Every once in a while, a client or online marketer will start a new search engine optimization campaign, keep it going for a few weeks or months, and then finally declare “it’s just not working!”
From our end of things, we know that’s just not true. As much as SEO is an art, it’s still a science, too. If you are doing the right things consistently, you’re going to make up ground on your competitors. The only way you couldn’t would be if everyone else in your industry were also working their search engine campaigns just as hard – which would be all the more reason to keep at it.
Usually, though, when a client thinks their SEO plan isn’t working, one of two things is happening: either they haven’t given it enough time – remember that it can take months for Google, Yahoo, and Bing to re-index your site – or they aren’t keeping score.
How do you keep score? Well, the easiest way is to actually look up your own company, as well as some of your targeted keywords and phrases, on different search engines. Do you show up in the first page of results, the fourth, or the fiftieth?
Make a note of where you found your website, which pages came up, and how many times along with the date. Or, if you really want to know what’s happening, enter the information into a spreadsheet. If you are using a quality search optimization firm, they’ll provide this data for you, but either way, you need to have it; your search position is the “pulse” of your SEO efforts – it won’t tell you everything, but it’s a good starting place if you want to know what kind of shape you’re in.
In the next article, we’ll take a look at some other ways you can keep track of your search engine optimization results. But for the time being, just remember that you have to pay attention. Look at how you’re coming up on the major search engines from time to time… you might just be making more progress than you think.
