What is SEO Forecasting and How Can It Matter?

Ranking high on SERPs (search engine result pages) can make all the difference for business establishments and organizations as the majority of internet traffic is generated through search engines. Hence it can be a deal-breaker for a lot of entities which is why many enterprises seek services such as local SEO Dubai to make sure they retain the top spot.

However, it is pretty obvious that SEO (search engine optimization) efforts alone are not enough as various entities compete with each other on a daily basis and this makes things quite fierce. This is where an SEO forecast can help you make situations smoother in the long run. If you are new to the term, then don’t worry as here is a quick rundown of what it means and how it can make all the difference for your venture.

What is SEO Forecasting?

As a vital part of any SEO plan or strategy, SEO forecasting is a process through which analytics data from previously collected search traffic can be used to identify patterns and help predict future results. This in return can help your business determine which approaches and tactics can be used to improve outcomes and provide the best value.

How Data Is Used to Forecast SEO?

With the right knowledge and tools, SEO data can be assimilated depending highly on your niche and requirements. The first step is to gather historical data for your website traffic which can be carried out with the help of Google Analytics or other data-specific tools such as Ahrefs and SEMrush.

While collecting your past data you must also consolidate for any outside factors such as Google algorithm changes, seasonal trends, your paid advertising efforts (PPC [pay-per-click] campaigns), etc. For e-commerce brands shopping dates like Cyber Monday and Black Friday are of significance.

Next, you want to apply all the collected data and use a forecasting tool, some examples include:

• Ahref’s Traffic Site Forecasting

• BridgeEdge’s SEO Opportunity Forecasting

• Google Data Studio

• Prophet by Facebook

• SEO Forecasting with seoClarity

• SEO Keyword Forecasting by SEOmonitor

Once the data has been run through the forecasting tool and a report is spawned, it is time for you to analyze the data. Here you have to look for any emerging trends and notice areas where you might have a particular weakness that may require you to make critical changes.

Why SEO Forecasting is Important?

Perhaps one of the most viable reasons for SEO forecasting is that it can aid you in the allocation of adequate resources, prioritize specific SEO efforts and make adjustments before it’s too late. Working in an enterprise you might be required to increase revenue once or twice a year with leadership setting goals and targets to achieve.

SEO forecasting can help you gain the support of your peers and meet expectations. Furthermore, as an agency, it can help in envisaging impact for clients. Through an SEO forecast, you can show stakeholders how much they lag behind and justify an increase in the budget for an undergoing or upcoming project.

Uses Cases of SEO Forecasting

Due to its nature to benefit SEO agencies and marketing teams pitch proposals and validate investments, there are several uses cases of SEO forecasting such as:

• Anchor cost of projects and SEO strategies against future revenues aka ROI (return on investments).

• Benchmarking in order to give a sense of what is possible and develop a yardstick to measure performance.

• Developing an SEO offer that can convert more website visitors into leads.

• Forecast performance for existing keywords for a potential blog, website, or even a particular page.

• Making performance predictions during a core update.

• Predicting future organic traffic and the value of that future traffic.

• Predicting the future organic traffic of competitors and the value of that future traffic.

Final Word

It is important to understand that there is always a degree of uncertainty that is involved when it comes to SEO forecasts. While marketers and SEO specialists make sure to the very best of their ability to present an accurate picture of future performance but changes happen all the time.

Hence this can impact your actual outcome which can render your strategy inadequate. Therefore you should not consider SEO forecasting as a set-it and forget-it function for your SEO-related efforts. You need to be diligent and should expect to update forecasts regularly to avoid any disappointments in the future.