How To Track Important SEO Metrics & Monitor Your Organic Traffic Growth! | Kelsey Reidl, Marketing Consultant
At this point in our 4 Part SEO Blog Series, you should understand the Essential Elements of building a Strong SEO Foundation for your Online Business!
Things like:
Your top 10 Keywords and Key Phrases
MOFU keywords
Basic understanding of Technical SEO
Website SEO Title and Description is populated, as well as all other pages
How to write a Blog Post that is SEO-Optimized
Site Architecture
12 Month Content Plan Laid Out / Topic Ideas Added to Spreadsheet
Short Tail vs. Long Tail Keywords
If you don’t have a basic understanding of all of the above, check out our previous blog posts:
P.s.
Are you ready to master your Organic Traffic & Boost Your Business Revenue through Everyday SEO™?
Join Everyday SEO™: a 4-Part Self-Study Course That Teaches You How To Leverage Search Engines (Google) & Keywords To Grow Your Business.
Don't be fooled by marketing agencies that want you to believe that SEO is too complex for small business owners to grasp. The truth is, Everyday SEO™ is accessible to everyone, and it is the missing link in your organic growth strategy.
This is a 4 hour digital course that you can watch at your convenience! All associated tools, templates & resources will also be instantly delivered to you, too. This is SEO, made simple.
Join Today! → https://kelseyreidl.lpages.co/seo/
Today's focus is how to track important SEO metrics and monitor the SEO data necessary to ensure business growth.
Why is tracking data so important?
Let’s start with a story…
I once had a client who was opening a bakery cafe, downtown Toronto. Let’s call her M.
M poured her heart and soul into launching her brand during the height of COVID, getting her first 1000 sales through apps like DoorDash & UberEats.
In the early days, business was steady, but M had a bigger dream. She wanted to open a Brick & Mortar Cafe. She wanted to thrive and become a beloved cornerstone of the local Dundas West (Toronto Neighbourhood) community.
In our sessions, we talked about the need to track data and marketing efforts - especially in the early days when time and money is tight - but she struggled to keep up with monthly reporting.
Perhaps she didn’t see the value.
I told her, "M, tracking marketing data and KPIs isn't just about numbers; it's about unlocking the potential of your business!”
M implemented our systems to track her marketing efforts and we began to identify some REALLY interesting patterns that actually allowed us to earn more revenue for her business. These were results that otherwise were mostly INVISIBLE, especially since M was extremely busy managing her staff and getting this business off the ground.
One day, M saw a major (10x) surge in sales after she introduced a new flavour of cake on UberEats paired with a small discount. This also coincided with a social media promotion and an Email Newsletter Campaign.
This opened her eyes to wanting to repeat this pattern. If she could 10x her sales with this formula once, could she do it weekly? Or daily?
The answer was, 100% yes! And that’s when M really started to appreciate the value of her Business Marketing Metrics.
By understanding her customers' preferences and buying partners, she could optimize her marketing accordingly.
This is the same when we monitor our SEO performance!
The first thing you need to do in order to track your Everyday SEO™ metrics and performance is to create a simple SEO-Performance Metrics Tracker!
You get access to my free template when you join Everyday SEO™ but you can also create your own.
What you're seeing here is a 12 month metrics tracker.
It includes:
Qualitative questions
Top Keywords
Revenue generated
Conversions
Top Traffic Sources
Top Backlinks
Google Search Console Numbers (Clicks, Impressions, Bounce Rate)
Google My Business Numbers (Calls, Directions, Website Visits, Conversations)
Other Key Website Analytics (Top Pages, Time on Website, Number of Visits etc.)
Do you use Squarespace?
If yes, you can access your metrics when you first log in, when you click the analytics button on the left panel.
One of the key metrics for you to check in on is your traffic breakdown. If you use a site like Squarespace, it will tell you how many people come from direct traffic, how many from organic search, how many people come from social media (for me it's mostly Instagram and LinkedIn), how many people come from backlinks, how many people come from display ads/ paid ads, how many people are from email click throughs, etc.
My mind is always blown when I review my monthly metrics, and I’m often able to identify trends that help me make strategic marketing plans for the coming months!
If you’re using Google Search Console to check your metrics, make sure you log in 1x monthly and go straight to the ‘performance’ tab to review what’s going on.
If you’re not familiar with Google Search Console, it’s a variety of tools and reports that help you measure your site's Search traffic and performance, fix issues, and make your site shine in Google Search results (Source).
Once you log in, click Google search results and it's going to show you a breakdown of the total clicks (clicks are how many times a user clicked through to your site from Google).
You're also going to see the total number of impressions. This is how many times people are actually seeing your Google listing that you have consciously created. You're gonna see the click through rate as a percentage and your average position. It's also going to show you what your top performing pages are.
For example, I have a blog post on 30 TikTok Video Ideas That You Can Film Right Away that performs really well!
This blog has just continued to pick up steam over the years, so I’ll often edit and optimize it.
Google my business is also a helpful tool for tracking SEO performance, if you have it set up.
If you’re not familiar, Google Business Profile is a free business listing from Google. It allows you to provide details and photos of your business (Source)
When you go to Google My Business, you can click performance and it's gonna give you some insights and data including: how many calls came to your business, how many messages came to your business, how many bookings came through, how many people asked for directions, and how many website clicks you got.
If tracking your SEO metrics and marketing data feels overwhelming, I want you to take a deep breath and remember that it gets a whole lot easier with consistency!
And, if you remember back to M’s story (at the top of this blog) hopefully you’re reminded that data can be extremely empowering (and lucrative!) for your business.
What we measure, we are better able to manage and optimize. So, if you want to ensure that your business is making smart decisions month after month, and constantly improving, it’s vital to have data to look at.
Yes, data can be scary - but it’s also very empowering for the future growth of your business!
The Compound Effect & SEO:
Sticking with your Search Engine Optimization Strategy is the best place to see the effects of compounding, within digital marketing.
If you keep your website updated, you will generate more and more traffic from google, over time. In fact, it’s very rare that I ever see a website that doesn't organically grow year over year, even if the business owner is barely doing anything!
The growth is inevitable, and with a little bit of effort - your SEO could soar!
P.s.
Are you ready to master your Organic Traffic & Boost Your Business Revenue through Everyday SEO™?
Join Everyday SEO™: a 4-Part Self-Study Course That Teaches You How To Leverage Search Engines (Google) & Keywords To Grow Your Business.
Don't be fooled by marketing agencies that want you to believe that SEO is too complex for small business owners to grasp. The truth is, Everyday SEO™ is accessible to everyone, and it is the missing link in your organic growth strategy.
This is a 4 hour digital course that you can watch at your convenience! All associated tools, templates & resources will also be instantly delivered to you, too. This is SEO, made simple.
Join Today! → https://kelseyreidl.lpages.co/seo/
I’d like to leave you with a point of reflection, before you continue along your SEO journey.
Do you believe there is SEO potential in your industry? Do you see the path of SEO leading to business revenue?
If you’re nodding YES, then it’s time to take your SEO strategy more seriously.
SEO offers small business owners more leverage, it gives them their time back (no need to be on social media 24/7) and it ensures that your products and services are showing up where people are already going to search for them (Google!).
Before you go,
If you are ready to go beyond SEO, and discuss comprehensive marketing strategies and growth possibilities for your business, check out our current product offerings!