SEO Metrics & Analytics
Once I’ve had an opportunity to put some sincerely decent content together for this page, I’ll list multiple ways you can benchmark, track, and recalibrate based on results from your search engine optimization campaign. But, since some people are making a big fuss before I’ve even completed this website, I figured I’d throw something in here to help reinforce the fact that I am not a tool (but I do like to use them).
Benchmarking SEO Stats
There are number of ways you can capture current information about your website’s current SEO performance. The simplest way is to create a free Google Analytics (GA) account and track a few actions (called Goals in GA). With at least a month or two of data collection, you’ll be able to capture some pretty fascinating information. Actions you can track include:
- Newsletter subscriptions
- Orders / purchases
- eCommerce & revenue data (call your Developer)
- File downloads
- Contact & information request forms
- and more.
The more intricate, and potentially more expensive, method is to run a Sponsored Ads campaign with the guidance of a seasoned Search Engine Marketing Expert (visit SEMPO.org to locate one). Using a pay-per-click bidding model, you can get visibility for just about any keyword you and your SEM Expert can think of.
As you continue to optimize this PPC campaign, you’ll begin to learn which keywords produce the most actions and what cost. The cost per action (CPA) is a very efficient measure to qualify continued bidding and to justify the creation of content for SEO purposes.
Measuring Ranking
Measuring the current position of your website for a keyword is a controversial issue, being that automated queries on a search engine’s database typically violate their terms and conditions. However, Google recently added a section within their Webmaster Tools to allow website owners to see where they currently rate. With over 60% market share in the search engine, using Google to test performance is definitely justifiable.
So here is how you measure your ranking:
- Based on your own data from Google Analytics, compile a list of top-performing search terms
- Periodically (once a month is more than enough for me) login to Webmaster Tools and compare lists
- Use a spreadsheet and track monthly stats, 3-month change, and YTD data
It’s important to keep in mind that PPC keywords may convert differently than SEO keywords, so plan on creating new content and updating your list of most valuable search terms.
Measure Link Building Efforts
Yes, you can measure link building, but it is definitely not a perfect science. Start by identifying a number of pages on your website that you’d like to see higher ranking on. You can also use your homepage if you’re measuring your top-performing 1-5 keywords. Thanks to Google Caffeine update, pages are getting indexed much faster, so you can now measure almost on a monthly basisHere’s the formula to use:
- Using whatever tracking mechanism is easiest for you (Excel will do just fine), list your top-performing search terms and current ranking (use the ranking data from Google Webmaster Tools)
- After 3 months of earning links from your awesome content and word of mouth, measure your ranking
- Then dive into your Google Analytics and see how much revenue the keyword/page you are optimizing has generated
- If you are tracking leads, do your own offline match of how much revenue each lead generates for you
- Repeat at 6, 9 and 12 months if you have identified potential. If your ranking and traffic improve, but not your actions, STOP focusing on that term and move on to the next one
- Based on your tracking, invest the number of hours and resources you deem appropriate to sustain profitability
More to Come
How do you measure your SEO? Comment below.
