One of the most popular questions I hear from clients is, “How can I measure the conversion of money invested in my SEO campaign?”. Most business owners and marketers are happy to invest substantial funds in SEO if results can be reliably predicted and measured. But the thing is, SEO — as you’ve probably guessed — works a bit differently.

One of the most popular questions I hear from clients is, “How can I measure the conversion of money invested in my SEO campaign?”. Most business owners and marketers are happy to invest substantial funds in SEO if results can be reliably predicted and measured. But the thing is, SEO — as you’ve probably guessed — works a bit differently.

SEO works like the stock market. You pick your stocks (keywords) based on your knowledge, and then you wait. You’ll most likely see periods of growth and decline (like ranking fluctuations), but one thing is certain: the stock market and SEO are long-term investments. There’s no quick path to wealth here — that’s definite.

Nevertheless, in the long term, you can see growth if you’re patient enough and ready to watch the market’s ups and downs. Buffett said: “In the long run, stock market news will be good.” Despite world wars, epidemics, and the Great Depression, the US long-term investment market grew steadily.

When SEO comes up, most business owners aren’t thrilled — for entirely understandable reasons. We’re used to analysing our strategies and investments in terms of how they’ll pay back in a week, a month, or, at most, a year.

SEO practice, however, like the stock market, requires forward-looking thinking. That means not jumping ship when rankings fluctuate, which happens from time to time. It means being ready for drops and even deep dives, but committing to staying the course for the long term.

If you pick a bad set of stocks, you can lose money. If you sell stocks too late, you can lose money. If you sell too early, you can lose money or leave money on the table. You need to pick good stocks and hold them for the right amount of time — just as you need to pick the right keywords and target them for the right amount of time.

Note that we’re not comparing SEO to a lottery or slot machine. SEO, like the stock market, requires a solid understanding of the market and industry. A successful SEO strategy means researching relevant keywords based on potential traffic levels, competitiveness, and conversion potential.

And we know a successful SEO campaign matters a great deal. We know, for example, that reaching first position for a given keyword means getting about 33% of clicks. That means if there are 5,000 monthly searches for a keyword, you could reasonably expect about 1,650 visits to your site if you hold the top position. That’s a result worth investing in and worth expecting.

A successful long-term investment strategy

Experienced investors develop their own strategy (algorithm) for choosing where to put their money. The process likely involves studying and evaluating, among other factors of a company:

• Financial reporting.
• Competitive advantages.
• Reputation.
• Strength of brand recognition.
• Expert opinions and advice.
• Past performance.

Before making a final decision, they’ll most likely weigh these factors against the risk they’re taking. Essentially they’re making a “best guess” based on all the accumulated pieces of information and knowledge.

SEO works similarly. Using the tools, strategies, and knowledge available to you, you gather information about the best keywords to target. Here’s everything you should consider:

• Potential traffic levels.
• Keyword competition.
• Past keyword performance.
• Potential customer intent (i.e., are they just browsing or are they ready to buy?).
• Industry trends and forecasts.
• Expert opinions and advice.
• When my clients ask me how they can predictably determine the conversion of their SEO spend, I’d like to give them a clear and unambiguous answer. However, there’s no standard x + y = z formula when it comes to SEO.

SEO, like accumulating stocks, means making decisions based on what we know now, what we’ve seen in the past, and what we expect to happen in the future. It means staying steady through drops and rises — and, of course, results will follow. These long-term results, of course, will only come if your SEO strategy is executed well — by a true professional who understands the industry and how to build a solid SEO campaign.

You simply can’t look at SEO as a short-term investment goal. If you want to know what your conversion will be over the next quarter or year, that’s not SEO. If, on the other hand, you’re ready to invest in the long term — if you have a long-term vision and are ready to do everything possible to reach your ultimate goal — that’s SEO.