There are many different ways to measure the performance of an SEO campaign, but sometimes it can be hard to decide just where to place the emphasis. Should you be concerned about traffic and keyword rankings, or should your focus be on conversions and revenue? In her article on the Econsultancy blog, Anna Lewis “shortlists” five key performance indicators (KPIs) that you should definitely use for gauging your SEO goals for a website.
Keyword Ranking
Keyword ranking is one of the most popular metrics for SEO projects, as it lets you know how well (or poorly) your targeted keywords are performing in the search engines. The problem with placing too much emphasis on keyword ranking is that you have no guarantee that you’re targeting the right keywords.
“Who wants to know that you got them to rank in position one for ‘best ever widgets’ when it has no search volume?” writes Lewis. “Don’t get me wrong, ranks are important, but you have to make sure you’re tracking the most beneficial keywords and search engines for the project.”
To get the most use out of this KPI, Lewis recommends graphing the rank, traffic, and revenue data for each of your top keywords. This will help you gain a better understanding of your keywords, as well as see how much impact each change has made on your overall campaign.
Traffic Volume
Traffic is important, but it doesn’t matter how many people you bring to your website if they’re just going to click away. So when you’re measuring traffic, it’s important to focus on quality rather than quality. You want to know how much of your traffic is coming from your SEO keywords, and how much of it is likely to convert.
“I’d recommend you look at your traffic volume regularly, but don’t just look at the one number,” Lewis suggests. “Instead, segment your data to see where it’s coming from, find trends and look at other statistics such as interaction and revenue from each traffic source to understand the visitor quality and true value of your marketing methods.”
Non-Brand Organic Traffic Volume
Once you have an idea of your overall traffic, drilling down to the non-brand-related organic traffic will give you a good indication of how your targeted keywords are doing. Lewis suggests incorporating this KPI with traffic volume by creating a table that includes rows for total visits, transactions, revenue, and conversion rates. You can then break the data down by traffic source and split it into brand and non-brand traffic.
“As important as it is to look at the big picture,” Lewis writes, “the nitty-gritty details like this will often give you a much better understanding of how successful your SEO project is and where you still need to improve.”
Return on Investment
Return on investment may seem like the most important KPI, as a good ROI is necessary for a business to succeed. The problem is that a company’s profitability is tied to a number of factors, most of which lie well outside the scope of an SEO campaign. If a business model is flawed, no amount of search engine marketing is going to fix it.
“Before implementing an SEO project,” Lewis writes, “I would recommend ensuring your business can make money, then through using search and other marketing methods you can invest to gain a better return and successfully track the ROI of the project.”
Brand Exposure
Branding is an important piece of any SEO strategy. If you focus all of your energy on your non-brand keywords, you’re going to have an uphill battle getting them to rank without a brand behind them. Additionally, you may snag a first-time visitor with your mad SEO skills. However, getting him or her to come back to you is all about your brand.
“Keeping an eye on this as a KPI can help you know how your brand reputation is as well as completing the SEO picture,” writes Lewis. “Try combining this with non-brand organic keyword reporting by using multichannel funnels with custom segments to show keyword types. This can show you great insights to how people come and go from your site.”
