Test question
-
..
-
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.
-
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?
-
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!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Newbie Question about the first steps of website SEO
Hello. I'm new to Moz and know very little about SEO. I just finished going through the Beginner's Guide to SEO and I'm ready to take action. I plan on doing the SEO work myself. The guide says before doing keyword research, I should first answer certain questions about my business, such as: What types of my product are people searching for? Who is searching for these terms? When are people searching for these terms? How are people searching for my product? There are several more. How do I go about finding the answers to these questions? Thank you in advance.
Keyword Research | | KathyAshley1 -
Keyword question
I am trying to rank for the long tail keyword "Personal Injury Lawyer Vancouver". If I want to still rank for this keyword can I add an "in" in between lawyer and Vancouver and can I make Lawyer plural? Will this give me the same results? THanks, Jonathan
Keyword Research | | H1_Marketing_Solutions0 -
Question about Google Keyword "match type."
When using google keyword tool what type of match type do you find most helpful? broad, exact match, phrase? I know they all have their own benefits, but if you just want to test out which term gets more searches I'm not sure what the difference is between the exact match and phrase. Thanks!
Keyword Research | | NoahsDad0 -
Question about keyword analysis
I am working on a keyword analysis for a range of keywords. I want to target these keywords in the Denver market. I know if you search google for something like "IT Support" and you are located in Denver it knows where you are and caters the results to be more Denver IT Support oriented. I did notice that those results are different than if you search for "Denver IT Support" My pages are optimized for the Denver market and the keyword like "IT Support" but I am a bit confused on how I should be doing my research into keywords. Should I be putting Denver into all my keyword analysis research even though I still want to rank for just the keyword when they are searching from the Denver area. I hope this all makes sense. I guess I just need some guidance on how to deal with the location specifics of my keywords. Thanks in advance for any help.
Keyword Research | | ZiaTG0 -
Do the search engines kind of test you out at a higher ranking for a short period of time?
I ranked very well for my keywords. They are not competitive. Nonetheless, I got convertible traffic to my blog. Suddenly, I run a search for the keywords and there is this other website ranking higher than me. it seems to be a new website. No data on opensiteexplorer. So, the only thing that I can conclude and which I've been thinking that google does is to test new webpages out for a bit higher up on the rankings. If the bounces are lower than average, then I suspect that they will give you better rankings in the future. Is this somewhat how it works?
Keyword Research | | jamesjd70 -
Choose domain name! Question..Help me.
Hi, i like to start the strong project like a jobs bord. My question is, i was thinking to buy a broad keyword domain or brand. From my experience, and seo strategy, i believe or ithink to start with brand name, unique brand name, and i can build more naturaly backlinks or all type of seos, maybe is better than a jobs domain. What do you suggest me?
Keyword Research | | leadsprofi0 -
Title tag punctuation question?
I know that exact matches in the title tag are more powerful but how much will using an ellipse the title affect my results? For example I would like to use "What is… Actinide?" instead of "What is Actinide?"
Keyword Research | | joehaddock0 -
Help selecting KWs based on their difficult to rank for and KW tool question
I've done all of my keyword research, and now I'm selecting the KW's. In a previous question, seomoz had answered to pick a mix of easy, medium, and difficult words to rank for. How do I know which are easy, medium, difficult? The KW Difficulty Tool is not very specific. Is the level of difficulty related to where the phrase pops up for my company in search results? Are hard words ones that you do not already rank in the top 50 search results? When selecting KWs should I choose words that rank already in the top 50 that I'd like to try to move up? Or look for NEW phrases/words not in the top 50 results? Also, when entering KW phrases int the KW Difficulty Tool, Rank Tracker, and in Campaigns - do I need to use quotation marks if it is a phrase? I noticed that the KW difficulty tool has different results if you use quotation marks. Lastly, The person who did SEO before me has a list of KWs he optimized for, would it be valuable for me to include his words in my On-Page optimization efforts?
Keyword Research | | aircyclemegan0