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How to Use Analytics to Improve SEO Campaigns

Published: June 16, 2015

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has officially graduated from the catch-phrase status it held a half-a-dozen years ago. For companies located all over the world, SEO has become the most efficient way to drive viewers and potential customers to a company’s website. As a result of this fairly new revelation in online marketing, the study of how to effectively use SEO to drive sales has become a bit of a science.

The Use of SEO

In the mid-1990s, online businesses went looking for a way to capture the attention of prospective customers who were looking for products and services. Thanks in large part to the efforts of popular search engines such as Yahoo, Bing and Google, online companies were given the opportunity to increase website traffic through the use of one or more keywords. When keywords were entered into a search engine dialog box, all of the websites using the referenced keywords were listed by search engines based on keyword density. Eventually, search engines developed algorithms for prioritizing which companies would get priority listings based on keyword phrases. That soon evolved into advertising campaign options that were contracted through search engines in order to provide a revenue stream for the search engine company while allowing clients to gain some control over the prioritization process. Today, websites and online marketing materials are developed with specific SEO in mind, and SEO experts are used to help businesses ‘determine which keywords will be most effective in increasing site traffic.

How to Use Analytics to Improve SEO Campaigns

With SEO becoming such an important factor for attracting potential customers, search engine providers took the next logical step. They began providing access to a set of analytics that businesses could use by users to help make the SEO process as effective as possible. Through the use of these analytical tools, business owners and managers now have the ability to manipulate their company’s website and marketing materials in order to maximize the benefits of SEO in the following ways.

Picking the Most Popular Keywords – Through the use of analytical tools such as Google Adwords Keyword Tool and Google Trends, you as a business owner/manager are able to identify which keywords and keyword phrases that have been statistically popular with users in the recent past. These types of tools are particularly effective when business lingo changes and people change the way they refer to certain products or services.

Identifying the Effectiveness of Your Site’s Keywords – One of the tools offered by search engines from “analytics dashboards” allows companies to identify which keywords or keyword phrases were used by visitors to locate the company’s websites. By reviewing this list in descending order, business owners and marketing managers are able to see which keywords are working and which ones aren’t. By replacing the least used keywords and phrases with more popular ones, the company is able to make meaningful adjustments to its SEO based on real statistical evidence.

Measuring Traffic to Your Site – While it certainly differs from one company to the next, website traffic usually correlates to new sales at some level. This makes information about traffic very important. Through an analytics dashboard, it is possible to determine how many people went to your site, how many pages they viewed and how long they stayed. This information is key in determining whether or not your website’s landing pages are able to hold viewer interest long enough to result in a sale.

Optimizing and Fine Tuning Your Website – Using features from Google Analytics, you have the ability to compare the success of two versions of your website at the same time. The process involves using an old version of your website in conjunction with a new version. Through a “split testing” process, users who enter certain keywords will get one website or the other on a random basis. Using analytics, you will be able to determine which version has been more popular with viewers.

Keyword Revelations – When you view the analytics related to which keyword phrases were used to get to your site, there is a possibility you might discover an interesting trend among users. They might be using a certain phrasing or combination of keywords you hadn’t considered before. If these trends become prevalent enough, you might consider using some of those new keywords or phrases within your site.

As a business owner, you need to know you are not operating on an island. The tools to determine the effectiveness of your SEO are available. You just need to know where to find them and put them to good use.

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