It is extremely important for businesses to study their online data and analytics as it can help to optimise their website for the customer base and build more traffic to the site. By gaining insightful data a business can understand its customer’s behaviour and how to gain more clients and reach. There are some great resources and websites that can help a business track its site’s analytics, however, Google Analytics is arguably the best tool, with it cutting reporting times by up to 50%, and it’s free to use!
The intersection of Google Analytics and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) holds extreme potential for businesses aiming to boost their online visibility. By utilising Google Analytics, a business can gather valuable insights into its website’s organic search performance which can help make data-driven decisions to optimise SEO strategies. At SEO Flatrate we are experts in creating and developing Google Business Profiles and studying Google Analytics for Small to Medium Enterprises to help increase website traffic.
What is Google Analytics?
Essentially, Google Analytics is a service offered by Google which allows a business, or digital marketing agency on behalf of a business, to track and analyse a variety of statistics related to a website’s performance. Google Analytics provides a wide range of data such as the number of page views and the bounce rates of a website. More advanced information can also be tracked like where the traffic arrives from, the demographic of users and conversion rates. Google Analytics produces an abundance of data, but the real value lies within the interpretation of this data, this is where digital marketing professionals such as SEO Flatrate can help. Taking action upon these insights can grow a business’s customer base and reach. This can be achieved by identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) which align with a business’s aims, tracking user behaviour, and identifying webpages that have high bounce rates while continuing to optimise these successful pages. Setting up Google Analytics is straightforward and there are many guides online to help businesses get started.
Understanding Organic Search Traffic
Unlike paid search, where traffic is drawn to a business’s site as a result of paid advertising, organic search traffic is where visitors reach a company’s website naturally through unpaid search engine results. With Google Analytics, businesses can track the performance of their organic search traffic which can provide crucial insights into the keywords and phrases that drive visitors to the site. If a business understands what search terms generate this organic traffic, a business can then optimise its content to target those certain keywords. This will improve the website’s visibility on the search engine results page (SERP). Within Google Analytics there is a report feature called ‘Organic Keywords’ which presents an overview of the search terms which have drawn traffic to a website. As well as tracking keywords that you are intentionally ranking for, a business can also identify new keyword opportunities.
Evaluating Landing Page Performance
With the use of Google Analytics, you can track your ‘landing pages’ which are the pages on your website a user has organically found due to their searching terms; these pages can also be known as ‘lead capture pages’ or ‘destination pages’. With the use of Google Analytics, you can view data on how much time is spent on a landing page, this lets a business know if their landing pages are successful for the search terms a user has entered. Furthermore, with Google Analytics you can also study the bounce rate, this is where a user enters a site and then immediately leaves rather than continuing to other pages within the site. Finally, Google also supplies the conversion rate of these landing pages. This is the percentage of users who have undertaken the desired action of the website such as: making a call to the business, filling out a contact form, getting directions to the business or purchasing a product.
Integrating Google Analytics with Search Console
Google Analytics helps a business to understand who is using their site, the user’s behaviour and how a user discovered the site. Whereas Search Console is more focused on SEO performance and the technical health of a website. As a business, you can integrate your Google Analytics with Google Search Console which unlocks even more organic search insights. Search Console allows a business to access data on user impressions, click-through rates (CTRs), and the site’s average position in the SERPs. The two tools were created by Google to work seamlessly together to create a complete understanding of a business’s marketing efforts and to enhance performance. At SEO Flatrate we use both of these tools together to identify strengths and weaknesses as well as to uncover future opportunities. By integrating Google Analytics and Google Search Console a business can successfully refine its SEO strategies and gain more traffic towards its site.
Building Organic Searches for Businesses
At SEO Flatrate we are experts in optimising websites to gain more organic searches and building a larger customer base. If you require SEO services or assistance with your digital marketing, then contact us on +44 (0)1202 911141 or email support@seoflatrate.co.uk.
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Updated: Oct 28, 2022
In the marketing of any kind, whether its digital form or more traditional, it is of the utmost importance to maintain and track your specific metrics. This is because tracking your metrics allows you to understand and decide your current standings, what your goal or target is, and if your current marketing strategy is working. With this information in hand, it allows you to adjust your marketing strategy if needed, it allows you to set reasonable SMART targets, and gives you the information you need to market effectively.
What are SMART Targets?
SMART targets are a goal that people often set for their business to achieve, SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. The idea is that you set a goal that is within the parameters of these criteria, so by tracking your metrics and keeping up to date on your data you have all the information you need to devise targets and goals. By tracking your metrics, you have all the data to set goals specifically, because you know where you currently stand and what you should set your target as. Your metrics also allow you to make the target achievable because you can review your past numbers and metrics and that can lead you to decide on a target that is achievable and realistic. Additionally, the fact that you have metrics and are actively tracking them makes the goal of being measurable very easy because your metrics are measurable and you can see clearly if you hit your target, fell short, or overperformed and you can adjust your next SMART target accordingly. Tracking your metrics can also ensure that your targets are relevant to your company’s priority as you can analyse your metrics to decide which metric or what combination has the most correlation to your overarching goal. They also allow you to set a realistic time period for your SMART target because you can see your previous growth or statistics and how in what time period it was done, so you are more well informed to set a deadline that is realistic and achievable.
Now that you can see that just one of the benefits to tracking your metrics is being able to set SMART targets and make sure that they ascertain the criteria of SMART and in turn give your business or client some realistic and beneficial targets with all of the due diligence performed. For more information on how to use SMART Targets, click here.
Is Tracking Metrics Important?
Yes, there is a multitude of reasons why tracking your metrics is essential to any form of marketing, one example is the fact that you need to see what the work you have been carrying out is doing, whether it is negatively impacting, or the growth has been impressive? The only way to determine this is through tracking your metrics because you can see the gains and losses in many mediums and decide if your current work is beneficial, pointless, or even harmful. “Marketing without data is like driving with your eyes closed” Dan Zarrella pointed out that marketing without tracking your metrics and data is nearly impossible because you cannot see where you are, where you have been, and where you are going.
Data being important is quite evident, but there are ways to make the most of your data and metrics and you can compile quite effective spreadsheets with your data, giving you a lot of insight. You can learn to recognise certain trends and other behaviours and you can start to understand the early signs that your marketing is working or not working. Along with this understanding comes the ability to identify who is visiting your website, where they come from, and how long they are staying on each page, through this you can surmise the exact reasoning that you saw a steep increase or decrease in page views and click through rates.
Should you Track Social Media Metrics?
If you are running ads on various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and other major ad networks such as Bing ads and Google Adwords, then you need to track their performances accurately. The only way to do this is by tracking your data, there is no point in running ads if you have no idea which are successful and which are a waste of money. Furthermore, bringing all of these elements together, and tracking your metrics allows you to create a customer-centric product where tracking your marketing campaign allows you to understand exactly what your target customer expects from your product/services and see what works. This is paramount because you can easily spend a heavy amount on your marketing promotion, but it will be nigh on impossible to sustain your business with a poor product or service. This is why understanding and tracking your metrics lets you understand who is interested in your product and from there you can do competitor research to see what works for other people in your niche and combine all this information to streamline your product or service into the best product it can be, all from tracking data and metrics.
Related to this article is the Remarketing article
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It is not always easy to choose an agency to handle the SEO work for your business; not everyone is fortunate enough to have an in-house marketing team. Most smaller companies and that usually includes startups and entrepreneurs’ will often delegate the work to SEO agencies or pay for one off adverts to help get their business noticed on the search engines. Search Engine Optimisation otherwise known as SEO, is the method of establishing long term visibility for online businesses using a wide range of marketing methods as well as specific search terms otherwise referred to as keywords.
Have you have ever wondered why some websites seem to rank better than others when you search for products and services on the internet? The reason for this is quite straight forward, search engines are directories and their main goal is to find and supply the most relevant information and content to its user base by matching the search term or phrase entered in to the search bar and delivering results to them otherwise known as “the search results”. In an ideal world this would then provide the user with the answers they were looking for. However, we all know that sometimes the content that we are shown in the search results can at times be inaccurate, misleading or both, one of the reasons for this is simply down to the vast amount of false information that exists on the internet. We all know that opinions and facts are two totally different things and yet they can appear to be both credible and true at times. SEO agencies are employed to ensure that the correct content and information from their customers cannot only be found but that they show up higher in the search results than both its competitors or indeed any inaccurate information referred to above.
However, just like any other industry there are both good and bad SEO agencies out there, so here are a few pointers that you may want to take into consideration when looking to hire a professional SEO company:
Background: One of the most obvious ways to establish if you are speaking to a credible SEO agency is to determine how easy they can be contacted. Those who just post a ‘contact form’ on their website are less likely going to be trustworthy and transparent. Make sure you check their website for information, find out about their work and see if you recognise any of their current customers. Take the time to read what they have had to say about their services on other trustworthy review sites. Most award-winning SEO agencies will have an online portfolio showcasing who they have worked with and they are likely to have positive reviews.
Communication: Once you have shortlisted the potential agencies that you may wish to work with, it is then a good time to investigate the list in more depth, place a call with them and let them know about the basic details of your current requirements to see how they respond. Remember if the company only has a mobile phone number for you to contact them on, then the alarm bells should be going off, then if they cannot provide you with a fixed landline number to call them on, the likelihood is that they do not have a fixed office address from which they work making them invisible especially when you need them most. Any established SEO agency should be able to offer you a place to visit them, this is where you can ask them about their work, their work process, and establish where the work is carried out on your behalf. More importantly, scheduling a meeting with any potential SEO company should clue you in as to how they operate and whether they would be a good fit for your organisation or not.
Vicinity: You may want to consider the use of a local SEO company, then they may be in a better position to help provide a more tailored service due to their location or experience. For example, if you want to connect with local customers, then it makes sense to target them using local information, local knowledge and a local SEO agency should be able to do just that.
Pricing: It is a not always a good idea to compare SEO agencies just based on their pricing, instead you should look at comparing their services and / or if they have any qualifications and / or if they have received any awards for any of the work they have completed in the past. As in many walks of life you may find that although the pricing varies you may not be comparing like with like and most award winning SEO agencies will likely provide a truly bespoke service tailored to suit your business requirements. It is always worth asking any SEO what services they actually intend on delivering to you and then comparing these services with those quoted elsewhere in order to establish if there is a clear and transparent pricing model available that both suits your needs whilst providing the relevant proofs each month for works completed. It is however up to you to determine the value of the services, everyone knows that cheap does not equal good. You will need to determine your current budget and also choose the appropriate agency to handle your SEO work yourself, however if you do your homework correctly you are already halfway there and when it comes to pricing, we all know that we get what we pay for in most cases.
We hope you found this article useful, remember the above information is meant for guidance only, however to help your company / organisation to reach out to more customers effectively, It is important that you select the right agency then the difference between success and failure is normally based on the research.
