Rank Fast with these Topical Authority Tactics Ep.589
In this podcast episode featuring SEO Specialist Matthew Bertram, the focus is on demystifying Topical Authority in SEO and providing actionable…
Link Building
SEO ROI: How To Ensure Performance Tracking Matches Goals Ep. 558
SEO ROI cannot be accurately tracked, only estimated, and the right metrics to prioritize depend on whether you are an in-house SEO, agency, or freelancer, though rankings, page views, and conversions are universally agreed upon.
Key takeaways
- Rankings, page views, and conversions are the top three KPIs agreed upon by in-house, agency, and freelance SEOs.
- Agency and freelance SEOs rank revenue fourth; in-house SEOs rank marketing qualified leads fourth instead.
- SEO ROI can only be estimated, not accurately tracked, because Google's ranking algorithm is a black box.
- Service-based businesses need an internal champion to track whether leads actually close, since SEO visibility stops at lead generation.
the truth is that it cannot be accurately tracked. It can only be estimated.
About this episode
Discover the reasons for disconnects between SEO metrics and goals, why SEO professionals struggle with ROI, and potential solutions.
Questions this episode answers
What are the most important SEO KPIs according to in-house, agency, and freelance SEOs?
All three groups agree the top three KPIs are rankings, page views, and conversions. The fourth diverges: agency and freelance SEOs rank revenue fourth, while in-house SEOs rank marketing qualified leads fourth. Page speed is the only metric all three groups include in positions five through ten.
Why is measuring SEO ROI so difficult?
Privacy laws are disrupting many tracking methods, Google's ranking algorithm is a black box, and revenue data is often siloed away from SEO teams. For service-based businesses, tracking closes requires an internal champion, and even e-commerce figures are still estimates because you cannot confirm whether specific actions like backlinks drove a ranking change.
Should SEO agencies focus on leads or revenue as their key success metric?
The episode recommends qualified leads as the best metric for agencies, since revenue is often tracked by a separate department and agencies have limited visibility past lead generation. However, if clients are not closing leads and not seeing revenue, they will stop investing, so agencies should help clients improve their lead follow-up process.
How long does SEO take to show results?
The hosts recommend budgeting six months to a year for ongoing SEO investment. Moving a keyword from the second page to the first page takes less time than ranking a previously unranked keyword. Results depend on keyword difficulty, existing site foundation, and content, making every campaign different.
In their words
the data you look at is all that matters.
Host
SEO is an investment and likely going, like going to the gym, it's going to take time to optimize everything. If you just look at yourself in the mirror after two weeks in the gym, which you should do, if you don't notice anything, then you might drop it.
Host
Terms defined in this episode
- Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)
- A lead that has been assessed as more likely to become a customer based on engagement or fit, used by in-house SEOs as their fourth most important metric instead of raw revenue.
- ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
- A metric more closely trackable for e-commerce than for service-based businesses; the episode notes that for service-based operations, tracking leads is preferred over ROAS.
- Black Box Algorithm
- A description of Google's ranking process where the internal workings are not visible, making it impossible to confirm whether specific actions like backlinks directly caused ranking changes.
- Customer Lifetime Value
- A metric noted only by freelance SEOs in the survey, representing the total revenue a client can expect from a customer over time, used to frame SEO as a long-term investment.
Full transcript is being added.
This episode answers
Matthew Bertram
AI keynote speaker · Owner & CEO, EWR Digital · President, ModalPoint
Matthew Bertram is an AI keynote speaker, creator of DIG™ (Digital Information Governance), and owner and CEO of EWR Digital. He helps energy and industrial leaders win visibility in AI search (GEO and AEO), is President of ModalPoint and CMO of the Oil & Gas Global Network, hosts The Best SEO Podcast, and has authored eight books including LLM Visibility. More about Matthew Bertram.
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