Making it to the top of Google search results should be a top priority for any business looking towards lucrative avenues to tap into digital markets. One of the most effective ways to do this is to employ Search Engine Optimization techniques. However, many people approach SEO as a magic pill that helps them get quality leads and instant success. That is not how it works.

Be in it for the long haul

Looking at short term SEO results will only set you up for failure in the long term. It is important to consider SEO as a long term initiative, where the techniques and operations are fine-tuned to stay updated with the constantly evolving SEO algorithms. Much is out of your control, and the only way to maintain a good position is to constantly work on the website and the SEO to adapt better practices to help stay relevant for long. However, you can still achieve some degree of semblance by keeping track of your results and adhering to tried and tested SEO practices.

Reevaluating metrics

Assessing success in SEO involves multiple metrics and none of them are predictable on your own terms. This is due to the volatile nature of the environment that controls SEO. Your search results may vary month to month. You can get a good insight into your website traffic through Google Analytics. This will give you an accurate picture of number of unique visitors to your website. Since Google analytics allows you to filter the source of the website traffic, you can easily identify if the traffic is from the search engine, or direct website visit or if it is from an ad campaign that you are running.

You can also look into the page engagement and how long people are spending on your website and on which pages. This is valuable information on what people like and what they don’t, thus allowing you to refine your website to match your visitor’s needs.

Proper time frame

Achieving SEO results is no overnight feat. It takes at least 3 months for any changes to reflect or show results, and at least 6 months before you begin to reap the benefits. SEO is information intensive and you need to be backed by a credible amount of data before you make any decision on what works and what doesn’t. Once you are in possession of a good volume of site metrics, you can then study it thoroughly to check what works and what doesn’t, thus allowing you to reorganize your budget and your work to achieve consistency in results.

Consistent and honest work is rewarded handsomely in this field. So, are you ready to engage with visitors, blog frequently and be active on social media?

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