After committing time and resources to an SEO Campaign how do you know if you received any benefits from it?  I will be writing a blog series focusing on how to measure an SEO program’s success by reviewing your website’s key performance indicators (KPIs).

Some KPI’s will vary from company to company but many of the important statistics and metrics remain the same for all websites.

SEO Success KPI #1

At EverEffect there is one KPI that stands above them all:

Increase in the Total Value of Outcomes

An outcome otherwise known as a conversion, goal, contact, lead, sale or purchase is simply having a web user complete an interaction with your company because of your website.  For every SEO project you do; you need to be measuring how it impacts the outcome metrics.

• Did that new piece of content you were encouraged to develop bring in any leads?
• Did that link building program increase the call volume to your business?
• Did optimizing for “Indianapolis Ford Dealership” verses “Ford Dealership” positively affect the number of conversions on your website?

If the number of outcomes for your website decreased then you should immediately review the changes to ensure what was done actually benefited your company.  The only way to accurately do this is by keeping in mind that the sheer volume of outcomes is not important; it is the value increase of the total number of outcomes which is important.

That is why companies must calculate (if needed, estimate) the value of each outcome.  What is a phone lead worth to your business?  What is a form submission worth?  What is the value of a newsletter sign up?

Some of these questions are hard to answer but to accurately gauge the effectiveness of your online and SEO program, these are the types of questions you and your SEO Professionals need to be able to answer.

Tune in next Friday when I will be reviewing SEO Success KPI #2 Increases in Brand and SEO Traffic.