Using Analytics to Track SEO Effectiveness

Analytics is often an online marketer's best friend. Not only does it show you how well a site is performing, but it helps to identify potential issues. There's a lot that can be learnt from the data provided from analytics.

Of course there is the basic traffic software that shows how many people are visiting your site on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. This will give you a reasonable reading of how well your site is reacting the SEO updates being made. If the figures are increasing rapidly, clearly something is going right.

However, to get the full picture you need to dive much deeper. Fortunately the vast majority of analytics programmes will allow you to do exactly that. They'll provide user data from right across the site and allow you to evaluate keywords, track visitors' movements and find which pages are converting the best (and worst).

With this information you are better equipped to take on the challenges of site-wide optimisation. You won't be clouded by the misconception that traffic alone is the ultimate metric for success. If visitors arrive at your site and are immediately flummoxed, then what could is a click counter? You would never know that they're just seeing one page before scarpering.

If you do find that you have a high exit or bounce rate, changes will need to be made. You have to get to the root of the problem and ensure that any issues are plugged. In an SEO sense this might mean that the page is simply targeting the wrong keyword. When this happens visitors tend to arrive with immediate preconceptions and are then either confused by what they find on your landing page or simply reject it as irrelevant to their search. In either case, they will more often than not look to seek the nearest exit.

It could also be a question of content. Some might see that as being on the periphery of SEO; however if you're looking to optimise a page, you'll need to have some pretty strong copy to go after those rankings and communicate with visitors. If this isn't performing in one or both of these essential tasks, it might be time for a change.

Then there are broken links, incorrectly formatted forms or just poor layout. All of these need to be considered when you come to further optimise a page.

Analytics won't tell you what's wrong, but be using the data feeds it provides you will at least be able to spot areas for concern. Without knowing that visitors aren't going beyond a certain point, working to fix site issues can be a long, arduous and ultimately fruitless effort.

But of course it isn't all just about the bad news. You can also use the analysis to find out where your campaign is really getting the best results. If you are having to feed back to a client or provide evidence to management, this kind of factual evidence can be vital.

Certain pages will outperform others. By looking into their individual patterns and ability to convert (using goals) you can see where your work has had the biggest impact and use that data to feed your other efforts.

So analytics isn't just about having one long ego trip. The number of visits you receive might be one metric, but the hundreds of additional streams of visitor data are no less valuable. It will highlight the effectiveness of your work and provide statistical evidence to aid future efforts.

Working without a decent analytics package installed on your site is like optimising blindfolded. Whilst you can implement changes by the letter of the law, you can't always account for visitor behaviour.

Vincent Rogers is a freelance writer who writes for a number of UK businesses. For VOIP technology for business, he recommends Prodec Networks.