In a recent interview, Google CEO Sundar Pichai sidestepped questions about whether the company would provide website owners with more granular data on traffic from AI-generated search previews.
As Google continues to integrate AI overviews, or “AI previews,” into its search results, publishers have grown increasingly concerned about the impact on their click-through rates and overall traffic.
Google could alleviate some concerns by breaking out traffic metrics for AI-generated results separately from traditional search clicks.
However, the company won’t commit to providing that data.
Pichai Dodges Direct Question
When pressed by The Verge on whether Google would commit to providing this data breakdown to publishers, Pichai avoided giving a straight answer.
“It’s a good question for the search team. They think about this at a deeper level than I do,” he said, deflecting responsibility.
The CEO suggested that Google needs to provide a “balance” in its data, arguing that website owners might try to game the system if it provides too many specifics.
” The more we spec it out, then the more people design for that,” he claimed.
Lack Of Transparency Fuels Publisher Frustration
Google’s lack of commitment to transparency will likely frustrate publishers who feel they have a right to know how much of their traffic is affected by Google’s AI implementations.
It’s publisher content that Google’s AI models are being trained on, and now their traffic is at stake. For Google to be so elusive about sharing that data breakdown feels disingenuous.
Pichai’s comments come across as tone-deaf to the plight of web publishers, who rely on search traffic to drive ad revenue and sustain their businesses.
With precise data on how AI previews impact click-through rates, publishers can adapt their strategies for greater visibility.
Antitrust Concerns Loom
Google’s reluctance to share this information also raises questions about anti-competitive practices.
As the dominant search engine, Google holds power over web traffic flow.
By keeping publishers in the dark about AI-driven metrics, the company could be seen as using its market position to unfairly disadvantage content creators.
This issue will likely attract further scrutiny from antitrust regulators, who are already investigating Google for alleged monopolistic behavior in the search market.
Long-Term Effects On Web Ecosystem
If publishers feel they’re not fairly compensated for their content or given the data they need to make informed decisions, it could disincentivize the creation of high-quality, original content.
This could lead to a poorer experience for internet users and less diversity of information online.
As AI becomes more integral to search, Google must find a way to collaborate with publishers and provide them with the insights they need to thrive.
FAQ
How does the introduction of AI previews by Google impact search traffic for publishers?
AI-generated search overviews might draw user attention away from traditional organic search results, leading to fewer clicks on publisher content.
As a result, the transparency and availability of separate traffic metrics for AI-generated results versus traditional search data become crucial for publishers to understand and respond to these changes effectively.
What are the main concerns of publishers regarding Google’s AI data transparency?
Publishers are particularly concerned about the lack of detailed data on traffic from AI-generated search previews. This transparency is vital for them to gauge the impact of AI on their website traffic and ad revenue.
Google’s reluctance to share this breakdown frustrates publishers, as it limits their ability to adapt their strategies to the new search environment.
Why does Google’s CEO believe providing specific data on AI preview traffic could be problematic?
Google CEO Sundar Pichai suggested that offering granular AI preview traffic data might encourage website owners to manipulate the system.
He believes providing detailed metrics could result in publishers designing their content specifically to game Google’s search engine, which may lead to a worse user experience.
What potential long-term impact could Google’s approach to AI search data have on the web ecosystem?
Publishers may produce less content if they aren’t compensated for their content or provided with data to make informed decisions. This could result in a poorer experience online and reduced diversity of information.
In a recent interview, Google CEO Sundar Pichai discussed the company’s implementation of AI in search results and addressed concerns from publishers and website owners about its potential impact on web traffic.
Background On AI In Google Search
Google has been gradually incorporating AI-generated overviews and summaries into its search results.
These AI overviews aim to provide users with quick answers and context upfront on the search page. However, publishers fear this could dramatically reduce website click-through rates.
Pichai Claims AI Drives Traffic
Despite concerns, Pichai maintained an optimistic outlook on how AI will affect the web ecosystem in the long run.
“I remain optimistic. Empirically, what we are seeing throughout these years is that human curiosity is boundless.”
The Google CEO claimed that the company’s internal data shows increased user engagement with AI overviews, including higher click-through rates on links within these previews compared to regular search results.
Pichai stated:
“When you give the context, it also exposes people to various branching off, jumping off, points, and so they engage more. So, actually, this is what drives growth over time.”
Unfortunately, Picahi didn’t provide specific metrics to support this assertion.
Balancing User Experience & Publisher Interests
Pichai claims that Google is attempting to balance meeting user expectations and sending website traffic, stating:
“I look at our journey, even the last year through the Search Generative Experience, and I constantly found us prioritizing approaches that would send more traffic while meeting user expectations.
… what’s positively surprising us is that people engage more, and that will lead to more growth over time for high-quality content.”
When pressed on anecdotal evidence of some websites losing significant traffic, Pichai cautioned against drawing broad conclusions from individual cases.
He argued that Google has provided more traffic to the web ecosystem over the past decade.
Pichai believes the sites losing traffic are the “aggregators in the middle.”
He stated:
“From our standpoint, when I look historically, even over the past decade, we have provided more traffic to the ecosystem, and we’ve driven that growth.
Ironically, there are times when we have made changes to actually send more traffic to the smaller sites. Some of those sites that complain a lot are the aggregators in the middle.
So should the traffic go to the restaurant that has created a website with their menus and stuff or people writing about these restaurants? These are deep questions. I’m not saying there’s a right answer.”
Takeaways For Website Owners & SEO Professionals
For those in the SEO community, Pichai’s comments offer insight into Google’s strategy and perspective but should be viewed with a degree of skepticism.
While the CEO painted a rosy picture of AI’s impact, concrete data was lacking to support his claims. Website owners must monitor their analytics closely to assess the real-world effects of AI overviews on their traffic.
As Google continues to roll out AI features in search, the dust is far from settled on this issue.
Pichai’s optimism aside, the true impact of AI on the web ecosystem remains to be seen. For now, publishers and SEOs must stay vigilant, adaptable, and vocal about their concerns in this rapidly shifting landscape.
A new study by Pew Research Center reveals the fleeting nature of online information: 38% of webpages from 2013 are no longer accessible a decade later.
The analysis, conducted in October, examined broken links on government and news websites and in the “References” section of Wikipedia pages.
The findings reveal that:
23% of news webpages and 21% of government webpages contain at least one broken link
Local-level government webpages, particularly those belonging to city governments, are especially prone to broken links
54% of Wikipedia pages have at least one link in their “References” section pointing to a non-existent page
Social Media Not Immune To Content Disappearance
To investigate the impact of digital decay on social media, Pew Research collected a real-time sample of tweets on X and monitored them for three months.
The study discovered that “nearly one-in-five tweets are no longer publicly visible on the site just months after being posted.”
In 60% of these cases, the original posting account was made private, suspended, or deleted.
In the remaining 40%, the account holder deleted the tweet, but the account still existed.
Certain types of tweets are more likely to disappear than others, with more than 40% of tweets written in Turkish or Arabic no longer visible within three months of posting.
Additionally, tweets from accounts with default profile settings are particularly susceptible to vanishing from public view.
Defining “Inaccessible” Links & Webpages
For the purpose of this report, Pew Research Center focused on pages that no longer exist when defining inaccessibility.
Other definitions, such as changed content or accessibility issues for visually impaired users, were beyond the scope of the research.
The study used a conservative approach, counting pages as inaccessible if they returned one of nine error codes, indicating that the page and/or its host server no longer exist or have become nonfunctional.
Why SEJ Cares
Digital decay raises important questions about the preservation and accessibility of online content for future generations.
Pew Research Center’s study sheds light on the extent of this problem across various online spaces, from government and news websites to social media platforms.
The high rate of link rot and disappearing webpages has implications for anyone who relies on the internet as a reliable source of information.
It poses challenges for citing online sources, as the original content may no longer be accessible in the future.
What This Means For SEO Professionals
This study underscores the need to regularly audit and update old content, as well as consistently monitor broken links and resolve them promptly.
SEO professionals should also consider the impact of digital decay on backlink profiles.
As external links to a website become inaccessible, it can affect the site’s link equity and authority in the eyes of search engines.
Monitoring and diversifying backlink sources can help mitigate the risk of losing valuable links to digital decay.
Lastly, the study’s findings on social media content prove that SEO efforts should focus on driving users back to more stable, owned channels like websites and email lists.
Google’s John Mueller indicated the possibility of changes to sitewide helpful content signals so that new pages may be allowed to rank. But there is reason to believe that even if that change goes through it may not be enough to help.
Helpful Content Signals
Google’s Helpful Content Signals (aka Helpful Content Update aka HCU) was originally a site-wide signal when launched in 2022. That meant that an entire site would be classified as unhelpful and become unable to rank, regardless if some pages were helpful.
Recently the signals associated with the Helpful Content System were absorbed into Google’s core ranking algorithm, generally changing them to page-level signals, with a caveat.
“Our core ranking systems are primarily designed to work on the page level, using a variety of signals and systems to understand the helpfulness of individual pages. We do have some site-wide signals that are also considered.”
There are two important takeaways:
There is no longer a single system for helpfulness. It’s now a collection of signals within the core ranking algorithm.
The signals are page-level but there are site-wide signals that can impact the overall rankings.
Some publishers have tweeted that the site-wide effect is impacting the ability of new helpful pages from ranking and John Mueller offered some hope.
If Google follows through with lightening the helpfulness signals so that individual pages are able to rank, there is reason to believe that it may not impact many websites that publishers and SEOs believe are suffering from sitewide helpfulness signals.
Publishers Express Frustration With Sitewide Algorithm Effects
“It’s frustrating when new content is also being penalized without having a chance to gather positive user signals. I publish something it goes straight to page 4 and stays there, regardless of if there are any articles out on the location.”
Someone else brought up the point that if helpfulness signals are page-level then in theory the better (helpful) pages should begin ranking but that’s not happening.
John Mueller Offers Hope
Google’s John Mueller responded to a query about sitewide helpfulness signals suppressing the rankings of new pages created to be helpful and later indicated there may be a change to the way helpfulness signals are applied sitewide.
“Yes, and I imagine for most sites strongly affected, the effects will be site-wide for the time being, and it will take until the next update to see similar strong effects (assuming the new state of the site is significantly better than before).”
Possible Change To Helpfulness Signals
Mueller followed up his tweet by saying that the search ranking team is working on a way to surface high quality pages from sites that may contain strong negative sitewide signals indicative of unhelpful content, providing relief to some sites that are burdened by sitewide signals.
“I can’t make any promises, but the team working on this is explicitly evaluating how sites can / will improve in Search for the next update. It would be great to show more users the content that folks have worked hard on, and where sites have taken helpfulness to heart.”
Why Changes To Sitewide Signal May Not Be Enough
Google’s search console tells publishers when they’ve received a manual action. But it doesn’t tell publishers when their sites lost rankings due to algorithmic issues like helpfulness signals. Publishers and SEOs don’t and cannot “know” if their sites are affected by helpfulness signals. Just the core ranking algorithm contains hundreds of signals, so it’s important to keep an open mind about what may be affecting search visibility after an update.
Here are five examples of changes during a broad core update that can affect rankings:
The way a query is understood could have changed which affects what kinds of sites are able to rank
Quality signals changed
Rankings may change to respond to search trends
A site may lose rankings because a competitor improved their site
Infrastructure may have changed to accommodate more AI on the back end
A lot of things can influence rankings before, during, and after a core algorithm update. If rankings don’t improve then it may be time to consider that a knowledge gap is standing in the way of a solution.
Examples Of Getting It Wrong
For example, a publisher who recently lost rankings correlated the date the of their rankings collapse to the announcement of the site Reputation Abuse update. It’s a reasonable assumption that if the rankings drop on the same date of an update then it’s the update.
“@searchliaison feeling a bit lost here. Judging by the timing, we got hit by the Reputation Abuse algorithm. We don’t do coupons, or sell links, or anything else.
Very, very confused. We’ve been stable through all this and continue to re-work/remove older content that is poor.”
They posted a screenshot of the rankings collapse.
Screenshot Showing Search Visibility Collapse
SearchLiaison responded to that tweet by noting that Google is currently only doing manual actions. It’s reasonable to assume that an update that correlates to a ranking issue is related, one to the other.
But one cannot ever be 100% sure about the cause of a rankings drop, especially if there’s a knowledge gap about other possible reasons (like the five I listed above). This bears repeating: one cannot be certain that a specific signal is the reason for a rankings drop.
In another tweet SearchLiaison remarked about how some publishers mistakenly assumed they had an algorithmic spam action or were suffering from negative Helpful Content Signals.
“I’ve looked at many sites where people have complained about losing rankings and decide they have a algorithmic spam action against them, but they don’t.
…we do have various systems that try to determine how helpful, useful and reliable individual content and sites are (and they’re not perfect, as I’ve said many times before, anticipating a chorus of “whatabouts…..” Some people who think they are impacted by this, I’ve looked at the same data they can see in Search Console and … not really. “
SearchLiaison, in the same tweet, addressed a person who remarked that getting a manual action is more fair than receiving an algorithmic action, pointing out the inherent knowledge gap that would lead someone to surmise such a thing.
He tweeted:
“…you don’t really want to think “Oh, I just wish I had a manual action, that would be so much easier.” You really don’t want your individual site coming the attention of our spam analysts. First, it’s not like manual actions are somehow instantly processed.”
The point I’m trying to make (and I have 25 years of hands-on SEO experience so I know what I’m talking about), is to keep an open mind that maybe there’s something else going on that is undetected. Yes, there are such things as false positives, but it’s not always the case that Google is making a mistake, it could be a knowledge gap. That’s why I suspect that many people will not experience a lift in rankings if Google makes it easier for new pages to rank and if that happens, keep an open mind about maybe there’s something else going on.
AI can help brands and marketers be more efficient and productive and do things quicker, but it is not perfect and does have some drawbacks.
With the rise and adoption of AI into SEO workflows, processes, and tools, SEO pros must take an ethical approach to artificial intelligence.
What exactly does an ethical approach to AI mean?
An ethical approach involves using AI technologies transparently, fairly, and responsibly while respecting user privacy and ensuring the accuracy and integrity of information.
We are all aware that using AI is imperfect and can be full of inaccurate, biased, fluffy information, etc., which can cause many problems for agencies and marketers that rely on AI to create content.
With the March core update, sites that use AI content that was not edited, original, or helpful lost a substantial portion of organic traffic.
Here are some ways we can use AI to be more ethical.
Be Transparent And Provide Disclosure
Do not use generative AI to create content for publishing. If you use generative AI in parts of your process, you should be fully transparent to the brands you work with about how you use AI in your SEO practices.
Maintain Accuracy And Integrity
If you’re going to use AI, you should take a human-led approach to writing long-form content. Humans should always do the content creation, but AI can be helpful for brainstorming, organizing, rewording, transcription, and reworking content. In each case, outputs must be checked for originality using Copyscape or the tool of your choice.
Additionally, the information must be trustworthy and accurate. With the HCU being incorporated into the March core update, it’s more important than ever to focus on people-first content rather than content that is not helpful, useful, or satisfying the end user’s intent.
Be Original and Useful
With Google focusing on a good user and people-first content experience, we should not rely on AI content because of the inadequacy in training data, and a lack of originality. AI could be great for compiling a list of notes from people with first-hand experience and pulling them into a cohesive article, for example, but not to produce the list and facts, even with fact-checking.
Follow Compliance With Search Engine Guidelines
It’s imperative that we follow search engine guidelines and ethical standards.
AI should not be used to engage in practices like keyword stuffing, cloaking, or creating doorway pages. Instead, it should support the creation of high-quality and useful content.
Ethically using AI in SEO also means considering the broader impact on society. This entails promoting trustworthy, useful content that contributes positively to users’ knowledge and well-being.
Develop Safely & Respect Privacy
If you build your own tools and platforms with AI, ensure you have strong security protocols and practices to prevent causing any harm.
Always assess your technologies before launching them into the production environment to ensure they are safe and secure. Ensure to continue monitoring it after it is released to the general public.
LLMs are not secure. It may be necessary to get legal advice before implementing certain types of AI, like generative AI, in processes that include user/customer information. Updating a privacy policy may not be enough.
Never put proprietary and confidential information into a generative AI chatbot like ChatGPT. Most LLMs save all user inputs and the information could be used to generate responses to other users.
Respect Intellectual Property & Originality
One of the biggest issues with AI is intellectual property (IP). If I create some content using ChatGPT, who owns it?
We need to ensure that when AI recommends content, it is original and not taken from anywhere else. This can be problematic because some AI platforms don’t list the source of the information unless you specify chatbots to do so.
ChatGPT can tell you where the content sources are coming from if you list them in your prompt. For example, I asked ChatGPT to write me a 750-word blog post on the top things to do in NY and list the sources, and it did.
Screenshot from ChatGPT, April 2024
If you’re getting some information from ChatGPT, you need to credit the source and ensure they’re not copying other people’s content. Also, setting clear rules for using AI in making content can help avoid legal problems and ensure you’re fair and honest.
I checked the content that I created in ChatGPT, and according to Copyscape, it is full of similar text.
Screenshot from Copyscape, April 2024
Note: Please keep in mind that asking LLMs to cite sources doesn’t guarantee you’re citing the right content or that the content is original. The best and safest way to avoid accidental plagiarism is for humans to do the research and write the content.
Google Is Not About Content That Is Artificial And Lacking In Originality
With the rapid growth of AI-based tools entering the market and AI being incorporated into a lot of platforms and being used in daily SEO tasks, it is extremely important for us to adhere to ethical AI principles to ensure that the use of AI in SEO supports a fair, equitable, and user-focused search ecosystem.
Google has always been about quality and original content that offers value to end users and not content that is fully artificial, offers no value, lacks trust, is thin, duplicate, lacks originality, etc.
In order to compete in today’s competitive and ever-changing SERPs, focusing on improving E-E-A-T is more important than ever before because it is a quality signal that shows Google and end users that you’re the subject matter expert and authority in your niche.
It’s highly recommended to have thought leaders and experts in your niche create your content and show their expertise on your site.
Additionally, it’s important to focus on user experience and ensure that your site loads quickly, is easy to navigate, and helps users find exactly what they came to your site for.
Google’s John Mueller says the Search team is “explicitly evaluating” how to reward sites that produce helpful, high-quality content when the next core update rolls out.
The comments came in response to a discussion on X about the impact of March’s core update and September’s helpful content update.
In a series of tweets, Mueller acknowledged the concerns, stating:
“I imagine for most sites strongly affected, the effects will be site-wide for the time being, and it will take until the next update to see similar strong effects (assuming the new state of the site is significantly better than before).”
“I can’t make any promises, but the team working on this is explicitly evaluating how sites can / will improve in Search for the next update. It would be great to show more users the content that folks have worked hard on, and where sites have taken helpfulness to heart.”
What Does This Mean For SEO Professionals & Site Owners?
Mueller’s comments confirm Google is aware of critiques about the March core update and is refining its ability to identify high-quality sites and reward them appropriately in the next core update.
For websites, clearly demonstrating an authentic commitment to producing helpful and high-quality content remains the best strategy for improving search performance under Google’s evolving systems.
The Aftermath Of Google’s Core Updates
Google’s algorithm updates, including the September “Helpful Content Update” and the March 2024 update, have far-reaching impacts on rankings across industries.
While some sites experienced surges in traffic, others faced substantial declines, with some reporting visibility losses of up to 90%.
As website owners implement changes to align with Google’s guidelines, many question whether their efforts will be rewarded.
There’s genuine concern about the potential for long-term or permanent demotions for affected sites.
Recovery Pathway Outlined, But Challenges Remain
In a previous statement, Mueller acknowledged the complexity of the recovery process, stating that:
“some things take much longer to be reassessed (sometimes months, at the moment), and some bigger effects require another update cycle.”
Mueller clarified that not all changes would require a new update cycle but cautioned that “stronger effects will require another update.”
While affirming that permanent changes are “not very useful in a dynamic world,” Mueller adds that “recovery” implies a return to previous levels, which may be unrealistic given evolving user expectations.
Despite the challenges, Mueller has offered glimmers of hope for impacted sites, stating:
“Yes, sites can grow again after being affected by the ‘HCU’ (well, core update now). This isn’t permanent. It can take a lot of work, time, and perhaps update cycles, and/but a different – updated – site will be different in search too.”
He says the process may require “deep analysis to understand how to make a website relevant in a modern world, and significant work to implement those changes — assuming that it’s something that aligns with what the website even wants.”
Looking Ahead
Google’s search team is actively working on improving site rankings and addressing concerns with the next core update.
However, recovery requires patience, thorough analysis, and persistent effort.
The best way to spend your time until the next update is to remain consistent and produce the most exceptional content in your niche.
FAQ
How long does it generally take for a website to recover from the impact of a core update?
Recovery timelines can vary and depend on the extent and type of updates made to align with Google’s guidelines.
Google’s John Mueller noted that some changes might be reassessed quickly, while more substantial effects could take months and require additional update cycles.
Google acknowledges the complexity of the recovery process, indicating that significant improvements aligned with Google’s quality signals might be necessary for a more pronounced recovery.
What impact did the March and September updates have on websites, and what steps should site owners take?
The March and September updates had widespread effects on website rankings, with some sites experiencing traffic surges while others faced up to 90% visibility losses.
Publishing genuinely useful, high-quality content is key for website owners who want to bounce back from a ranking drop or maintain strong rankings. Stick to Google’s recommendations and adapt as they keep updating their systems.
To minimize future disruptions from algorithm changes, it’s a good idea to review your whole site thoroughly and build a content plan centered on what your users want and need.
Is it possible for sites affected by core updates to regain their previous ranking positions?
Sites can recover from the impact of core updates, but it requires significant effort and time.
Mueller suggested that recovery might happen over multiple update cycles and involves a deep analysis to align the site with current user expectations and modern search criteria.
While a return to previous levels isn’t guaranteed, sites can improve and grow by continually enhancing the quality and relevance of their content.
Google revealed details of two new crawlers that are optimized for scraping image and video content for “research and development” purposes. Although the documentation doesn’t explicitly say so, it’s presumed that there is no impact in ranking should publishers decide to block the new crawlers.
It should be noted that the data scraped by these crawlers are not explicitly for AI training data, that’s what the Google-Extended crawler is for.
GoogleOther Crawlers
The two new crawlers are versions of Google’s GoogleOther crawler that was launched in April 2023. The original GoogleOther crawler was also designated for use by Google product teams for research and development in what is described as one-off crawls, the description of which offers clues about what the new GoogleOther variants will be used for.
The purpose of the original GoogleOther crawler is officially described as:
“GoogleOther is the generic crawler that may be used by various product teams for fetching publicly accessible content from sites. For example, it may be used for one-off crawls for internal research and development.”
Two GoogleOther Variants
There are two new GoogleOther crawlers:
GoogleOther-Image
GoogleOther-Video
The new variants are for crawling binary data, which is data that’s not text. HTML data is generally referred to as text files, ASCII or Unicode files. If it can be viewed in a text file then it’s a text file/ASCII/Unicode file. Binary files are files that can’t be open in a text viewer app, files like image, audio, and video.
The new GoogleOther variants are for image and video content. Google lists user agent tokens for both of the new crawlers which can be used in a robots.txt for blocking the new crawlers.
1. GoogleOther-Image
User agent tokens:
GoogleOther-Image
GoogleOther
Full user agent string:
GoogleOther-Image/1.0
2. GoogleOther-Video
User agent tokens:
GoogleOther-Video
GoogleOther
Full user agent string:
GoogleOther-Video/1.0
Newly Updated GoogleOther User Agent Strings
Google also updated the GoogleOther user agent strings for the regular GoogleOther crawler. For blocking purposes you can continue using the same user agent token as before (GoogleOther). The new Users Agent Strings are just the data sent to servers to identify the full description of the crawlers, in particular the technology used. In this case the technology used is Chrome, with the model number periodically updated to reflect which version is used (W.X.Y.Z is a Chrome version number placeholder in the example listed below)
The full list of GoogleOther user agent strings:
Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 6.0.1; Nexus 5X Build/MMB29P) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/W.X.Y.Z Mobile Safari/537.36 (compatible; GoogleOther)
Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GoogleOther) Chrome/W.X.Y.Z Safari/537.36
GoogleOther Family Of Bots
These new bots may from time to time show up in your server logs and this information will help in identifying them as genuine Google crawlers and will help publishers who may want to opt out of having their images and videos scraped for research and development purposes.
Web directories, once tools for discovering websites in the early days of the Internet, have evolved over the past two decades.
While the rise of Google led many to assume that web directories would become obsolete, plenty of these online catalogs have adapted to remain relevant.
This article examines the current state of web directories and explores their value for websites and businesses across various industries.
You’ll find an overview of 20 web directories that continue to attract traffic and offer value to websites and businesses.
These directories range from general directories like Best of the Web (BOTW) and Yahoo Directory to niche-specific platforms like Blogarama for bloggers and local business directories like Google Business Profile, Yelp, and Foursquare.
Do Web Directories Still Exist?
While web directories may not hold the same prominence they once did, they exist and can offer value.
Web directories have evolved to cater to specific niches, industries, and local markets. They serve as a curated collection of websites, providing a targeted audience with a more focused and relevant browsing experience.
Local business directories such as Google Business Profile, Yelp, and Foursquare have gained importance. These platforms provide valuable information to potential customers and contribute to a business’s online presence and local SEO efforts.
Specialized directories, such as blogs, ecommerce, or specific industries, continue to thrive. These directories cater to a particular audience and can provide valuable exposure and referral traffic to websites within their niche.
Do Web Directories Still Have Any Value?
While the SEO value of web directories has diminished, they offer certain benefits to websites and businesses.
Referral traffic: High-quality, niche-specific directories can drive targeted referral traffic to your website.
Local visibility: Directories like Google Business Profile, Yelp, and Foursquare are essential for local businesses. These platforms help companies appear in local search results and on maps, making it easier for potential customers to find them.
Brand exposure: Being listed in reputable directories can help increase your brand’s exposure and visibility online. When users come across your listing in a trusted directory, it can lend credibility to your website and business.
Backlinks: Directory links have lost much of their SEO value, but a few high-quality, relevant links can still contribute to a well-rounded backlink profile. Focus on well-maintained directories that have strict submission guidelines and are relevant to your industry or niche.
Competitor analysis: Directories can be useful tools for competitor analysis. By examining which directories your competitors are listed in, you can identify new opportunities for your website and gain insights into their marketing strategies.
Where Do Web Directories Stand Today?
Google’s algorithm is complex.
While links are one of the top-ranking signals, Google no longer views all links equally.
Links from a web directory listing are much less influential than a super relevant contextual link from a high-authority site in your niche.
What’s a marketer to do?
Move beyond viewing web directories as a source for links.
Instead, view directories as a source of traffic and trust.
Any business with a local presence needs to maintain their local citations with a consistent NAP, but web directories won’t help your SEO beyond that.
The actual returns will be from the credibility and traffic they drive to your business site.
As you search for web directories, keep those two criteria in mind.
Consider these questions before you start filling out your listing:
Is this a reputable site? Put another way, if a customer saw me on this site, would they view my business as more – or less – legitimate?
Is my target audience likely to visit this site? If not, it’s probably not worth listing your business.
Now, let’s get into what you came here for: the web directories that are still relevant today.
Web Directories That Still Have Value Today
To remain relevant, many web directories of yore have transitioned beyond basic listings to detailed review sites.
Many of the sites listed below reflect this trend.
We could have included many more on this list – like Jasmine Directory, Brownbook, and Bloggapedia – but based on their current traffic numbers (or lack thereof), we’re not sure they’re worth the effort anymore.
Instead, this section focuses only on sites that are more than a mere citation opportunity for your business.
Useful Web Directories For Any Kind Of Website
1. BOTW
Best of the Web (BOTW) is a well-established web directory that has been around since 1994.
One of BOTW’s unique aspects is that it charges a fee for listings. While this may seem like a drawback, it helps maintain the directory’s quality by discouraging spam and low-quality submissions.
The directory’s human-edited listings and strict submission guidelines ensure that only high-quality websites are included, which can lend credibility to your site by association.
BOTW’s sub-directories for blogs and local businesses make it an attractive option for those niches.
The local business sub-directory, local.botw.org, is valuable for small businesses looking to improve their local SEO.
For bloggers, the blogs.botw.org sub-directory can help attract targeted traffic and increase their blog’s visibility.
2. AboutUs
Screenshot from AboutUs, April 2024
AboutUs is a unique web directory that has evolved from its original purpose as a business domain directory. Today, AboutUs allows websites of all types to be submitted and discussed.
One of AboutUs’s standout features is its wiki-style format, which allows users to contribute information about the websites listed in the directory. This collaborative approach helps to keep the directory up-to-date.
Being listed on AboutUs can help improve brand exposure. Companies can provide detailed information about their history, mission, and products or services.
Bloggers and content creators can also benefit from being listed on AboutUs. The directory’s diverse categories make it easy for users to discover new blogs and websites related to their interests.
For Blogs Only: One Web Directory To Rule Them All
3. Blogarama
Screenshot from Blogarama, April 2024
Blogarama is dedicated solely to blog listings, making it a niche-specific platform for bloggers looking to attract readers.
One of the standout features of Blogarama is its active management by the site’s administrators. The directory is regularly updated, with new blog listings and inactive or deleted blogs removed.
Another helpful feature of Blogarama is its RSS feed integration. Bloggers can provide their RSS feed URL during submission, automatically allowing the directory to update their listing with the latest posts.
The directory’s niche focus and diverse categories make it an attractive option for bloggers in various industries and with different target audiences.
Relevant Web Directories For Local Businesses
4. Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) is a free tool provided by Google that allows businesses to manage their online presence across Search and Maps.
One key benefit of Google Business Profile is its impact on local SEO. By creating and verifying a Business Profile, businesses can improve their chances of appearing in Google’s Local Pack, Local Finder, and Google Maps results.
Google Business Profile is particularly valuable for small and medium-sized businesses with a local focus, as it helps level the playing field and compete with larger, more established brands.
5. Bing Places
Screenshot from Bing Places, April 2024
Bing Places, Microsoft’s equivalent to Google Business Profile, allows businesses to manage their online presence on the Bing search engine.
Bing Places provides detailed analytics and insights, allowing businesses to track the performance of their listings, view customer interactions, and understand how customers find them online.
While Bing’s market share is less than Google’s, it has a significant user base, particularly among desktop users and older demographics.
Bing Places can be valuable for businesses targeting these audiences or operating in regions where Bing has a higher market share, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
6. Facebook
Facebook Pages offers a platform for companies to establish an online presence on the social network.
These Pages allow businesses to connect with their target audience, share content, and utilize Facebook’s advertising tools.
The platform’s options allow targeted ads based on user demographics, interests, and behaviors. The “Insights” feature also offers data on page performance and audience engagement.
Other features available on Facebook Business Pages include the “Shop” section for product sales, appointment booking, event creation, and customer support through Messenger.
7. Yelp
Screenshot from Yelp, April 2024
Yelp connects consumers with local businesses. Its collection of user-generated reviews provides insights and social proof for potential customers, influencing their decision-making.
Paid advertising options like Yelp Ads allow businesses to enhance visibility and attract potential customers.
Yelp’s filter algorithm determines which reviews are displayed based on authenticity and reliability. While this can occasionally frustrate businesses, it aims to protect the platform’s integrity for users.
8. Foursquare
Screenshot from Foursquare, April 2024
Foursquare is a local search and discovery platform that offers personalized recommendations based on user-generated tips, ratings, and machine learning algorithms.
The platform’s audience consists of tech-savvy urban users, particularly millennials, who actively seek new experiences and trust peer recommendations.
Foursquare has a strong presence in the food and beverage, nightlife, and travel industries. It’s an essential platform for restaurants, bars, cafes, and hotels looking to reach an experience-driven audience.
Additionally, Foursquare offers a suite of location data products and services for businesses and developers, including tools for location-based advertising, audience targeting, and foot traffic analysis.
9. Yellow Pages
Screenshot from The Real Yellow Pages, April 2024
Yellow Pages, now primarily known as YP.com, is an online directory connecting consumers with local businesses.
Yellow Pages are handy for businesses targeting a local audience, as users often have a high purchase intent. Paid advertising options are also available to enhance visibility.
Yellow Pages partners with other online platforms, such as Google, to expand the reach of its listings. The platform also provides digital marketing services to help businesses improve their online presence beyond the Yellow Pages platform.
A Chamber of Commerce is an organization that advocates for businesses in a specific area.
By joining a Chamber, business owners and professionals can access networking opportunities and connect with potential partners.
The audience for Chambers of Commerce primarily consists of local business owners and professionals from various industries who are invested in their area’s economic success and growth.
While Chambers provide valuable resources and support, business owners must actively work to leverage these opportunities for success.
11. Hotfrog
Screenshot from Hotfrog, April 2024
Hotfrog helps small and medium-sized businesses connect with potential customers and increase online visibility.
The platform offers free business listings and paid advertising options, such as featured listings and banner ads.
User-generated content, such as customer reviews and ratings, is encouraged on Hotfrog to build credibility and trust for businesses.
12. Superpages
Screenshot from Superpages, April 2024
Superpages helps connect consumers with local businesses across the United States.
Originally a print Yellow Pages directory, it has evolved into a comprehensive digital platform.
Superpages’ user base consists of consumers searching for local businesses and services across various industries, including home services, automotive, healthcare, dining, and professional services.
The platform prioritizes user-friendly experience through tools like detailed maps, directions, and the ability to save or share listings.
It also emphasizes customer reviews and ratings, which build credibility and trust for businesses while providing valuable feedback for improvement.
13. MerchantCircle
Screenshot from MerchantCircle, April 2024
MerchantCircle helps small and medium-sized businesses connect with local customers and nearby businesses.
MerchantCircle’s diverse user base comprises SMBs across various industries seeking to connect with local customers and businesses.
The platform fosters these connections through discussion forums, content sharing, and collaborative marketing opportunities for members of local business communities.
Uniquely, MerchantCircle emphasizes content creation, encouraging businesses to share blog posts, articles, and other materials to establish expertise and build trust.
14. Better Business Bureau
Screenshot from Better Business Bureau, April 2024
One of the BBB’s primary functions is to provide ratings that help consumers make informed decisions.
The BBB assigns businesses a letter grade (A+ through F) based on factors such as complaint history, time in business, and adherence to BBB standards. While a high rating can be a positive signal, the absence of a rating or a lower rating does not necessarily indicate a problem with the business.
Businesses can become accredited by the BBB by undergoing an evaluation process and agreeing to adhere to the BBB’s Code of Business Practices, signaling their commitment to ethical and transparent practices.
The BBB’s audience consists of consumers seeking information, guidance, and assistance in resolving business disputes. It also serves businesses seeking accreditation, dispute resolution services, and resources for best practices.
15. B2B Yellow Pages
Screenshot from B2B Yellowpages, April 2024
B2B Yellow Pages connects businesses with suppliers, partners, and service providers across various industries.
It offers an extensive database of business listings and allows companies to create detailed profiles showcasing their offerings and expertise.
The platform caters to decision-makers, procurement professionals, and business owners. It enables businesses to research potential suppliers and identify suitable partners.
B2B Yellow Pages is particularly valuable for small and medium-sized businesses looking to expand their reach and connect with new clients.
The platform facilitates connections and business interactions through messaging systems, request-for-quote functionality, and lead-generation tools. Additionally, it provides resources, such as articles and guides, to help companies stay informed about industry trends and best practices.
16. Nextdoor
Screenshot from Nextdoor, April 2024
Nextdoor is a private social networking platform designed to connect residents within specific neighborhoods and communities.
It emphasizes location-based networking, where users must verify their address to join and interact with actual neighbors.
Highly localized and community-focused businesses can benefit from having a presence on Nextdoor by actively engaging with residents, sharing relevant content, and building relationships.
17. eLocal
Screenshot from eLocal, April 2024
eLocal is an online platform that connects consumers with local businesses and service providers. It simplifies finding and hiring trusted professionals for various needs.
Consumers provide detailed information about their specific needs and location, which is used to match them with the most relevant and qualified service providers.
This approach helps businesses connect with consumers who are more likely to convert into actual customers.
18. Dexknows
Dexknows provides a platform for consumers to research and compare options based on user-generated reviews and ratings.
Businesses can respond to reviews, address concerns, and showcase their commitment to customer satisfaction.
The platform integrates with major search engines and directories, offering businesses additional features like photos, videos, and special offers to enhance their listings and attract more customers.
19. Alignable
Screenshot from Alignable, April 2024
Alignable aims to create a supportive network where entrepreneurs can share advice, resources, and opportunities.
One key feature is its focus on local networking. Users create profiles and connect with other local small business owners.
The platform caters to businesses across industries, from local retailers and service providers to home-based businesses and solopreneurs.
In addition to networking, Alignable provides resources like discussion forums, articles, and guides.
20. Local.com
Screenshot from Local.com, April 2024
Local.com is an online directory that helps users find local businesses, services, and events in their city.
In addition to its directory, Local.com offers a blog section with articles and guides on topics related to local living.
For businesses, Local.com allows them to claim and manage their listings on the platform, ensuring accurate and up-to-date information.
The platform partners with Yext, enabling businesses to manage their listings across multiple online directories.
What Else?
Beyond the directories listed above, additional niche directories with high traffic may be pertinent to your industry, like Avvo for attorneys, Thumbtack for local contractors, or Porch for home improvement professionals.
You can find an excellent list of these, helpfully organized by industry and domain authority, on BrightLocal.com.
There are also online services, notably Moz Local and Yext, that will create, update, and maintain your local citations across dozens of online directories.
A listing on many of these directories will be a citation for citation’s sake, but these services will include big names like Yahoo, Yelp, and others on our list.
Working with one of these services can significantly speed up adding your website (and take the work off your plate), which is why they aren’t free.
However, depending on how many websites you manage, they can be worth it.
Ways You Can Still Benefit From Web Directories
While web directories may have lost some of their former prominence, this exploration demonstrates they can still play a valuable role in a well-rounded online marketing strategy.
A few key takeaways include:
Don’t Overlook Specialized Niche Directories
As general web directories have waned, many niche-specific directories focused on blogs, e-commerce, local businesses, and more have emerged to serve targeted audiences.
Tapping into these specialized, relevant directories can help drive highly qualified traffic.
User Reviews Build Trust And Credibility
Many of today’s most valuable web directories have evolved into robust review platforms where user-generated feedback is paramount.
Actively managing your listings and responding to reviews on these sites is crucial for building reputation and credibility.
Leverage Directories For Local Marketing Visibility
The importance of local business directories like Google Business Profile and Yelp in enhancing local SEO and visibility to nearby customers has been reinforced.
An optimized, consistent listing presence is essential.
Quality Over Quantity For Backlinks
While overemphasizing web directories for link building is ill-advised, a few carefully selected, topically relevant directory backlinks can provide value as part of a natural link profile.
Marketers must approach web directories today with a more nuanced, focused strategy.
Final Thoughts On Web Directories
As you can see, there are still directories that provide value. If a directory receives traffic from your target audience, is relevant to your website, and maintains quality listings, it’s a good candidate for your backlink profile.
Local businesses may also find relevant directories in local newspapers, magazines, and on business websites. They can be good candidates if the directories are highly relevant to your website and receive traffic from your target audience.
Look at the page where your website would be listed and decide if you’re happy to be alongside the other websites on the page.
Follow these tips, and you’ll choose the most valuable directories for your business.
An SEO consultant is a specialist in search engine optimization who works outside of typical contracted employment.
For instance, they may be freelancers who work with their own clients or within an existing team but not as employees.
They might be responsible for a variety of tasks from pitching and closing to contract negotiations, as well as SEO.
And while there are some advantages to having a varie
What are the primary tasks of an SEO consultant?
An SEO consultant is responsible for a variety of tasks. These include optimizing websites to enhance their visibility in search engines, managing budgets, and negotiating contracts. Consultants may work independently with their own clients or integrate with existing teams for specific projects. Beyond SEO, they handle client relationships, propose and close deals, and ensure legal and financial compliance.
What are the pros and cons of working as a freelance SEO consultant?
Working as a freelance SEO consultant has both advantages and disadvantages. On the pro side, consultants enjoy flexibility in choosing the projects and clients they work with and have the freedom to set their own fees. However, the drawbacks include financial instability, managing all business-related expenses, and the need for effective self-marketing. Consultants must also handle all legal and financial obligations on their own.
Which essential skills are necessary for becoming a successful SEO consultant?
A successful SEO consultant must possess several key skills beyond SEO expertise:
Time Management: Balancing multiple projects and administrative tasks.
Budget Management: Handling unforeseen costs and ensuring profitable operations.
Pitching and Closing: Marketing oneself effectively to win new clients.
Contract Negotiations: Navigating contracts with potential clients and agreeing on terms.
Stakeholder Management: Managing relationships with clients and other professionals smoothly.
ty of tasks and the freedom to take on only the projects you want, SEO consulting also has its drawbacks.
This column will help you understand what to expect before choosing a career as an SEO consultant.
Are SEO Consultants Employed Or Freelance?
In the U.K., the answer gets slightly more complicated. The term “SEO consultant” can also describe the job title of an employed SEO that doesn’t really denote seniority or management responsibilities.
Like “SEO specialist” or “SEO advisor.”
This might also be how freelancers with side hustles and full-time jobs describe themselves.
It does, however, also mean an independent contractor like in the U.S.
Projects vs. Multiple Clients
An SEO consultant might choose to work with their own clients and the only person working on their SEO.
They might also choose to take contracts that embed them within an existing team, like joining as additional support to an enterprise SEO team.
Running Your Own Business
The key difference between a career as an SEO consultant and any other type of SEO job is that you will be running your own business.
As an independent contractor, you manage your contracts, pitching, and financial/tax obligations.
Essential Skills
What essential skills do you need to be a successful SEO consultant beyond being a good SEO professional?
Below is an overview of the basic skills for thriving as an independent SEO contractor, other than on-page, technical, and off-site SEO.
Budget Management
You may be used to managing a budget in your employed role to make sure clients’ hours were filled or checking profit and loss for your department.
However, additional, unforeseen costs can crop up when working as a freelancer.
That means you need to be able to manage a budget quickly, or there won’t be enough money left over at the end of each month for you to take home a wage.
There may be ad-hoc costs, such as initial legal advice, and ongoing costs like retaining an accountant.
Any marketing collateral, the cost of hosting and developing a website, those fancy tools we all love to use. You will entirely pay for them.
Without the deep pockets of an agency or brand behind you, all your business expenses will come from the money you have managed to earn as a consultant.
Time Management
Although any job requires a degree of time management, being an SEO consultant means spinning many plates at once.
There is also a lack of structure, support, and resources with an employed role.
Due to this, time management is an ever more important skill.
There will be immoveable business deadlines like legal and financial requirements and calls with stakeholders that other team members can’t cover in your absence.
Getting your invoices out on time could be most important for your longevity as a consultant.
The amount of admin that you need to find time for will increase. You will need to sort through receipts and update budgeting software.
You will need to submit financial details to make your own payroll. Then there are the emails and meetings.
No matter how many you had as an employed SEO, expect a lot as a consultant.
To be successful, you will need to be very adept at planning your time.
Pitching And Closing
From marketing your skills to pitching and closing a new client, you will need to be able to manage the entire cycle of winning new work.
There won’t be a business development team supporting you, so you may need to brush up on your persuasive skills.
Although you are an SEO by trade, I can tell you from first-hand experience that few of your business leads will come through your website even if you rank first for “SEO consultant” in your area.
You will also need to become an expert at marketing yourself in other ways.
That means picking up potential client leads through social media, events, and word of mouth.
Not only will you need to source potential client leads, but you will also need to effectively convert them. That means working on pitch decks, negotiating fees, and securing sign-off.
Contract Negotiations
Although you may have a standard contract template, expect prospective clients to go through it with a fine-tooth comb.
This might also extend to your pricing proposal and service level agreement.
A part of being an SEO contractor is the need to be able to negotiate contracts.
There may be an expectation of a certain level of compromise, especially if you want to work with smaller businesses with limited budgets.
When looking long-term at the next six to 12 months of your proposed contract, you will need to be able to predict how those compromises might affect your profit and quality of life.
A client may want you to work your proposed hours for less money, which brings down your average rate.
They might also expect you to respond to emails outside of your proposed working hours.
Although it might seem tempting to agree to these altered terms to secure the revenue, but long-term, it might not be beneficial for the growth of your business.
Understanding Of Financial And Legal Responsibilities
Being an SEO consultant means being your own boss, owning your own business, and the excitement and freedom it brings.
However, it also means being solely responsible for ensuring you are in full legal compliance.
This means understanding which business laws apply to you in your state or country, but also, if you have clients elsewhere in the world, understanding how their laws affect you.
For instance, the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) in Europe governs personal data control.
Even if you are not based in Europe, you may be subject to these rules if your clients are.
How you store information about your clients will need to comply with these regulations.
Being a consultant means no one is above you to take on this responsibility.
It’s all yours. You may be able to afford advice from lawyers or accountants to help you make informed decisions, but the ramifications are all on you if they advise you poorly.
This includes communicating deadlines, chasing for invoice payments, and ensuring client expectations align.
When you are a consultant, your stakeholders aren’t just your clients.
They are your accountants, lawyers, suppliers, and other consultants you’re partnering with.
In a larger business, these stakeholders tend to communicate with various team members; the finance department, the CEO, the marketing team, and the account managers.
As a freelancer, you are the only point of contact.
The needs of a client versus your accountant’s needs are very different, but will both need prioritizing.
Learning to manage a wider range of stakeholders than you’re used to will greatly improve your success as an SEO consultant.
Fitting In With Teams Quickly
You will not be afforded a long onboarding period as an SEO consultant.
You will have to show value to your clients from day one. This can be a tricky skill to develop.
There will be an expectation that you can drive return on investment straight away, although you will need to learn their processes, procedures, product, and industry.
It is not just about understanding the business; you need to get on reasonably well with your new colleagues.
When working closely with other members of your client’s team, what they think of your work ethic and personality may well impact the length and recurrence of your contract.
Demonstrating ROI
When you join a new company as an employee, you will likely have a probation period – a few weeks to months where the company assesses your fit and competency.
If done well, it will be a time when you can work with your manager to fill any gaps in your knowledge and develop a training plan to make sure you are off to a great start in the company.
As a freelance SEO, you won’t get this.
Instead, you may have a break clause in your contract or simply the option for a client to cancel their recurring monthly contract if they don’t like your work.
A skill you will need to develop early on as an SEO consultant is demonstrating the return on investment of working with you.
This means understanding exactly what you are expected to deliver and making sure it is reasonable.
From there, you will need to report back on your success against these objectives.
Resilience
PsychologyToday defines resilience as “the psychological quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life’s adversities and come back at least as strong as before” and is a skill to cultivate.
Being a consultant can be galling.
One month you might have so much work to do that you wonder when sleep will be an option.
Others, you’re nervously staring at your emails, willing a proposal acceptance to come through.
Stability in the flow of work you win can be slow to build.
Then, overnight, a global pandemic can cause it all to dry up. One thing you tend to be short on as a contract SEO is certainty.
A vital skill for an SEO consultant is resilience.
Getting back up when a client unexpectedly ends their contract or there is a conflict with a competitor, is challenging.
Even when everything is going well, there will be the ever-present need to chase invoices that are 60 days overdue.
It can sometimes feel like an uphill battle.
Personal Branding
There is an element of an SEO consultant not only selling their services but also selling the dream of working with them personally.
As a consultant, you will be in a similar position to going for a job interview each time you pitch for work. Your client will need to believe that you are the best candidate for the job.
This may start well in advance of a pitch meeting.
The ideal for many consultants is that they become so well respected in the industry that word of mouth generates leads for them.
Rather than spending a lot of time and energy on marketing, they have clients approaching them.
Some of the most successful SEO consultants have chosen an industry and become experts.
By doing so, they can choose who they work with and charge fees that reflect the value they bring.
If you are looking to become an SEO consultant, it can help to understand your local market, the needs of the businesses who may work with you, and what you can do to be most attractive to them.
This might mean finding a niche and sticking to it for your market. It might mean going after smaller businesses that need the full range of SEO support.
Whatever you want to achieve as a consultant, you will need to be good at presenting your knowledge, skills, and value beyond the initial meeting with a prospect.
Salary Expectations
You may have a pretty good idea of what salaries look like in your country and region, but what about rates for SEO contractors?
Recently, Search Engine Journal conducted a salary survey looking at data points from the SEO industry.
The findings for freelance professionals were particularly interesting.
Search Engine Journal found that SEO freelance consultants earned less than $34,000 per annum on average.
The survey respondents who identified themselves as freelancers overwhelmingly had fewer than two years of experience. This will have heavily skewed their earnings.
With this in mind, take the average reported salary of an SEO consultant with a pinch of salt.
Yours may well be higher depending on location, years of experience, and specialisms.
In the U.K., Glassdoor reports that an SEO freelancer can make £31,540 per year (approximately $41,000).
What you choose to charge per project or per hour will greatly impact how much you take home each year.
You also need to consider how many hours you want to work each week. Together this will help you to identify how much you may be able to earn in a year if your client load is full.
Additional Costs
It is important to remember that you will also need to deduct the costs of running your business from your net earnings.
This may include items from networking group membership to tax and insurance.
Helpful Certifications And Experience
One of the great things about getting into a career in SEO is that there are very low barriers to entry.
There is no university degree you must have or governing body you are expected to be a part of.
On the flip side, there is little for prospective clients to use to measure how good an SEO you are.
Instead, you may need to demonstrate your expertise to prospective clients in other ways.
Demonstrable Experience
Your most obvious way to denote that you are an expert in your field is by showing your experience.
Unfortunately, many clients may equate experience with years in the industry. This isn’t always the case.
Experience With Specific Projects
A consultant may have carried out 20 website migrations during their three years in the industry because they worked at an SEO agency.
Another contractor may have only carried out one during their five years in the industry because they worked in-house for one brand.
A client looking for SEO support for their upcoming website migration might look more favorably at a consultant who has worked for five years in the industry.
They may wrongly believe more years of experience equals better performance.
If you are looking to pitch for a website migration project, as an SEO consultant, you will need to be able to show your specific experience with the facets of SEO the project will rely upon.
Industry-Specific Experience
Another aspect of your experience you will need to showcase is the industries you have worked in.
For some clients, knowing that their consultant understands their market, consumers and products will be paramount.
If you have worked across various industries, highlight them in your marketing and pitching material.
If you have worked within a limited range of verticals, you can speak more about the depth of experience.
You may benefit from showing that you have a wealth of knowledge about those particular industries that would make your learning curve with a new client quick and minimal.
Enough Experience
If you have been around the SEO industry for a while, you will likely have come across forums and threads where inexperienced SEO specialists have landed their first client and are now asking veterans how to do SEO.
This is not a situation that you will benefit from being in.
If you manage to land a client whose SEO needs are greater than you can meet, it will likely cause stress on both sides.
As a consultant, you will need to learn to identify the scope of a potential project quickly and decide if you have sufficient knowledge and experience to manage it.
Awards
As mentioned, no governing body oversees SEO practice, which can validate a consultant’s ability to carry out SEO.
However, there are many award shows and programs that serve in some way as a proxy for this.
The validity of awards is a hotly debated topic in SEO circles.
However, winning one does show that you have been independently judged as carrying out work to a high and impactful standard.
Case Studies
Giving examples of previous work in the form of case studies can help prospective clients to feel confident in your abilities.
It can sometimes be tricky to get sign-off from previous clients to use their data, so you may need to obfuscate it slightly.
Make sure you have permission to share any details, especially if it is from work you did before you became a consultant!
Recommendations And References
Just like you might need to provide for a newly employed role, having referees available to prospective clients can help them to understand what it will be like working with you.
Having a couple of current or previous clients happy to provide references can benefit a consultant.
Platforms like LinkedIn also allow you to request and receive recommendations that can go a long way to instilling trust in your work.
Additionally, although not as impartial, written recommendations on your own website may help convert prospective clients.
Certifications
Although there is no commonly accepted SEO qualification, several tools, agencies, and organizations offer certification in search.
Choosing to undertake their training and examination to receive a certification might seem redundant if you have been in the industry for many years, but it can help prove that your knowledge is current and your understanding reaches a standard.
Additionally, certifications in adjacent areas like analytics, data science, and programming can all help to demonstrate your particular skill set.
Consider certifications in specific SEO and analytics-focused tools.
These can show clients you can use their tool-stack without additional training.
Who Hires SEO Consultants And Why?
There are many types of organizations that would contract SEO consultants. It may be their only SEO resource or to complement an existing team or roster of freelancers.
Small Businesses
Small businesses that can’t afford their own internal resource will often reach out to SEO consultants.
SEO consultants often have lower overheads than agencies and may be cheaper to work with. This can be an appealing alternative to cash-strapped organizations.
Rounding Out A Team
Brands with an existing SEO team may use contractors to bolster their resources or fill a specific skill gap.
For instance, a brand looking to appear in Google Discovery for the first time may want outside advice on how best to do that if their internal team has no experience with it.
Filling A Temporary Gap
There may be a need to increase resources during busier seasons or to cover an extended leave of existing employees.
If an employee leaves the organization, a consultant might fill the gap while hiring a replacement.
Whitelabel
Some agencies may not have SEO provisions but want to partner with a consultant to offer that service to existing clients.
They may also want to test the water of how adding SEO to their services will work before hiring an employee to cover it.
Consultants can offer support without the cost of hiring, training, and employee benefits.
Assisting Agencies
Similar to brands that require temporary help in busier seasons, agencies might require an additional person in their team to bridge employee leave, skills gaps or to consult on specific industry projects.
Agencies can often offer repeat work for consultants for this reason.
Support With Hiring
A very niche project you might find yourself available to do as an SEO consultant is that of hiring support.
So rather than filling a skills gap yourself, you may be a consultant on the hiring of employed SEO professionals.
For organizations with no, or very junior, SEO teams, it can be difficult for the hiring manager to know enough about SEO to make a wise decision.
Consultants can bring their expertise to the recruitment process.
They might also recommend a job description, review CVs, and even conduct interviews.
Setting Up A Department
Along with helping with recruitment, SEO contractors might also help create a department from scratch.
This can be the case when a team is needed, but hiring talent at a senior level is proving difficult or too slow.
The SEO contractor might help create the department and potentially lead it until a permanent senior hire.
Considerations For Becoming An SEO Consultant
Ultimately, there is a lot to consider when moving from employed to contract work. It can be an exciting and liberating move, but it also risks.
No Boss
When you become an SEO consultant, you will trade the structure of a corporate world for the freedom of being independent.
That includes no longer having a manager.
Pros:
You are the boss! You get to make decisions that previously would be gatekept by your employer or more senior team members. Now, you are free to make those decisions yourself.
There is no one to disagree with your decisions or to say “no” to them. If you think something is worth trying, you do not need to get sign-off from a superior.
Cons:
You now have lots of bosses. It’s been said that moving to freelance means going from one boss to every client and stakeholder, essentially being your boss. They can still say no to you. You have more freedom to walk away from the project, but ultimately, you will need to concede sometimes if you want to earn money.
Legal And Financial Implications
You will need to follow laws, taxes to pay, and additional costs to being a consultant that you will need to be aware of.
All of this may affect your finances.
Pros:
Any money you make is for you to decide what to do with. The harder and smarter you work, the more you can be rewarded financially. No paying for your boss’s Tesla!
You have the freedom to be generous with your money. Your business can offer discounts for charities and free training for schools.
Cons:
All legal and financial obligations fall to you. The cost of non-compliance can be high both financially and on your time.
Getting the right advice can be costly. You may need to use the services of accountants, tax advisors, and lawyers.
Pick And Choose Projects
SEO consultants have much greater freedom to decide who they want to work with and on what projects.
Pros:
As an SEO consultant, there is more freedom to choose who you want to work with and what projects you want to work on. If you don’t enjoy a particular client set-up or disagree with the industry they are in, you can turn down the offer to pitch. This isn’t usually the case when you are working agency-side, for instance, where you might be expected to work with whichever client you are assigned.
Cons:
Being rigid in choosing who you work with and what you work on might be more challenging if you struggle to find clients. When employed in-house, you can choose the industry and the company set-up that suits you. In some agencies, you may be allowed to turn down work in certain industries you disagree with. Picking and choosing your projects as a consultant could mean not bringing in enough revenue on occasions.
Pitch For Work
You will have to develop your own business pipeline, including generating leads and ultimately converting them. This will likely mean pitching and contract negotiation.
Pros:
You won’t be in the situation again where someone has sold “the moon on a stick” and expects you to deliver it. You will be fully aware of your time, resources, and ability limitations and can pitch for work that fits that.
There should be greater freedom to showcase your abilities and demonstrate how you can help a prospective client.
Cons:
Not everyone enjoys the pitching process. It can be nerve-wracking and distracts from SEO execution’s day job. It’s not for everyone.
It can take time to put together winning proposals. They are necessary to keep work coming in but have to balance with the time requirements for actually completing client work.
Set Your Own Fee
Although dictated mainly by the type of client you want to work with and the market you are operating in, you will get to decide how much you charge.
Pros:
There may be greater autonomy to decide how much you want to charge for your work. You can essentially set your own salary as long as you can win the work to support it.
You can choose exactly how many hours and what work you are willing to do for that fee.
Cons:
It’s hard to get the pricing right. You may be tempted to charge what your last agency did for your time, but in reality, SEO consultants may struggle to charge high fees when they first set out unless they have good case studies and examples to back up the quality of their work.
Figuring out what to charge and what type of client you will need to sustain can be a bit of trial and error. Some leads may think you are over-priced; others may have been willing to pay more if asked for it.
Benefits
Depending on where you are working, the difference in employment rights for the employed and what you are entitled to as an independent contractor might be vastly different.
Beyond the legal rights you may be granted as an employed SEO, there are also likely additional benefits offered by your employer.
Pros:
You have greater freedom to choose the benefits that best fit your lifestyle. You can choose a medical insurance plan that works for your health needs. You can decide if the positives of having a company car outweigh the tax implications of one.
Cons:
You will not be automatically entitled to statutory holiday, sick leave, or other benefits afforded by your government to employed workers.
Maintaining the standard of living that you had as an employed SEO might be difficult once you go freelance. If you relied on your company’s great dental plan or loved the training budget, becoming a consultant might take some adjustment.
You Only Get Paid If You Issue Invoices
There are no “pros” for this one.
It’s essentially one of the most challenging aspects of being an SEO consultant.
If you can’t work for some reason, such as illness or holiday, you will not be able to bill for work. If you don’t bill for work, then you won’t get paid.
Unlike employment which may still pay you if you can’t work, that will not be something you get as a freelance SEO consultant.
If you can’t send out invoices, or worse, you do, but they don’t get paid, you may struggle to make your own payroll.
Conclusions
SEO consultants’ day-to-day working lives may look very similar to employed SEO experts in terms of work.
However, there are often additional complexities beyond SEO activity that can make it a scary prospect for some.
Taking the plunge into the freelance SEO world can be liberating, however. There is greater freedom in choosing what you want to do and when.
Some choose to dip their toe in consultancy work on the side of their regular job (if allowed by their employer).
This can help with the learning curve of running a business while in the safety of employment.
You may have no intention of leaving employment, but it is always good to keep an eye on the market. You may not want to be an SEO consultant yourself but need to hire one.
More resources:
Featured Image: PureSolution/Shutterstock
FAQ
What are the primary tasks of an SEO consultant?
An SEO consultant is responsible for a variety of tasks. These include optimizing websites to enhance their visibility in search engines, managing budgets, and negotiating contracts. Consultants may work independently with their own clients or integrate with existing teams for specific projects. Beyond SEO, they handle client relationships, propose and close deals, and ensure legal and financial compliance.
What are the pros and cons of working as a freelance SEO consultant?
Working as a freelance SEO consultant has both advantages and disadvantages. On the pro side, consultants enjoy flexibility in choosing the projects and clients they work with and have the freedom to set their own fees. However, the drawbacks include financial instability, managing all business-related expenses, and the need for effective self-marketing. Consultants must also handle all legal and financial obligations on their own.
Which essential skills are necessary for becoming a successful SEO consultant?
A successful SEO consultant must possess several key skills beyond SEO expertise:
Time Management: Balancing multiple projects and administrative tasks.
Budget Management: Handling unforeseen costs and ensuring profitable operations.
Pitching and Closing: Marketing oneself effectively to win new clients.
Contract Negotiations: Navigating contracts with potential clients and agreeing on terms.
Stakeholder Management: Managing relationships with clients and other professionals smoothly.
However, it can also be misapplied, misunderstood, or improperly established for use as a key metric.
It is important to revisit conversions, conversion rates, and the use of the metric periodically.
It is even more important for any new initiative to have the metric well defined and understood before positioning it as a key KPI.
In this guide, I’m going to dive deeply into what conversion rate is, how to calculate it, why that’s important, and ways to improve it.
What Is Conversion Rate?
Google provides one of the more concise definitions of conversion rate:
“Conversion rates are calculated by simply taking the number of conversions and dividing that by the number of total ad interactions that can be tracked to a conversion during the same time period.”
Now, let’s get into what it all means.
Conversions
Unlike some business and marketing metrics, understanding conversion rates require some self-definition.
It starts with defining what a conversion is – which can mean different things for varying types of brands and organizations.
You can have more than one type of conversion. As a goal, you can have it factored into a marketing funnel or customer journey. Or, it could be a firm financial metric your business hinges on.
Step one is to clearly define what a conversion is for you.
One of the most common definitions I see relates to someone becoming a lead for a business that is focused on driving leads via its website.
Another applies to ecommerce businesses, where the conversion is the completed sale transaction.
Other common definitions include certain engagement metrics for businesses that rely on ad revenue generated by page views.
Secondary types of conversions get into events, engagement, and other things like email signups that help support funnels, customer journeys, and overall sales processes.
Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is a %.
In high-level terms, it tells you the % of how many people came to your site who took the conversion goal action you defined.
Some sources provide benchmarks for specific industries or areas to help you understand a good conversion rate and offer some objectivity.
I’m not telling you to copy your competitors, but I think if you want to value conversion rate, you need internal and external research to validate where you stand and where you want to be.
Match this up with your persona research, target audiences, marketing funnels, and customer journeys.
You likely know what you want your site visitors and audience to do.
How many of them do you want to do it? How big is the universe of your target audience? What is realistic regarding the number of total visitors you think you can get?
Find answers to these questions along with mapping out your conversion goals and conversion rate goals.
How Do You Calculate Conversion Rate?
Conversion Rate Formula
The formula to calculate the conversion rate is straightforward:
Conversions / Visits* = Conversion Rate
*I have to include an asterisk, though, as some definitions might not be as straightforward.
You could also call these “clicks” or “sessions” or look at them more granularly.
My definition here can be adapted based on the language and definitions used by your analytics platform and your other KPIs.
An example in calculating conversion rate for my site (a marketing agency providing services to clients) with the inputs and calculation:
August 2022 website visits: 1,122.
August 2022 contact form submissions (my conversions): 61.
It can be a common conversion goal like a lead form submission, something more secondary, or something more obscure.
That part can be somewhat custom or variable for you as well.
You can look at it as clicks to a website from a specific channel or ad campaign.
You can get really granular with the segmentation of your data, source and channel filtering, and even with the definitions themselves.
That becomes especially variable or custom if you’re tracking specific actions that lead up to a conversion goal and how granular you want to be with it.
Make sure the definition of what you’re counting as a conversion and what you’re counting as the total audience (clicks, visits, or some other “total” metric) is mapped out in a meaningful way.
Why Do I Need To Be Able To Calculate Conversion Rate?
First, where do you measure and track conversion rate? You can use Google Analytics, other analytics suites, or any data you must manually calculate.
Google Analytics
If you’re relying on Google Analytics (GA), you’ll want to ensure you have your “Goals” set up properly and test them. Conversions are reported based on the goals you configure.
Out of the box, Google has no context as to what a conversion is for you and no ability to calculate a conversion rate off of it.
If you use GA, dive into conversion goal configuration and testing to ensure things are in a good place before you trust the metrics you see (if you inherited the setup) or move forward with any measurement and improvement plan.
And, speaking of mapping out – tracking and measurement are critical.
You want to ensure that your tech stack and tools can help you properly track visits, conversions, and the overall conversion rate in alignment with your definitions and goals.
Plus, you’re able to then segment at the levels you want to with examples, including:
By conversion type (if you have more than one).
All website traffic.
By source or channel.
By pages/actions/events in the session.
By campaign or initiative.
There are many more segments and ways to filter and slice up conversions and conversion rate reporting.
You want to be able to calculate the conversion rate and get into the details with segments of traffic and your audience to help understand where you can improve.
What Is a Good Conversion Rate?
Calculating conversion rates and having the data is one thing; using it to make improvements is where the real work starts.
Improving Conversion Rates
You can look for improvement in two broad areas, and I strongly recommend evaluating both.
One is sources of traffic and the influences that drive visitors to your site.
That includes advertising, referrals, and any awareness activities and campaigns you have that generate traffic.
The other area consists of what influences the traffic that has already arrived at the site – things like UX/UI evaluation, review of messaging, calls to action, and ways that users navigate through and engage with the site.
In the case of the traffic you’re sending to the site, you can look at targeting, ad creative, and keywords you’re organically ranking for – the ways that ad targeting and creative provide the first impression or directly funnel traffic into the site.
There are a variety of optimization and refinement tactics to shift your focus to higher quality traffic and aim to increase conversion rate by getting more qualified visitors from external sources that you influence.
Beware, though, that you need to have a good idea of your customer journey and not knock out traffic that is awareness focused or at the top of the funnel (e.g., traffic tied to thought leadership).
Increasing the conversion rate is important, but make sure you segment well enough to not inadvertently stop targeting the top of the funnel, awareness-level visitors, and sources.
Conversion Rate Optimization
Now, onto looking inward at the traffic you already have.
This is where most people start digging into CRO tactics. Web analytics can help you see where people exit, bounce, and stop short of getting to your conversion actions.
Beyond that, great heat mapping and CRO tools will give you insights into UX and UI issues and how people truly engage with your site versus how you intended in your design.
By focusing on CRO and putting a strategy into place, you can evaluate everything from site speed to content, messaging, and UI.
I strongly encourage you to do so.
Conclusion
Conversion rate continues to be a valuable marketing metric.
Understanding it, defining it for your organization, measuring it, and improving it are all important.
Whether you have a small business or enterprise-level website, you likely care about specific conversion goals.
In short – for conversions and conversion rate – understand, define, measure, and improve it.
Yes, we all want more traffic. And maybe a static conversion rate is fine if you add more traffic.
However, wouldn’t you like more traffic and a higher conversion rate?
It is possible to have both, and crucial to understanding what levers to pull to influence it.
More resources:
Featured Image: eamesBot/Shutterstock
FAQ
What is the significance of conversion rate in online marketing?
Conversion rate is a crucial metric for assessing the effectiveness of online marketing strategies. It represents the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. Understanding this rate helps businesses evaluate the success of their marketing efforts and identify areas for improvement. Accurate measurement and analysis of conversion rates can lead to better targeting of marketing campaigns, improved user experiences, and increased return on investment (ROI).
What are some effective strategies for improving conversion rates?
Improving conversion rates involves optimizing both the sources of traffic and the user experience on your site. Key strategies include:
Refining ad targeting and creative to attract more qualified traffic.
Enhancing site usability and navigation to make it easier for visitors to complete desired actions.
Testing and updating calls to action (CTAs) to ensure they are compelling and clear.
Employing A/B testing to compare different versions of landing pages and identify the most effective design and messaging.
Using analytics and heat mapping tools to gain insights into user behavior and address any barriers to conversion.
Why is it important to periodically revisit and redefine conversion metrics?
Periodically revisiting and redefining conversion metrics is essential to ensure they remain aligned with evolving business objectives and market conditions. As your business grows and changes, the definitions of conversions and the goals associated with them may need adjustments. Regularly updating these metrics helps maintain their relevance and ensures that your marketing strategies continue to drive meaningful results. This practice also allows for the incorporation of new insights and technologies, keeping your approach current and effective.
