SEO预测调查报告.pdf

The challenge of proving the value of SEOIntroductionWe now live in a digital-rst world, which has had a transformative impact on the way we live and work. Nowadays if a business is not visible online, its essentially hidden from a huge portion of invaluable stakeholders; whether these be prospective clients, customers or even potential investors. This increasing need for online visibility naturally correlates with SEO having taken on an ever-greater signicance in the marketing mix and, subsequently, businesses are only likely to invest more in the eld as time goes on. However, this increased investment also brings more scrutiny and greater pressure for SEO professionals to prove the ROI of what they do - demonstrating clearly how SEO aligns with current and future business goals.Forecasting can be invaluable for this, allowing marketers and their clients to accurately predict organic sessions, orders and revenue over a dened period, thus going a long way towards demonstrating the value of investing in SEO. However, this accuracy depends upon the data and information available, as well as the tools available to process them. As it stands, too many may still rely upon standard linear regression tools such as Microsoft Excel for forecasting purposes, which are often not t-for-purpose, out-of-date and woefully inadequate for handling big data. In this report, we will explore the current landscape of SEO forecasting, the issues currently holding SEOs and marketers back, and the additional support the industry needs in order to forecast to the level of detail required to keep up with a progressively more demanding business landscape. Cosmin Negrescu, CEO and founder of SEOMonitorseomonitor/spark/seomonitor/spark/SEOmonitorAbout usSEOmonitor, launched in 2013, is a leading provider of SEO software, offering a suite of tools to help digital marketers overcome challenges and support them to easily and effectively track and measure the success of their campaigns. The team has developed a range of innovative technologies that can make the most out of available data and deliver insightful and reliable reports for SEO agencies.SEOmonitor has also committed to supporting the future of SEO through its Spark programme, wherein SEO agencies under three years old can receive a year s worth of daily keyword rankings, full access to its forecasting tool - Business Case Builder - and data analyst app - Signals.Executive summary that s a given. Forecasting provides us with a fantastic way to add extra value, ideally translating the nuts and bolts of what we do into simple, easily-digestible business metrics that any business decision-maker or budget-handler can work with. Cosmin Negrescu, CEO and founder of SEOMonitorRecurrent difficulties associated with forecasting include the lack of sources from which to get relevant data, as well as a huge number of variables (e.g. featured snippets, click-through rates, paid search ads) to consider. As such, specialist tools are key to both collecting this data and making sense of it without spending countless hours analysing it and drawing conclusions. This need was not lost on our respondents; more than a third (37%) of whom cited a lack of investment in specialist tools as a key barrier preventing them from providing accurate forecasts the most popular response. Unfortunately, the aforementioned shortfall in investment leads to digital marketers often being forced to use clunky, outdated tools such as the rudimentary linear regression modelling functionality on Microsoft Excel which are not, and arguably never have been, t-for-purpose. Indeed, 15% of respondents specically referenced having to calculate big data on unsuitable applications such as Excel as a barrier to accurate forecasts.Simply enough, without access to the right specialist tools, forecasting will remain more of an art than an exact science to many, with 29% of our respondents claiming that calculating the ROI of SEO would be a great deal easier with the right tools to hand. Ironically, however, investment in these tools is unlikely to come without SEOs being able to produce the results they in turn need these tools for - a frustrating paradox. Lack of C-suite buy-inIssues associated with investment can often be attributed to a lack of buy-in from those at C-Suite level. SEO is a complicated discipline to the uninitiated, and if the value of the eld cannot be clearly articulated in a way digestible for all, it is highly unlikely to be prioritised in the way it should. After all, when pitching SEO services, youre essentially selling the results rather than the service itself. Stakeholder education can go a long way towards solving this shortfall. This could be both in terms of explaining to clients their exact role and responsibilities in facilitating accurate forecasts (e.g. setting up the right goals and investing in the right tools), and also simply articulating the benets of forecasting in a more accessible way. No longer the domain of the most experienced specialists, accurate forecasting is becoming more accessible by the day, thanks to specialist tools such as our award-winning Business Case Builder that use forecasting algorithms to predict the impact SEO activity has on metrics such as non-brand organic traffic ahead of time. Cosmin Negrescu, CEO and founder of SEOMonitorChapter 1 - The forecasting gap what s holding SEOs back?Chapter 1 - The forecasting gap what s holding SEOs back?For example, when pitching for increased investment and resource, it s important to avoid niche industry terms such as CTR or page views . Instead, prioritise simple statistics and gures, like transactions and estimated revenue, that are both easily-understandable and clearly articulate the power SEO can have, both now and in the future. Insufficient trainingBoth of the above areas minimal investment in the eld of forecasting and a lack of buy-in from those with the power to change this mean that many search professionals simply do not currently feel able to provide accurate forecasts. More specically, a quarter (25%) of our respondents reported that not enough teaching on how to forecast accurately holds them back from properly forecasting SEO. This could be taken in a couple of different ways:Firstly, there is the more obvious interpretation that SEOs are not being taught how to forecast properly, leading to outputs that are insufficient at best, and downright wrong at worst. This assertion is backed up by a sixth (17%) of those we surveyed - all of whom work in SEO and digital marketing - admitting to having received no forecasting training at all. Secondly, we could interpret this lack of “teaching” as a breakdown in communication between search professionals and their clients; specically, SEOs not being given enough of an insight into the business to be able to accurately assess the data points that matter most to their clients. Every business is going to have different goals and a unique growth trajectory and both their forecasting needs and the data points best to forecast them are going to differ in turn. This in turn means that, in order for all parties to see the best (in this context most accurate) forecasts possible, constant communication and a great deal of teaching which goes both ways are needed. This more hands-on relationship would go a long way towards solving a great many recurrent issues associated with forecasting such as a lack of available client data a problem which currently holds nearly a third (29%) of our respondents back. Simply enough specialist tools, and the more accurate forecasts they facilitate, can radically improve digital marketing agencies ability to win lucrative SEO contacts particularly with more complex projects that may require multiple forecast scenarios. Cosmin Negrescu, CEO and founder of SEOMonitorThe business case for forecastingChapter 2In a world of fast-moving variables and constantly-shifting targets, forecasting holds an undoubted value for businesses looking to remain ahead of the curve and plan effectively for the future. However as we explored in the previous chapter among the most prevalent “forecasting nightmares” is demonstrating exactly how this complex art can benet businesses and provide a clear ROI that can be clearly articulated and presented to business decision-makers. Interestingly, only one in ve search professionals (21%) said that they currently forecast because their clients ask for it, demonstrating the need for search specialists to do more to proactively publicise the business value forecasting can drive for their clients. So, what exactly can forecasting offer according to those that practice it? The most common reasons for forecasting are to improve inefficiencies within their clients business strategy, with almost four in 10 respondents (39%) selecting this response. The more granular the forecast client investment and available tools permitting the easier it is to identify the root of any inaccuracies in current SEO activity and take action accordingly. The fact that forecasting allows businesses to set appropriate goals and properly plan for the future was an equally popular reason; once again being selected by 39% of respondents. Through forecasting, short-and-long-term goals can be set in a variety of areas; whether these be for client projects, internal initiatives or even the overall strategy of the business as a whole. More than a third (35%) of SEOs also cite forecasting as an invaluable way to create accountability for their team. Not only are transparency and accountability key to healthy client relationships, they again tie back into the benet of search professionals having to continually take a frank look at what works, what doesn t, and what could be improved, which leads to an all-round better service being provided for clients. These benets, when taken as a whole, all add up to create value of the most obvious kind for businesses; cold, hard, prot. Through progressively eradicating inefficiencies in the business strategy and search practitioners being constantly accountable for what they do, the ROI of SEO can skyrocket. Simply enough, when forecasting is done in the right way, any resource that is not being allocated to create the maximum possible value can be quickly re-allocated elsewhere (such as committing resource towards activity that increases organic traffic in a more stable way). Unsurprisingly, being able to better calculate the ROI of SEO was also a popular forecasting benet, being selected by 34% of respondents. Despite its granular nature, SEO has traditionally been seen as less “concrete” than other digital marketing channels; largely because many both in and outside of digital marketing may not believe that the hard numbers that prove the ROI of SEO exist. Subsequently, many businesses dont always make the best possible use of SEO, particularly when it comes to resource allocation, which can in turn lead to a great deal of effort being invested for comparatively small gain.For example, businesses may not commit enough resources towards portfolio of keywords or topics that would make a clear difference to their SEO or, on the other end of the scale, commit too much towards chasing keywords that are going to be almost impossible to rank for, or are simply not providing the returns that other keywords could. Being able to clearly see the ROI certain activity has, leads to these inefficient activities being minimised, as SEOs are able to quickly see (and prove) which activities drive the best returns.Of course, being able to clearly demonstrate the ROI certain SEO activity can have is a fantastic way of generating extra much-needed investment from clients, in turn bridging some of the most prevalent “forecasting gaps” identied in the previous chapter such as lack of access to specialist tools. Indeed, more than a quarter (26%) of our respondents reported that they forecast to gain more investment from clients for SEO. Besides its obvious advantages for helping to manage SEO projects, forecasting is also particularly useful for digital agencies in providing a tangible business case for SEO, thus helping them to up-sell campaign. Cosmin Negrescu, CEO and founder of SEOMonitorChapter 2 - The business case for forecastingBreaking down the seasonal and sector forecasting challengesChapter 3The complex nature of forecasting means that, understandably, there is no “one-size-ts-all” solution that works equally well for every sector year-round. Experienced businesses know just how much turbulence the seasons can cause within performance statistics, yet there can be so much variation within a given period that they can still be hard to predict. Unsurprisingly, seasonality here dened as cycles of high and low activity throughout the year is therefore seen as an important data point to consider for many search professionals, with 39% of respondents citing seasonal changes in search volume as an important consideration. Seasonality was identied as a particularly tricky barrier throughout our research, with 22% of those we surveyed citing seasonality as what often holds them back from accurately forecasting SEO. To use a real-world example of the difficulties associated with seasonality, while we know that Christmas is likely to bring a surge in traffic for many businesses, it can be difficult to predict when the festive season will actually begin. Factors such as the rise of online shopping and the transatlantic adoption of shopping holidays such as Black Friday mean that preparations for the festive “peak period” seem to begin earlier by the year which of course must be taken into account when forecasting. Other factors to consider could be whether the weather is likely to affect trading, as well as what day public holidays such as Christmas Eve fall on. While accurately predicting seasonality is without doubt difficult to get right, this can be made easier by forecasting regularly. Encouragingly, this value appears to be recognised across the profession, with more than three quarters (76%) of those we surveyed saying that they forecast on at least a monthly basis. That said, accurate seasonality also relies upon access to the right data, such as a monthly breakdown of traffic from the previous year, in order to establish a baseline for the months ahead. Once again, this is an area in which the “forecasting nightmare” of a lack of client data (which affects 29% of SEOs and marketers) creates an issue.Sector focus which sectors are the most difficult to forecast? Every sector has its own seasonal forecasting challenges, from retailers that rely on peak sales periods like Black Friday and Christmas, to holiday companies which tend to see a spike in sales in January and orists that see traffic and sales surge in the run-up to Va