Home Improvement Shop SEO Services Case Study

Ecommerce Home Improvement SEO Case Study on SlidShare.

The purpose of this SEO Performance & Results presentation is not TRAINING others to become more competent in SEO. So please, don’t ask me how I improved my client’s profitability.

I will simply show you the results of what I did, in order to help you as a business owner understand what type of proof you should require from your future potential SEO services providers BEFORE you invest in one or hire an in-house employee.

Please Note: If you have already invested in SEO but you are not sure if it is working well, follow my SEO Scam / Awareness / Alert and Identification Roadmap analysis that will give you the answer.

If you understand how SEO Works, most likely you will not make a hiring decision that will cost you money without getting a positive return. It is also possible that SEO is not for you. If you want instant results then you might as well try Facebook ads, Google ads, Linkedin ads, etc. SEO is a long-term, ongoing investment.

A professional Search Engine Optimizer must be able to show you Proven Results that they have achieved for other clients (or other projects in general, personal, affiliate ones, test projects, anything that can be used as proof ).

If they have successfully supported an ecommerce project they should show you Positive ROI results already delivered, through Google Analytics.

While I am not the type who exposes my clients’ identities (some of us sign Non-Disclosure agreements and exposing our results in public view is dangerous for the sustainability of our work), I will share with you how 18 months of collaboration progressed when it comes to trackable SEO RESULTS with NUMBERS.

My advice for you is to use it to educate yourself and protect your business from making an investment that will be in a wrong SEO provider (someone with no actual proof of successful work, or clients that vouch for them) or wrong for you as a promotional method. My client’s identity will remain private for safety and sustainability reasons.

How Can SEO Progress be Tracked, Monitored, and Measured?

SEO performance can be measured with several types of metrics by noting down their status before SEO starts on a project and monitoring their progress through time.

These metrics are named “KPI” which means “Key Performance Indicators”. While there are plenty of KPI metrics to track SEO performance, the most common ones are the “SERPs” ( > Search Engine Ranking Positions report for the SEO target keywords you have set up as goals), SEO (organic) traffic, and SEO (organic) keywords (ranking in Google’s index) growth, there is one KPI which all business owners understand and are mostly interested in.

That is the “ROI” of their investment, or else the “RETURN on INVESTMENT” in SEO.

Non-Marketing and Non-SEO people do not understand the value of SEO with SERPs or organic growth reports. They understand numbers.

They want to know that they paid X amount of money in SEO and want to know how much money they make back from this investment. In this analysis, I share the most important KPI with you last (but not least), being the ROI for my client. I and my client are content from our so far collaboration and are moving forward together to achieve greater ROIs. ENJOY!

The 3 types of SEO Results I brought for my client, during our 18-month collaboration so far are the following:

  1. Organic Growth and Ecommerce SEO Revenue from Google Analytics Tool > Here you will see Organic Growth and Revenue Associated numbers.
  2. 3-Months “Google My Business” or “Google Maps” Local SEO Results > This comes from SEO support not for the website, but for its Google Maps Local Business Listing.
  3. Client SEO “RETURN ON INVESTMENT” or “ROI” meaning > The relation between how much money my client paid for my professional help and what he got in return from his investment, in my support. If you are a business owner you should aim to get professional support from an SEO expert who can give you a positive ROI (>1) for your investment.

     Results:

    1. From July 18th, 2016, organic traffic to my client’s website increased from 6,046 to 7,782, a year later, on August 17th, 2017.
    2. From September 9th (and all-time before), the organic Keywords that my client’s website pages are ranking for in Greek Google, increased from 1,834 to 1957 on August 22nd, 2017.

    3. Organic Growth and Ecommerce SEO Revenue  (via Google Analytics) 3-Months “Google My Business” or “Google Maps” Local SEO Results

    google analytics organic growth and ecommerce revenue from seo services

    RESULTS:

    1. “Organic Views” (or Sessions) during the last 18 months of cooperation with my client, increased from 83,652K to 109,089K (+30.41%).
    2. “New Users” increased from 63,428K to 74,322K (+17.18%).
    3. Ecommerce Organic (SEO) Associated Transactions increased from 614 to 792 (+28.99%).
    4. Ecommerce Organic (SEO) Associated Revenue increased from €25,073.00 to €42,824.88 (+70.80%)

     

    RESULTS

    From a total of 31,2K views during the last 3 months my client’s “Google My Business” Listing got:

    • 25,7K came from people who used Google.gr Universal search engine in order to find my client’s business, products, and services
    • 5,41K came from people who used Google Maps Local search engine vertical Google.gr/maps/..

    How Does a “Google My Business” or “Google Maps” Listing Look like?

    Not everyone who creates a “Google My Business” or “Google Maps” page for their brick and mortar store (or office) enjoys the results I shared with you in the previous slides.

    In Google universal search engine, only 2-3 local “Google my Business” pages appear and occupy larger space from the simple website’s results on 1st page of Google, they look way “richer” in the eyes of Google users, thus they get a lot of traction and clicks.

    When a Google my Business Local Page is correctly optimized and maintained it appears in Google’s 1st search results page with other 1 or 2 local businesses, displaying the following data DIRECTLY on the 1st page:

    1. Their business name
    2. Their physical address in the map
    3. Their phone
    4. A link to their website
    5. A link to “Directions” for the location

     

     

    RESULTS

    1. My Client’s “Google My Business” or “Google Maps” Local Listing Page was viewed 27.475 times total, during the last 3 months
    2. 39.7% of the total views came from people who already knew my client’s brand name or address and went ahead in the search box and typed it directly in Google (or in Google Maps)
    3. 60.3% of the total views came from people who did not know my client’s brand existence but discovered them in Google (or Google Maps) after typing relevant search queries to my client’s products/services, in the search box

    5. SEO ROI – 18 Months SEO and Total ROI Breakdown in 3 Semesters.

    RESULTS

    Monitoring SEO performance and Seo Roi

    What is the RETURN ON INVESTMENT for my Client for the last 1,5 Year (18 months)?

    • Client’s Tracked Revenue from Organic (SEO) Traffic within Google Analytics is €42,824.88 for the last 18 months period.
    • The client has invested in SEO the amount of € 18,000 for the last 18 months
    • Client’s Revenue from their investment in SEO after deducting the Cost of SEO is (€42,824.88 – € 18,000) = € 24,824.88, for the last 18 months
    • SEO Client ROI Formula – ROI Calculator= (Client’s SEO Revenue – SEO Cost) / SEO Cost
    • My CLIENT’s “ROI” in SEO for the last 18 month period that we are working together, is a Positive one of (24,824.88 / 18,000) = 1,37X. This means that my Client made 1,37X more money than what he paid from the moment we started working together, through his investment in SEO. In other words, the client paid €18K and got €24,824.88 in return.

    What is ROI?

    ROI means the return on someone’s investment. In the SEO World it is the money that a business owner makes from bying Search Engine Optimization services.

    How to measure (or calculate) ROI on SEO – ROI CALCULATOR / SEO ROI Formula

    SEO ROI = (SEO ASSOCIATED REVENUE – SEO COST) / SEO COST

    Taking it a step even further, I will break down the 18-month period Total ROI into 3 Semesters, 3 equal periods of 6 months each, in order to understand how SEO Progresses in a very realistic example of this e-commerce client, in a highly competitive niche, dealing with “MONSTER” sites in SEO.

    “Monster” sites in SEO are all-powerful brands that rank on top Google page not by doing SEO but only by their authority as a brand, in the eyes of Google. Think of Wikipedia, Price Comparison search engine sites, etc.

    How Does the Total 1,37 SEO ROI of my 18th month SEO Project Break down between the 3 x 6-month periods, as SEO progresses?

    By breaking down the 18-month period of doing SEO on this project in 3 semesters, I was able to better understand how SEO progresses through time performance-wise. I am sharing the picture of the SEO ROI BREAKDOWN next.

    Please follow all the data inside and read the column saying “SEO Performance & ROI Explanation“.

    Conclusions will follow about how SEO works in general for you to keep in mind, in case you are thinking of investing in SEO.

    This is a very realistic example in real life and in a real business.

    SEO ROI Breakdown  SEO Revenue (€) SEO COST (€) ROI = (SEO Gains – SEO Cost) / SEO Cost SEO Performance & ROI Explanation 
    18-Months Total 42,825 18,000 1,37 (or 137%) During our 18-month (so far) SEO cooperation, my Client has made €1.37 for every €1 he invested. In other words, my Client spent €18,000 for SEO and got €24,825 in return (€6,825 MORE) . This a 137% ROI or “Return on Investment” score. 
    1 – 6 Months  10,531 6,000 0,75 (or 75%) The 1st 6-month Period of our SEO Collaboration, my Client made €0.75 for every €1 he invested. In other words, my Client spent €6,000 for SEO and got €4,531 in return. My Client got €1,469 LESS money back than he invested during the first 6 months.
    6 – 12 Months  17,588 6,000 1,93 (or 193%) The 2nd 6-month Period of our SEO Collaboration, my Client made €1.93 for every €1 he invested. In other words, my Client spent €6,000 for SEO and got €11,588 in return. My Client, not only got back the exact money he invested, but got €5,588 MORE, during the 6th – 12th month of our cooperation.
    13 – 18 Months  14,705.63  6,000 1,45 (or 145%) The 3rd 6-month Period of our SEO Collaboration, my Client made €1.45 for every €1 he invested. In other words, my Client spent €6,000 for SEO and got €8,705.63 in return. My Client, not only got back the money he invested but got €2,705.63 MORE, during the 13th – 18th month of our cooperation.

    CONCLUSIONS

    1. First 6 months of working on this SEO Project, my client made €1,469 less than what he paid for my SEO services. This is a very realistic example of everyday businesses who start to invest in SEO. SEO takes time. Why? Because it takes time for us SEOs to influence most of 200+ Ranking signals Google looks at in order to position our page in their index, in order to improve the SEO power and authority of the pages we work on, so they can be favored by Google. Besides these 200+ factors that we need to influence to favor our pages, SEO also relies on the quality of cooperation between the SEOs, the web developers, the marketing department of a company, etc. What you should keep in mind is that you should not expect miracles overnight. Avoid scammers who promise you the world in a few days. Google does not work this way.
    2. Between the 7th – 12th months, my client made €5,888 more than what he paid for my SEO services. The return on my client’s investment in SEO was 1,93, almost DOUBLE. After the first six months when Google started to “catch up” with all the new SEO activities on the project and take it all into account, my client started to experience a positive (almost double) ROI, which is amazing and a common scenario when SEO is downright and cooperation is smooth (each task on both sides is completed on time).
    3. Between the 13th – to 18th months, my client made €2,705.63 more than what he paid for my SEO support. Is this realistic? Absolutely. When SEO target pages start to appear higher on top Google’s page for their target keywords, this does not mean that they will stay there forever if we stop our efforts to sustain / further improve these results. Google updates their algorithm very often with minor or major changes which means that we SEOs can never rest on our laurels. The same goes for business owners. During our so far cooperation with the client, we have dealt with and managed 2 big crisis, where our rankings disappeared altogether from 1 page of Google. Once was with an algorithm update from Google and the second one was when we decided to move from “http” to “https” URL version of the site’s URL addresses… It was a true nightmare but we fixed it and we got back at the top 3 organic placements, chest by chest with our competitor’s website, a price comparison eCommerce search engine that ranks with no SEO but only by its great brand authority in the eyes of Google.

    Having completed my SEO Performance Monitoring and SEO ROI Measuring analysis for this project, I hope you have gained clear insights around how SEO works in general.

    This is just an example, a very realistic one of how things can work out. Things can go better and things can go worse. It depends on so many factors that it is out of the scope of this SEO Performance Monitoring and SEO ROI Calculating Analysis.

    Every niche, every different SEO goal requires custom startegy and has its own weakneses and strengths. So the ROI that you will get from investing in SEO and the timeframe in which you will get the results depends on several factors that have to do with your project’s weaknesses and strengths, compared to your competition who is already ranking where you want to rank.