How To Use Data Forecasting For SEO

Souvik Dey

Apr 8, 2021 — 8 min read

SEO forecasting is the process of determining what results from SEO can drive. Results from SEO are unpredictable. The search engine algorithms are complex and take into consideration a vast amount of data. By analyzing site data, you can predict potential site visibility, which allows you to forecast organic traffic potential and conversion rates. When you look at forecasting data, you see that there is a direct connection between SEO goals (i.e. ranking improvements) and organizational goals (i.e. making money). SEO forecasting lets you use data to make predictions, such as future traffic levels and the value of that traffic. SEO forecasting can help with sales or predict the future impact for a client. Google is the single-largest traffic driver to websites. Google accounts for 57.8% of total referral traffic for the average site (10x the traffic that Facebook drives to the average site).

You’ll probably want to consider looking for:

Current organic traffic (and hopefully historic traffic data too)
Search volume
Seasonal changes in search volume
Ranking data
Conversion rates from organic search
Average Order Value (AOV)
Click-Through Rate (CTRs)

SEO continues to establish itself as a credible marketing channel, forecasting traffic potential. Most SEO forecasts use first-party data sources like Google Analytics or Google Search Console. Here we will discuss various aspects of data forecasting for SEO.

Stats related to SEO

72% of online marketers describe content marketing as their most effective SEO tactic
Google currently holds 90.1% of total search engine market share.
81% of people do some type of online research before making a large purchase
47% of consumers read 3-5 pieces of content created by a company before talking to a salesman from that company
Leads from search engines have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads have a 1.7% close rate
75% of people never scroll past the first page of search engine.
78% of location-centric mobile searches result in an offline purchase

Why to Forcast Data for SEO

1. Ranking Improvements

The goal is to optimize content to move to page one and higher on page one of the Search Engine Results Pages (also known as “SERPs” or “SERP”) which is Google's response to a user's search query. Most clicks go to the top three results. According to CTR studies, the site in position one on Google receives twice as many clicks than the site in position two. Ranking higher on the SERP means more visibility for your site and therefore more impressions. Well-optimized sites get more and more traffic over time, and that means more leads and sales.

According to Google’s own search quality ratings, when it indexes the main content of each page, it checks factors like:

Purpose of the page
Content quality and amount
Website info and info about the content creator
Website reputation and content creator reputation
User interaction with the page (time on page, bounce rates, and so on)
Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T)

10 crucial SEO ranking factors:

A secure and accessible website
Page speed (including mobile page speed)
Mobile-friendliness
Domain age, URL, and authority
Optimized content
Technical SEO
User Experience (RankBrain)
Links (Inbound links, Outbound links, Internal links)
Social Signals
Real Business Information

2. Traffic Improvements

The SEO Traffic KPI measures the number of visits to your website that are the result of organic or paid search traffic. 50% of traffic around the web entered websites by clicking on them in the organic search results. If your page ranks well, people will click it. Search engine optimization efforts aim to increase organic traffic. Most SEO focuses on optimizing for Google’s search engine, which dominates the overall search market with a share of over 90%.

Quick SEO tips to increase organic traffic:

Improve existing content with missing subtopics
Send emails to everyone you link to
Add internal links to new pages
Do an annual content audit
Repurpose blog posts as videos
Respond to relevant Help a Reporter Out (HARO) requests
Monitor competing backlinks for underperforming content
Fix pages with broken backlinks
Convert images into backlinks
Install a caching plugin
Optimize for ‘definition’ featured snippets
Embed your videos in relevant posts

3. Increased Conversions

Conversion is defined as when a user buys a product. Let’s say out of 1,000 visitors, 10 buy an item online. The conversion rate is then calculated as follows: (10 actions / 1,000 visitors * 100 = 1.0 percent). The conversion rate would in this case amount to 1.0 percent. Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the systematic process of increasing the percentage of website visitors who take the desired action. Increasing conversion rate means that more of your site traffic converts to meaningful actions that grow your business.

Examples of conversions:

Macro-conversions	Micro-conversions
Purchasing a product from the site	Signing up for email lists
Requesting a quote	Creating an account
Subscribing to a service	Adding a product to the cart

Conversion rate optimization has distinct benefits for SEO these include:

Improved customer insights
Better ROI
Better scalability
Better user experience
Enhanced trust

Most effective ways to increase your conversion rate:

Add a pop-up to your site
Remove unnecessary form fields
Add testimonials, reviews, and logos
Remove distractions
Make the initial step easy
Add a third-party signup service
Strengthen your Call To Action CTA copy
Add live chat to your site
Try another offer
Offer a money-back guarantee
Add a countdown timer
Add a point of purchase upsell
A/B test your headlines

Search Engine Optimization(SEO) & Conversion Rate Optimization(CRO)

4. Increased Sales

In 2017, E-commerce accounted for $2.3 trillion in global sales, the number is expected to increase to $4.88 trillion by 2021. It’s crucial to have a strong search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. Keywords in SEO is an important part of increasing sales.

Start implementing keywords in your:

Content
Web pages
URLs
Headings
Image descriptions
Metadata
Page titles
Emails

SEO sales strategy is all about focusing on SEO efforts on boosting leads and sales. With this you can target potential customers and who are looking for the specific products or services that your business offers. Right SEO strategy can boost your conversion rate and increase sales. By using the right SEO strategy you can bring the right users to your website, and streamline the sales process. Implementing SEO for increased sales is a smart online marketing strategy that every business should take advantage of. An effective PPC campaign can bring in more leads for your sales. For many businesses and e-commerce sites, using a combination of SEO services and PPC/ Google Ads will make the most advantage.

Research shows that obtaining backlinks in industry-specific publications is crucial. Link building is essential to your SEO sales campaign because it increases a brand’s authority and drives additional traffic to your website.

How to Forecast SEO Data

Google Ads is a smart investment for businesses to focus on their SEO efforts. SEO is a long-term investment in exponential growth. SEO ROI is a calculation that measures the return on investment of search engine optimization.

ROI SEO formula: (Gain from Investment – Cost of Investment) / Cost of Investment.

By calculating SEO’s return on investment companies looking at search engine rankings, organic website traffic, and goal completions.

You can get an idea of the potential SEO ROI from an SEO strategy. Steps are discussed below:

Step 1: Estimate the search volume for top keywords or phrases
Step 2: Find your current ranking positions
Step 3: Estimate Click-Through-Rate (CTR)
Step 4: Estimate how competitive the keywords you chose are
Step 5: Calculate potential traffic
Step 6: Estimate profits and timing

Conclusion

The most important function of SEO is increasing visibility. The higher you rank on a search engine result page (SERP), the more likely prospects are to see you and click through to your site. Increased web traffic is one of the main goals of SEO. Nearly 33% of clicks go to the first ranking page, and the first five listings get over 75% of all clicks. The concept of authority is new in SEO. authority means that your website is trustworthy, high quality, relevant, and has something to offer. The more authority your site has, the higher your ranking will be, and the more prospects will come to trust your brand. Optimizing your site with on-page SEO improves the usability of your site, and this creates a seamless and positive customer experience. The ultimate reason SEO is essential is that it can help you achieve many of your business goals.