SEO: Goal-Setting for Success

Want to accomplish something in your life? Set a goal. There’s no other way around it, goal-setting is absolutely essential in any area we want to grow or change. Want to lose weight? Set a goal. Want to quit smoking? Set a goal. Want to get a raise? Set a goal. You get the picture, right?

The same applies to search engine optimization. Want to improve your SEO? You need to set real, measurable goals is you expect any results. Your specific business goals will help to shape and mold your SEO strategy from the very beginning. Taking off down the SEO road without clearly defined goals is counter-productive, and will cause more grief than growth.

Attempting search engine optimization without a clear plan is like trying to get in shape by attending the gym sporadically. You might see some slight initial results, but long-term, sustainable success is impossible. So, before you embark on your SEO journey, spend a few hours working to create measurable goals that will improve your business success.

What Makes a Good SEO Goal?

When it comes to creating SEO goals, there is a sweet spot that you should be aiming for. Making your goals too generic (increase revenue) is hard to pinpoint, while making your goals too specific will limit your chances of success. Ideally, your goals are broad enough to allow for strategy adjustment and specific enough to allow for clear tracking.

Your SEO goals should also be easily measurable. We’ll get more into specific goal types and how to track them below, but know that your goals should be chart-able from the very beginning. Brand awareness is a valuable marketing goal, but SEO probably isn’t the best venue for an awareness campaign – it just isn’t easily measurable.

Finally, your goals should be achievable. I know everyone wants to increase their sales by five million percent – but that’s just setting you up for failure. Find something that is attainable (or just out of reach) and set about accomplishing it. If you reach that goal, set a new one that is slightly more difficult!

SEO Goals

So, you’re looking for goals that are attainable, trackable, and good for your business. What do those look like? It all depends on your business, but here are a few general goals that we like to use:

• New Leads: This is one of our favorite SEO goals. Through tracking cookies, Google analytics, and form completions we are able to accurately see how many new leads are generated through your organic search engine reach.
• Sign-Ups: Similar to new leads, we can see how many people are interested in your brand through newsletter and email marketing sign-ups. If your overall goal is brand awareness, new sign-ups is a great, trackable goal for your SEO.
• Revenue: This is a tricky one. It can easily be too broad and hard to pinpoint, but it can be done with a little extra effort. SEO-based revenue goals are best when they are highly specific (attached to a specific product or targeting a specific demographic).

Of course, your SEO goals are going to be specific to your market, business needs, and existing marketing efforts. And with the growth of tracking tools, just about any business goal can be translated to an SEO goal.

Tracking for Success

One of the major benefits of setting SEO goals is that it allows you to track your successes and failures. Thankfully, Google’s powerful analytics tools allow for very specific tracking. You can tailor your goal tracking to include only organic traffic (if you’re running simultaneous PPC or Social Media campaigns), assign monetary values to certain customer actions, and see individual reports for each landing page.

This tracking allows you (or your SEO provider) to see exactly what is working (and why it is working) and what isn’t working (and why). This means that you can tailor your campaign over time – focusing and refocusing to maximize the return on your SEO investment.

SEO Professionals

Search engine optimization is easy to get started in, but almost impossible to master. That’s why we love it here at Fusion Group USA – there is always room to learn, grow, and refine our technique. If you’ve reached the end of your SEO rope, consider going to a professional SEO provider that can provide in-depth services and highly structured goal monitoring.

Fusion Group USA specializes in providing top-notch SEO services available in highly competitive monthly packages. If you’re ready to take the next step in SEO, call us today and we’ll provide a site audit and initial consultation totally free and with no obligation to buy! Contact us today to get started!