If you can’t measure how your SEO strategies are doing, how can you improve upon them? Furthermore, how can you convince your manager that what you’re doing is actually benefitting the company?

At some point, you will have to lay it all on the table. You will have to show your manager what you have been doing and what you have accomplished as result.

In this post, we are going to examine how to track key SEO metrics and report them to your manager.

Metrics To Track

Depending on the type of organization you are a part of and what your marketing goals are, different metrics may prove to be more important than others. However, in general, the following elements should be given significant weight:

  • Traffic: where is your traffic coming from? Is it coming from people who are typing in your URL in their browser windows (i.e. direct navigation)? From referral links that can be found on blogs and websites across the web? From search and organic sources?
  • Referring search engines: most if not all search traffic in the U.S. comes from Google, Yahoo! or Bing. Which search engine is sending you the most traffic? How has that changed as you continue to implement SEO strategies?
  • Keywords: what keywords are sending the most traffic to your website? What keywords should you be targeting in the future?
  • Conversion rate: what percentage of people are converting once they are on your website (i.e. how many people are signing up for your service, or how many people are opting in for your email list)? Arguably, this is the most important metric to track.
  • Page visits: how many pages on your website are receiving search engine traffic? This can be an indicator of how many of your pages are actually being indexed by search.

How To Track SEO Results

Figuring out what metrics to track is the hard part. Fortunately, tracking them does not have to be. There are a variety of different tools that can log data for you. However, you may choose to use different services or tools depending on company goals.

Google Analytics offers a very robust set of functions that you can use to view and analyze your data. By segmenting reports, you can view your non-paid search traffic analytics, which features the most relevant data for SEOs.

Similarly, you can view your “Traffic/Search Queries” on Google Webmaster Tools, which will show you impressions and clicks.

Additionally, Analytics and Webmaster Tools can be integrated. This is definitely recommended if you want to get the most out of your reports.

How To Report To Your Manager

You’ve defined key baseline metrics for your SEO work. You’ve tracked the results using a tool like Google Analytics. You’ve analyzed the data, and you feel confident that your hard work is paying off. Now it’s time to report to your manager.

But wait. Are you sure your report is ready? Before you rush into a conversation with your manager, don’t forget to…

  • Simplify: if you’re not careful, your report may be written off as nonsensical, confusing or irrelevant. Make sure to simplify the data before presenting it. Focus on the important parts and don’t get too carried away with minute details.
  • Examine company goals: your report should give an account of how the in-house team’s work has complemented company goals. As long as you’ve taken the time to define SEO objectives in the beginning, this should not be hard to do.
  • Take responsibility: you may have some ups and you may have some downs. Don’t be afraid to own up to potential losses and give credit away for potential wins. Give an honest and objective perspective of the work you are doing.

Conclusion

Ultimately, measuring your success (or lack thereof) gives you the chance to get a balanced perspective on your SEO work. It gives you the opportunity to make changes where they are needed to improve your strategies.

Additionally, make sure to keep an eye on SERPs (search engine results pages); especially for keywords you’re driving the most traffic for. Your rankings could slip if your competition is high, so you may have to keep developing more focused content around these terms.

Photo Credit :reynermedia/ Flickr Image 

Editor’s Note: This is the last article in an in-house SEO series. Please read part one, two, three , and four here.