ROI. And lots of it

The key to SEO is ROI. Making a return on the investment in SEO is the only reason to commit longterm to SEO in the first place. In order to track SEO effectively deliverables must be agreed and a monetary value assigned to each before the commencement of the campaign so it can then be measured effectively against the pre-SEO stats and therefore SEO Campaign ROI can be calculated.

1. Tracking SEO

In order to track ROI for an SEO campaign we must:

  1. Define the goals of the SEO Campaign
  2. Establish the baseline from which to measure from
  3. Implement SEO and collect data after agreed timeline
  4. Compare baseline data with new data
  5. Refine the SEO campaign

Some possible SEO goals:

  • increased sales
  • more leads
  • more ad revenue
  • increased traffic
  • more downloads
  • increased donations
  • more sign ups / subscriptions
  • increased offline store sales

2. Smart

SEO is as measurable as PPC and significantly more than most offline marketing channels. However, it is important that the objectives of an SEO campaign are the right objectives. We use the SMART plan.

Setting SMART objectives:

  • Specific objectives - we set very specific objectives e.g. 45% increase in site traffic.
  • Measurable objectives - the specific objectives must be measurable e.g. analytics software/Apollo.
  • Achievable objectives - the specific objectives must be attainable with the resources available e.g. budget.
  • Realistic objectives - the specific objectives must be realistic in the content of general resources available e.g. ability for website to deal with increased traffic.
  • Time-bound milestones and deadlines - the specific objectives must be time-bound so as to be measurable e.g. 45% increase in site traffic within 9 months of start of SEO.

Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-bound objectives.

3. KPIs

In order to measure the specific objectives the performance of the SEO campaign is tracked on a day to day basis using Key Performance Indicators.

The KPIs we use for SEO campaigns are:

  • Number 1 Rankings
  • Top 30 Rankings
  • Position Changes
  • Keyword Traffic
  • Keyword Conversions
  • Traffic by Engine
  • Traffic by Referrer
  • Link Popularity
  • Entry and Exit Pages

All the above KPIs can be monitored daily using our Apollo campaign management software which each Place1 customer has there own log in to.

"All KPIs are constantly measured by Apollo campaign management software and are viewable 24hrs a day."

4. What’s my Return?

How do we estimate your ROI for the campaign before commencement? Two steps - first we estimate the SEO Revenue, and then we estimate the ROI of the campaign.

1. SEO Revenue = Number of searches on your keywords x est. click through rate x est. conversion rate x est. transaction amount (profit per sale/lead value etc)

Keyword phrase ‘casio digital camera’ has 90,500 searches per month in the UK. Using an average click through rate of 10% for page 1 ranking (number 1 ranking on page 1 on Google has a 40% click through rate), an average conversion rate of 5% (industry average) and a profit per sale for each camera of £100 we get:

SEO Revenue = 90,500 x 10% x %5 x £100 = £45,250

2. SEO ROI = SEO Revenue/ SEO Cost

Using an estimated average monthly SEO cost of £2000 for a large complex e-commerce site in a very competitive industry and including the initial 6 months of work with no returns we get:

SEO ROI = £45,250/£12000 = an ROI of 3.7x

but then for every month after month 6

SEO ROI = £45,250/£2000 = an ROI of 22x

What's my Return

  1. SEO Revenue = Number of searches on your keywords x est. click through rate x est. conversion rate x est. transaction amount (profit per sale/lead value etc)
  2. SEO ROI = SEO Revenue/ SEO Cost

5. SEO ROI vs Offline advertising ROI

SEO is significantly cheaper, more effective and more accountable as a marketing channel than offline advertising such as magazines, newspapers and television. The saying ‘As seen on TV’ is being replaced with ‘As found on the web’. In fact, every £1 spent on online advertising drives £6 offline spending (Yahoo study, 2007).

Every £1 spent on online advertising creates £6 offline expenditure in stores

6. SEO ROI vs Pay Per Click/Adwords ROI

  • 85 % of searchers click on natural results.
  • The top 4 paid for slots are the equivalent of positions 7 to 10 in natural listings making a top 3 natural ranking worth 3 times the paid for number 1 position.
  • 43% of all users make up to 3 visits over a couple of days to complete the sale - meaning PPC will cost significantly more.
  • PPC prices are susceptible to market forces - and the more competition the more expensive they become.
  • PPC listings disappear once the daily budget has been reached.
  • Incorporating SEO into a Paid Search Campaign can increase click thrus by 91%, orders by 45% and time on site by 38%. (ICCrossing Report)

Online Performance Percentage change when integrating natural and prepaid search.

Downloads

Download this page as a PDF