Pay Per Click always has a clear return on investment if the campaign is set up correctly and conversions are tracked. But what about your organic SEO efforts? How can you calculate the return on investment from organic traffic, which leads to a sale?
Tracking your return on investment (ROI) for digital marketing efforts can be daunting for Calgary small business owners. It requires many hours if you do not have the tools and skills to know what you to look for.
In this blog, we will discuss step by step how to calculate the ROI of your Calgary SEO campaign and provide you with insight into some free Google Analytics tools.
Why track conversions from organic keywords?
SEO is an integral part of running a small business. Not only is it the most time-consuming task, but it also provides the greatest return on investment. A successful SEO campaign can provide your business with more sustained traffic, increased ranking on Google’s search engine and increased sales for your business.
To truly understand our SEO efforts, we have to look beyond our search ranking and see what search terms make a difference for the bottom line.
What is the difference between SEO and SEM?
SEO which stands for search engine optimization, focuses on the optimization of search ranking and organic traffic. It is by far the most labour intensive and requires a long-term investment to achieve great results.
SEO services can include:
- Local SEO: Process of building listings on Google and Bing to ensure your business can be found on their maps. It also helps your website rank better when a user performs a local search, such as “Calgary social media marketing” or “digital marketing services Calgary.”
- On-site SEO: Optimization of your website and landing pages. This service includes content and web structure audits, keyword research, and any front-facing optimizations on your website.
- Technical SEO: This is the process of cleaning up your website’s code and backend. It also includes image optimization, JavaScript and CSS minifying and lazy image loading. Everything to reduce load times and speed up your website.
- Off-site SEO: Guest blogging and backlink building, putting your business on reputable directories. Off-site SEO builds your domain authority and, in turn, your search ranking.
- Social media SEO: Social media can provide a large amount of traffic to your website. Using hashtags within your post and profile can help customers find your business more efficiently.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) utilizes paid search campaigns to drive traffic and leads to your website. It is used to compliment your SEO campaign and provides results from day 1.
Pay Per Click Advertising are highly targeted ad campaigns focused on driving lower funnel conversions and sales.
Search Engine Marketing services include:
- Paid Google Search and Bing campaigns to bring awareness and traffic to your website.
Pay Per Click Advertising services include:
- Facebook Ads
- Google Search Ads (Optimized for Conversions)
- Instagram Ads
- LinkedIn Ads
- Bing Ads
- Display Ads
Now that you understand the difference between pay-per-click services and Calgary SEO services. Let’s look at calculating the ROI of your SEO campaign.
So, how can you calculate the ROI of your Calgary SEO campaign?
Find out which keywords you are ranking for using the Google Search Console
The Google Search Console is one of the most comprehensive free SEO tools available to anyone with a website. It provides users with the most critical web analytics, and one is the keywords for which your business is ranking.
We can see the search queries users type into Google to find our client’s business in the photo. We can also see the impressions and clicks it received for these keywords. But, the most critical data point is the Search Engine Ranking Position (SERP) for these keywords.
Using this data, we can adjust our web copy and content to include these search terms to see what is currently working and what is not. We can also gather these keywords and figure what the cost per click is.
Find out the cost per click for those keywords using Google’s keyword planning tool
Our next step is to take our top keyword list from the Google Search Console and use the Google AdWords keyword planning tool. This robust tool is an excellent way to see how competitive your keywords are and how much they would cost to bid on in a pay-per-click campaign.
The keyword planning tool is another free tool provided by Google, and we use it to help plan out Google Ad campaigns and discover new keywords for organic content.
So our next task is to link our Google Search Console property to our Google Analytics Property
You can do this by:
- Logging into your Analytics Account
- Select Admin (Gear Icon at the Bottom)
- Under Property, click All products
- Click link Google Search Console
- Follow the process, and then you are set!
Once the connection is set up, you can view which keywords led to a conversion and sale.
In Google Analytics, navigate to Acquisition > Search Console > Landing Pages. Find which are of your landing pages are leading to the most sales or conversions. In this case, it is the main landing page of our client’s website.
To find the exact keywords: Click on the landing page. The corresponding keywords had revenue of $13k and an average eCommerce conversion rate of 6.02%.
Calculate the dollar amount per sale and conversions, then divide that number by the cost
Now, it is time to find out what the return on investment is from organic traffic.
We can do this by using this simple formula:
Total revenue/cost per click x number of clicks
In this case, it is $13,774/$1 x 621 = $22 in revenue per click.
How to find Call To Action Conversion rates?
Using the search console in Google Analytics, we can change the conversions from eCommerce to any other goal or CTA you are tracking. In this case, it is Learn more button clicks.
What happens if transactions happen offline?
To find this out, you will need to use your CRM and Google Analytics. Be sure that you are tracking form submissions on your website. From there, you can see which keywords led to a form submission using the same method as we did to find our eCommerce conversion rate.
You will then need to use your CRM to determine which submissions led to a sale or consultation. After that, you can take the revenue from those sales and apply it to the formula above.
Finally, now you have the direct ROI of your SEO campaign.
There you have it! Now you can use this guide to calculate the success of your SEO efforts.
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Need help increasing your sales and web traffic? Book a FREE consultation with us and receive an SEO audit. Send us a message at [email protected].
About Display Digital Marketing
We are honest people doing honest work. At Display Digital, we work with small businesses to help them grow and expand online. We don’t develop one-sized digital marketing packages. We produce value-based deliverables and focus on what matters to your business the most, increasing your revenues.
We use an analytical approach when onboarding clients. We look at your business from the bottom up, identify KPIs that matter, and create a custom strategy that best uses your dollars. Our service includes a comprehensive consult to audit your conversion funnel, brand presence and marketing tools. This process is an investment in the future of your business, and that is why we operate with non-fixed term retainers.
Our agency utilizes the latest advertising and marketing technology, ensuring we maximize your sales and create a smooth buyer’s journey.