Search engine optimisation is a volatile beast. Many of us feel like we are walking a tightrope daily, caught between the blissful elation of progressive rankings and the dreadful despair of knowing that everything could change at the drop of a hat.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. In fact, there is much that you can do to keep the proverbial wolves from the door. One such thing is collecting, analysing and leveraging actionable data.
In this article, we’re going to talk about why numbers should be at the root of every SEO strategy. Let’s tuck in!
Data for SEO: the numbers don’t lie
If content is King, then data is the King’s hand; whispering in his ear, advising him on matters of import, and helping him to maintain his seat of power over the many would-be challengers trying to usurp the throne.
By collecting valuable data and studying it, we can look at what is working for us and what isn’t.
Take split-testing as the perfect example:
- You write two separate pieces of copy for a cold outreach email and then start sending both out to prospective clients.
- Following that, you look at the numbers and determine which copy resonated better. This is easy enough, as you’ll be able to see how many people responded to each email and how many did not.
- Then you can take the winning copy and ditch the other.
- Next, refine that winning copy even further by split testing again…create a second email with slight alterations on the winning copy to see if anything can be done to drive those response rates even higher.
This approach can be applied to practically every aspect of your SEO campaign.
You follow the numbers, adopt a trial-and-error approach, and use the data to drive your campaign toward continued success.
There are many valuable SEO data points for you to track
If you can track it, you can monetise it. Here are the 12 key SEO data points that an SEO agency can help you to work towards to bolster your SEO campaign::
- Core web vitals
- Server speed
- Publishing frequency
- Number of indexed pages
- Search console impressions
- Excessive scrolling
- Reading behaviour
- Scroll data
- Missing or duplicated metadata
- Image sizes
- Backlinks
- Revenue.
If you track all of the above and analyse how each new change to your website, blog post added, or backlink created, impacts the rest, in time, you will be running an exceptionally tight ship.
And these are just the data points within your website. There are countless other data streams that you can tap into…
Just as there are keyword research tools that can help you track precisely how many people searched for SEO Melbourne last month or how many people asked about locksmiths in their area, you can also track how many people followed an external link from a blog pointing toward your website as part of their browsing experience, and ultimately ended up buying one of your products.
It’s all valuable. Every last titbit of information.
Don’t be frightened off by the prospect of Data analysis – delegate instead
If, like me, the thought of data analysis gives you the willies, don’t panic! You don’t have to sit in front of your Google and website analytics every day, crunching numbers and looking for trends.
You stick to doing what you do best and outsource these requirements to the professionals instead – just don’t make the mistake of neglecting them entirely because you don’t have the time or desire.
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