Search engine marketing and search engine optimization are essential for the success of any business in this digital world. From ranking higher on the search engines to getting more customers and ultimately improving their bottom line, search marketers have a lot on their hands. The most crucial role in achieving all these milestones is played by search analytic tools.
Search analytics is the task of using search data to investigate interactions among web searchers and the search engine or the content every time someone searches for something on the Internet. The result of these analyses helps develop strategies for search engine marketing and search engine optimization. In simple words, search analytics helps marketers understand and improve their performance on search engines. The result is more interactions, more customers, and hence, more profits.
What makes search analytics a little easy for search marketers is that there are plenty of free search analytic tools available online, for instance, Google Analytics. These tools offer a wide array of features and reports that can be used by online marketers and SEO specialists in devising their future strategies. There are also other free tools like SimilarWeb and Moz that are used a lot by online marketers to improve their SEO and SEM efforts.
While these free tools work for most of the people, what if someone needs a deeper insight into their search engine marketing efforts?
What if they’ve just outgrown the free tools that they have been using until now?
For such search marketers, the best option is to invest in a paid search analytic tools.
But, when is the right time to invest in these paid tools?
The Importance of Being Up-to-Date
Being in the online market, businesses need to have tools that help them understand SERP results for their target queries. But the intent of a given SERP is often changed by Google. If you wish to deploy a solid SEO strategy, you need to know which types of content is ranking on Google. It keeps changing time and again, and to be on top of your SEO and SEM game, you need to know what is currently on the search engine. While most of this information is available for free, thanks to Google, not many marketers think of investing in paid search analytic options. However, if you wish to dig deeper and figure everything out in detail to create your SEO strategy, investing in a paid search analytic tool becomes essential.
The decision of whether or not you should opt for paid tools depends on how vital search tools are for your business’s marketing strategies. If your entire business decisions are based on these tools, then it is best to invest in something that gives you an all-round analysis of your SEM efforts.
These paid options become all the more critical when you are dealing with a large number of physical locations or various product offerings, all of which provoke a unique search behavior from the audience. Dealing with so much information is not possible when you are using free tools as most of them offer entry-level features.
When Should You Upgrade?
While it is entirely up to the business and its SEO and SEM team to decide when they should upgrade to paid search analytic tools, here are some questions that can help you make the right decision at the right time.
- Have the free tools been utilized to their full capacity?
- Do you take business decisions based on search data?
- Is your website large enough?
- Does the company want to connect all their customer data and other technologies into one system?
- Are they ready to spend on these paid analytic tools?
You will be in a better place to decide if you are ready to invest in a paid search analytic tool once you answer all these questions for your business. Only invest in these paid tools when you are sure that you will use this data to take effective actions for your business.
Will these tools help your business move forward and improve your bottom line? Will they make a difference in your business and its profits?
Don’t invest in these paid tools just for the sake of it. Scale as necessary. Assess your search analytics needs before you make such a big decision. If you think it is essential for your business to make the shift, it is best not to hold back as it can cost you much more than just some lost data.
