Search engine optimization is one of the most important digital marketing strategies used by businesses to gain an increased online presence. But, telling the value of SEO is very difficult. In a paid advertisement, you can check and receive quick results, but that is not with SEO.
SEO is something that involves continuous efforts before you get noticeable returns. It doesn’t automatically mean that SEO is worthless: in fact, it means just the opposite. SEO provides an ongoing trickle of organic traffic, elevates a brand’s credibility, and provides a very solid ROI. The challenge lies in the difficulty of proving these benefits to stakeholders or clients.
How you can show the value of SEO in five easy steps:
Step 1: Set Clear and Measurable Goals
First, define what you mean by success. This can’t be “We want more organic traffic.” Establish clear goals that are actionable and measurable, such as:
- Increase organic traffic by 20 percent within six months
- Achieve top-3 rankings for specific keywords
- Boost organic conversion rates to 15 percent
These objectives give your SEO strategy focus and then provide a yardstick by which you can measure success. When presenting such objectives to stakeholders, tie them to business outcomes. For example, when organic traffic goes up by 20 percent, what does that mean for sales? The only way you can make a plausible case for the value of SEO is if you connect your SEO goals to tangible business results.
Step 2: Use Data to Tell a Success Story
SEO is a data-driven practice and value can be proved with analytics. The best friends here are Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and SEMrush or Ahrefs in this case.
Here’s how you can use the data to your advantage:
- Traffic Metrics: The rise of organic traffic over time, including via key pages, devices, and demographics. Organic traffic often serves as the best metric for ensuring that SEO has been effective.
- Keyword rankings: Using keyword tracking tools to indicate how the rankings have changed over time. Moving from page two to Google page one for improved traffic and visibility.
- Conversion Tracking: Track how SEO not just drives traffic but also leads to conversion. Log form submissions, sales, or leads that occur from organic sources. The more conversions you can attribute to SEO, the easier it will become to prove your ROI.
- Backlink Profile: Highlight improvements to your website’s backlink profile. Better quality backlinks increase domain authority which increases rankings further.
Step 3: Target ROI in the Longer Term
Marketing SEO is not something to be a short-term relationship with. It takes time, though, and when it finally starts producing leads; it provides the rewards and benefits. That’s a pretty significant point in establishing its value, and while the paid ads may come to a screeching halt the day you quit paying for them, the organic traffic keeps coming long after your efforts in SEO.
Emphasize the long-term ROI of SEO when it comes to articulating value:
- Cost-Comparison-Based Argument: Compare the cost of SEO with the cost of paid advertising. In the long term, SEO tends to have a lower cost-per-acquisition than most forms of paid media.
- Long-term Sustained Growth: SEO delivers long-term benefits, such as increased visibility, brand awareness, and trustworthiness with search engines and users.
Step 4: Show the Competitive Advantage
One of the most compelling arguments for SEO is how it can put your business in competitive competition. Every industry has its share of competitors elbowing one another for the top spot at Google. If your website is not optimized, that means they will take the lead, which means they will capture a big share of organic traffic.
Prove your worth to stakeholders with how you beat the competition in organic search:
- Competitor Analysis: Compare your rank with that of your competitors through tools like SEMrush or Moz. Show how your rankings far rank against theirs and areas you are better than them.
- Market Share: Describe how ranking better for high-impact keywords sucks market share from competitors. The first three positions on Google garner about 75% of the clicks, so having a good ranking will easily increase traffic.
Step 5: Communication Value of SEO Beyond Rankings
High ranking on search engines is important and SEO brings value in many unforeseen ways. Here’s a list of some of the best communication values:
- User Experience (UX): Optimal habits in SEO improve the likelihood that a page will load in minimal time and is optimized for mobile usage. An SEO well-tuned always proves friendly to users in the long run. It leads to a higher engagement rate and a lower rate of bounce.
- Brand Credibility: Let alone ranking high on organic results, already increases the credibility of the brand. Customers naturally assume that this is true because they trust Google’s algorithms.
- Holistic Marketing: SEO encompasses many forms of digital marketing like content strategy, social media, and publicity. It explains how SEO supports these pieces by way of increased visibility and engagement.
Conclusion
Proving the value of SEO isn’t just about demonstrating how rankings are higher and traffic is increased. It’s about showing how SEO supports longer-term business goals and delivers a competitive advantage. Through these five steps, you’ll be able to make a compelling case for the value of SEO that reverberates with stakeholders and decision-makers alike. To get the best of SEO strategies, you can hire an SEO company in Dubai.
