If you’ve invested time and money on an SEO campaign, then you’ll want to be reassured that you’re getting results that justify that level of investment. When talking to small business owners, it’s clear that there’s some confusion about how the success of such a campaign should be measured.
In part, I think that this can be attributed to the fact that it takes some time for SEO to produce results. Unlike some alternatives, it’s unlikely to lead to an immediate increase in visitor numbers or sales. Indeed, it may typically take some months to pay dividends.
This may lead you to think that you should not have any expectations during those early months. This could not be further from the truth. A digital marketing agency should be looking to recommend changes to your website and offering advice on target keywords from the outset.
The importance of link building
There is something of a misconception suggesting that the latest SEO techniques rely incredibly heavily on link building. Although links certainly play a key role, they are by no means the only visible sign of early progress.
As the link building campaign picks up speed, it’s reasonable to expect transparency from any provider. They should be willing, for example, to inform you of the positioning of all links.
You’ll want to be sure that they are following an approach that is truly going to be sustainable. If you’re worried about any of the link building techniques that are being used, then it’s worth raising such issues at an early stage. It’s important to remember that many of the links that are being built will have an impact on the profile of your business. How do you want to be seen? Is the right image being portrayed?
Monitoring results
Once the search engine positioning of your website starts to improve, you may imagine that all is well. But this should only be one factor that you are considering. There’s very little point in achieving better search engine positions, if that positioning does not lead to more enquiries, leads, or sales for your business.
That’s why it’s so important that you should measure SEO efforts against the actual aims and objectives of your business. Without doing so, you’ll find that it’s incredibly difficult to identify what’s working well and those elements that appear to be going wrong.
An SEO strategy is rarely static in nature. There’s often an opportunity for you to tweak it and to change course as things progress. You may, for instance, identify the fact that some keywords are leading to better leads than others. In this case, it may make sense to consider the balance of your campaign. Could more effort be put in to certain areas?
Online marketing is all about strengthening your business. If you’re unsure of whether things are progressing in the right way, then it’s perfectly reasonable to ask a few questions along the way.