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SEO Forecasting

Last updated: Dec 06, 2022

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What is SEO Forecasting?

SEO forecasting is a way to find out how an optimization strategy works optimally. It can be said that forecasting is a method for predicting how effective the plans that have been made in website optimization activities will be.

Before carrying out SEO activities, it's a good idea to see predictions or estimates of possible profits. Here, you can estimate your income by calculating the investment value and conversion rate.

Considering that the SEO strategy does not use a budget like SEM, the estimated marketing profit is based on organic traffic. This activity requires accuracy because of the complexity of the calculation to get accurate results.

Keep in mind that the forecasting strategy doesn't always produce a report with a definite value. However, this method can still help business people know in which aspects the focus of the SEO strategy must be carried out in order to get optimal results.

Benefits of Doing SEO Forecasting

SEO forecasting activities can help you increase the effectiveness of SEO performance to increase business profits. Some of the benefits that can be obtained from this activity are:

Help Make Business Decisions

Forecasting gives you insight regarding the implementation of the planned optimization strategy. With this activity, business people can see how the strategy can be optimized from an investment and marketing perspective.

With SEO forecasting, business people are able to estimate the time needed to do on-page SEO and technical SEO. In addition, forecasting activities can also estimate the effectiveness of content production and digital marketing activities to promote products or services.

Identify Gaps in Competitor Strategies

Estimating the effectiveness of SEO can make it easier for you to identify the weaknesses of your competitors' strategies. This is because competitive analysis is included in forecasting activities. It aims to find a list of keywords in the same niche.

You can look for low-competition keywords that may never have been used to create content on your website. In addition, look for competitor web pages that are not ranked too highly. After that, use the keywords used on the page and start planning content production by first creating a content calendar.

Improve Your Website’s Ranking on the SERP

Of course, the SEO strategy has goals and benefits for improving website performance. The real thing to see here is the ranking of the pages on the SERPs, which you can compare to your competitors'.

Estimates of the effectiveness of SEO work are generally displayed in graphic form. So you can look at the big picture of the implementation and see how much of a change that might be. That way, you will see the positive and negative sides of implementing the SEO plan.

Help Presenting Projects to Clients

Forecasting activities can give you an estimate of the effectiveness of the SEO strategy that you have prepared. Verifying this data can be the key to getting new business clients and investors.

With data from forecasting, you can convince clients and potential investors of the level of success of the SEO strategy that has been prepared. In short, it can make your business more credible and trustworthy.

SEO Forecasting Metrics

To make projections about the SEO strategy that will be implemented, you need to pay attention to the following metrics:

Conversion rate: the percentage of website visitors who convert
Click-through rate: the quotient of clicks earned by impressions
Search intent: predict user’s search goals
Seasonal keywords: keywords that experience an increase in volume in a given season
Organic traffic: the traffic volume you get organically in a period of time

SEO Forecasting Methods

There is no certain way to do forecasting. However, there are several methods that are generally used to make projections for your business's SEO plan. Here are two popular methods that you can apply:

General Estimations

One simple way to do the forecasting strategy is to use organic traffic forecasts. You can see the website's previous performance as well as the increase in traffic.

With the data from the plans that have been implemented, you can estimate how much effort you need to put in to increase the organic traffic numbers for your future website. From these estimates, the SEO strategy can be estimated to reach the same target.

Excel Templates

Another way that is generally used to make projections is to use an Excel or spreadsheet template. You can use both applications to simplify complex calculations.

Data that is arranged sequentially according to the date the SEO strategy was implemented can make making projections easier. Therefore, make sure to periodically record website performance according to the SEO metrics that affect it.