Learning how to improve your SEO efforts is one thing, but finding true SEO success is something entirely different. So many websites talk about an SEO strategy without diving into the SEO tools that you need to monitor your SEO progress: from domain authority and organic traffing to other SEO metrics. In this blog post, we will discuss how to measure SEO performance and know for sure that you're improving your search results with your new SEO campaign. Let's get into it!
What is SEO?
I always like to take some time and define the words we're using in an article to make sure that my fellow artists and small business owners are on the same page. So here are the key terms that you need to know for this article and tutorial.
- Organic traffic: the traffic that comes to your website through search results. Organic search traffic is the traffic that you don't pay for. Inorganic traffic, in contrast, would be direct clicks on links or other advertisements.
- Domain authority: how powerful your website is according to tools like Google Analytics or Ahrefs. A more authoritative site will naturally rank higher.
- Keyword rankings: Where your website ranks in search results based on the keyword that you're using to search. Your keyword rankings may differ for “local artist” vs “local artist pet paintings” for example.
- Organic search results: Organic results are those that come without payment. Similar to organic traffic, your SEO success is really a measure of how much traffic you can get without paying for advertisements.
Ok that should give you enough knowledge to understand this article and improve your SEO efforts. Let's get started!
What is SEO performance and why is it important to monitor it regularly
The term SEO performance refers to how well a website is ranked on search engines for certain keywords. This visibility on search engines (your “SEO efforts”) can have a significant impact on a business's success, as it can drive more traffic to their website and potentially lead to increased sales or conversions.
That is why it is important to monitor SEO performance regularly, as the algorithms used by search engines are constantly evolving and what may have helped improve rankings in the past may not be as effective now. By staying on top of current trends and making adjustments accordingly, businesses can ensure they remain competitive and visible on search engines.
In addition, regular monitoring allows businesses to identify any potential issues that may negatively affect their SEO performance and take steps to address them before they cause significant damage. Ultimately, monitoring the success of your SEO campaign is crucial for maintaining a strong online presence and achieving long-term success.
The benefits of using great tools for SEO performance monitoring
When it comes to SEO, tracking performance is essential for success. Fortunately, there are several tools that can make this process much easier: Google Search Console, Google Analytics, RankTracker, and SurferSEO. All four provide a wealth of valuable information, including search queries, average ranking positions, and website traffic data. Best of all, the first two are both free to use!
Utilizing these tools can help identify areas for improvement on your website, such as optimizing title tags and improving site speed. They can also give insight into the effectiveness of your overall SEO strategy, allowing for more informed decisions about future tactics. In short, incorporating these two tools into your SEO process can greatly enhance your performance monitoring efforts.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console, or GSC, is made for search. While it doesn't directly track keyword rankings, it does provide a free way for you to monitor organic traffic to your website. The most common SEO metrics that you can find on GSC are: impressions, clicks, click through rate, and organic search ranking.
While you can do some rank tracking with GSC, it is manual. You will have to review your numbers monthly. You can also use a secondary service like SurferSEO, which analyzes your GSC data and makes recommendations based on it.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is the other free tool on our list. A Google Analytics account is a free, easy way to keep tabs on your website.
One of the most important metrics to track on Google Analytics is your organic traffic. By reviewing this data regularly, you can see where your traffic is coming from, how it changes over time, and potential areas for improvement in your SEO strategy.
RankTracker
While GSC and Google Analytics are free tools, there are a few affordable paid tools that can help out your SEO campaign. Both RankTracker and SurferSEO will track SEO metrics on your behalf, but only SurferSEO does so based on information from your Google Analytics account. RankTracker exclusively does its own organic search research and presents you with knowledge about where your organic traffic is coming from.
I love RankTracker because it's one of the most affordable tools out there for keyword ranking and tracking, and it's perfect for measuring SEO results. They offer monthly reports, and while they only focus on Google and not on different search engines, their data is trustworthy. They do provide SEO suggestions as well – technical SEO improvements, identifying landing pages, etc. But I pretty much just use RankTracker for keyword research.
Get access to RankTracker right now.
SurferSEO
Surfer is new to the market, but they're a great tool for tracking and improving SEO results. Surfer is a content-first tool, not a rank tracker. SurferSEO helps you do content marketing by analyzing search engine results and then giving you outlines to follow to build your own pages. It will tell you how many times to use a keyword, how many subheadings to use, and even how long your page should be. It can scan meta descriptions and provide recommendations there, too.
SurferSEO is slowly building out their SEO metrics section. It's called “GrowFlow” and it's free for small sites. Larger sites, you'll need a paid plan. It's a good alternative to tracking SEO performance because it feeds you advice instead of showing you all of the data. It just shows you important SEO metrics alongside suggestions on how to improve the experience for your site visitors.
Get access to SurferSEO right now.
Tips on how to improve your website's SEO performance using the data from these tools
If you want to boost your website's search engine optimization performance, one of the best ways to do so is by using data from various SEO tools. One crucial tool is a keyword tracker, which can help you determine what terms your audience is searching for and how well your website ranks for those terms. I recommend RankTracker for a paid keyword rank tracking tool, and it's pretty good for keyword research, too.
Another important tool is a backlink checker, which can show you the websites that are linking to yours and inform your link building strategy. GSC and Google Analytics can provide this information if you know where to look.
And don't forget about tools like Google Analytics, which can give you valuable insights into how users are interacting with your website and where they are coming from. By utilizing all of this data, you can create an SEO strategy that will drive even more traffic to your website.
SEO performance is an important part of any website's success. By monitoring your website's SEO performance regularly, you can ensure that your site is getting the traffic and conversions it deserves. The two tools we've discussed are great for getting accurate data about your website's SEO performance. Use these tools to identify areas where your website could use improvement and make the changes needed to improve your site's ranking in search engines. With a little effort, you can see a noticeable difference in your website's SEO performance using the data from these tools.
