How To Show Accurately Projected Results That Shareholders & Clients Can Plan Around<\/h3>\n
It\u2019s your responsibility as the expert to ensure that SEO is a priority.<\/p>\n
This can be done through strategic planning that your clients and stakeholders can trust.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look at two ways you can do that:<\/p>\n
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- Use SEO forecasting<\/a> to better predict, select, and validate your marketing objectives, SEO goals, and business goals; with this, you can provide valuable insights to marketing directors, commercial managers, or finance directors.<\/li>\n
- Identify hidden or less obvious opportunities for growth through organic search and validate them with SEO forecasting. You\u2019ll show the value of the opportunity and what it means as an investment.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
1. Use SEO Forecasting During SEO Strategy Creation To Validate Attainable Goals<\/h2>\n
Your first step to building your SEO strategy is to choose your goals and objectives.<\/p>\n
These goals should be the north star that every part of your strategy works towards.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve probably had to answer questions related to business objectives such as:<\/p>\n
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- What is the percentage increase in non-brand organic traffic we can expect with an investment?<\/li>\n
- If we invest, how much additional revenue or leads will we receive from an increase in our organic search traffic?<\/li>\n
- What will our ROI look like in 12 months\u2019 time if we invest in improving our non-brand organic search traffic?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Using SEOmonitor\u2019s Forecast<\/a>, you\u2019ll be able to answer these questions and secure your value as a thought leader.<\/p>\n
Also, you\u2019ll be able to explain these metrics, set expectations, and provide insight into where best to invest your marketing budget.<\/p>\n
With the answers to those questions in your pocket, you\u2019ll be able to start building the foundation of a highly-understandable SEO strategy that stakeholders will love.<\/p>\n
As I\u2019m personally a fan of the \u201cSMART objectives\u201d framework, I recommend you use it to build out your strategy, as it forces you to consider if your objectives are truly measurable and achievable.<\/p>\n
One example to guide you can be: \u201cIncrease non-brand organic search traffic by X% within 12 months and Y% within 24 months while improving the website conversion rate for our agreed conversion goals by Z%.\u201d<\/p>\n
How To Validate Your SEO Objectives<\/h3>\n
Let\u2019s look at an example to understand how forecasting helps create and explain these measurable and specific objectives.<\/p>\n
In this example, I\u2019m working on a real estate and property website, which I\u2019ll call \u201cProperty Search\u201d.<\/p>\n
Property Search gets around 5 million organic search sessions a year.<\/p>\n
My potential goals are to:<\/p>\n
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- Maintain and grow the non-brand organic search traffic the site is already receiving.<\/li>\n
- Grow the organic, non-branded search traffic for new areas of opportunity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
What I need to answer next:<\/p>\n
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- What is the percentage increase?<\/li>\n
- How would this affect conversions?<\/li>\n
- What would an ROI look like in 12 months?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Now that you have your questions in mind, you can use SEO forecasting to help you make sure those metrics and goals are truly attainable.<\/p>\n
Define Your Keyword Data On A Granular Level<\/strong><\/p>\n
The more granular you structure your keyword data, the better.<\/p>\n
Define your information architecture and group strategic clusters of search phrases together.<\/p>\n
SEOmonitor provides a folder and group structure<\/a>, which helps you set up the level of granularity you need.<\/p>\n
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- Create Folders<\/strong>: When I set up my keyword research data for \u201cProperty Search\u201d, I\u2019ll opt to create individual folders to represent a top-level category in the information architecture (e.g. Offices or Retail).<\/li>\n
- Create Groups<\/strong>: Then, inside of each folder, I\u2019ll create groups that represent a sub-category (e.g. For Sale or For Rent).<\/li>\n
- Add Keyword Phrase Clusters<\/strong>: To each group, add clusters of keyword phrases that relate to the category or sub-category in question.<\/li>\n
- Add To SEOmonitor<\/strong>: These search phrases are either fed into SEOmonitor via Google Search Console and Google Analytics upon account setup or manually via your own keyword research methods.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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![\"SEO](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/seo-forecasting-3-unique-ways-to-prove-the-value-of-seo-to-clients-stakeholders-via-sejournal-seomonitor.png\")
Image by SEOmonitor, September 2022<\/span><\/div>\n<\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\nThis level of granularity lets you create different forecast scenarios based on your selection of specific folders or groups. That\u2019s how you can validate relevant metrics against different objectives.<\/p>\n
In order to forecast metrics for my first objective \u2013 \u201cto maintain and grow non-brand organic search traffic the site is already receiving\u201d \u2013 I start the forecasting process in SEOmonitor with the folders and groups I have structured that relate to \u201cProperty Search\u2019s\u201d current organic search footprint.<\/p>\n
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![\"SEO](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/seo-forecasting-3-unique-ways-to-prove-the-value-of-seo-to-clients-stakeholders-via-sejournal-seomonitor-1.png\")
Image by SEOmonitor, September 2022<\/span><\/div>\n<\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\nCreate & Test A Reliable SEO Strategy Scenario<\/strong><\/p>\n
The SEOmonitor forecasting solution provides you with all the key variables you need to create a reliable scenario:<\/p>\n
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- Timeframe<\/strong>: You\u2019re able to forecast over a 3, 6, and 12-month period.<\/li>\n
- Progress Speed<\/strong>: Gain the flexibility to adjust the speed at which you reach your goal: exponential, linear, or custom.<\/li>\n
- Volume & YoY Trend<\/strong>: Easily consider average monthly volumes and year-over-year search trends.<\/li>\n
- Rank Goal<\/strong>: Set rank position goals at the folder or group level.<\/li>\n
- Goal Chance<\/strong>: See how realistic the goal you are setting is, based on your current organic search footprint and the personalized keyword difficulty metric<\/a> for your targeted website.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
A key part of the forecasting process is the ability to adjust the conversion rate in the SEOmonitor forecasting algorithm.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, when you\u2019re familiar with a brand, your expertise can help you tailor the forecast toward a more accurate prediction.<\/p>\n
For instance, an issue I have come across in the past is conversion data in Google Analytics not matching up to the data in internal systems, in some cases by 20 \u2013 30%. In this instance, adjusting the conversion rate that you are forecasting gives far more accurate metrics in the final forecast.<\/p>\n
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![\"SEO](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/seo-forecasting-3-unique-ways-to-prove-the-value-of-seo-to-clients-stakeholders-via-sejournal-seomonitor-2.png\")
Image by SEOmonitor, September 2022<\/span><\/div>\n<\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\nThe resulting forecast scenario provides me with all the data needed to answer the questions mentioned above, validate my first objective, and provide valuable insight to my client.<\/p>\n
2. Uncover New Business Opportunities With SEO Forecasting<\/h2>\n
Building on this initial forecast scenario, we can now move our attention to the second objective I outlined: \u201cto grow non-brand organic search traffic for new areas of opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
How To Identify Gaps In Your Competitor\u2019s SEO Strategy<\/h3>\n
After extensive research into new areas of opportunity for \u201cProperty Search\u201d, and identifying clusters of keyword phrases that related to the business, we identified achievable gaps in the competitors\u2019 landscape.<\/p>\n
We consider gaps achievable due to the business\u2019s level of authority in the competitive landscape.<\/p>\n
- Progress Speed<\/strong>: Gain the flexibility to adjust the speed at which you reach your goal: exponential, linear, or custom.<\/li>\n
- Timeframe<\/strong>: You\u2019re able to forecast over a 3, 6, and 12-month period.<\/li>\n
- \n
- Create Groups<\/strong>: Then, inside of each folder, I\u2019ll create groups that represent a sub-category (e.g. For Sale or For Rent).<\/li>\n
- Create Folders<\/strong>: When I set up my keyword research data for \u201cProperty Search\u201d, I\u2019ll opt to create individual folders to represent a top-level category in the information architecture (e.g. Offices or Retail).<\/li>\n
- Identify hidden or less obvious opportunities for growth through organic search and validate them with SEO forecasting. You\u2019ll show the value of the opportunity and what it means as an investment.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
![\"SEO](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/seo-forecasting-3-unique-ways-to-prove-the-value-of-seo-to-clients-stakeholders-via-sejournal-seomonitor-3.png\")