You are here, searching for SEO marketing near me, because you want results. The problem is, many businesses pay for search work for months without being able to answer the most important question: is more of the right traffic reaching us and is it resulting in business? Reports arrive full of charts, but that question is often left unanswered.
Start with the right measures
Rankings are a great tool for analysis, but they are not the be-all and end-all. A page can be ranked number 3 for a phrase that doesn’t convert. The main focus of optimisation should be on organic clicks, lead generating calls and form submissions, and ultimately sales that are attributed to search. For each of these goals, look at the conversion rates and find ways to improve them. The only way to judge improvement is to have a starting point, so the next most important thing (after analysing the data you have) is setting up goals in Google Analytics.
Look at trends, not single weeks
Nothing is worse for search traffic than seasonality. Relying on past data is only good for showing trend and directional changes. Compare the last three months to the previous year to better show positive changes. A steady, gradual increase is much better than a sharp, unusual increase.
Check the quality of the visitors
An increase in the number of visits is futile if users don’t stay for long. Identify landings and check how long users engage. Locate users who leave the site after contacting you. Users who read your service pages and then contact you are more valuable than users who read a blog post and leave. Low quality content may attract an audience that isn’t interested in your service.
Keep an eye on the technical side
Work in the background makes the biggest impact. Optimise your page load speed, delete crawl errors, fix your site structure and make your mobile pages work. Your service provider has evidence of work done and can easily explain the importance of their work. Ask to see the evidence and the explanations.
Watch your local visibility
If your business operates within a limited service area, then listings and local search results play a major role in driving calls to your business. Monitor your business profile to see how many times it appears, how often people request directions or call your business, and if people are leaving reviews. Genuine and positive reviews can be one of the stronger signals to help Google determine your business relevance for local searches.
Connect search to your wider marketing
Search doesn’t work on its own. A consumer’s name search of your brand typically happens at the end of their client journey, and is often influenced by other marketing channels such as email, social and paid marketing. Increasing trending for branded searches usually indicates that your other marketing efforts are working. Compare your search data to your marketing campaigns, and ask your provider how their different channels work together, because the best results come from integrating the different channels of your marketing efforts.
Be patient, but not passive
Search takes time, but that is not an excuse for silence. You should see audits completed, technical fixes made and new or improved pages published within the first three months. Around month four, you should begin to see movement in visibility and enquiries. If nothing happens by month six, ask what the hold up is and what will change.
Know the warning signs
You should be concerned if your provider can’t explain monthly activities, reports are only about impressions, or work consists of buying links/thin content in bulk. Sudden and unnatural progress can attract a penalty. Good work is progressive and easily explained.
Review regularly and ask questions
Have a short monthly meeting with your provider to stay on track. What did they change? What did they learn? What’s next? If they can’t communicate clear answers to those questions aligned to your business goals, it’s time for an honest conversation or to seek a second opinion.