joining this forum was to find out more about SEO, as I DO NOT want to be one of those "SEO cowboys". I am looking for good resources and I actually want to be able to demonstrate good SEO with purpose and measurable results not vague definitions and explanations that are usually given.

For the record, I did not take on the project due to my lack of knowledge in the area.

[tangor]

@sookaman Please! Don't see some of these comments as negative because each and every one (including those that sound negative) are the best possible advice that can be given.

SEO is a buzz word. It is not an accounting program or science, and more than half the time it does not even qualify as voodoo.

BUT,. there are some steps that can be taken which have measurable value, and those steps you seek and concentrate on first. All that other lovely fluff comes later.

Any business site needs to see a ROI and if that ain't happening, then the site is not a "success", though it might be a necessary market tool and web presence.

Know what the site is expected to do, then do everything possible to make that happen in the most easy and transparent way for THE USER, and as is often said, Content Is King: The site has to have that kind of value before all the other add ons are bolted on.

1. Site content and purpose
2. Make site visible (ie. get indexed)
3. Conversions (whether sales, leads, or other)
4. Sufficient measurable activity (usually logs, sometimes 3rd party reporting) to see what is happening... and maintain historical data, too.
5. Rinse and repeat every day of the year.

That's real Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

If reporting success is dollars and cents, then make those reports happen. If traffic, show that. If conversions of anything else, show that as well. Most times your server logs will give you this faster than anything else.

While not expressly SEO, if you don't handle lost bandwidth to bots and other automated stuff your reports can be less accurate. That's also in the dollars and cents category as bandwidth does have a cost. There's more to look at on this side of the equation, but perhaps a bit outside of the OP question.

[sookaman]

Thanks for all of the productive information you have provided @tangor +. I will do further SEO research to get more of a grasp on it all, if that is even possible.

[tangor]

@sookaman

Just look at how to be successful as a webmaster first. All that "other stuff" will flow from that. Promise.

SEO, bless it's putrid heart, has led many down paths which should never be chased.

Do the site, do for the user, do for the BUSINESS (if that is what you are about) and that's all the "search engine optimization" you require. Remember SEO (as per the paradigm) expressly exists to GAME the search engine and provides NO BENEFITS to your clients, customers, or visitors to your website.

Or, as commonly known: Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.

[Robert Charlton]

As you have mentioned, the clear measurable indicator is conversion, that is, turning website visitors into paying customers (sales).

Depending on the kind of thing you're selling, a sale might be a quick purchase, or, if a high ticket item, there might be a long process.

If the latter, "conversions" can be measurable interactions which convert the visitor into someone who is actively using your site for resarch, and perhaps signing up for newsletters, downloading a whitepaper, or watching a video. You want the site to be useful to the visitor, and to keep the visitor engaged, informed, entertained, whatever... it depends on the type of site.

For certain types of items/services, you might also recommend to the client that retaining a customer is as important as getting a new one, and therefore you'd want to include information, eg, on the use and maintenance of the product. I'm finding that maintaining this post-purchase engagement is a common point of failure on many websites.

The process can be different for every type of site and every type of product. It's becoming clear also, to many marketers, that user-engagement doesn't necessary just begin and end with the website. The site can be tied into a longer chain of user engagement. Telephone sales, prompted by a website, eg, are something you might want to measure. It's not always easy to track everything. Depending on how much time, effort, and money is involved, you might want to get special phone numbers for specific campaigns, offer coupon codes in emails, etc.

There's an area of web marketing known as "attribution marketing" (one of several names that can be used), where you try to determine what parts of your marketing efforts most influenced your sales. A joke connected with this (and this joke came before the web and before SEO), is that a company knows that half the money it spends on marketing is wasted... it just doesn't know which half.

We have a forum here at WebmasterWorld on analytics and metrics, which might be helpful to you in exploring such questions.

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 8:19 am (utc) on Oct 30, 2015]

[Walt Hartwell]

@sookaman,

There have been several instances in the past where I've provided what I considered well thought out responses to someone's posted question. Somewhere later in the thread there is a mention made that their fiverr blast of 100k exact match comment links should have had more impact.
Honestly, it makes a person jaded.

Keep asking questions as everyone here has learned from others. Specific questions will usually get better responses than broad questions.