Search engine optimization (SEO) often has a reputation as a cheap marketing strategy, but high-value work can require a substantial investment. Dave Colgate of the agency Vertical Leap studies how to invest properly.
Not sure how much to spend on search engine optimization (SEO)? Let’s see how to set the right budget, taking into account how much other companies spend; the factors that need to be budgeted for; and the recommended minimum spend for small businesses just getting started with SEO.
How much do companies spend on SEO?
Marketing budgets suffered from Covid-19, but industry reports show businesses are on track to return to pre-pandemic levels. According to Oracle’s Marketing Trends Report, 64% of companies expected to increase their budgets by 2022.
Meanwhile, Gartner’s 2022 Marketing Budget and Strategy shows that companies are spend 9.5% of revenue on marketing this yearan increase of 6.4% in 2021.
The same study shows that companies are spending 8.5% of their marketing budgets on SEO, topping the list of “non-paid channels”.
Gartner insights are heavily supported 2022 Marketing Budgets Report from StrategiQ, which finds that companies will spend 10% of total revenue on marketing by 2022. It also finds that companies will spend 10.5% of their marketing budgets on SEO, up from Gartner’s 8.5%.
The StrategiQ report found that small businesses spend a higher percentage of revenue on marketing.
StrategiciQ includes fewer channels in its report than Gartner. This is an important point because the fewer channels you distribute your marketing, the higher percentage you will spend on SEO. So if you don’t spend any marketing budget on live events, digital audio advertising, or other channels, you could be spending much more than 10.5% of your marketing investment on SEO.
What is your SEO budget spent on?
When setting up an SEO budget, it’s important to understand how your spend will be spread across key activities:
Analytics: The insights that inform every part of your SEO strategy and reveal your biggest opportunities.
Content production: Every piece of content you create and optimize to rank in search engines.
On-Page SEO: Optimize your web pages and content to maximize search visibility.
Off Page SEO: Optimizing off-page signals with link building, content placements (eg guest blogs), reviews and other factors outside of your website.
Technical SEO: Optimizing and maintaining the technical performance of your website (load times, link profiles, URLs, etc.).
SEO Technology Stack: The tools you use at each stage of your SEO strategy: analysis, competitive research, content planning, content production, etc.
Agency/advisory fees: SEO services you need from agencies or consultants.
Outsourcing: Tasks you outsource to freelancers or outside talent, such as content creation, copywriting, web design, etc.
Oracle’s report found something else: 82% of companies planned to change their marketing technology stack by 2022.
In today’s data-driven marketing environment, this is one of the most important aspects of your SEO budget. With the right technology stack, you can dramatically increase the ROI of your SEO spend by improving the quality of information, automating tasks, and seizing opportunities ahead of your competitors.
If you don’t have the budget or resources to build a competitive SEO technology stack, it’s worth looking at agencies that have already developed their own. By partnering with the right agency, you can take advantage of class-leading SEO technology at a fraction of the price.
Maximizing ROI with a high-impact SEO strategy
In 2019, Backlinko published a survey asking US business owners about their experiences with SEO services. The survey revealed that companies that spend a minimum of $500 per month 53.3% more likely to be “extremely satisfied” with the results.
As a rule of thumb, we advise smaller businesses that it’s hard to get significant SEO traction for less than £800/month (about $1000). This is not too much of a stretch when we consider all the expenses we discussed in the previous section (analysis, content production, SEO tools, etc.).
Obviously, larger companies should expect to spend a lot more, but it’s not simply about spending more to get better results.
Spending wisely is just as important as setting the right budget. Every business can maximize ROI with a high-impact SEO strategy using data science to identify and prioritize opportunities.
If you’re looking to increase your online visibility, we can do a free analysis of your current SEO status and provide you with a quote. Click here for more information.
[ad_2]
Source link
