You might know that SEO is important if you want to rank your site. But, SEO can get complicated. You might want to get some professionals to do your SEO for you as it would save you a lot of time and also ensure the results at the time.
Nevertheless, it’s not exactly impossible to do your SEO yourself. Even if someone’s managing your SEO, it’s important to track the SEO metrics to ensure their doing a better job in improving your digital marketing campaigns.
In this guide, we’ll share some insights regarding certain SEO metrics to ensure that your SEO performance drives results!
Organic Traffic
Organic traffic refers to the visitors who land on your website through unpaid, natural search engine results. These are the people who stumble upon your site by typing a query into a search engine like Google and clicking on one of the non-advertising links that appear in the search results.
Organic traffic is important if you want your business to grow. Why? Because it’s genuine. It means people are finding your site because they’re genuinely interested in what you offer. Unlike paid traffic, where you’re essentially buying visits, organic traffic is earned through the quality and relevance of your content.
There are plenty of tools and techniques out there to help you keep tabs on how many visitors are finding your site through organic search: These include Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and other Third-Party SEO tools (SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, etc).
As for techniques, it’s all about setting up your tracking tools properly and keeping a close eye on your metrics. Make sure you’re tracking things like total organic traffic, traffic by landing page, and top-performing keywords. Don’t forget to regularly review your data and look for trends or patterns that can help you refine your SEO strategy and drive even more organic traffic to your site.
Keyword Rankings
Keyword rankings refer to the position of a website or web page in search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords or phrases. When someone searches for a particular term or query, search engines like Google display a list of results ranked in order of relevance and authority. Your keyword ranking indicates where your site or page appears in that list for a given keyword.
Keyword rankings are incredibly important for several reasons. They provide visibility, traffic generation, and relevance. Higher rankings mean your website is more visible to potential visitors, which also leads to increased organic traffic. Moreover, ranking for relevant keywords ensures that your website is seen by users actively searching for information, products, or services related to your business, increasing the likelihood of conversion.
There are several strategies you should adopt for improving keyword ranking. First, you should do your keyword research. Aim for keywords that have a high search volume and moderate competition. Next, optimize your website’s pages for target keywords by including them in strategic locations such as titles, headings, meta descriptions, and throughout the content. Create engaging, informative, and keyword-rich content that addresses the needs and interests of your target audience. Lastly, with the increasing prevalence of mobile search, ensure that your website is optimized for mobile devices.
Backlink Profile
A backlink profile refers to the collection of all inbound links pointing to a website from external sources. These links, also known as backlinks, are crucial components of search engine optimization (SEO) and play a significant role in determining a website’s authority, relevance, and ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). Essentially, a backlink profile provides insights into the quality, quantity, and diversity of backlinks that a website has acquired over time.
Search engines like Google consider backlinks as votes of confidence from other websites. The more high-quality backlinks a website has, especially from authoritative and relevant sources, the more trustworthy and authoritative it appears to search engines.
Moreover, backlinks are among the top-ranking factors used by search engines to determine the relevance and authority of a website for specific search queries. Websites with a strong backlink profile are more likely to rank higher in SERPs for their target keywords. They’re also your key to getting referral traffic directly to the linked website. Acquiring backlinks from reputable websites can also enhance brand visibility and awareness. When your website is mentioned and linked to other credible sources, it increases your brand’s exposure to a wider audience, fostering trust and recognition.
On-Page Metrics
On-page metrics include many important and vital factors that directly influence the user experience and overall SEO performance of a website. Here’s a detailed breakdown of some key on-page metrics:
1. Page Load Speed
Page load speed refers to the time it takes for a web page to fully load its content, including text, images, scripts, and other elements. It’s a critical metric because users expect fast and seamless browsing experiences, and search engines like Google consider page speed as a ranking factor. Slow-loading pages can lead to higher bounce rates and lower user engagement.
2. Mobile Friendliness
With the increasing prevalence of mobile devices, ensuring that your website is mobile-friendly is essential for providing a positive user experience. Mobile-friendliness refers to how well a website performs and displays on various mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.
3. Content Quality
Content quality is a fundamental on-page metric that directly impacts user engagement, retention, and satisfaction. High-quality content is informative, relevant, well-written, and adds value to the user experience. It includes text, images, videos, and other multimedia elements that cater to the needs and interests of the target audience.
4. User Experience Metrics (Bounce Rate, Time on Page, etc.)
User experience metrics provide insights into how users interact with your website and content. Key metrics include bounce rate (referring to the percentage of visitors who navigate away from your site after viewing only one page), Time on Page (referring to the average amount of time users spend on a specific page before navigating to another page or leaving the site altogether), Pages per Session (referring to the average number of pages a user visits during a single browsing session) and Exit Rate (referring to the percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing a specific page)
Final Thoughts:
At the bottom line, tracking SEO metrics is essential for improving digital marketing campaigns and ensuring the success of your online presence through promised SEO performance. Organic traffic, keyword rankings, backlink profiles, and on-page metrics all play crucial roles in driving website visibility, attracting targeted traffic, and enhancing user experience.
By monitoring these metrics and implementing strategic optimizations, businesses can increase their online visibility, attract more qualified leads, and ultimately achieve their marketing objectives. Whether you’re managing your SEO efforts or working with professionals, staying informed about these key metrics is essential for driving results and maximizing the impact of your digital marketing campaigns.