Category: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Articles

[UPDATED FOR GA4]

This article is a simple guide for those marketers just learning Google Analytics or us veterans who simply haven’t had the time to dive into where things are located within the Google Analytics dashboard. With the new version of Google Analytics, a lot of us thought the interface would change; well, next to nothing really changed, and there’s nothing to really stress about. Before we begin, we need a basic primer on what Direct, Organic, and Paid Traffic are.

What is Direct Website Traffic (aka Direct Traffic)?

Direct Traffic is as simple as it sounds. It’s users coming to your site clean, without a referral, without an ad, or without a search engine aiding in the visit. The user simply punched in your website address and BOOM, they arrived.

Example of Direct Traffic

Open your browser and punch in a website address and hit go. In Google Analytics, this visit is considered a Direct visit to the site. +1 in the Direct Traffic bucket.

What is Organic Website Traffic (aka Organic Traffic or Natural Traffic)?

Organic Traffic is users coming to your site from an organic search result. Yes, organic results still exist in the money-making machine that is Google. Any visit to your site from an organic search result. +1 in the Organic Traffic Bucket.

Example of Organic Website Traffic.

Search for anything… literally. Or, if you prefer, search for “customer success platform”. You’ll notice this search on Google brings up ads first, then non-ad results directly below. The non-ad listings are “organic results.”

What is Referral Website Traffic (aka Referral Traffic)?

Referral traffic is any visit from another website, app, or other digital property. +1 Referral Traffic.

Example of Referral Traffic.

A link in an external blog article pointing to your website will act as a conduit. Visitors using the link to find your website are counted as Referral Traffic.

What is Paid Website Traffic (aka Paid Traffic)?

Paid Traffic is when any visit to your site comes from an advertisement anywhere on any platform – search ads, Facebook ads, video ads, etc. If someone comes from you site from an ad, +1 Paid Traffic.

Example of Paid Traffic.

Remember the organic traffic example above for “customer success platform?” The first three results had the word “AD” showing in the search results before the organic results. These are Google Search Ads.

Google Analytics GA4: How to View Organic, Paid, Referral, and Direct Traffic (the new way).

The primer is out of the way, here is how to segregate these numbers in an easy-to-understand user interface.

Step 1. Sign in to Google Analytics GA4, Select “Traffic Acquisition.”

Sign into google analytics and select the website and corresponding view. On the left navigation menu, select “Acquisition,” and then “Traffic Acquisition.”

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Step 2. Select the date range in which you’d like to view traffic information.

Change the date range in the top right. There’s many pre-defined options, or customize your date range. Let’s select Yea

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Step 3. Add a Quick Filter for channel (the default sort now in GA4).

Add a quick filter to this view. Select “Add Filter,” search for key by typing in “channel,” and scroll all the way to the bottom and select “Session primary channel group (Default Channel Group).”

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Step 4. Select the Marketing Channel You Need To Analyze.

Adjust the channel (switch to organic traffic, direct traffic, referral traffic, etc.).

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How to View Organic, Paid, Referral, and Direct Traffic (Reports) using Google Analytics UA (the old way).

If you need to look at historical data, Google’s old analytics platform (Universal Analytics / “UA”) is still necessary. Here is how to segregate these numbers in an easy-to-understand user interface.

Step 1. Sign in to Google Analytics, Select the Audience Overview.

Sign into google analytics and select the website and corresponding view. On the left navigation menu, select “Audience” and “Overview.”

Step 2. Select the date range in which you’d like to view traffic information.

Once you’re on the Overview screen, the date range selection will be on the top right of the window. Let’s select Q4 of 2020 as our date range.

Step 3. Adjust the Audience Selection.

By Default, you will see “All Users” selected. You wouldn’t really know it, but this is where we’ll adjust the metrics for traffic.

Click on the name “All Users.” A new dialog window appears. Take a moment to take inventory of all the options. You may want to select different options in the future. For now, uncheck “All Users” and check “Direct Traffic,” “Organic Traffic,” “Paid Traffic,” and “Referral Traffic.” NOTE: 4 options selected at once is the max allowed.

Step 4. Analyze the data.

Traffic data is the baseline from which advanced reports are built. Selecting a down arrow on any of the four audience filters will allow you to show or hide data for said container.

Understanding what can be gained from analyzing Paid, Direct, Referral, and Organic website traffic.

There’s a lot of amazing information in Google Analytics.

Why is it important?

Imagine you are engaged in a paid advertising campaign and want to understand at a high level how much traffic is coming from your paid efforts. You could use this screen to do so.

Want to understand how many people come to the site directly?

Or, how many folks come from other digital properties (referral)?

Or measuring the impact of SEO efforts (organic traffic).

Here’s where you might start.

Where to go from here with Google Analytics GA4?

Play with the data, de-select and select different variants. Paid Traffic vs. Organic Traffic is one of the more popular comparisons.

Bonus: How to convert organic traffic to revenue.

And if you ever find any of your traffic going down vs. up (and don’t understand why), be sure to reach out for help, AZ AD CO. is always ready to help.

What you need to know about keyword research with little-to-no SEO experience required.

First, keyword research is a foundational element of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. If an agency is going to try and help you with search engine marketing and is not going to conduct keyword research, then you should ditch that company and go with another. KWR is a critical process that helps businesses identify the right keywords to target, in order to rank higher on search engines and drive organic traffic to their websites. It’s ok to have no SEO experience (let’s say your a marketing generalist in charge of digital as well); it’s essential to have a basic understanding of keyword research and its importance in your overall SEO strategy. After all, SEO is still better for online commerce vs. paid (and other marketing tactics).

Here’s a great stat for you – 53% of all web traffic comes from organic search. Only 15% comes from paid search.

Keyword Research for Clients with No SEO Experience

If you’re new to SEO, keyword research can seem daunting. But don’t worry – we’ll break down the basics to help you understand what to look for in keyword research. An agency should provide these details at a minimum.

Here are some key aspects to consider:

Keyword difficulty (KD): This is a metric (usually rated between 0 and 100) that assesses how challenging it will be to rank for a particular keyword. Each tool (like semrush, ahrefs, etc.) have their own formulas for calculating KD, but they’re all easy to grasp and usually pretty consistent between tools. They consider factors like competition and the strength of the websites currently ranking for that term. The goal? Net new it’s going to be hard to start competing out of the blue for terms yours competition is beating you at. However, if you have good domain authority (also called domain rating, or domain strength), you can challenge for a term with a high KD. Aim for a balance between good search volume (at least 100 per month) and moderate difficulty (35-65 score – depending on industry). Hint: check longtail (more than 3 words) keywords. It’s rare, but sometimes you can find a term with good volume and no competition as a backdoor into your content.
Search volume: We just mentioned volume – ideally, you should target keywords with a high search volume, as this indicates that a significant number of people are searching for those terms. However, be aware that high search volume keywords can also be highly competitive (KD), making it difficult to rank for them. Hint: if you’re a well know brand that’s already in the top 1-3 spots for market share in your industry, you can attack most heavily contested keywords head on. If you’re new, or not a market leader, you’ll have to use content and SEO marketing tactics to be a little more strategic in ranking.
Long-tail keywords: These are longer, more specific keyword phrases that are usually less competitive and easier to rank for. They often have lower search volumes but can generate highly targeted traffic. Incorporating long-tail keywords into your strategy is a smart way to capture niche audiences (or if you don’t have high market share, use as another entrance into your audience).
Relevance: Your chosen keywords should be relevant to your business and the products or services you offer. This ensures that the traffic you attract is genuinely interested in what you have to offer. If your biggest product is a pink water bottle, you’ll need to find keyword combinations for people that might want to buy it. E.g. think out of the box a little: maybe “cute water bottle” is just as relevant instead of just “pink.”

There’s a bit more to it (we’ll talk more about that later), but this is a great starting point for understanding.

Evaluating the Trustworthiness of an SEO Agency’s Advice

When working with an SEO or Digital Marketing agency, it’s important to be able to assess the quality of their advice. Here are some tips to help you determine if an agency’s recommendations are trustworthy:

Transparency: A reputable agency should be open and transparent about their methods and strategies. They should be willing to explain their process and answer any questions you may have.
Realistic expectations: Be wary of agencies that promise overnight results or guarantee top rankings. SEO is a long-term process, and it takes time to see results. A trustworthy agency will set realistic expectations and focus on sustainable growth.
Case studies and testimonials: Check for case studies and testimonials from previous clients. This can give you an idea of the agency’s track record and the results they’ve achieved for other businesses.
Industry knowledge: A reliable agency should have a solid understanding of your industry and its unique challenges. They should be able to provide tailored advice that’s relevant to your specific niche.
Ethical practices: Steer clear of agencies that employ black hat SEO techniques, such as keyword stuffing or link schemes. These tactics can lead to penalties from search engines and ultimately harm your online presence.

And if an SEO company comes to you and says the following line, “we can get you to the top 3 results within 3 months,” do not trust that. 99.9999999% of the time they’re going to be using black-hat techniques to achieve this goal. Black-hat techniques are methods that unfairly game search engines. And if the search engine finds out, they can penalize you for it (taking your website off the search engine completely).

Another stat for you, “93% of all web traffic comes through search engines.” so if you get penalized (see last sentence) and taken off of Google, you’re business could be in major trouble.

Understanding Keyword “Intent” Categories

You might hear digital marketing companies say “it’s all about the user’s search intent.” Another sign they’re a decent company, if the agency you’re working with doesn’t talk about search intent, it’s time to let them go. Keyword intent refers to the primary goal that users have in mind when searching for a particular term. By understanding keyword intent, you can better align your content with the needs of your audience.

There are four main keyword intent categories:

“Transactional” keywords: these keywords indicate that the user is looking to make a purchase. Examples include “buy shoes online” or “order flowers for delivery.” Targeting transactional keywords is crucial for ecommerce businesses looking to drive sales through their website.
“Commercial” keywords: commercial keywords suggest that the user is in the research phase and is considering making a purchase in the near future. These keywords often include terms like “best,” “reviews,” or “comparison.” For example, “best laptop for graphic design” or “electric toothbrush reviews.” By targeting commercial keywords, you can position your business as a helpful resource during the decision-making process and influence potential customers.
“Informational” keywords: these are the words used when users are seeking answers, advice, or knowledge on a specific topic. Examples include “how to create a budget” or “symptoms of the flu.” By creating content that targets informational keywords, you can establish your brand as a trusted authority (think of a marketing 101 term here – these are good for building ‘though leadership’) and building long-term relationships with your audience.
“Navigational” keywords: Navigational keywords are used by users looking for a specific website or online destination. Examples include “Facebook login” or “Amazon customer service.” While it’s generally difficult for businesses to target navigational keywords unless they’re directly related to their brand, it’s still essential to be aware of them, as they can provide insights into user behavior and preferences.

More Keyword Research Considerations

Ok, we understand the why and what of keyword research, here are some additional aspects that can further enhance your SEO understandings:

Competitor analysis: Analyzing your competitors’ keyword strategies can reveal gaps and opportunities that you may not have considered. Even if you normally shouldn’t focus on a keyword because of its high difficulty, if your competition doesn’t do a good job on a word either, you can still look to beat them and rank higher. And look for keywords that your competitors are targeting but you aren’t.
Content is still Queen: SEO and other marketing tactics go hand-in-hand in today’s marketing world. SEO is not just technical anymore and content marketing is the number one complimentary marketing tactics. Once you’ve identified keywords you’d like to attack, content marketing is the first means to do so. Create high-quality content using the latest, successful content types (video shorts, blog articles, guides/how-to, recipes, and over 20 other content types). Think about the areas where you can outperform them in terms of content quality or user experience.
Seasonal trends: Some keywords may have a seasonal component, with search volumes peaking during specific times of the year (don’t have fancy SEO tools, check google.com/trends for season keyword information). Be sure to account for these fluctuations when planning your content calendar and SEO strategy.
Local SEO: If you have a brick-and-mortar business or serve a specific geographic area, local SEO is crucial. Incorporate location-specific keywords into your strategy to help users find your business and improve your local search rankings.
Keyword grouping and organization: Once you’ve identified your target keywords, it’s essential to group and organize them effectively. There’s parent keywords, complimentary keywords, etc. This will help you create a cohesive content plan and make it easier to track and measure your performance.
Ongoing optimization: Keyword research is not a one-time task. Search trends, user behavior, and competition are constantly evolving, so it’s essential to regularly reassess your keyword strategy and make adjustments as needed. If you’re new to the game, refresh your keyword research every 6 – 12 months.

What’s next in my decision making proccess?

Keyword research is an essential aspect of any successful SEO strategy. It can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. And as a client (or someone with little-to-no SEO experience), it’s crucial to understand the basics of keyword research, as well as how to evaluate the trustworthiness of an SEO agency’s advice. By familiarizing yourself with keyword intent categories and additional keyword research considerations, you’ll be well-equipped to make informed decisions and optimize your online presence for long-term success.

And if I highlighted something in blue or bolded it, those are the tips and tricks that can put you above your competition.

As as always, we’ll answer any questions – no strings attached. So reach out.

I think what’s most interesting (in our most recent blog article) from a performance marketing/SEO perspective is the blatant duplication/copying/plagiarism of each other’s lists that Google rewarded in the top 10 (heck, the top 50) serps.

That was a surprising by-product of this exercise. Realizing Google doesn’t give af about the advice/guidance they give or SEOs in general.

I kind of feel like I’ve know it all along for the last 15-ish years. But this was the straw that broke the camels back for me.

WTF are you talking about?

Well, selfishly, we were putting together a list of challenges marketers are dealing with in 2023. We pulled the top organic results from Google as well as asked ChatGPT (pro version) what it thought; twice.

We compiled the results and coded them. We did a simply tally of how much each item was mentioned and then sorted it. The idea is the more articles mention specific challenges, the more important they must be if multiple marketers have it on their lists of things that are important to them. If you want to read more about the approach, or just use/view the actual list, here you go: https://thinkendurance.com/top-challenges-marketers-face-in-2023/

So what exactly am i complaining about?

*** Well, items on different lists from hubspot to cmo magazine were identical. And not just the concepts, but the actual text. ***

For example, we know that personalization is probably on large, fortune 1000 company lists of challenges from their CMOs. It’s been a challenge for years. So we’d expect to see “personalization” on most lists.

But what about “Leveraging CRM to its fullest potential.” that’s pretty damn specific. And it was on multiple lists… verbatim.

Or how about “Having to pivot my marketing strategy due to major events?” on multiple lists, word-for-word, copied-and-pasted.

On average, one list/page copied 1-3 items from other lists in the top 10 SERPs

***The problem?

Google rewarded these pages for plagiarizing each other.

It didn’t award original copy.

It didn’t award original thought.

It didn’t aware original concepts.

It should be awarding the marketer who spent the time to describe exactly what it is about personalization that is challenging to them.

What Google is awarding is exactly what they tell SEOs NOT TO DO. And that’s bullshit.

It’s part of the reason SEOs get a bad name, it’s part of the reason we’ll do everything 100% correctly and won’t see results we expect… GOOGLE IS THE BAD APPLE IN THE BUNCH!

If you can’t tell, this really upsets me. I’ve been there before. I’ve done everything right for a client and still haven’t see the reward they promise when we do all the right things according to Google.

AND GUESS WHAT the most original (and insightful) content was!!!

A list a freaking robot made not once, but TWICE.

Good on yah #OpenAI – Good on yah #chatgpt

And good riddance Google. I hope the new Bing brings on a new era for SEO. One that’s more transparent and helps our industry regain some respect you’re responsible for it losing.

Have you heard of the impending doom of advertising as we know it? 😨

It’s a lot to take in — we’re in the midst of a fundamental shift in the way companies and marketers will have to find customers online. What is that shift, you ask? Well, it’s privacy.

To really understand what’s happening, check out this crazy timeline of events that have happened along with what’s right around the corner. There may be a few other events that helped set our current circumstances in motion, but these are by far the hardest-hitting.

- 2015 – Apple allowed users to block ads in Safari way back on iOS 9
- 2017 – Apple releases a new macOS feature called Intelligent Tracking Prevention which limited a cookie’s lifespan to 24 hours in Safari 12 and iOS 11
- 2018 – Webkit releases Storage Access API, which basically only lets cookies work during an informed customer interaction
- 2019 – Googles says it wants to build a “more private web”
- 2020 – Apple announces full third-party cookie blocking
- 2020 – Google says they want to completely eliminate cookies by 2022
- 2021 – Apple rolls out App Tracking Transparency, blocks third-party tracking by default
- 2021 – Facebook starts to hate Apple
- 2021 – Google delays total cookie annihilation until at least 2023

So, what did we learn? Apple wants the utmost privacy for its userbase, social media companies whose ad models mostly rely on tracking their massive userbases lose around $10 billion, and Google agrees with Apple but thinks the timeline is too fast to be handled responsibly. But then there’s the whole Facebook and Google collusion against Apple thing. 🤷‍♀️

To quote Rufus Scrimgeour: “These are dark times, there is no denying.”

Ok. Deep breaths now…

So, now what? What is a business to do now that tracking user data is severely hindered? We obviously don’t want to be digital Peeping Toms or Godivas, but we still have businesses to run and stuff to sell.

Well, let us tell you about… 🥁

The Best Tools for Cookieless Customer Acquisition

What did we do before anything we could ever want to know about our customers was merely a click away?

Oh yeah! We collected our own data! 💪

In photography, it’s advised to have a portfolio website outside of social media lest our social environments fall to ruin. When designing your social media strategies, both organic and paid efforts need to have a backup plan. This is a fundamental principle that we live by here at Endurance, but others — well, they’re not so lucky.

There are many different ad platforms, but the two biggest are Google and Facebook. And while an omnichannel approach is best to cover all of your bases, fundamentally, they couldn’t be further apart.

To keep it simple, Google offers two main paths while Facebook mainly offers one. With Google, you can take the organic route and utilize your blog to write meaningful content to help boost on-site SEO and rank higher in Google searches or tap into your local markets with a free Google Business Profile. And of course, paid ads. We won’t get into YouTube right now, but it’s a pretty big deal. Facebook, on the other hand, is basically only paid ads, although you get access to roughly 3 billion users.

If the answer is to collect our data, what’s the best way to do that? And once we have that data, how can we use it in a way that will benefit us the most?

Google Analytics

The newest iteration of the renowned analytical tool is Google Analytics 4. Specifically, GA4 was introduced to help with the cookieless future. It does this by eliminating reliance on third-party cookies while focusing on first-party cookies on your website or app. It’s also centered around event tracking instead of site sessions and pageviews. We recommend setting up a separate account for GA4 and testing versus your current GA account to really understand the differences.

Benefits of Tracking Events

An event is any designated action or set of actions that will occur on your site or in your app — think video views, page scrolls, length of content engagement, etc. If we want to measure how long someone watches a specific video, we can easily create a measurable event that calculates total playtime, when they stopped watching, where they went after seeing the video, and a lot more.

This data is then compiled for us and we can use it to determine how effective that particular piece of content is and if we need to make any adjustments.

Google Search Console and the Intent of Your Content

The Google Search Console is beneficial in that it helps determine what words specifically brought a user to our site in the first place. You can use it to build reports showing trends, clickthrough rates, user device type, and so much more.

Using this data will help you identify which pages are performing and which aren’t. For example, a page with high impressions and a low clickthrough rate could indicate that you’ve got a bad title or meta description and should rewrite it. The Google Search Console can also detect page and server errors that could also be leading to poor page performance.

The Intent of Your Content

Part of the cookieless web is a stronger reliance on first-party data, meaning the data that you’ll collect yourself. And in order to start collecting more data that’s actually useful to our marketing efforts, we need to decide if our content is going to be informational or transactional.

Informational Content

Imagine you’re a company that sells outdoor running shoes. You’ve got an e-mail list that you want to increase signups for, and to lure people in, you decide to give away a free guide on running trails in Colorado. 50 people click your link and signup for the guide, but only one person buys a new pair of shoes.

The issue isn’t that the content was necessarily bad, it just had the wrong intent. This content was designed to provide information, in this case, cool running trails. But you didn’t present the content in a way that demonstrates the value of your shoes or why people should buy them. Come to think of it, you didn’t even really mention running shoes at all.

Instead, if the goal is to sell something, we need to create transactional content.

Transactional Content

So, same scenario as above, but this time we release a case study on how your running shoes helped to reduce injuries during trail running vs a competitor’s shoe by 28%. You’ve got facts, you’ve got data, and you’ve got a demonstration of value. This content got only received 30 signups but resulted in 8 pairs of shoes being sold which is an effective conversion rate of about 27%. Not too shabby, right?

Remember that when you or your partner agency create content, you need to decide on the intent first. This is the only true way to measure if its goal was successful.

Marketing Ears — How to Effectively Spy and Utilize Social Listening

Is our competition successfully getting customers and crushing sales? Good for them. 😤

Maybe they’ve discovered some sneaky keywords that are converting like crazy and have weak competition. No worries, we’ll try to figure out what those are and either utilize the same phrases or discover even better ones.

SpyFu

This devilish little tool lets us see what keywords are ranking well for our competition via Google and other inbound sources. This includes organic leads as well as the ability to see their full Google Ads campaigns and campaign history. Plus, it helps your SEO efforts by analyzing multiple data points and recommending useful tactics and changes.

Keywordtool.io

Effectively generate awesome long-tail keywords using the power of Google’s Autocomplete feature. While we recommend the paid version especially if you’d like to have the same power but for other sites like YouTube and Bing, the free version is still really good since it can generate up to 750 suggestions.

Quantcast

Using the power of AI and machine learning, Quantcast gives you live data from over 100 million data sources online. This software gives users superhuman levels of insight into customer behavior and allows you to quickly create and compare different audience types. Since third-party data can be stale and weeks old, Quantcast delivers fresh up-to-the-minute straight out of the internet’s oven. This means knowing what makes your customers tick while they’re ticking instead of wanting to know their ticks after they’ve already…tocked. 😐

Ears to the Ground

So those are just a few of our favorite tools to use for keywords. It’s powerful stuff, to be sure. But what about all of your social media accounts? That’s where social media listening comes up to bat.

It’s not enough to just have a profile on all of the social platforms. With all of that meticulously tracked data about to go extinct, our best bet is to go directly to the source. Tools like Falcon.io and Mention allow you to find out who’s talking about you on what sites and in what context.

For example, we love being mentioned online (totally not vain 🤩), but we really love when people talk about needing help with marketing. With these tools, we can watch out for certain phrases or keywords that could help us either design better, more focused ads or present opportunities where we can better engage with our audiences, both existing and (hopefully) new.

And That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles

Our reliance on cookies and third-party data are coming to an end. We’ve relied on it for far too long and, if we want to continue succeeding, need to reprioritize exactly we engage with our customers online. This starts with creating better content that’s actually valuable to your customers.

It has been a fun run, though. 😭

Let’s pour one out for our homie, OG Cookie, one last time.

Of course, we’re always here for you no matter what your content needs may be. Or for a shoulder to cry on. 😥

A guide to picking the Best SEO Agency for your needs

Search Engine Optimization is vital to making your online presence successful. You may operate an online e-commerce site or a brick-and-mortar business. Either way, SEO can help you garner new customers and produce hot leads. However, managing your online presence can be a full-time job. Not to mention confusing if you don’t have a lot of experience with internet marketing.

Having the right SEO agency working for you can make a world of difference for your business. Did you know that 85% of consumers look online before they commit to a purchase? So if potential customers can’t find your site online, you can easily miss a sale – or many sales. Finding a great SEO agency can help you rank higher for Google search queries, plus attract more customers searching for the goods or services you provide.

We’ve put together a guide to finding the best SEO agency, including important things to look for and a handy checklist for selecting the right SEO company for your needs.

How To Choose an SEO Company

Picking the right SEO agency for your needs is all about selecting a company whose experience aligns to your business needs. Do you wish to rate higher on search engine results pages? Are you having difficulty turning leads into conversions? Or do you have a specialized niche product/service that you want to increase visibility?

A great starting point might be an SEO agency’s case studies. A good case study in your industry can provide vital information in your search. A case study can also give you a glimpse of an agency’s processes. Look for hints that may indicate that an agency is on top of current SEO trends and changes that search engines like Google make with their algorithms. Are they including Google analytics data? Is there an understanding or analysis that is easy to understand? The case studies should also be relevant to your type of business – if you’re an e-commerce site, for example, you may not need to see the results from promoting a B2B supplier or an in-person service provider. The results from businesses like yours can also give you a rough indication of the kind of conversion rates you can expect. However, if you don’t sell directly from your website and instead rely on your online presence to generate leads, then you should ask for examples of similar lead generators.

Remember that good results mean different things to different stakeholders. Great results are those that help you achieve your goals.

What Should I Look For in a Top SEO Company?

Rankings and increased traffic to your website are the basic measurements of success, and if an SEO agency can’t deliver those, you should look in a different direction. However, you’re in business to make money, so if higher rankings and better click-through rates aren’t generating more leads and conversions, then you won’t be able to meet your primary goals. The best SEO agencies can show you tangible, quantifiable success by helping clients increase revenues and broaden their reach for new customers.

Improving your SEO is a marathon (vs. a sprint), and a top SEO agency will constantly improve your digital presence. And SEO includes many aspects nowadays. A partner may evaluate your layout, speed/performance, content, and much more to drive more traffic and present new ways to improve. They’ll also be transparent with you throughout the process, using analytics and search console data to show improvements. Think of the number of unique visitors, behavior flow (how they found you), high-volume search queries, and the kind of content that’s most popular.

Do I Need a Specialized E-commerce SEO Agency?

Some SEO agencies specialize in e-commerce businesses, which have different needs than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. Unlike physical stores, e-commerce sites rely solely on their internet presence for success. Often, E-commerce focused agencies have a deeper knowledge of what kind of SEO they need to optimize conversions from leads.

These agencies can also help you find additional unique keywords that gain interest across all the goods and services you offer, helping you find more niche customers and qualified leads. Visibility is also important, and often, e-commerce businesses find plenty of success including vibrant social media into their marketing.

What about an SEO Agency that specializes in B2B?

B2B sales are a different animal (vs. B2C). Sure, people are people and reaching people and putting them through a funnel might be the same at an elementary level… however, having an SEO agency that understands the intricacies of the overall B2B sales cycle can be critical to your success. If your business works with larger corporations or if you’re a government supplier, having the right SEO to stand out from the crowd (and rank higher than your competition) is extremely important.

Business-to-business sales require a different approach than those designed to appeal directly to consumers. Often, business analysis and analytics can benefit B2B companies. Analytics data can be incorporated into an SEO Strategy to create rich and engaging content, giving further information about what each company delivers. Why is this important? To stand out from the competition. To find where the target B2B customer’s pressure point is and pushing on it to create sales.

SEO for B2B is all about understanding the intricacies of B2B buying stages. It impacts SEO, Content, Social, Email Marketing, Web Design, etc. Contact us if your SEO agency just doesn’t understand B2B!

Checklist For Finding the Best SEO Agency

There are a few things you can do to find the best SEO agency for your needs.

1. Ask Your Professional Network (People you Know and Respect in the Industry).

If you have a professional network, ask for recommendations about which Search Engine Optimization (SEO) agency to use. Or, look at successful businesses in your area, and ask them if they use a particular SEO company. Your professional network can give you an honest assessment of their experience with different agencies. LinkedIn is a great resource for such a thing, even if you don’t know a person, connect with someone you admire and ask their opinion on an SEO Agency referral.

Top SEO agencies will also show you their methodology for improving your SEO. This might include: site optimization, user experience and user interface suggestions, testing of headings/headlines, user flow and element placements, image optimizations, site link profiles, authority development recommendations, and much more. The more research that your agency does for your business and goals, the better they’ll be able to make the right choices for your website.

The best SEO agencies will also have transparent reporting, showing you how they calculated the increase in traffic. Your agency should start every engagement with a detailed scope that all parties agree to. And success can be measured by using several different tools or platforms to determine which keywords and content are contributing to increased traffic vs. which parts of your website need work.

2. Require an open, honest, and transparent estimate

Ask for costs upfront:

- Where is your budget going?
- Is there at least a description of services to be provided?
- Is there recommendations vs. limits?

Some SEO agencies may be outside your budget, And be very cautious with low-cost SEO agencies. The adage, “you get what you pay for,” is most apparent in the world of Search Engine Optimization. If an agency isn’t charging much for services, they’re probably not providing the same quality of service vs. a reliable, cost-conscious agency would. A good agency will be able to determine how much work improving your website’s SEO will take, and price it accordingly.

An estimate should provide a line-by-line explanation of where your money is going, and how that money leads to success.

3. Determine What Success Looks Like Early

Ask how the SEO Agency quantifies results. Include tracking how your site ranks for Keywords over time (for Search Engine Results Pages’ sake) and what metrics they use to determine the success of their SEO campaign overall. The SEO campaign program/strategy is ultimately an effort to help your business make more money. And a top SEO agency will also show you how you perform with key performance indicators. These go well beyond tracking Organic Traffic only; also think about:

- leads your site brings in,
- conversion rates on contact forms,
- direct, referral (and organic) traffic numbers
- revenue generated (e-commerce),
- and much more…

Ask the SEO agency for examples of recent websites that they’ve optimized with their SEO programs (and, if possible, the keyword rankings that they helped these sites achieve). Remember to look for the current examples – what worked five years ago for SEO is much different today. Some SEO programs in various marketing verticals simply take a while to show results. I think we all understand that. However, a good agency will still be able to show progress even if their business is in a difficult industry.

Once you have an idea of your desired results (KPIs establish, quarterly or bi-annual check-ins, etc.), pick the SEO agency that has experience helping other companies achieve similar goals. Remember, your SEO agency is your partner, and an SEO Program is a lot of back-and-forth collaboration. They get to know your goals and your business ins and outs. And that information drives some decisions. Combined with intuition and expertise, this should create a successful collaboration (over time) for both parties.

And if an estimated ROI isn’t part of the initial calculations for success… Contact us!

4. Do Your Own Research and Make a Decision.

Check out the agency online. Peruse their social media presence and their website (note, some of the greatest ad agencies out there don’t post much on social – e.g., W+K, 72 and Sunny, etc. – that’s not the end of the world), but do you like what they’re posting? Does it align with your values? Are they making any political stances you disagree with?

Read reviews from other clients, and look at independent testimonials. It’s ok if they don’t have any reviews… remember, people usually post negative reviews before positive. So no reviews can be a great indicator. Also, look out for fake, overly positive reviews. They’re typically easy to spot and are done when an Agency (just like a product review) needs to balance out some of the bad reviews.

SEO agencies are primarily marketing businesses, so one without a strong online presence may indicate one without the experience or talent to make your business successful. It could also indicate an agency that’s just so busy they don’t have time to work on their digital presence. So ask questions:

- Ask why pages or posts haven’t been updated (in the past week/month/etc.).
- Ask if they’ve worked with businesses in your vertical (it’s probably ok if they haven’t, but sometimes an industry niche makes all the difference in a marketing program).
- Ask if they specialize (maybe they focus on e-commerce, local SEO, or your industry niche)
- Ask how often they’ll meet with you. Even the lowest budget clients have monthly touchpoints in our agency.
- Ask what other services they provide. Usually, SEO isn’t the only service (but it just might be). If they offer other marketing mediums, does this help you?
- Ask, ask, and ask again. Make sure you feel comfortable with your choice.

Time to Make a Decision

Compile all the feedback from Steps one through five and make a decision. And don’t wait too long; waiting too long can start to creep into the realm of unprofessional. There’s risk involved in everything. Selecting an SEO Agency to help boost your own career progression is just another risk. And while no one makes a decision hoping for failure, failure is part of progress. The Point? Don’t be afraid. Take your educated decision, stand by the agency you picked, and run with it. You should know within 3-6 months if the company you selected to represent the SEO arm of Digital Marketing was the right one. And if they’re not (for whatever reason), start the process all over again. Take what you’ve learned from this agency that you didn’t like, and make sure to look out for the undesirable attributes in your next agency.

YOUR TIME IS NOW! LET’S GO!

Feel like we missed something? Have a little secret when selecting an SEO Agency you’d like to share?

We’re not perfect, but this has been our checklist (in five parts) of what we think a client should look for when selecting an SEO agency. However, feel free to share what you think on any of our social media accounts. And as always, we’re available to add new life to your digital presence. Each business is unique, and it’s important to us to understand each client’s goals so we can take specific steps to help achieve them.

Contact ENDURANCE to get started »

Do Your Own Research

Check out the agency online. Peruse their social media presence and their website (note, some of the greatest ad agencies out there don’t post much on social – e.g. W+K, 72 and Sunny, etc. – that’s not the end of the world), but do you like what they’re posting? Does it align to your values? Are they making any political stances you disagree with?

Read reviews from other clients, and look at independent testimonials. It’s ok if they don’t have any reviews… remember, people usually post negative reviews before positive. So no reviews can be a great indicator. Also look out for fake, overly positive reviews. They’re usually easy to spot and are done when an Agency (just like a product review) needs to balance out some of the bad reviews.

Ask why pages or posts haven’t been updated (in the past week/month/etc.).
Ask if they’ve worked with businesses in your vertical (it’s probably ok if they haven’t, but sometimes an industry niche makes all the difference in a marketing program).
Ask if they specialize (maybe they focus on ecommerce, local SEO, or your industry niche)
Ask how often they’ll meet with you. Even the lowest budget clients have monthly touchpoints in our agency
Ask what other services they provide. Usually SEO isn’t the only service (but it just might be). If they offer other marketing mediums, does this help you?
Ask, ask, and ask again. Make sure you feel comfortable with your choice.

Time to Make a Decision

Compile all the feedback from Steps one through five and make a decision. And don’t wait too long, waiting too long can start to creep into the realm of unprofessional. There’s risk involved in everything, selecting an SEO Agency to help boost your own career progression is just another risk. And while no one makes a decision hoping for failure, failure is part of said progression as well. The Point? Don’t be afraid. Take your educated decision, stand by the agency you picked, and run with it. You should know within 3-6 months if the company you selected to represent the SEO arm of Digital Marketing was the right one. And if their not (for whatever reason), start the process all over again. Take what you’ve learned from this agency that you didn’t like, and make sure to look out for the undesirable attributes in your next agency.

YOUR TIME IS NOW! LET’S GO!

Feel like we missed something? Have a little secret when select an SEO Agency you’d like to share?

We’re not perfect, but this has been our checklist (in five parts) of what we think a client should look for when selecting an SEO agency. However, feel free to share what you think in any of our social media accounts. And as always, we’re available to add fresh life to your digital presence. Each business is unique, and it’s important to us to understand each client’s goals so we can take specific steps to help achieve them.

Contact ENDURANCE to get starts »

For more information on How to Select the Best SEO Agency for your needs:

Read Part 4 – “Specify Success Metrics to Guide an SEO Program“

Determine What Success Looks Like Early

Ask how the SEO Agency quantifies results. Include tracking how your site ranks for Keywords over time (for Search Engine Results Pages’ sake) and what metrics they use to determine success of their SEO campaign overall. The SEO campign program/strategy is ultimately an effort to help your business make more money, but a top SEO agency will also show you how you perform with key performance indicators. These go well beyond tracking Organic Traffic only; also think about:

leads your site brings in,
conversion rates on contact forms,
direct, referral (and organic) traffic numbers
revenue generated (ecommerce),
and much more…

Ask the SEO agency for examples of recent websites that they’ve optimized with their SEO programs (and if possible, the keyword rankings that they helped these sites achieve). Remember to look for the current examples – what worked five years ago for SEO is much different today. Some SEO programs in certain marketing vertical simply take a while to show results – I think we all understand that – however, a good agency will still be able to show you the progress even a difficult client makes.

Once you have an idea of your desired results (KPIs establish, quarterly or bi-annual check-ins, etc.), pick the SEO agency that has experience helping other companies achieve similar goals. Remember, your SEO agency is your partner, and an SEO Progam is a lot of back-and-forth collaboration. They get to know your goals and your business and that information drives some decisions, and in turn their data, process, and expertise should create an amazing collaboration that is successful (over time) for both parties.

And if an estimated ROI isn’t part of the initial calculations for success… Contact us!

For more information on How to Select the Best SEO Agency for your needs:

Read Part 3 – “Require an Honest, Transparent Estimate“

Require an open, honest, and transparent estimate

Ask for costs upfront:

Where is your budget going?
Is there at least a description of services to be provided?
Is there recommendations vs. limits?

An estimate should provide a line-by-line explanation of where your money is going, and how that money leads to success.

For more information on How to Select the Best SEO Agency for your needs:

[Previous] Read Part 2 – “Ask Your Network who their favorite SEO Agency is”

[Next] Read Part 4 – “Define Success Metrics/KPIs when Selecting an SEO Agency.“

Ask your network

For more information on How to Select the Best SEO Agency for your needs:

[Previous] Read Part 1 – How to Select an SEO Agency for B2B Marketing

[Next] Read Part 3 – How to Select an SEO Agency, Require an Honest Estimate

B2B sales are a different animal than B2C sales (sure, people are people and reaching people and putting them through a funnel might be the same at an elementary level), but having an SEO agency that understands the intricacies of the overall B2B sales cycle can be critical to your success. If your business works with larger corporations or if you’re a government supplier, having the right SEO to stand out from the crowd (and rank higher than your competition) is extremely important.

Business-to-business sales require a different approach than those designed to appeal directly to consumers. Often, business analysis and analytics can benefit B2B companies. This data can be incorporated into an SEO Strategy to create rich and engaging content, giving customers more information about what each company delivers. Why is this important? To stand out from the competition. To find where the target B2B customer’s pressure point is and how to push it to create a sales.

SEO for B2B is all about understanding the intricacies of the B2B buying stages. It impacts SEO, Content, Social, Email Marketing, Web Design, etc. etc. etc. Contact us if your SEO agency just doesn’t understand B2B!

For more information on How to Select the Best SEO Agency for your needs:

Read Part 2 – Use Your Network To Select the Right SEO Agency

What is Direct Website Traffic (aka Direct Traffic)?

Example of Direct Traffic

What is Organic Website Traffic (aka Organic Traffic or Natural Traffic)?

Example of Organic Website Traffic.

What is Referral Website Traffic (aka Referral Traffic)?

Example of Referral Traffic.

What is Paid Website Traffic (aka Paid Traffic)?

Example of Paid Traffic.

Google Analytics GA4: How to View Organic, Paid, Referral, and Direct Traffic (the new way).

Step 1. Sign in to Google Analytics GA4, Select “Traffic Acquisition.”

Step 2. Select the date range in which you’d like to view traffic information.

Step 3. Add a Quick Filter for channel (the default sort now in GA4).

Step 4. Select the Marketing Channel You Need To Analyze.

How to View Organic, Paid, Referral, and Direct Traffic (Reports) using Google Analytics UA (the old way).

Step 1. Sign in to Google Analytics, Select the Audience Overview.

Step 2. Select the date range in which you’d like to view traffic information.

Step 3. Adjust the Audience Selection.

Step 4. Analyze the data.

Understanding what can be gained from analyzing Paid, Direct, Referral, and Organic website traffic.

Where to go from here with Google Analytics GA4?

What you need to know about keyword research with little-to-no SEO experience required.

Here’s a great stat for you – 53% of all web traffic comes from organic search. Only 15% comes from paid search.

Table of Contents:

Keyword Research for Clients with No SEO Experience

Evaluating the Trustworthiness of an SEO Agency’s Advice

Another stat for you, “93% of all web traffic comes through search engines.” so if you get penalized (see last sentence) and taken off of Google, you’re business could be in major trouble.

Understanding Keyword “Intent” Categories

More Keyword Research Considerations

What’s next in my decision making proccess?

The Best Tools for Cookieless Customer Acquisition

Google Analytics

Benefits of Tracking Events

Google Search Console and the Intent of Your Content

The Intent of Your Content

Informational Content

Transactional Content

Marketing Ears — How to Effectively Spy and Utilize Social Listening

SpyFu

Keywordtool.io

Quantcast

Ears to the Ground

And That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles

A guide to picking the Best SEO Agency for your needs

How To Choose an SEO Company

What Should I Look For in a Top SEO Company?

Do I Need a Specialized E-commerce SEO Agency?

What about an SEO Agency that specializes in B2B?

Checklist For Finding the Best SEO Agency

1. Ask Your Professional Network (People you Know and Respect in the Industry).

2. Require an open, honest, and transparent estimate

3. Determine What Success Looks Like Early

4. Do Your Own Research and Make a Decision.

Feel like we missed something? Have a little secret when selecting an SEO Agency you’d like to share?

Do Your Own Research

Time to Make a Decision

Feel like we missed something? Have a little secret when select an SEO Agency you’d like to share?

For more information on How to Select the Best SEO Agency for your needs:

Determine What Success Looks Like Early

For more information on How to Select the Best SEO Agency for your needs:

Require an open, honest, and transparent estimate

For more information on How to Select the Best SEO Agency for your needs:

Ask your network

For more information on How to Select the Best SEO Agency for your needs:

For more information on How to Select the Best SEO Agency for your needs: