Did we achieve our business objectives with SEO

To clarify one thing right at first: What is success and what is not is debated passionately. Why should it be different in the search engine optimization? In my view, there is only one thing, which is relevant as a measure of success: Did we achieve our business objectives with SEO? For this post, I will assume that revenues are our primary objective.

So we come to the basic problem: Have you the SEO measures that to lead to a positive effect? A look at history shows the following problem. Who is surprised that the SEO attract sales this holiday season, and then go back again in January. This use is at least for companies that sell products suitable for Christmas. Nevertheless, what if that is the plot of a B2B site? Usually even the site operators have no clear idea of the seasonality of your business.

“For the holiday season it is been mostly uphill and the summer is often stronger,” we often hear about. How much better the deal on Christmas runs but there is little information available about it. Sure, it is then difficult to assess whether the SEO measures have brought something or not.

Seasonal baseline

An obvious idea is to visualize the course of business in a graph so that it can be compared with the SEO sales. This trend line therefore represents not absolute values, but merely to show how the business develops relative. So you can quickly see if the revenue from the search engine optimization develop remarkably different. As a basis for this baseline for the business success, you could use the full sales figures from the past 12 months.

Have the SEO sales then a similar course, one can assume that the money was blown for SEO without effects. However, has two problems: Cross-channel effects are not considered? For example, a new off-line store will be opened, which has contributed significantly to total sales, the total sales, as a baseline for the online business is worthless.

Additionally, the development of its own sales market also run counter completely. What if the market actually has a negative trend, the company has won well and retracted good sales?