This is a question which plagues many small to medium sized Business owners, and rightfully so. Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) typically have less cash to deploy on their balance sheets, as opposed to large corporate entities. Therefore, any investment towards marketing activities needs to be carefully considered in order for SMEs to gain a solid return on investment (ROI). Additionally, SEO marketing can be quite high-priced due to its nature and level of complexity, adding to the concern of the Business owner. However, by selecting a marketing consultant or digital agency with a trackable record, you can expect results, and a marked ROI in terms of organic traffic. There are however, a few things clients need to know and understand about the nature of SEO marketing. 

SEO is a longterm play

The problem with SEO and the difficulties Agencies face when pitching SEO services to existing or potential clients. Is that, SEO does not immediately work, in fact you generally need at least 6 months to see marked results. Historically, SEO was far more expeditious than todays efforts, and as with any digital platform, once the adoption cycle reaches the  majority, efforts are made to monetize the platform. Therefore, Google will do whatever they can to ensure their user experience (UX) is of the highest standard, and their algorithm remains in favour of those websites who are willing allocate part of their budget towards Google Adwords. This is a constant observable trend on other digital platforms, during their emergence Facebook and Instagram were great platforms to grow your ‘brand awareness’ organically, until the platforms became saturated. Then, it became much harder to grow organically, and accounts were being hit by constant changes to the algorithms by Instagram and Facebook. Furthermore, the sites relied on advertising revenue as their primary share of revenue, thus it doesn’t serve them well to allow users – particularly business accounts – to grow their traffic organically. The same thing has happened with Google, advertising accounts for 70.9% of Googles total revenue. Additionally, SEO has become more difficult due to the increasing number of websites, and the level of competition. There are millions of sites which show up in your search results for any given keyword, and a large majority of them will be competing against each other for the same keyword and or keyword phrase. So what type of results should we be expecting to get in 2018 from SEO marketing, and how can we ensure we hit the right targets. 

Content is King! 

In the world of SEO, content is king, wether it be video or marketing copy (text), the more content you produce the greater success you will have. However, with regards to content there are debates on quality vs. quantity. I certainly support the quality approach, which falls in line with my agencies philosophy on Business services and for that matter, any marketing initiative. And for the purposes of this article, we will assume your producing high quality content. In order to increase your websites ranking on Google, thus increasing your ‘brand awareness’ and potential leads. You should be implementing and producing the following three tactics and outcomes:

Blog

1) Ideally, you should be producing one blog a week, at the minimum. Typically, what we have found is that blog posts with 2,000 or more words tend to rank much higher than a brief 300 to 400 hundred word article. Googles algorithm loves content, therefore devise a content calendar, and ensure you and or your team are producing a minimum of one content piece a week.  

Backlinks 

2) Your team or yourself, should be aiming for 10 backlinks per month, this should be implemented and outlined in your SEO strategy brief, so your client and or the rest of your marketing team can be reminded of it. Backlinks are a critical step in building your websites authority on Google, and 10 links per month should be thought of as a key performance indicator (KPI) for your SEO campaign. 

Promotions

3) Implement a promotions strategy for your content, and ensure you use an omni-channel approach. A key factor, however much less important than backlinks or content, is the implementation of a promotions strategy through social media, do not neglect this. In todays digital world, there isn’t one single trick you can use to rank number one on Google. It takes a variety of small tactics executed simultaneously overtime which cause your website to rank higher. 

So given you have been implementing all of the aforementioned tactics, how long should it take for SEO to work? Well typically you will see some marginal results within 3 months. By 6 to 12 months you should be seeing some marked results, however it is also dependent on the industry your operating in and the competition for the relative keywords. If you aren’t seeing some results by 6 months, you will need to do some reassessment of your SEO strategy, because by that stage you should be seeing at the very least, marginal results. Its important to think of SEO in terms of an investment in shares/stocks. The way SEO functions is analogous to compound interest, it takes time, however years down the track the constant output of content and link building compound, and typically you will see exponential growth some two or three years later. 

With that in mind, be aware of the patience required for SEO, and if you yourself run an Agency, ensure your clients are fully aware of the diligence, complexity and process required for genuine and solid organic growth through the implementation of SEO marketing. 

Thanks for reading, 

Eddie Amiet