How to evaluate SEO campaign success — Cassie Dell // Searchmetrics

Quotes

• “I always tell the client, avoid looking at just some part of the data. Some people just get stuck at reporting one important project where they feel they are most tied to and then theyre missing half a picture or theyre only looking at desktop and not mobile.” -Cassie

• “Make sure to look at every single thing weve looked at everything weve implemented on this project to make sure that we can track everything we do.” -Cassie

• “Its an interesting philosophy that you need to look at the data in aggregate but you also have to look at it from a very segmented point of view where SEO projects that are mostly on the technical side, we see not so great results but then you split them up with desktop and mobile and all of a sudden youre seeing a significant decrease in one and a significant increase in the other.” -Ben

• “Timeline is definitely some of the most important things. So lets say, its been three months and we dont see a lot of movement. However, as you say, in that mobile section we tend to see a lot of movement, some things could be really successful in one category and not successful in the other, so keep an eye on that.” -Cassie

• “Also the way we segregate things, especially keywords according to our business, its helpful to look into that as well because different segments, or different as an e-comm site. Lets say we sell candle and pillows and pillows is doing really well, picking up on all these things, maybe thats just an easier industry to get into.” -Cassie

• “Whereas something like candles can be a little bit more trickier and take longer and has more competition. So things like that, thats why we granularize and segregate all that data because in some areas, it could work quicker so its helpful for us to audit all that.” -Cassie

• “You mentioned the timeline. I think this is something that a lot of non-SEOs that are evaluating the effectiveness of SEOs get frustrated with. But you just dont have a great sense of how, when and why Google is going to adjust your rankings based on your content. And there is some predictability once you start seeing a ball moving but Google decides to start re-prioritizing your content, itskind of up in the air.” -Ben

• “Keep a pulse on whatever Google is doing so you can do a good job on indicating on some upcoming important things or ranking factors. As youre working on content, lets say you have a strategy going on for a while, it is knowing that that authoritative content needs to be there. It needs to have some type of backing to it, adjust the strategy accordingly and you will be in better shape to know that performance is going to follow, not only for whats good of your company butalso whats good in Google favoring that kind of content as well.” -Cassie

• “Im a big fan of going back to the SEO strategy part of our conversation. When youre setting the expectations and youre trying to say, Hey, if we implement this project, we think this will be the outcome, setting a range for time of how long you think it will take.” -Ben

• “You could set milestones and checkpoints to give your leadership data, let them know that youre evaluating the campaigns but also giving them the time to get to maturity. The biggest problem with SEO for marketers is, it can be slow to develop channel and you have to continually invest in it for you to actually see the fruits of your labor.” -Ben

• “Being flexible is really important in SEO. Dont hold yourself on those really difficult bars.” -Cassie

• “Understanding the overall landscape is something that you need to look at. Context matters. It could impact how youre evaluating your campaign. Remember that your campaign is not happening in a vacuum. The changes youre making in it are not the only thing that is happening to your site. Its very hard to get a true isolated test when were talking about search.” -Ben