SEO is a very powerful tool, but it requires time and is often expensive for a website owner. Furthermore, far too many SEO specialists are content to track positioning to demonstrate the success of the actions implemented . But very often, this is not what their clients want!
In reality, what they want is to obtain a positive return on investment (ROI) on their SEO campaign . So, to truly satisfy their client, the SEO must first of all know their economic objectives before being able to define the actions to be taken and the performance indicators (KPIs) to be monitored .
To clarify this concept, which is often overlooked by SEO consultants, we invite you to explore the concrete case of two websites with different business goals . You will thus discover the solutions that should have been implemented to ensure good results for the SEO campaigns carried out.
There are so many different scenarios that it would be impossible to detail them all. However, these SEO campaign examples will help you understand the general logic. You will then be able to:
implement the strategy best suited to your needs;
define the right KPIs to measure its results.
Quick read: summary of what you will discover in this articleToday, we're going to look at the following scenario. Arthur, the project manager at an SEO agency, recently signed two new SEO contracts with very different clients:
Service Gaz Plus, a company specializing in the storage and distribution of all gases, which wishes to increase leads through its blog .
The law firm “Parole d'avocat”, a local firm that wants to attract companies that live in the region .
Both campaigns will need to be customized to fit each company's respective goals. First and foremost, Arthur needs to understand the clients' business goals and how these will impact the SEO strategy .
He will then be able to look at the technical details :
implement the editorial strategy ,
find keywords ,
specify editorial calendars ,
optimize SEO hot spots ,
etc.
Finally, you will find a brief summary of the key stages of an SEO campaign and the most used indicators to measure its success.
Success: the accomplishment of a goal or objectiveIt's essential to agree on success criteria. Most of the time, the website's ranking for one or more keywords is chosen as the primary performance indicator. And there's nothing wrong with that! It's one of the most tried and tested metrics in SEO, and any campaign that ignores keyword rankings is incomplete.
That being said, keyword ranking isn't always the most relevant indicator .
What you and your client consider to be evidence of the strategy's "success" depends on the outcome of a variety of factors. Each client has different business objectives that will affect the key performance indicators (KPIs) you will need to monitor . Does the client want to:
Increase sales or drive a specific action on your site (such as signing up for the newsletter, downloading a white paper , etc.)?
Boost brand visibility at the local level?
Become a national brand ?
Improve the ergonomics of your website?
Of course, a successful SEO campaign should improve each of these areas. However, to maximize its effectiveness, you need to choose the right performance indicator .
Sometimes conversion rate matters more than site ranking1. Hypothesis
Service Gaz Plus is a company specializing in the transportation of fluids, particularly gas. The client recently watched a YouTube video explaining how blogging can generate more revenue. Since then, he's been determined to reach the top position on Google.
The company's blog focuses on new accessories and gas industry technology (vaporizers, solenoid valves, etc.). It is already ranked on the first page (TOP 10) for many industry-related terms. However, the website is struggling to attract new leads .
Arthur is convinced that with a little on-page optimization, the site can be in the top 3. He sets up a monthly positioning monitoring report with a tool ( Monitorank , YoodaInsight , etc.) and makes some optimizations.
2. The problem
Three months later… The site is ranking first for a handful of targeted keywords, and keyword ranking reports are encouraging. However, lead growth remains slow . The client sends Arthur numerous emails, trying to figure out why the number of customers hasn't increased.
3. The solution
Could Arthur have prevented this sticky situation? First, Arthur could have set appropriate expectations from the start of the campaign. Some clients struggle to understand how SEO works, so it's no surprise that clients tend to view rankings as the sole criterion for success .
Translating customer needs into an actionable strategy that will improve the company's revenue is part of your responsibilities. If the customer's expectations are wrong, you need to steer them in the right direction .
Arthur chose SEO for certain keywords as an indicator and gave the client false hope. On-page optimization helped the site rank first, but had no impact on leads. Since the client's primary goal was to increase leads, conversion tracking would have been a much better tool for assessing the campaign's success.
For example, if Arthur had configured Google Analytics to count new form submissions or had installed a lead tracking tool, it would be able to provide insights into the client's primary goal.
Understanding when visibility matters1. Hypothesis
Parole d'avocat is a local law firm that has been providing legal services to clients in their city for many years.
However, demand has recently declined, so the client hopes to attract customers from neighboring towns and the region .
He is adamant that the site must appear in searches that mention the nearest major city , even if it is about 100 km away from the office.
Arthur agrees to build new SEO pages and try to make the site visible in major cities in the region, since that is the client's stated goal.
2. The problem
Three months later… Even though Arthur has done his best, he hasn't managed to get the site listed in the region's major cities . The client is starting to wonder if it might be better to spend its marketing budget differently, perhaps by buying print ads in magazines, since it knows these have worked in the past.
In this bolivia phone number dataexample, Arthur's approach was flawed from the start. Even though the client explicitly stated that their primary goal is to rank in major cities in the region, their underlying goal is to expand their client base . Getting a law firm's website to rank in cities within 100 km of the site is a daunting (if not impossible) task. Thanks, Google!
3. The solution
Helping benin phone number data a business increase its average monthly organic traffic (mid-tail) is much less difficult and just as useful. Combine this with a SEA acquisition strategy (work your network) targeted at major cities and you're good to go. It's your responsibility as an SEO specialist to explain this to your client .
By focusing on keyword SEO, Arthur limited his pitch. Keywords alone don't paint a clear picture of the situation. It would have been wise to monitor incoming traffic to the site by acquisition channel using Google Analytics . Arthur could have segmented the traffic data to understand the audience's location. A more targeted approach combined with:
an SEO strategy focused on small neighboring towns
an SEA strategy on the major cities of the region
Implementing these actions would probably have satisfied the customer more!
The stages of an SEO campaignAs you can see, first of all, you need to understand your client's goals! Of course, similar actions must always be implemented, particularly with regard to the 3 pillars of SEO :
content,
