SEO Consult Blog

As part of an SEO campaign, the marketer or website owner should carefully
and consistently track performance data. This performance data, which includes
search engine rankings and traffic logs, is used as a benchmark not only to
determine the effectiveness of an SEO campaign but also to highlight areas
for further work. Poor results can be as beneficial as positive results and
a combination of both is the most powerful evidence one can gain.

Search Engine Rankings

Search engine rankings are obviously important because the better a page ranks
the more traffic it is likely to divert. Keeping records of every single keyword
that you rank for may not be possible but once you’ve completed keyword research
you should, at the very least, track rankings for those keywords that you determine
to be the most beneficial. As you progress through an SEO campaign and continue
to track traffic data you will undoubtedly discover more keywords to measure.

Keyword Research

Keyword research is an integral facet of SEO. In particular, less competitive
keywords that still generate good levels of traffic are the most desirable.
Measuring how many visitors arrive having searched on a particular keyword
means monitoring the keywords each visitor used. Fortunately, all useful analytic
and traffic log software will prove you with this information in a summarised
form so it’s not necessary to drill down through every visitor’s details and
then make a note for each visit.

Benchmarking SEO And Traffic

Benchmarking is especially useful for measuring how effective certain aspects
of your SEO have been. If you use a new technique to build inbound links, for
instance, you should not only measure the number of links it generates but
also note any improvement or even decline in your other data. This trend data
can then be used to determine the efficacy of that new technique. If it works
well then you can roll it out to more pages of the site but if it has little
or no positive effect then you can alter the technique or move on to a new
one.

Uses Of Traffic And Search Data

For businesses, benchmarking SEO performance and combining this with conversion
rates, sales and profit analysis can also determine the return on investment
of an SEO campaign. The Internet marketer should certainly track the relevant
information so that they can continue to optimise the pages of a site. The
more data that is obtained the more beneficial it will prove to everybody concerned.
Improvements can be implemented and tracked while the data might also point
to possible reasons for a dip in performance.

SEO Tracking

SEO is not an exact science and for the website owner or business owner that
attempts their own SEO it can prove a very steep and difficult learning curve.
Tracking search data including rankings and traffic levels for each keyword
proffers numerous advantages and should be considered an important part of
SEO and marketing in general. Businesses can also use the data to determine
conversions and the effectiveness of advertising.

Related posts:

1. Consider More Than Your Ranking
   One of the most difficult aspects of SEO for the novice website owner or marketer is tracking the most important statistics pertaining to their SEO...
2. Search Engine Optimisation And KPIs
   To businesses, the bottom line is everything and improving profits, revenue, and positive brand awareness are the most important goals in SEO or any form...
3. Search Engine Optimisation Performance Monitoring
   Monitoring Search Engine Optimisation Data Monitoring Search Engine Optimisation is actually surprisingly easy to do, and is certainly a lot easier than the actual Search...
4. Is PageRank Really Relevant Anymore?
   Measuring PageRank has been the sin of many a webmaster and novice SEO since search engines began indexing pages and Google began offering a snapshot...
5. Page Rank Obsession
   PageRank is one of those things that new Webmasters and anybody undertaking DIY Search Engine Optimization tends to get a little too wrapped up in....