Search Engine Optimization consists of a wide spectrum of strategies, and measuring the key SEO metrics is one of the essential steps that determine whether your efforts are bearing fruits. Measuring the key SEO metrics helps determine how effective your digital marketing strategies are, helps understand the gaps in your plans, and helps identify opportunities for improvement.
Key Highlight
- Measuring key SEO metrics helps website owners understand the effectiveness of their digital marketing strategies and identify areas for improvement.
- 8 crucial SEO metrics to track include SERP visibility, organic traffic, bounce rate, conversion rate, domain authority, keyword ranking, new referring domains, and page speed.
- Analyzing these metrics helps website owners ensure their SEO efforts are aligned with their business goals and achieve success.
However, a website owner who has ample knowledge about the metrics that truly matter requires a lot of research and hard work. This is where professional Search Engine Optimization services come in. Almost every successful business leverages the advantage of these professionals to release their burden and ensure growth. If you are curious about the key metrics that these professionals take into consideration, the following article is for you.
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SERP Visibility
Businesses implement SEO strategies primarily to increase their visibility in the search engine results pages. When an online business sites to write down its marketing plan, the first thing they aim for is increased visibility on SERPs. Now, a website will generally appear in the top results of search engines when it ranks for a particular keyword or search query. However, numerous other reasons, such as featured snippets and image packs, also determine the SERP visibility. Hence, as a website owner, you need to understand whether your website’s SERP visibility is improving to determine the success of your SEO strategy.
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Organic Traffic
No matter how many full-proof plans you implement to enhance the search engine ranking of your website, until and unless your website has an upward movement in organic traffic (unpaid traffic), your efforts will not show results. An increase in the organic traffic for your website means that search engine users are organically finding your website and clicking on the URL, thus determining how impactful the SEO strategy is.
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Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of users that visit your site but leave it immediately without any interaction. There are three main reasons a website encounters high bounce rates:
- Search engine users don’t find the information on the website relevant to their search queries
- Your website has a slow loading time
- Your website is not optimized for mobile devices.
Analyzing the bounce rate can help determine if there is any problem with the technical SEO of your website or a mismatch between content and keywords.
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Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is the percentage of people who took desired actions after clicking on your website. It is the most straightforward way to determine your digital marketing efforts’ success.
Most website owners relate conversion rate to revenue generation. However, one must know that conversion rate doesn’t always mean buying products or services from a website. It can also mean filling up a form, subscribing to a newsletter, or signing up for a free trial, which ultimately leads to the success of your business.
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Domain Authority
Domain authority determines the overall image of your website perceived by different search engines. Your website’s domain authority is based on various factors, such as the number of referring domains and high-quality backlinks.
If you are wondering how to calculate your website’s domain authority, you can use the numerous tools available online. Most tools rate your website between 0-100, 100 being the highest. A DA between 80-85 is considered to be very good and means that your website is running optimally.
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Keyword Ranking
When you talk about improving the search engine ranking of your website, the first thing that comes to mind is optimizing it for relevant keywords. Keyword ranking is the most common yet critical metric to determine the success of your SEO strategy. The keyword ranking is the earliest sign that determines whether your SEO strategies are bearing fruits. When your website ranks for relevant keywords on SERPs, you increase your chances of achieving an enhanced conversion rate and increased revenue for your website.
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New Referring Domains
New referring domains or backlinks mean a number of web pages that have linked to your website recently. The higher the number of high-quality backlinks to your website, the better the chances for success.
Google views backlinks from high-authority websites as testimonies that your website is also credible and trustworthy. Hence, new referring domains from high authority sites determine the success of your SEO strategy.
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Page Speed
The page speed of your website is a metric that determines how much time it takes for your website to load. It also helps understand if the elements of your website are optimized for the search engines.
Large image sizes, excessive HTTP requests, uncompressed files, unoptimized coding, and server issues are some elements that impact the loading speed of a webpage. Determining the page speed of your website helps you understand if the above-mentioned factors are running in favor of your website or if they need any changes.
Conclusion
While numerous metrics play an important role in determining the success of your website, the above-mentioned ones are the most crucial. If these metrics are not analyzed and contextualized carefully, your digital marketing efforts will go to waste. Hence, by prioritizing these meaningful metrics, you can align your business goals and needs and steer clear of pitfalls.