Test question

[DigitalMarketingInstitute]

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[SamuelScott]

What's the #1 goal of the client? You need to show how organic search has improved that goal. For example, if it's an e-commerce site, then you want to track revenue coming from organic search (and perhaps social media, if you're doing that). If it's a B2B company, then you want to track the number and quality of leads coming from organic search (and perhaps social media, if you're doing that).

All of the other types of reports -- keyword rankings, growth in links, amount of traffic, and so on -- can also be included. But the examples above are what your client will (or should) care about the most. That's the #1 thing by which you will be judged. It's about the bottom line.

[DigitalMarketingInstitute]

Thanks Samuel! - That's an excellent list.

In terms of SEO Metrics, a lot has changed in recent times due to the difficulty with gathering the required information (not provided) and how the overall industry is shifting.

Would you have any recommendations on metrics you would report to clients on a monthly basis?

[SamuelScott]

Thanks for the question. Although every website is different, here's one general process:

1. Goal identification -- What role does the website play in the marketing process? Is it an e-commerce site that sells B2C products? Is it for B2B lead generation? Think about the big picture and how the website should be optimized to get the traffic to do exactly that. For the latter goal, you may examine landing pages, calls to action, and more and make recommendations as far as conversion optimization. As far as reporting, choose what metrics you will report to the client based on the goals. Set the benchmark numbers before you begin work so you can show your progress.

2. Technical SEO audit -- Nearly every website has problems (duplicate tags and content, 404s, 302 not 301 redirects, slow page-load time, mobile ready, and a lot more). What about local SEO? These types of things are low-hanging fruit that can usually be addressed quickly and will typically give a nice boost to the client at the beginning to prove the future value of SEO. Search Moz posts -- there are a lot of good ones on what should be included in audits.

3. Keyword research and content -- After you've done this, think about how the site should be structured as far as keyword-based hierarchy. What short-tail keyword should be targeted on pages and what long-tail ones should be used for, say, blog posts? Then, write or optimize content based mainly on the user intent behind the keyword. See what types of content rank top in Google for those terms, and do one better than them.

4. Use social media and PR to promote the content on the site and the company a whole.

Repeat three and four indefinitely. Good luck!