What do you think is the biggest risk to technical SEO success?
The answers here were pretty close but technical debt was the most popular answer with 28% of respondents citing this as the biggest risk to technical SEO success. Second in the list with 23% was a lack of resources. The top two answers here have actually reversed when compared with last year.
What the experts think…
The connection between these results and the ones on main blockers of getting changes implemented is interesting. The main blocker is non-SEO dev work and the main risk is technical debt. The two are connected in many ways. Too many times "non-SEO dev work" if not managed properly becomes technical debt later on. Not to mention the interplay of both with the lack of buy-in for technical SEO which is often the cause here.
Technical debt is certainly the biggest risk to technical SEO success, but it is made worse by a lack of buy-in for these deeper-rooted changes.
You can have high confidence and conviction in a change, but it's often the fact that you're not given the resource and permission to action it that makes it too hard to implement.
That said, there will be instances, especially for larger websites, where technical debt is so grave that fixing it would cause too much disruption, regardless of how much other stakeholders buy into the idea.
What ONE metric do you think is the most effective in measuring SEO performance?
Here, we asked respondents which metrics they used to measure their performance and the most popular answer with 49% of the votes was conversions, followed by organic traffic (35%) and rankings (12%).
Last year, the number one answer was organic traffic, followed by conversions, showing a switch compared to this year.
What the experts think…
I find it fascinating that conversions was the top reported metric for measuring the effectiveness of SEO performance, largely because conversions can be impacted by so many other factors. For example, simply deciding your attribution model (i.e. first touch vs. last touch) can greatly impact which channel gets the "credit" for the conversion.
This is partly a reflection of the recession and more pressure on agencies to show impact. In general that's a positive development. You want to know that the traffic you are bringing is quality traffic and that's where conversion tracking comes in. An important piece here is communication though. Conversion tracking is more and more difficult and the buying journey is not linear. As agencies we need to ensure this is also understood by clients otherwise, we risk oversimplifying things.
I think SEOs are becoming much more bottom line focused, which is great when you need to provide ROI and value. Over the past 12 months with many clients cutting budgets, we've really had to focus on revenue driving metrics over traffic.
Seeing conversions as the top metric is great - this tends to be the metric that stakeholders are most interested in, and can more easily narrate the profitability of SEO efforts.
I'm thrilled to see this switch from last year. Traffic is a vanity metric! Conversions taking the lead here means we SEOs are doing a better job of tailoring our strategies to actual business goals.
It's a welcome change to see conversions taking the lead as the primary metric for measuring SEO performance, with organic traffic following closely behind. Prioritizing conversions not only shifts our focus but also enhances our strategies, leading to more meaningful and impactful SEO campaigns.
It's incredible to see conversions overtake organic traffic this year as the single most effective SEO performance metric.
It aligns with the changes we see in the economy and the increasing pressure on SEOs (and other marketers) to prove value.
Rankings and organic traffic are both strong indicators of SEO success, but they don't always translate to the KPIs and OKRs we see at a business level. Conversions do.
That said, it's important to apply discretion here since every role has different boundaries and team structures. It could be that conversions sit with another stakeholder. Either way, they should be measured, just like in-funnel performance from organic leads.
When setting expectations with stakeholders, how long do you say that it can take for technical SEO changes to have an impact on traffic?
44% of technical SEOs set the expectation that it can take up to three months to see an impact on traffic from technical SEO work. Next up was up to six months with 33%.
What the experts think…
I agree that if there are significant tech issues that are hindering rankings, fixing these should result to quite quick returns. It can sometimes be quicker than other SEO efforts, but it all depends on the activity.
Please rank the following in order of effectiveness in measuring SEO performance:
Next, we asked technical SEOs to rank options for how they prefer to measure SEO performance. The most popular answer was to use actual organic traffic to measure SEO performance, followed by conversions and then rankings.
| Rank | Metric |
| 1 | Actual Organic Traffic e.g. GA |
| 2 | Conversions e.g. Leads / Revenue |
| 3 | Rankings |
| 4 | Search visibility e.g. 3rd party tools |
What the experts think…
I'd argue that conversions should overtake organic traffic here, but I think the rest of the ordering makes sense!
I do think it's more natural for agencies and contractors to measure success through rankings and traffic. In-house is another story though!
Interesting that here we see traffic being deemed as more important and yet if we had to choose one metric it would be conversions. It points to the complexity of conversion tracking that we come up against in reality. If we had to we'd close conversions because ultimately that is what the client cares for. But performance is more complex than simply looking at the conversion source and making the conclusion that SEO is or is not working.
I'd love to see conversions take the lead here as well. It's so close! SEO performance means contribution to business goals. Bosses will always care more about leads and revenue than they will about traffic.
Does Google’s formal announcements surrounding upcoming algorithm updates influence your SEO planning and roadmap?
Here, we wanted to understand where formal announcements from Google regarding updates have a material impact on the plans of technical SEOs. Answers were relatively evenly distributed, with the slight majority (54%) going to no: they’ve never changed their roadmap as a result of algorithm changes.
What the experts think…
It's crucial to remember that SEO fundamentals remain constant. Altering the roadmap or strategy in response to algorithm updates can backfire unless the brand has been severely impacted by the changes.
We should definitely consider algorithm update announcements, especially when the future of search appears so volatile.
That said, I think we can over-optimize and become obsessed with these updates to the point where they become a distraction from bigger opportunities and growth levers.
There's a big difference between considering the updates and letting them dictate your entire roadmap.