Measuring the success of the search engine optimization campaign can take many forms. Since the internet is constantly changing, measurement and evaluation is the most important process of the SEO campaign, once it has begun and continues. In order to stay on top of changing conditions and to ensure the website is staying competitive, it is important to devote time to evaluating the success of the campaign.

How do I measure the success?

First, use comparable data including old PageRank versus new, in addition to old website traffic versus new. Right away it is going to be very simple to measure the success of the campaign by comparing traffic results. For example, if the website was averaging 1,000 visitors daily during the earliest stages of evaluation, and currently averages over 5,000, it is clear that the SEO initiatives increased website traffic 500%. This is very common amongst SEO campaigns.

Another important measure is to simply view the original PageRank versus the new. If at the beginning of the campaign the website was populating the 4^th page of Google, and has now moved to the 5^th position on the 1^st page, the evidence is clear. Note that 85% of website traffic originates from search results.

It is very important to ensure the SEO company provides an Analytics reporting and metric program that acts to display the differences over time for important areas including PageRank, Keyword Search, Keyword Density Ratio, Website Index Score, Website Traffic, and more. This is an important question to ask the company in the earliest stages, even prior to signing a contract! “What is your method of evaluation? Do you offer an analytic (evaluation) platform?”

Usually, the higher-end SEO firms are the only ones that offer this Analytics program and tracking services. It is important to understand that since the internet is constantly changing at a rapid rate, it is utterly impossible to measure the effectiveness on a day-to-day basis without these tools. Therefore it’s important to ensure the SEO company provides a tracking tool that reports in real-time the success and the differences in the important numbers.