Predicting SEO Campaign Success

The idea of predicting SEO campaign success is a somewhat tricky one. After all, SEO results can be unpredictable for any number of reasons.

SEO is big business. Consequently, there’s huge pressure for it to produce results. Fortunately, this isn’t traditional marketing we’re talking about. In that venue, tracking results from a particular print ad or direct mail piece can be difficult or inconclusive. In a digital marketing environment, predicting SEO campaign success (or failure) can often be accomplished with a great deal of accuracy. However, this is by no means automatic. It can only happen when SEO has been deployed correctly and measured consistently.

Are You Measuring the Right Stuff?

Competing to be number one for a popular keyword isn’t realistic for most businesses there. How could it be? After all, a small business website can’t compete effectively in a keyword battle with Amazon, for example. Amazon will always win and nothing is going to change that equation. Trying to change that equation is a good way to waste precious marketing dollars. Also, trying to make a killing on a high-value keyword may keep you from concentrating on other things that matter. For instance, traffic vs. conversions.

If you’re predicting SEO campaign success, you have to predict exactly what constitutes success. The truth is that it’s easy to get this wrong. For example, many people focus very heavily on the amount of new traffic to determine success. While that’s clearly a factor for consideration, it certainly can’t be the one one. Why? Because a massive increase in traffic doesn’t necessarily do much for increasing revenue. The reason is simple: if most of these people are never going to turn into conversions, a business isn’t seeing much of a benefit. All that traffic may look great on paper but if these people take no further action, the entire effort is questionable.

Using traffic as your one and only metric can be tricky. For one thing, a lot of factors can affect it, including:

Market changes
Changes in media activity
New competitors
Weather
Routine cyclical variations

Dreamscape Marketing has always maintained that a flood of new traffic must include an increase in the number of qualified leads finding your website. These are the people who are ready to act. They are the individuals close to making a decision to contact you. That’s the mark of a truly successful SEO campaign.

Evaluating Performance & Targets

Predicting SEO campaign success can be problematic. After all, successful SEO doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s not necessarily entirely predictable. For that reason, an SEO agency and its clients have to come to an understanding of what is needed and what can realistically be achieved. That understanding only happens as a result of open and honest communication. To quote an overused business phrase, this is the best to get everyone on the same page.

There’s no one-size-fits-all guide to predicting SEO campaign success. More than likely, there’s going to be at least some trial and error involved. Some things won’t work, other things will work far better than expected. Any missed targets aren’t necessarily the result of a bad SEO strategy. The landscape is always changing. That’s why SEO campaigns sometimes require being tweaked. For example, some targets made before pandemic quickly became unachievable. Does that mean the SEO plan was ill-conceived? No, but it does require a flexible SEO campaign and an SEO agency that can pivot quickly to changing circumstances.