Measuring SEO ROI
Every business wants returns on every penny spent. To convert every dollar spent on SEO into ROI is a slightly difficult task. The usual ROI formula would be “revenue from organic listings – cost of SEO campaign/cost of SEO campaign” or more simply (Profit-Investment)/Investment. Search Engine Optimization is a different ball game altogether as advertisers or clients are keen to know about the exact ROI (Return on Investment) figures. Of course, SEO can be measured by keyword rankings, revenues, and traffic. However, these keyword metrics are effective to a certain extent and they are not the be all and end all of measuring SEO ROI. For instance can we calculate the exact ROI from the huge advertising campaigns by cola giants like Coke and Pepsi? Can we count how many dollars or pounds have been received out of a full-page advertisement in a national daily? These questions are difficult to answer.
The real picture of this scenario is that not always high rankings ensure the flow of targeted and concrete traffic to the website because some websites optimize for wrong key words, key words with a less conversion rate or words with spelling mistakes. But, of late, Google is considering the correct key words and showing the proper search results. The key to the success of ensuring considerable search results is by choosing the right mix of keywords. Select key words that are popular to searchers and at the same time and also ensure that your products and services remain in limelight. For instance, look for key words that are most relevant for your company and business operations and more specifically the industry segment your company falls in. Only when your website is optimized with the proper key words, will it fetch organic search results. If you are a dealer of electronics, you can attract the online users by using particular key words like laptop, computer, camera, DVD player etc. which will yield better conversion rates.
You will also have to keep in mind about how Google creates separate search results for people staying in different geographical locations. The real challenge lies in using universally appealing keywords in order to enable your online viewers to check out your website in any territory or geography. Rankings are also determined by daily, weekly, and momentary fluctuations.
Unlike paid search such as PPC, SEO rakes in more revenuewhich was reported by an iProspect1study. The research revealed that advertisers got three times higher ROI from SEO when compared to paid search.
The success of SEO in bringing about more ROI is indicated by conversions. SEO ROI can be determined by analytics rather than rankings. The different components of analytics such as conversions tracking, traffic rates monitoring , key traffic sources identification, paid and natural traffic differentiation, transactions,drop-off rates, bounce rates views, signups, shopping cart options, and downloads are offered by analytics providers, the chief one being Google Analytics.
Google Analytics is an absolute free service and provides a detailed analysis of statistics about the traffic of visitors to a website. Almost 57% 2of the 10,000 most popular websites use this service offered by Google.
Key Notes:
- http://www.iprospect.com/about/whitepaper_seometricsandroi_aug05.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Analytics#cite_note-backendbattles-1
Good post. You’ve cheered me up!