How to characterize the success of an SEO campaign - Case in point

Let's look at the following hypothesis. Arthur, the manager / project manager of an SEO agency, recently concluded two new SEO contracts with very different clients:


Let's look at the following hypothesis. Arthur, the manager / project manager of an SEO agency, recently concluded two new SEO contracts with very different clients:

The law firm, a local law firm that wants to attract businesses that live in the region;
Both campaigns will need to be customized to fit the respective goals of each company. First and foremost, Arthur needs to understand the business goals of customers and how they will affect the SEO strategy.

He can then look at the technical details and find keywords , optimize titles , specify editorial calendars , etc.


Success: accomplishing a goal or goal
It is essential to agree on the criteria for success. Most of the time, ranking the site on one or more key phrases is chosen as the primary performance indicator and there is nothing wrong with that. It is also one of the most proven and tested measures in the SEO world and any campaign that ignores the ranking on keywords is incomplete. That being said, the ranking of keywords is not always the most relevant indicator .

What you and your client consider as proof of the "success" of the strategy depends on a variety of factors. Each customer has different business objectives that will affect the key performance indicators (KPIs) that you will need to monitor .

Sometimes the conversion rate counts more than the site's positioning
1. Hypothesis

Service Gaz Plus is an expert company in the transportation of fluids including gas. The client recently saw a YouTube video explaining how rb_blog can generate more revenue. He has since determined to reach the top position on Google. The company's blog focuses on new accessories for the sector and the technology of the gas industry (vaporizer, solenoid valve, ...). It is already referenced on the first page (TOP 10) on many terms related to the medium, yet the site is struggling to get new prospects .
Arthur is convinced that with a little optimization on the page, the site can be part of the top 3. It sets up a monthly positioning tracking report with a tool ( Monitorank , YoodaInsight , ...) and performs some optimizations.

2. The problem
Three months later ... The site ranks first on a handful of targeted keywords and keyword positioning tracking reports are encouraging, however, lead growth remains weak. The customer sends many emails to Arthur and tries to find out why the number of customers has not increased.

3. The solution
Could Arthur have prevented this delicate situation? First, Arthur could have set appropriate expectations early in the campaign. Some customers have difficulty understanding how SEO works, so it is not surprising that customers tend to view ranking as a single criterion for success. Transposing the customer's needs into a workable 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 reno company https://www.renowebsiteseo.com/ on some keywords as an indicator and gave false hope to the customer. The page optimization allowed the site to be referenced first, but had no impact on the leads. Since the customer's primary goal was to increase leads, conversion tracking would have been a much better tool for evaluating the success of the campaign. For example, if Arthur had set up Google Analytics to count new form submissions, or if he had installed a lead tracking tool, Arthur would be able to provide information about the client's primary purpose.

Understand when visibility is important
1. Hypothesis

Lawyer's Speech is a local law firm. He has been providing legal services to clients in their city for many years. Demand has recently decreased. The client hopes to attract customers from nearby cities and the region. It is categorical: the site should appear on searches mentioning the nearest big city, even if it is about 100 km away from the cabinet. Arthur agrees to build new SEO pages and try to make the site visible in major cities in the region, since this is the stated goal of the client.

2. The problem
Three months later. Although Arthur did his best, he did not manage to reference the site on the big cities of the region. The customer begins to wonder if it would be better to spend his marketing budget differently, especially by buying print advertising in magazines, since he knows that they have worked in the past.

3. The solution
In this example, Arthur's approach was incorrect from the beginning. Although the client has explicitly stated that his main objective is to be referenced in the major cities of the region , his underlying goal is to expand his clientele . Successfully referencing the site of a law firm on cities 100 km away is a difficult task (if not impossible). Thanks Google !

Helping a company increase its average monthly organic traffic (mid-train) is much less difficult and just as useful. Combine that with an SEA acquisition strategy (make your network work) focused on the big cities and you're done. It is your responsibility as an SEO specialist to explain this to your client .

By focusing on keyword referencing, Arthur has limited his speech. The keywords alone do not give a clear picture of the situation. It would have been wise to monitor incoming traffic on the site by acquisition channels. Using Google Analytics, Arthur could have segmented the traffic data to find the location of the audience. A more targeted approach associated with:

an SEO strategy focused on small neighboring communities
an SEA strategy on the big cities of the region
would probably have pleased the customer more.

Ranking is not everything
Success is relative ! What defines the success of an SEO campaign is not necessarily synonymous with success for another. Properly ranking does not always mean success. It is therefore crucial to know how to choose your KPIs. As an SEO professional, you need to understand your client's business goals in order to be able to choose the key performance indicators .

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