SEO is sort of a black box, but enough smart people have reverse-engineered Google’s algorithm with enough trial & error, that it’s become somewhat of a science. But how do we translate that to a roofer or local car dealer? Ansira’s Colleen Harris breaks it down for us.

Key Takeaways

Here are a few key messages or insights that we gleaned from this session.

• We tend to scrutinize paid search down to the penny, as there’s ample analytics to do so.
• SEO by comparison is equally important but doesn’t have all that data… hence the perpetual sleuthing that defines the SEO industry.
• One way that businesses and agencies can start to better quantify their status and strategy is the free Google Search Console.
• This is one of the most underrated and underused free assets on the web. Anyone not using it should – even if that means starting small with basic functions.
• From there, it can go deep in terms of granularity of site performance, and related user search behavior in a given category.
• For example, in the Southeastern U.S., people use the term Chevy instead of Chevrolet. Nuances like that are important in keyword generation.
• Similarly, use UTM tracking links to be able to measure organic traffic in Google Analytics. You may see that the organic customer is leading to meaningful engagement and conversions compared to paid traffic.
• It’s all there, and it’s low-hanging fruit to start to build some structure and strategy around the otherwise black-box art of SEO.

Get Out the Map: Finding the ROI of Local SEO

Local SEO is equal parts logic & magic. It doesn’t have concrete metrics like paid search which can make it difficult to understand and to find the ROI for your Local SEO strategy. With multiple data sources to pull from it can be difficult to find where to start and what data is most important. Colleen’s session is the map every local marketer can follow to turn data into a successful report.

Colleen Harris, Head of BI – Ansira