Measuring and tracking SEO success is not a big deal. You don't want to be a statistician or mathematician. It is very easy.
Measuring SEO efforts is much easier when we compare it with a few years back. Thanks to various tools, especially Google Analytics.
There is a saying, that you and I hear often :
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”
It is true in all aspects, including Personal Finances, or Business Goals. If you are in business, you need to, NO, you have to measure success every day.
Let's talk about Blogging. Why do we need to Measure Success?
The simple answer is unless you know where the readers/users are coming from. What is the conversion rate, I mean to say how many of those readers are trying to purchase something through your Article?
You need to know what are the blog articles are getting more traction and what are having more conversion rate. You need to focus on those blogs.
If you don't track and measure SEO then you would end up spending the wrong place at the wrong time.
You and I want the same thing. "SUCCESS" Unless we know what is good and what is not, then we can not climb up the Ladder.
There are a few exceptions. Some websites don't have to measure, from any perspective, like basic information pages, general release pages. This is not meant to make any turns.
Before anything else, we should know what all can we measure. Rite.
What can I Measure on my Blog
Virtually you can measure anything. I Mean it. But there is a catch, If you keep on measuring each and everything, you would be wasting your time.
There are a few things that you need to ignore. Otherwise, you will have less scope of development.
There are tools, Like Google Analytics, Search Console, also known as a webmaster, and many others, that simply track, everything.
Right from the beginning, you can measure, like your Domain authority, Keyword Strength, Blog Rankability/ Strength, Customer engagement, Location, Device, What topic, Click through rate, and many more.
Confusing!!! Don't worry I had the same feeling, ill explain in detail, simply follow through till the end.
Here is how I do it
These are the list of points that I keep in mind before determining anything. I follow "SMART"
Let me explain how to do these.
Specific
You need to Specify what you need to measure. It means You and I have the Same 24 Hours. in which we wast nearly 75% of the time. We end up with 25% in that we have many other works. rite.
Just like that, you should not measure each and everything. If you focus on promoting content on Pinterest, then focus 80% of the time promoting and 20% measuring that results.
Measurable
If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. This is the Quote that, I placed in the beginning.
That doesn't mean you should keep on measuring each and everything. If you do that you would end up spending more time than actually your suppose to.
Yes. Measuring is important. That to "Selective Measuring" will help you to get the job done.
Attainable
If you're a beginner, and you keep a goal that is challenging but attainable. It means you should keep Realistic goals.
If you think in the first month of blogging I want to make $10,000, it is not possible. On the contrary, if you try you can get that many views, you can do it.
The goal that you keep should be realistic/attainable and Challenging.
Relevant
Relevancy is one that many bloggers miss, after blogging for a while. For example, if you start blogging on Tesla and you end up blogging on Ford, then what is the relevancy?
So always focus on Relevancy all the time.
Timely
Time is the most precious thing in the world. You know Apple co-founder "Ronald Wayne" should have worth more than $10 Billion. But he sold this 10% stake for Just "$800" dollars. Do you believe that?
Keep this point in mind. Taking the correct decisions at the wrong time is worthless, and taking the wrong decision at the right time is also worthless.
Things that we can Measure on blogging
First, let's talk about Google analytics. It is a Free tool by google. and it can track many things. This is the tool that I and You mostly use or using it now.
Here is the list of things that we can measure with google analytics.
When you log in to the Google analytics, the first landing page on Google Analytics, you’ll see the Audience Overview page.
This will give you info on the following:
These are the list of trackable list of items. You can track more and you can do drill through what is going on.
- Users - the number of unique users that opened those pages on your site.
- Sessions - the number of times a user opened a browser to a page on your site.
- Bounce Rate - the percentage of single-page sessions that are left without interacting with your page.
- Session Duration - the average amount of time for each session. Users can have multiple sessions.
- Real-time Report - You can track real-time, how many customers are reading in real-time.
- Traffic Channels - Organic, paid, Referral, social or other forms of traffic sources can be seen.
- Source / Medium - Is it from Google, Bing, or any other forms, you get to know.
- Referrals - Referrals are those where you got the traffic from which referrals.
- User time / Date - User time and date can be seen exactly, I mean at what time and what date.
- Location - Where are your audience coming from. Location are they searching for and From where?
- Devices - List of devices like Desktop, mobile, or Tab. You get to know what devices are
- Pageviews - the number of pages viewed by a user during a session. This will likely be higher than sessions.
Now you know, you can measure and track most of the things with this platform (Google Analytics).
Let's see what else can we track.
Other measurable items
Engagement metrics
Now you know how people can find you. The other thing you need to know is, How are people behaving once they reach your site?
For that question, this is the answer "Engagement metrics".
Here is the list of engagement metrics, that help you track them.
Total Time Spent on a page
How long did people spend on your page? You took 3 to 4 hours writing a 2000+ word article and you estimate at least 4 to 6 minutes is required to go through it. Rite.
How do you measure it? Google Analytics and other tools also help you, with that. They can track, every user right from they search your blog or website.
If they spend less time on that particular article then you need to reconsider that, if necessary change the heading to the content.
Pages per visit
Anyone, including you and me, won't end up spending on one page. If we like that article we may go on to other similar articles.
You can track that too. If a user starts at your home page and goes on to the last page that you wrote years ago, that to can be tracked.
What is it mean to me?
If more people spend more time on one article that you wrote years ago, then you can link the latest and other articles to it. It can drive more views.
Scroll depth
You may have valuable and interesting content in the middle of the article. And if your readers are going till the end and getting value from it then, it's okay.
Your goal is fulfilled.
What id readers are not going to that one location where you intend to build this total article? Then it is completely wet.
So scroll depth leps you to find how far visitors scroll down individual webpages. Are visitors reaching your important content?
If you feel like your focus point is not read, are not focused, then, highlight it with proper highlights. Like, you know changing color, changing background to that section. etc.
With google analytics, you can set up the goals, and at the same time, you can change the content accordingly to meet them.
Bounce rate
Do you know how many are reading and how many are leaving (Bounce)?
Bounce sessions indicate that a searcher visited the page and left without browsing your site any further.
There are cases like a simple change to a website like cafes, restaurants, local stores. Many people don't believe the changes. If changes are made frequently then you don't win the trust.
If people are not likely to open the new upgrade that you made to your blog or website then you should go back to the legacy theme to which your readers are addicted to.
Some times old and legacy themes are more attractive to the latest themes.
Conversion rate
If you're doing affiliate marketing, or any sales through your blog or website then you must look in this metric, "Conversion rate".
Knowing your conversion rate can help you gauge the return on investment (ROI) your website traffic might deliver.
The reason is all readers are not going to be your customers and all your customers may not be your regular readers.
you need to understand who is going to spend money on you. I mean your products or the affiliates.
Here is the simple calculation, the number of conversions divided by the number of unique visits.
This can be applied to anything, from email signup to a purchasing free or paid eBook.
Organic traffic VS Paid traffic
With Google Analytics you can see traffic to your site by channel. I mean like regular traffic vs any changes in the strategy.
You get to know the seasonality. Like if you take up any new campaign for Christmas or Diwali, then you need to measure the success rate. Whether the campaign is a success or did we meet the objective of the campaign.
Google analytics can give an edge over all the traffic sources.
Traffic to your site over time
GA allows you to view total sessions/users/pageviews to your site over a specified date range, as well as compare two separate ranges.
How many visits a particular page has received
Site Content reports in GA are great for evaluating the performance of a particular page — for example, how many unique visitors it received within a given date range.
Keyword rankings
If you want to get ranked first on a specific term, the best way is to optimize the "Keyword".
Any website or blog basically depends on keywords. You Agree with the rite. Yes, I do too. Keywords are the keyword authority is the key to rank.
The best idea is to focus on long-tail keywords, rather than highly competitive Short Keywords.
Keyword authority can be tracked and measured. There are tools like MOZ and many others.
Number of backlinks
The total number of links pointing to your website will also determine the ranking. You need to measure what are the valuable links that are pointing to me.
You also need to know whether one single page is linking or the total website is linking to my page. You need to decide which links are quality links and which aren't.
Conclusion
Now you know what to do. You can measure anything from the size of a file, I'm joking. Everything on the internet.
With tools like Google Analytics, you can have everything under your control. You may not able to measure your IQ. But you can measure success or the partial success of your Blog or the website.
Make sure you count everything that you put on the internet. Because if you know what is working and what is not then you will know what to do and what not to do.
Now we're know how to measure and how to measure success. Let's move on to another interesting topic SEO Tips and Tricks.
Till now I've mentioned what to do and how to do it. Rite. Now I'm going to make your day easier. I mean to say is I'm going to tell All the Tips and Tricks that are going to help you now.
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