Ever struggled to explain SEO to your boss or clients? You’re not alone! SEO can seem like a black box, full of mysterious jargon and ever-changing rules. We’ve got you covered. Learn how to answer the most common questions and get buy-in for your strategies.

There is no need for all marketers and stakeholders to have an in-depth understanding of SEO and the tactics involved; that’s what SEO experts are for. However, there are often a lot of misconceptions about SEO and the tactics used, so it is useful to be able to communicate the importance of SEO and understand why we do what we do.

In this article, we are going to aim to answer five common questions that we come across when talking to stakeholders about SEO:

1. Why is SEO important?
2. When will we see results? / Why does it take so long to see results?
3. What KPIs should we set for SEO?
4. I have heard about [x] tactic. Can that help?
5. Do we really need to make all these changes to improve organic ranking?

Why is SEO important?

Not everyone gets excited about SEO.  But here’s the thing: in today’s online world, it’s not just important; it’s essential. Think of it like this:

• Increased Brand Visibility & Awareness: Higher rankings mean more people see your brand.
• Targeted Traffic: SEO brings in users actively searching for what you offer.
• Credibility & Trust: High rankings signal authority and trustworthiness.

There are many elements that can prevent your content from ranking, including:

• Indexing issues: Google cannot crawl and index the content.
• Content clarity: Your content isn’t well understood by search engines.
• Relevance signals: Your page doesn’t signal its importance effectively.

Additionally, if your competitors are employing robust SEO strategies, they may outrank you—even if your content is highly relevant. This underscores the importance of ongoing SEO efforts.

SEO tactics also overlap with other areas that are likely important to your business. Therefore, employing an SEO strategy can help you achieve other goals at the same time. For example:

Accessibility and SEO Tactics

SEO and accessibility often work hand in hand. By structuring your website in a manner easily understood by search engines, you simultaneously make it more accessible to users with disabilities, improving inclusivity and broadening your audience reach.

How to appear in AI ChatBots

As AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Google Gemini rise in prominence, appearing in these platforms is becoming as important as traditional search engines. Similar to accessibility, there are overlapping tactics. Techniques such as using schema markup, creating high-quality content, and ensuring structured data can help your content be accessible to these AI Chatbots. Additionally, ensuring your robots.txt file is correctly implemented so that AI chatbots can access your content and use it in their answers is vital. If your content can’t be crawled effectively, it can’t appear in the results.

User Experience (UX) and SEO

A website optimised for search engines inherently prioritises user experience. Seamless navigation, informative, relevant content, and quick and easy navigation – all hallmarks of effective SEO – create a positive user experience. If you’re interested in learning more about how UX and SEO can work together, read our blog on 5 Ways to Improve Website UX with SEO.

When will we see results? / Why does it take so long to see results?

One of the most common questions from stakeholders is, “When will I see a return on my SEO investment?” It’s a question every SEO expert encounters, and for good reason!  Stakeholders are eager to see a return on their investment, and understandably so. While this is a valid concern, it’s essential to set realistic expectations. SEO is a long-term strategy rather than a quick fix.

SEO does not happen overnight

SEO is an ongoing process that requires time and consistent effort to yield substantial results. Here’s why:

Search Engine Indexing: When you update your website, search engines don’t instantly reflect those changes. Their bots need time to crawl and index your site, which can take days, weeks, or even months. Factors like the size of your website and the frequency of your updates influence this process.

Competitive Landscape: The time it takes to see results also depends on the competitiveness of your industry. If you’re in a highly competitive market, it will naturally take longer to achieve top rankings.

SEO is Multi-faceted: Effective SEO involves various elements, including technical optimisation, content creation, and link building. Each of these components requires dedicated effort and contributes to the overall success of your SEO strategy.

We often set the expectation that you can start to see changes in SEO performance over a 3-6 month period, however, it can take 12-16 months to drive real results.

Implementation is Key

Identifying SEO opportunities is only the first step.  Implementing those optimisations is what truly drives results. This includes:

Technical SEO: Addressing technical issues like site speed, mobile-friendliness, and crawlability.

On-Page Optimisation: Optimising your content with relevant keywords, writing compelling meta descriptions, and ensuring proper page structure.

Off-Page Optimisation: Building high-quality backlinks from reputable websites and establishing a strong online presence.

It is important to set the expectation that the results will come 3-6 months after implementation, not 3-6 months from the point that the optimisation opportunities were identified. Without implementation, even the best strategy will not deliver results.

What KPIs should we set for SEO?

Tracking the right KPI metrics is vital to demonstrate SEO success. Google’s metrics from tools like Search Console and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) are often reliable indicators of performance.

Google Metrics

You can track performance using both Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4 (previously UA). We are going to talk about some useful ones below; however, there is a breadth of useful information you can get from GSC and GA4.

If you want to dive deeper into SEO metrics, check out our GA4 training presentation.

When tracking organic search performance with Google’s metrics, we recommend looking at the following in Google Search Console:

• Impressions: the number of users that have seen your result in organic search
• Clicks: the number of times a user has actually clicked on your page that appeared in organic results.
• Click-through-rate (CTR): The percentage of impressions that result in clicks. A high CTR means your appearances in organic search are doing a great job of attracting clicks, for instance, the meta titles and descriptions.

We also recommend tracking rankings; you can use average position in GSC or an external tool such as Advanced Web Ranking, which can also show your prominence in featured snippets and competitor rankings.

Further from this, you can track your important conversions in GA4. These are the number of users who complete a desired action on your website (e.g., making a purchase or filling out a form). This is the ultimate goal!

Don’t just focus on conversions! Track the entire journey – rankings, impressions, clicks, and then conversions. This gives you a complete picture of your SEO performance and helps you identify areas for improvement.

If you only measure and track conversions, you will not see if you are making any progress towards this goal. Instead, you need to track all of these metrics to see if you are moving in the right direction and adjust your strategy accordingly.

For instance, you may see rankings improve for some pages and not others, and you will then need to review the optimisation of the pages that are not seeing the expected improvement in performance. If you only track conversions, it will take much longer for you to see changes and know what to do next.

Example KPIs to set

• Increase overall ranking positions of the target keyword set by x positions in x months
• Increase overall site impressions by x% in the next x months
• Increase organic search clicks to the service pages by x% in x months
• Increase key conversions from organic search traffic by x percent in x months

The timeline you set for the KPIs depends on how long it will take to implement SEO optimisations; you won’t see progress if the strategy is not properly implemented.

Additionally, when tracking keywords, it is important to measure your KPIs against only the keywords that you want your site to rank for and are optimising for. For instance, if you start optimising for a larger set of keywords, your overall ranking average position may go down, but this may mean you are just ranking for more keywords now.

Third-party platform metrics

While Google’s tools provide invaluable data, consider supplementing them with insights from third-party platforms like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Majestic. These tools offer additional metrics and features that can help you gain a deeper understanding of your SEO performance.

If you have access to Google metrics, then it is recommended to use this as your most reliable source and then supplement with other metrics if needed. For instance, the SEMRush metric, Page Authority, is often used to track Off-Page performance.

I have heard about [x] tactic. Can that help?

SEO tactics have evolved significantly over the years. It’s important to explain why certain tactics are prioritised while others are avoided. Black-hat techniques, such as purchasing backlinks or keyword stuffing, are outdated and can harm your rankings. The days of purchasing thousands of low-quality backlinks and keyword stuffing are over. Google’s ranking algorithms are much more sophisticated than in the past and are much better at serving quality pages to users as opposed to pages using spammy SEO practices.

5 SEO tactics that will hinder your search performance:

• Bulk buying backlinks – search engines can decipher the quality of links, and they value that over quantity.
• Keyword stuffing – cramming content with keywords makes it less user-focused and is not recommended.
• Cloaking content – this involves showing different content to search engines than what users see and can be penalised.
• Bulk low-quality content creation – search engines value quality over quantity of content.

Instead, focus on creating valuable content and employ an SEO strategy that aligns with search engine guidelines. Google EEATs (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness) guidelines are a brilliant starting point for writing SEO-optimised content.

Do we really need to make all these changes to improve organic ranking?

When talking about SEO, we talk about a full strategy involving On-Page, Technical SEO and Off-Page SEO. In response, stakeholders may ask the question, “Can we just do one part of the strategy?” Unfortunately, SEO requires a comprehensive approach.

Why a Holistic Strategy Matters

On-page SEO, technical SEO, and off-page SEO work together to create long-term results. For example, improving technical SEO will not have as much impact if your content is not valuable and optimised for search intent, and having optimised copy is not enough if Google can’t crawl your site efficiently.

Prioritising Changes

Many people think a small tweak can instantly boost rankings, but that’s rarely the case. However, not all optimisations have equal importance. It’s critical to address the most impactful issues first.

• Start with the technical foundation: If your website has significant technical issues, like crawlability issues or mobile-friendliness problems, addressing those should be your top priority.
• Align with search intent: Ensure your content matches what users are searching for. Provide valuable information and answer their questions effectively.
• Don’t underestimate the power of quality content: Create informative, engaging, and well-optimised content that satisfies user needs and encourages them to spend time on your site.

Key Takeaways

Communicating the importance of SEO to stakeholders requires simplifying complex concepts and demonstrating how SEO aligns with business goals. By addressing common questions and misconceptions, you can build trust and support for your SEO strategy.

Remember, SEO is not just a technical process—it’s an investment in your brand’s visibility and credibility.

Final tips:

1. Emphasise that SEO is a long-term investment
2. Set clear, measurable KPIs that align with your goals.
3. Be transparent about the tactics you use and why they matter.

If you are looking for support with your SEO, don’t hesitate to reach out to our expert team who are happy to help. Contact our expert SEO team

Article by:Jess, Senior Technical SEO Executive

About Varn

Varn is an expert & specialist SEO search marketing agency. Technical SEO * AI & Data Analytics * Offsite SEO * Paid Search