SEO Tycoon

**peevee27** · 04-06-2011, 10:31 AM

Hi
I have on a couple of occasions used SEO professionals to SEO my website YallaF1.com
And I do believe our ranking and whatever is okay - I stand to be corrected of course....
I now have contracted an SEO expert to takeover from the original one who went awol.
I am just curious to find out if there is a way to monitor SEO progress (for dummies)
Are there tools to gauge improvements over a period of time?
How does one in my position monitor SEO progress?
It appears to be an invisible science and to justify spending with experts a gauge of sorts would be useful....
Any info and/or advice on this would be cool.
Cheers
PV

**chrishirst** · 04-06-2011, 10:44 AM

The ONLY useful metrics that shows if SEO is working or not are:

A: Referrals from Search Engines improving
B: Conversions from ALL sources improving
C: Your accounts: (if the site is commercial in any way) with the generated revenue increasing more than the work is costing which indicates a positive RoI (Return on Investment)

Forget useless metrics such as:
SGB PR.
Alexa Rank.
Link counts.
Indexed page counts .
"Bounce" rates.
"Time on page".
Unique visitors.

And all the other "fluff factors" that the "gurumasterexperts" BS you with.

**chrishirst** · 04-06-2011, 10:47 AM

Quote:

I now have contracted an SEO expert to takeover

No NO!

The very LAST thing you need is an "SEO expert", what you really need is someone who knows what they are doing!

**peevee27** · 04-06-2011, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrishirst

No NO!

The very LAST thing you need is an "SEO expert", what you really need is someone who knows what they are doing!

Hey I love it!!!
Okay I found a chap through freelancer.com
He is well reviewed and for all I know he is ace at this SEO stuff - I hope...
Thats why montitoring/gauging/measuring improvement would be useful for me....
Cheers
PV

**bigcat1967** · 04-06-2011, 08:47 PM

Quote:

The very LAST thing you need is an "SEO expert", what you really need is someone who knows what they are doing!

Yeah - I know tons of seo experts - but these idiots just don't do the job right. ;D

**full house** · 04-06-2011, 09:49 PM

you can ask for progress report about it and you can see it in google analytics.

**peevee27** · 04-07-2011, 12:03 AM

okay but the SEO expert i found through freelancer.com and come highly reccomended by many users who have reviewed his work...
I hope he knows what he is doing - measuring his performance would be cool

**smsinhindi** · 04-07-2011, 04:19 AM

What Chris has told above is the right way to monitor the progress.

Quote:

A: Referrals from Search Engines improving
B: Conversions from ALL sources improving
C: Your accounts: (if the site is commercial in any way) with the generated revenue increasing more than the work is costing which indicates a positive RoI (Return on Investment)

**Robertpatrick** · 04-07-2011, 05:49 AM

Its correctly said, if you have a Good ROI then you can gauge about SEO along with improve in conversions too (an all time improvement factor).

**chrishirst** · 04-07-2011, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peevee27

okay but the SEO expert i found through freelancer.com and come highly reccomended by many users who have reviewed his work...
I hope he knows what he is doing - measuring his performance would be cool

When you start getting "ranking reports" and "link building activity" details, you'll know it is time to say "Thank you" followed by "Goodbye"

**infomesh** · 04-07-2011, 08:28 AM

you can check the site results by using google analytics and web analytics.

**teegoWebs** · 04-08-2011, 03:05 PM

I dont like all this negative anti-seo-expert talk.

As an SEO expert myself, I dont think there is anything wrong with choosing a new seo guy, but you need to check their background first. Only go with an seo expert who has a proven track record.

The best way to gauge if SEO is working, is to install Google Analytics. Then you can see all the information for any time frame. Then you can compare before and after.

The seo expert should do this for you. He should provide google analytics if not already isntalled, pre-seo reports to show your current standings, a list of desired keywords and estimated placements for those keywords, and the end result.

Changes to your website will be indexed by google every 1 or 2 weeks. Once they scan it, they will adjust your ranking pretty much right away. All SEO benifits can be seen within 2 weeks of adjustments.

**chrishirst** · 04-08-2011, 06:07 PM

Shall we just say self proclaimed SEO "expert" then?

**teegoWebs** · 04-08-2011, 10:56 PM

Yeah, I guess its like mechanics. There are so many dishonest mechanics out there because they know people dont know the difference.

Best thing, do your research. Get a good concept of what SEO is yourself, and ask around.

You know SEO is working when it starts to work. If it doesnt work, then you didnt really search engine optimize your site.

It is possible to not benefit from SEO if your in a market that is very saturated like "hosting" for example. So you may need to find a niche market, build your rank in that, then slowly move more towards your desired keyphrases.

**chrishirst** · 04-09-2011, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Yeah, I guess its like mechanics. There are so many dishonest mechanics out there because they know people dont know the difference.

That's about the size of it.

Any ~~clown~~body with the barest grasp on the English(American) language who has read a couple of "blogs" can declare themselves an "expert" in SEO.
To them all that "SEO" is Forum posting, "blog" commenting and "social media" spamming.
The only aim is to be "top in Google fro you most impotrant keywrod" and everything will magically follow.

Then of course they ask the question "My client site is top in Google but get no sales, why this happen"

And the only true answer is "Because you are an idiot who hasn't a clue about Search"!

**andrejka** · 04-14-2011, 01:27 AM

Quote:

To them all that "SEO" is Forum posting, "blog" commenting and "social media" spamming.

It's also SEO, which can give a good result/return btw. Everything just needs its own approach and blackhat SEO is not an exception here. In war all means are good

**chrishirst** · 04-14-2011, 05:33 AM

Quote:

In war all means are good

What war?

**jimmymav** · 04-14-2011, 06:54 AM

I've stopped adding anyone calling themselves "SEO expert" on my twitter account. Seems to be on every other persons profile.

**melovemoney** · 04-14-2011, 03:18 PM

I got to disagree to not look at the among of links that are being built for youalthough it's not something I would focus on. Focus more on where your terms were and where they are now after the Seo efforts the most. Also look at quality of the links you got built.

**andrejka** · 04-15-2011, 01:44 AM

Quote:

What war?

The war of being ranked top on Google - SEO war

))