Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the determining factors in any blog’s success. By
tracking SEO metrics, blog owners can determine how well their content is performing, what
mistakes they’re making, and what the best strategy would be for their website. Alone, SEO
metrics can be quite confusing. However, by aggregating all of this data, you can get a very
clear picture of how your website is performing in response to specific topics and keywords you
use.
1. Organic search traffic
This refers to the number of visitors your website received through Google search (excluding
paid ads). Organic search traffic is one of the most important SEO metrics: users who visit your website through organic search already need your content because they are actively searching for it, meaning that the chances of conversion are very high here. You can easily check your organic search traffic through Google Analytics.
2. Bounce rate
Getting organic traffic isn’t enough to ensure conversions. Your content needs to be relevant to the reader, and the bounce rate is a great way to check this. A website’s bounce rate is the
percentage of users who visited the website but left immediately without taking any further
actions. You can check your website’s bounce rates on Google Analytics. A high bounce rate
can mean many things, for example:
- That the landing page doesn’t match the title and description of the Google results.
- That your website loads very slowly, and users don’t want to wait.
- That your website is confusing and difficult to navigate.
Whatever the real problem is, a high bounce rate means you should do some digging.
3. Loading speeds
Even if your website is great, slow loading speeds can ruin all of that potential. Internet users are very impatient. They want everything right away, and if they need to wait for even more than 3 seconds, they might bounce.
Check your loading speeds on the “Page Timings” report on Google Analytics. If your loading
speeds are lagging, you should try to improve them right away. You can make your website
faster by:
- Compressing all images;
- Evaluating your hosting service;
- Optimizing your database;
- Reducing server response time.
4. Organic Click-through rate
This metric demonstrates the percentage of clicks you get in relation to the number of times your website is seen in search results (impressions). For example, if you get 500 impressions and 100 clicks, your click-through rate is 20%. You want your click-through rate to be as high as possible because it shows how often users choose your website over competitors.
The higher your click-through rate, the higher you’ll rank in search results. Google Analytics
shows the click-through rates of all of your pages. Analyze the pages that have high vs. low
click-through rates. What’s different between them? Try out different meta descriptions and titles until you figure out what works best.
5. Conversion rate
Different websites have different goals: you might be trying to sell a product or service, you
might be trying to get users to sign up for your mailing list, or you might want users to share
your content on social media. Increasing conversion rates is often the main goal of bloggers, so it’s a crucial metric to track. To track your conversion rates, set “goals” on Google Analytics so it would know what to count as conversions.
6. Keyword rankings
When you create content focused on specific keywords, you need to know how well they
perform, and you want your website to appear as high as possible in the search results. A high
keyword ranking means that you’ve done a great job at creating relevant content. A low ranking
means you might be making some mistakes or simply that you need some more time to build up
authority. Moz is a great tool to check your website’s keyword rankings.
7. Top exit pages
By visiting the “Exit Pages” section of Google Analytics, you can find the exit rates of all pages on your website. The exit rate refers to the percentage of visitors who exited your website on a given page in relation to those who kept exploring.
On the one hand, a high exit rate might mean that users found what they were looking for on a
given page and enjoyed your website. On the other hand, it might mean that users disliked the
page and left because of that. You should always review the pages with high exit rates, figure
out why that is, and make adjustments if necessary.
Final thoughts
SEO can be tricky, especially if you’re a new blog owner. However, it’s never a good idea to just wing it. The SEO metrics mentioned in this article can help you determine what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. By continuously analyzing these metrics, you’ll be able to create the most successful and lucrative strategy for your blog.