Well, everybody is doing search engine optimization (SEO) to occupy the number one slot on Google SERPs. That is no recent revelation. But in order to achieve that, you have to learn what is working for your website and where you are lagging behind. Okay, you know your keyword ranking. Excellent! Make no mistake, this is just one metric to measure SEO performance and surely will not tell you the whole story.
So here is the list of seven proven metrics and scales which will help you to determine your SEO results inside-out:
1. Keyword Ranking
Brands add keywords after conducting lengthy research about their niche and buyer personas. Yet, it is difficult to hit upon the right keywords very early in the piece. That is where keyword ranking comes into play. Keyword ranking spells out that which keywords are performing for you and which aren’t.
The equation is simple. The number of targeted keywords your website is being ranked for determines the success of your keywords strategy. Once you know which keywords are working for the website, they can further be exploited in your favor. In a nutshell, it is very important to keep in touch with keywords ranking on a regular basis so that any potential problem can be dealt away upfront.
SEMrush is a widely trusted software which website owners use to discover their keyword ranking.
2. Quality And Quantity Of Backlinks
Google considers 200 factors for website ranking. Naturally, it is somewhat impossible to measure all of them. But backlinks are one such factor you can't afford to miss out.
Google absolutely loves backlinks. That’s the number one reason why some of the old websites are still tough to replace on Google ranking because they have created such a huge pool of backlinks over the years. The average page holding number position has over 35000 backlinks.
For Google, the quantity of backlinks is important but it can never be the substitute of quality. Here is why tracking backlinks is an essential SEO metric:
• By knowing where the traffic is coming from, you can learn about the strong and weak points of your link-building strategy and deal with it accordingly. Want the best people to map out a flawless link-building strategy? Click this link https://www.51blocks.com/white-label/ to learn more about building backlinks better.
• You will be able to get an idea that whether or not authoritative websites are backlinking you. Contrary to low-quality links, a handful of high-quality links can enhance the ranking. If you are not getting any attention by giant websites, that’s a gentle indication to review your SEO campaign
• Once you identify the folks backlinking your website, it can open up new opportunities to cooperate with them in future.
3. Organic Traffic
Organic traffic is one of the key SEO tactics. Being well informed about where you are currently standing in terms of organic traffic search can do a world of good to your website.
Overwhelming organic traffic goes to suggest that your keywords are going hand in hand with what people are looking for. In the same way, less organic traffic means your keywords are not hand-in-glove with what people are typing in the search engine.
Google Analytics can give you an inside view of how organic traffic is shaping up. A constantly improving graph means you deserve a tap on your back. Likewise, a declining graph begs you to review SEO strategy.
4. Bounce-Rate
Bounce-rate signals that the users did not find your website interesting and decided to exit immediately. That’s like literally demeaning your website in the eyes of Google. How can someone leave such an issue unaddressed? There is no way you can leave bounce-rate without being evaluated.
If people are bouncing back from your website, it is high time to drill down the reasons. About 26 to 70 percent of the people suffer from high bounce-rate. Make sure you are not one of them. There could be multiple reasons why people might be having a hard time to retain their interest intact. For example, low website speed, targeting the wrong audience, dearth of superior content and so on.
The bouncing rate can vary from page to page. Use Google Analytics to find out which page is going through a high percentage of bounce rate so that you can fix the dilemma on the go and improve overall SEO performance.
5. Retention-Rate
Retention-rate stands in total contrast with bounce-rate. When people stay for a long time on your site, it sends signals to Google that the website is a valuable one. Otherwise why somebody would care to hang around if you are not satisfying their intents? Point being, Google takes this measure very seriously and so should you.
Again, dash into Google Analytics to see whether or not your pages are capable to hold public interest. If they show optimistic time duration, excellent! If not, sit back and tackle whatever pain in the neck you have identified to upscale overall page retention-rate.
Bear in mind, you can't examine every page with the same yardstick. Every page is different from the other. They serve different purposes so you can't expect people to commit the same amount of time on every single page. For example, a landing page does the job mostly in 30 seconds. It is no-brainer to expect that visitors will spend as much time on a landing page as they do on a blog post. It is like comparing apples with oranges.
6. Repeat And New Visitors
Repeat visitors are the essence of SEO. Imagine you are sending hundreds of new visitors regularly to your webpages but what if none of them becomes a repeat visitor? You have to start all over again. No website can grow in real terms if it only depends upon newbies. You need loyal viewers to actually boost your ranking. So you must try tooth and nail to convert a fair proportion of new visitors into repeat visitors.
Needless to say, you must be aware of regular visitors. Once more Google Analytics swings into action. It provides data in numerical as well but the geographical pie is more convenient.
It is pertinent to mention that the number of repeat visitors depends on a niche. For example, an e-commerce website is more likely to have a higher ratio of returning visitors compared to an informational website. However, as a rule of thumb, anything near 30 percent is considered as a solid rate of returning website visitors.
7. Crawl Errors
Crawl errors can pose a huge threat to your SEO practices. All your sweat will go down the drain if crawl errors find their way to your website. The reason is a simple one. Google or any search engine for that matter, can't understand what your pages are all about if they contain a high volume of crawl errors. As a result, you can’t be indexed in search engines because search engine’s bots are clueless about your content.
Luckily, Google Search Console and site maps rescue us from this threat. Crawl errors are a stumbling block to SEO so ensure an error-free site.
Maximize Your SEO With These Major Metrics
Search engine optimization is no easy task. It is a practice that must be implemented and updated on a constant basis as your website grows and as Google changes it is algorithms. Focus on these 7 SEO metrics to quantify your results and increase your organic traffic from searches. SEO like a pro and get to work!
