Jon Zacharias Releases Guide on How to Gauge Return on Investment in SEO

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Entrepreneur and digital marketing expert, Jon Zacharias, recently authored a guide on his blog site detailing how businesses employing search engine optimization (SEO) can gauge their return on investment. As a leader and co-founder of GR0, one of the fastest growing digital marketing agencies in the country, Zacharias is acutely aware that return on investment for SEO marketing can sometimes seem nebulous to clients without the proper frame of reference. In the November blog post entitled, The 7 Best ways to Gauge ROI for SEO Efforts, Zacharias outlines tangible ways in which businesses can gauge the benefits reaped from their investment in SEO efforts.

The first benchmark of a successful SEO campaign outlined in the post is key word strategy payoffs. Zacharias describes keywords as the "most sought-after" factor that plays into SEO success. Numerous tools exist that portray how a brand is performing on certain keyword searches, and some tools can give an even deeper insight into how keywords are affecting a brand's page performance in organic searches. The insights gained from the latter are particularly important when it comes to avoiding ineffective methods like keyword stuffing and may also alert brands to technical missteps in their SEO efforts. Zacharias also notes that in today's digital space, branded and non-branded keywords are of equal importance according to market research from VWO.

A running theme Zacharias emphasizes is that SEO efforts, in order to have maximum impact, must begin with the traditional bedrock of any solid marketing campaign.  No matter how well-coordinated and deployed, SEO marketing will fall short without relevant and high-quality brand content. Quality content plays a critical role in several of the return on investment gauges described by Zacharias.

Google features such as snippets, carousels, and long-tail answer boxes are an excellent opportunity for smaller brands to stand out. These features are particularly important given the reality that the largest brands with the deepest pockets receive ? of the clicks on most result pages. To effectively utilize these features, Zacharias writes that  "marketers should create content that answers common questions directly and efficiently" while also analyzing original data and insights to distinguish themselves in a saturated field of competitors.

Similarly, backlinks, a long established and verifiably effective asset in the digital marketing tool box, are increasingly dependent on the quality and relevance of content. Past practices such as spamming, buying links, and trying to navigate around the rules are ineffective as Google is increasingly discerning when it comes to the quality and relevance of backlinks. Zacharias expresses his opinion on appropriate backlinks strategy in 2021, writing: "Be honest ? it may be time to abandon some of the outdated approaches to backlink building that still exists from marketing departments of the past. Adopt a "slow and steady" strategy that focuses on earning links the right way, with quality content and smart networking."

Two interrelated gauges for SEO return on investment that directly correlate with the quality of brand content are likes and shares on social media and the success of referrals and brand promotions. Zacharias highlights how word-of-mouth promotion remains a critical component of digital marketing, particularly with many brands' reliance on referrals and promotions to attract new audiences and keep existing audiences engaged. In terms of gauging return on investment, he encourages brands to track their sales while running promotion and referral programs. When it comes to the effectiveness of SEO efforts and social media, quality content is inherently critical. Stated simply, people are not going to share and repost brand content they find uninteresting. While gauging SEO return on investment with social media efforts is not straightforward, Zacharias suggests brands track click backs to their site and evaluate the content users like and share the most.

The final two gauges Zacharias offers as effective metrics for SEO return on investment are the customer acquisition process and locally targeted SEO campaigns. He encourages brands to track how their web pages rank for various keyword combinations, including, business type, city and neighborhood location, as well as other niche long-tail keywords that users may be searching for on the go. Regarding the customer acquisition process, Zacharias says brands should closely monitor customer journey patterns to see which web pages and assets outperform the rest.

Zacharias firmly believes that these seven metrics are essential for brands when evaluating the impact of their investment in SEO. Interested readers can explore more of Zacharias' blog posts and expert takes on the world of digital marketing at Blog - Jon Zacharias.

Media Contact: Gerald Lombardo
Email: [email protected] 
Website: https://gr0.com/

SOURCE GR0.com LLC