In terms of the declining traffic claims, deGeyter aimed to see
whether there was a difference in traffic to optimized pages vs. pages that hadn't yet been optimized. "If we found that while other pages show a decrease in traffic by X amount but the pages we have
optimized for specific keywords are showing less of a decrease, or even an increase, then this can show that the optimization is effective in bringing in traffic," deGeyter says.
Applying the same logic to conversions and search traffic can also produce data that refutes claims that the SEO efforts were ineffective or even bad for business. According to deGeyter, data is the only way to measure the efficacy of your search efforts. Without analytics, "you won't know if you are successful and you won't be able to determine what's causing the perceived failure," deGeyter says.