Like PPC and online media campaigns, SEO strategies need to take into account website conversions, as opposed to increased site traffic.  Web Analytics enables SEO providers to more effectively track, measure and report results and can provide conversions data for both natural and paid search efforts.  Thus, SEO campaigns can calculate Return On Investment to better ascertain where to next proceed.

What really matters to your online business is user interaction with your site, in such a manner that the user becomes either interested and potential customer, or an actual one. To count as a conversion, a user action does not have to be a purchase or end in a sale; completing a customer profile, an information survey or a registration; subscribing to a newsletter or club, or even looking at several website pages – these actions all constitute conversions in their own right.

Most pay-per-click and online media strategists gauge the effectiveness of their campaigns in terms of conversions. Until recently, however, organic (natural) search campaigns run by SEO providers tended to measure success in terms of increased engine rankings. These same SEO people often combine natural search campaigns with paid search efforts, making it even more problematic to properly measure conversions on SEO work.

Web analytics have helped solved the dilemma of measuring conversions, and can empower SEO providers to more effectively track, measure and report campaign results. Analytics results can even help move a campaign towards better conversion rates. The more advanced software even distinguishes between conversions for natural search campaigns (i.e. free listings) and paid search work (i.e. buying keywords). Conversions information can then be used to accurately calculate the campaign’s ROI (return on investment).

PPC and online media campaigns are mandated to drive visitors to landing pages designed to increase the likelihood of conversions. SEO campaigns employ natural search techniques, which drive visitors to any number of different pages, depending on content found there. While this sounds like a drawback, it can actually be an advantage if interior pages are designed to be more conversion-friendly (i.e. calls to action, registration and purchasing mechanisms).

Fine-tuning your SEO campaign to better measure conversions, then, could make it more cost-effective than both PPC and online media efforts. It will also enable you to better ascertain if your SEO work is successful, since conversions allow you to more easily calculate your Return On Investment. The quantity of site traffic should not be the sole determinant of an SEO campaign’s success and such considerations as which keywords to employ. Knowing if your campaign is paying off financially will help give you a much better idea of where to take it next.