Measuring SEO

1. SEO: How to measure its effectiveness, What Google Says and Resources required to start SEO

2. Parameters For Measuring SEO Results 1. Rankings • One of the most important factors of SEO. • Though Rankings alone not sole representative. 2. Backlinks • Monitoring Backlinks help in checking the progress of SEO. • Backlinks are incoming links to a website or web page. • Backbone of SEO • One must ensure positive velocity increase in the number of Backlinks

3. Parameters For Measuring SEO Results(Contd) 3. Average Time on Site: • Helps the owner know that whether he is on the right track or not. 4. Bounce Rate • Recorded as a user reaches a site and leaves without navigating • Tells a lot about a specific page and content • Tells how users interact with that content. 5. Conversions: • Conversions are the bottom-line .

4. SEO Success Pyramid • Highlights the layers to explore. • Try to account for each of the pyramid’s layer • It will ensure the campaign has went off well.

5. Google ’s views on SEO • Advertising with Google for web presence is useless. • Never accepts money to include sites in their search results • Costs nothing to appear in organic search results. • Provides Webmaster Tools that gives ways to optimize the website for organic search. • Advises on selection of appropriate SEO firm. • Suggests some questions to be asked to the firms.

6. Google ’s views on SEO(Contd) Google advises the Internet Marketers to: • Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that send emails out of the blue. • It stresses that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. • Be careful if a company don't clearly specify what they intend to do. • Never have to link to an SEO. • Choose wisely. • Be sure to understand where the money goes.

7. Unacceptable Practices of SEO Firms • Owning shadow domains • Putting links to their other clients on doorway pages • Offering to sell keywords in the address bar • Not distinguishing b/w actual search results and ads. • Guaranteeing ranking, but only on obscure, long keyword phrases • Getting traffic from "fake" search engines, spyware, or scumware

8. Resources Required to begin an SEO Campaign 1. Time: • Hire a full time marketing individual or company: a) Give ample amount of time b) Increase the campaign costs • Use someone who is already part of the staff: a) Trade-Off b/w costs and experience • Website owner tries to do all the work himself: a) Could lead to sidetracking of company’s vision Hence a dilemma of time, cost and direction trade off is prevalent.

9. Resources required to begin an SEO Campaign(Continued) 2. Finances • Model One- Billable hours • Popular consultant model • Value of a consultant’s work is consistent at all times or on an average basis • Some flaws in the model: i) Rates based largely on reputation, not ability. ii) Everyone has strong, medium and weak hours in their labour, not consistent iii) Projects are susceptible to the unexpected.

10. Resources required to begin an SEO Campaign(Continued b) Model Two – Pay Per Project • Outlines the goal, scope and outcomes of a project. • Sets a flat fee for the effort. • Too high price gives freedom of leaving some features • Lower price gives them freedom to pocket savings. c) Model Three- Pay For Results • Consultant paid based on the performance of the outcomes of the work.

11. Resources required to begin an SEO Campaign(Continued) 3. Human Resources • Continuous updating of the web pages is required. • Different type of professional writers hired to write content for their sites . • Content writers, SEO writers, web developers are quite common. • Trade off involved between time, man hours and finances

12. Resources required to begin an SEO Campaign(Continued) 4. Tools • SEO tools available to increase the rankings. • Also available to track the website’s success. • Can help figure out what keywords are the most popular. • Also show which searches people use to end up at the relevant page.

13. THANKYOU