At what position is my website ranking for this particular keyword. This has long been a key metric to measure SEO success. But not anymore!
In the new age of marketing, the sphere of search engines has undergone big changes over the years. And with Pandas, Penguins and now Rankbrains in effect, there are more than a handful of metrics that should meet your attention in every SEO audit.
Because let’s admit it, even if your website is ranking higher on SERP and getting good traffic, it might not necessarily be driving you higher conversion. In such case, what good high search impression and traffic does if you’re still failing to make decent revenue?!
Surprisingly, even with leap-bound progress, there are so many self-claimed top SEO companies in Kolkata, India, who are reluctant to update their solutions. If, by luck or conscious decision, you’re teaming up with any one of them, you’re doing more harm to your business than good.
In any case though, whether you’re a DIYer or business owner who wants to see the true picture of where your website really stands SEO-wise, here are 5 critical metrics that you should be looking at before your website sees any critical drop in organic traffic:
1.Conversion rate
This is one of today’s biggest challenges for the traditional SEOs— decent website traffic but poor conversion.
If nobody told you yet, at a time where ROI is the most important KPI, CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) has become an integral part of SEO. Your optimization strategy must have effective measures to guide visitors through a well-mapped sales funnel towards not just lead generation but direct (and immediate) sales.
Conversion rate = (Total number of sales / numbers of unique visitors) * 100 Calculate this metric. If it’s low, stop fixating on generating more traffic and start focusing entirely on selling to your already incoming visitors. Take up data-driven landing page optimization techniques.
2.Bounce rate
People are coming to your website BUT aren’t engaging with it. They are leaving, directly from the landing page, without going to other pages on the website. This is another major headache. With RankBrain update in effect on Google, bounce rate has emerged to be one of the most important SEO metrics. It is, in fact, one of very few metrics that display the true extent of website engagement, or the lack of it.
Bounce rate = (Total number of one-page visits / total number of visits) A higher bounce rate is a point of introspection regarding what kind of contents your webpage contains. And, also, whether or not the website design and layout is user-friendly.
If you’ve got higher bounce rate, start focusing on refining the contents of landing pages. Add more information, change the copywriting style, make it more engaging and provide clear Call-To-Action (CTA) buttons. Also, check if any change is needed in the design department.
3.Dwell time
The amount of time visitors are spending on your website is another important factor post-RankBrain update on Google.
It’s another metric that’s a direct indication to website engagement rate. The more time people are spending on the site, the more they are engaging with the content. And the more engaged they are, the chances of lead generation and immediate sales jump significantly high.
Dwell time (or Time Spent on Website) is the total time that passes between you click on the search result and then return to SERP.
If your website’s dwell time is low, it’s very likely due to your content. Maybe the on-page content isn’t matching what the title (and snippet) promised on SERP. So, fix the content. Make it more engaging and resourceful.
At the same time, also focus on website design. It could be that the design is very poor, and visitors do not want to engage with the content even when it’s quite good.
4.Mobile traffic
61.2 percent of total users access the internet via their phones. The rise of mobile-era is hidden to no one. Mobile internet users have already surpassed the desktop geeks. And with higher Smartphone penetration, it’s only climbing high.
Meaning, no one really needs to tell you just how important mobile users are for your business success. So, how does your organic mobile traffic metric look? How much are the mobile users engaging with your website? How much conversion you’re making off them? Find out these answers on your analytics tool.
If the metrics look down, fix them by dedicating time in mobile optimization. Start by checking the website responsiveness, then move on to loading speed, navigation, readability, content format and CTA optimization.
5.Number of backlinks
It’s no secret that backlink is one of two most important SEO factors (content being the another one). So, you’ve got to keep an eye on this metric.
You can find the number of backlinks your website has either on your analytic tool or through a third-party backlink checker.
Once you know the number, make your SEO strategies around it. If it’s low, take proper off-page optimization measures, including guest blogging. Also, do an audit on the quality of these backlinks. If some poor or third-grade websites are linking to you, disavow them immediately.
Always aim for high-quality and relevant backlinks.
These are 5 critical SEO metrics that you should always keep an eye on. A poor performance in any of these departments can mean a significant drop in your search ranking and organic traffic.
Now, of course, measuring these metrics is much simpler. It is in their improvement do the task gets a bit tricky. If things are running out of your hand or you’re just too confused, it is best you ditch the DIY mentality and hire the best digital marketing company in Kolkata. You will enjoy much higher returns.
