Working with an SEO agency is a great investment, but how do you determine if your SEO agency is truly driving growth and delivering results?
This is a question many business owners deal with when they are hiring an SEO agency in San Francisco for the first time. Should they just look at the Google ranking or are there more technical metrics to track? How about measuring the content marketing efforts? All of this could feel overwhelming and it makes sense to learn it all before asking the agency.
Worry not. Dive into this comprehensive guide to learn the key metrics and strategies that will help you track the performance of SEO agency in San Francisco and ensure you’re getting the best return on your investment.
12 Key Metrics to Evaluate Your SEO Agency in San Francisco
1. Organic Traffic
One of the first signs of SEO success is organic traffic. This refers to the number of visitors coming to your website from search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Tools like Google Analytics can help you track this data.
- What to Look For: A steady increase in organic traffic over time indicates that your SEO agency in San Francisco is working in the right direction. Look for trends, not just spikes, as consistent growth is more valuable than occasional jumps in traffic.
2. Keyword Rankings
Monitoring your keyword rankings is essential to understand how well your website is performing for the targeted search terms.
- What to Look For: Track the rankings of your primary and secondary keywords. Improvement in rankings, especially for high-volume and high-intent keywords, shows that your investment in an SEO agency in San Francisco is paying off. Tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Google Search Console are useful for this.
3. Conversion Rate
Traffic is important, but conversions are what ultimately matter. Conversion rate refers to the percentage of visitors who take a desired action, such as making a purchase, filling out a contact form, or subscribing to a newsletter.
- What to Look For: An increase in conversion rates from organic traffic signifies that not only is your SEO agency in San Francisco driving traffic to your site, but they’re also attracting the right kind of visitors who are more likely to convert.
4. Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate can indicate that visitors aren’t finding what they’re looking for or that your site isn’t engaging enough.
- What to Look For: A decreasing bounce rate suggests that your SEO agency in San Francisco is attracting more relevant visitors and that your site’s content and user experience are improving.
5. Backlinks
Backlinks (links from other websites to yours) are a crucial part of SEO. They indicate to search engines that your website is authoritative and trustworthy.
- What to Look For: An increase in the number and quality of backlinks. Note that high-quality backlinks from reputable sites in your industry are more valuable than a large number of low-quality links. SEO agency in San Francisco uses tools like Ahrefs and Moz can help you track your backlinks.
6. Page Load Speed
This is an important factor for both user experience and SEO. Faster loading pages tend to rank higher in search results and also result in higher conversions. Research by Portent showed that “a site that loads in 1 second has a conversion rate 3x higher than a site that loads in 5 seconds.”
- What to Look For: Improvements in your site’s load speed. Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights can help you if you want to monitor and improve this metric.
7. Mobile Optimization
With more users accessing the internet via mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly site is essential. Google also prefers this. So make sure your SEO agency in San Francisco works on making your site intuitive and optimized for different devices.
- What to Look For: Ensure your site is fully optimized for mobile. You can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to check if your website is optimized for phones or not.
8. Local SEO Performance
For businesses targeting local customers, local SEO performance is crucial. This includes your visibility in local search results and Google My Business listings.
- What to Look For: Improvements in local search rankings, an increase in local traffic, and more engagement on your Google My Business profile. Tools like BrightLocal can help you monitor local SEO performance.
9. User Engagement Metrics
Engagement metrics such as average session duration, pages per session, and click-through rates (CTR) from search results can provide insights into how users interact with your site.
- What to Look For: Increases in these metrics suggest that visitors find your content valuable and are engaging more deeply with your site.
10. SEO Audit Scores
Regular SEO audits can help identify technical issues that may be hindering your site’s performance. Many SEO tools provide an overall score or health check based on various factors.
- What to Look For: Improvements in your site’s SEO audit scores over time. Addressing technical issues, improving site structure, and fixing broken links can all contribute to better performance.
11. ROI from SEO Efforts
Ultimately, the success of your SEO agency in San Francisco should be measured by the ROI from their efforts. This includes the direct revenue generated from organic traffic and the value of increased brand visibility and customer engagement.
- What to Look For: Calculate the ROI by comparing the cost of an SEO agency in San Francisco to the revenue generated from organic traffic. This can be challenging but is crucial for understanding the overall impact of the SEO strategy.
12. Regular Reporting and Communication
A successful SEO agency in San Francisco will provide regular reports detailing their activities, the results, and the next steps. These reports should be transparent and easy to understand, allowing you to see the value they’re providing.
- What to Look For: Consistent, detailed reports that show progress towards your goals, along with clear explanations and actionable insights.
By focusing on these metrics, you can effectively measure the success of your SEO agency in San Francisco.
Collaborate with the Best SEO agency in San Francisco
If you are still unsure, talk to an SEO agency in San Francisco. One of the green flags of the best SEO agency in San Francisco is that they will consult with you and educate you on how to track and measure your SEO performance.
For instance, top SEO agencies like AdLift assign a dedicated point of contact for their clients to resolve all their queries. Moreover, they also offer regular reports and consultations with clear insights on how their SEO strategies improve online visibility. To learn more, feel free to drop them an email and they will be happy to solve your queries. All the best.
