How to Value Search Engine Optimisation

One of the common concerns we have with Search Engine Optimisation is that few businesses are fully informed of how to measure the value of performing optimisation and the benefits.

The ‘Con’ First

Often you’re led to believe that getting to page one of Google is ‘it’ for a reasonably specific keyword phrase, and that you should pay for this privilege. But, almost certainly this is not a cost-effective route, particularly if you’re paying a monthly fee. Here’s an illustration for you:

SEO Firm offer:
“We can get you onto page 1 of Google for a relevant phrase for only £79 per month”

The Maths

They write copy for a single page on your site, and optimise it for you (cost to them – £50 copywriting, £30 to research, ongoing cost – negligible). They choose a reasonably relevant phrase for SEO purposes but one without much competition. Total Cost £80 covered by the first month’s fee you’ve already paid.

Your page is likely to get indexed on the first page of Google and they start to bill you. They can pretty much sit on their hands for the next 2-3 years without doing anything and your total cost will end up being about £1k a year!

So, what do you get out of it… let’s say that the phrase gets 1,000 searches a month and you’re in position 5… then you probably get about 1-2% of the click throughs, so say 15 visits a month.

You’re actually paying, therefore, about £5 per click through… but you’ll be reassured that all is well because you’re on page one!

How to Value SEO – Our Tips

1. Get Analytics installed on your site. It doesn’t have to be Google Analytics, but if you’re not sure then use Google as it’s pretty comprehensive and free of charge. Without analytics, you won’t be able to measure your traffic and where they go to and come from. You are flying blind!
2. Work out what a site visitor is worth to you. It is easy if you already perform Pay Per Click as you will have a good idea what the average cost per visit is to you for relevant phrases. If not, then you need to work out what value you get from visitors – what is your yield per visitor? If you still cannot get a handle on this, then ask us to value your search engine optimisation and well help you find the right cost.
3. Target specific, relevant phrases. Make sure you are not led by the SEO Firm, they are there to serve you so make sure that the phrases they’re working on will work for your website and are as relevant as possible to your offering.
4. Measure only your incremental improvements. If you have an established site, then don’t let the SEO claim all your natural traffic – make sure you measure the improvement they made to your visitor numbers and website traffic. Also, make sure they don’t claim brand name searches for your site – as you should come top regardless.
5. Then measure the SEO on performance. Now that you’ve done this, then the rest should become clear – the value of the work performed for your is the incremental traffic which you can attribute to the SEO multiplied by the value you put on an additional visitor…

And there you have it. If you want any more tips, we’re more than happy to discuss your requirements. Just get in touch with Ergo. Call the Online  Marketing Specialists on 01962 605 000, or email in.