Search Engine Optimization Evaluation
Anyone considering employing a Search Engine Optimization company to undertake a Search Engine Optimization project will need to know how to monitor SEO performance and how to evaluate the effectiveness of the SEO campaign. Whereas monitoring Search Engine Optimization performance is simple, evaluating the effectiveness, and particularly the cost-effectiveness, of a Search Engine Optimization campaign is considerably more complex.
SEO Performance Indicators
Since the only direct result of a Search Engine Optimization project is an improvement in search engine rankings for selected search terms, evaluating SEO performance is relatively straightforward. Monitoring search engine rankings for the selected search terms provides a direct measure of the effectiveness of the Search Engine Optimization techniques employed. All other website performance indicators - visitor numbers, page views, conversions, sales - involve confounding factors which are outside the control of the person implementing the Search Engine Optimization. The only true SEO performance indicators are therefore the search engine rankings for the targeted search terms.
Evaluating SEO Case Studies
Many Search Engine Optimization companies present case studies of SEO projects they have undertaken as evidence of their Search Engine Optimization capabilities. Search Engine Optimization case studies often conceal more than they reveal. Learn to look beneath the surface and one finds that many case studies show a distinctly unimpressive Search Engine Optimization performance. Remember, firstly, that the Search Engine Optimization company is able to select its best performing projects to use as case studies and then may choose only to show the results for the target search terms which performed well.
Danger signals when evaluating a SEO case study include:
- High rankings achieved only in obscure, low traffic search engines
- Poor or absent rankings in the major search engines - Google, Yahoo, MSN
- Failure to provide search engine ranking data prior to Optimization
- Results which have deteriorated dramatically from those claimed
- No mention of the SEO company on the client's website - who did the SEO?
- Targeting only a very limited number of keywords or keyphrases
- Optimising for keyphrases which have little or no search traffic
- Implying that number of search results equates to level of competition
- Targeting words which are flagged by search engines as misspellings
- Optimising for singular forms of plural search terms, or vice versa
- Rankings achieved with links from low quality, unrelated sites or link farms
If you have any doubts about the validity or honesty of the results, approach the company cited in the case study direct and find out their views on the effectiveness of the Search Engine Optimization campaign. They will undoubtedly tell you if it was a commercial disaster, achieving high rankings but not bringing any traffic. However, they may be more guarded if they've made serious sums of money as a result of achieving sustainable high rankings for relevant, high traffic search terms - people like to retain a little mystery about the true source of their success.
