{"id":5998,"date":"2022-09-20T10:55:57","date_gmt":"2022-09-20T10:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/20\/4-smarter-ways-to-measure-seo-effectiveness\/"},"modified":"2022-09-20T10:55:57","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T10:55:57","slug":"4-smarter-ways-to-measure-seo-effectiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/20\/4-smarter-ways-to-measure-seo-effectiveness\/","title":{"rendered":"4 smarter ways to measure SEO effectiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I find myself answering a lot of the same questions from new clients about ways to measure SEO. My answers generally fall into one of two categories:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Why basic\/boilerplate SEO metrics aren\u2019t good KPIs and how to make them better.<\/li>\n<li>Which (more advanced) metrics we should establish to determine actual business impact.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This article will tackle the first category and show how to apply an advanced approach to make basic SEO KPIs far more effective indicators of success. The KPIs I\u2019ll discuss include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Traffic (visits)<\/li>\n<li>Ranking<\/li>\n<li>Conversions<\/li>\n<li>Links<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Let\u2019s get started.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/20\/4-smarter-ways-to-measure-seo-effectiveness\/#1_Traffic\" >1. Traffic<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/20\/4-smarter-ways-to-measure-seo-effectiveness\/#2_Ranking\" >2. Ranking<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/20\/4-smarter-ways-to-measure-seo-effectiveness\/#3_Conversions\" >3. Conversions<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/20\/4-smarter-ways-to-measure-seo-effectiveness\/#4_Links\" >4. Links<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/20\/4-smarter-ways-to-measure-seo-effectiveness\/#Prove_the_value_of_SEO_with_better_metrics\" >Prove the value of SEO with better metrics<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_Traffic\"><\/span>1. Traffic<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Measuring SEO traffic week over week is as basic as it gets \u2013 and it\u2019s missing nuances that can become clear with a couple of adjustments.<\/p>\n<p>First, use Search Console to split traffic into <strong>brand <\/strong>and <strong>non-brand<\/strong> buckets.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"202\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/09\/Brand-Vs-Non-Brand-Chart-800x202.png\" alt=\"Brand vs. non-brand chart in GSC.\" class=\"wp-image-388014\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>There\u2019s a simple reason for this: <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/why-seos-should-care-about-brand-338475\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">brand traffic<\/a> is generally <strong>not<\/strong><em> <\/em>a function of SEO. Instead, it\u2019s influenced by <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/why-search-needs-to-be-combined-with-awareness-for-maximum-impact-318355\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">awareness campaigns<\/a>, including billboards, CTV (or linear TV) ads, programmatic campaigns, PR, and more. Brand search, in short, is a function of your overall marketing portfolio.<\/p>\n<p>Non-brand search is where SEOs can shine, especially when you identify keywords at the most important <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/how-to-produce-actionable-content-throughout-the-marketing-funnel-379201\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stages of your funnel<\/a> and prioritize them by potential impact. This often functions as the level of intent. <\/p>\n<p>Educational keywords (e.g., \u201cSEO best practices\u201d) equate more or less to the top of the funnel and more transactional keywords (e.g., \u201cbest SEO agency for B2B\u201d) align with the bottom of the funnel.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Second, remember that seasonality impacts SEO as any other channel. <\/p>\n<p>For this reason, it\u2019s crucial to set up month over month, quarter over quarter, and year over year windows. I prefer QoQ and YoY over shorter comparisons. <\/p>\n<p>Big SEO shifts, whether forced by an <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/library\/google\/google-algorithm-updates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">algorithm change<\/a> or internally directed, require longer measurement cycles to prove real change.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Ranking\"><\/span>2. Ranking<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Relying on moment-in-time screenshots of your current keyword rankings will get you a limited idea of your overall campaign success.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, consider these factors:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How are your target keywords ranking over time<em> <\/em>(MoM, QoQ, YoY)?<\/li>\n<li>How are individual pages ranking?<\/li>\n<li>Are you achieving actual milestones?<\/li>\n<li>What are your trends?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Evaluating rankings over time will show you progress across possible calendar events and seasonal shifts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Instead of looking at a blended portfolio affecting a keyword, which offers less actionable insight, look at individual pages using Google Search Console. This allows you to isolate which specific properties are impacting rankings for a single keyword.<\/p>\n<p>On the topic of milestones, not all ranking changes are created equal. You can move up 50 spots from 61 to 11, but that may have less impact than moving up a single notch from the top spot on page 2 of the SERPs to the last spot on page 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Last, dig deeper to see the actual deltas of impressions and clicks that any rankings changes are driving. This also incorporates external trends. For instance, consider that you could have seen huge increases in impressions and clicks for \u201cvideo conferencing software\u201d in March 2020 without a change in your ranking for that keyword.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The more activity around the keyword, the more competitive it will get \u2013 and the more potential impact it has on your portfolio.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_Conversions\"><\/span>3. Conversions<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The 1.0 way to measure acquisition is to aggregate last-click conversions from organic search. <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-analytics-4-migration-guide-386201\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Incorporating GA4<\/a>, which uses a cross-channel, <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/data-driven-attribution-google-387552\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">data-driven model<\/a> with a 30-day lookback window for acquisition, will give you a more nuanced view of attributed credit for conversions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We could add many more layers here, including measuring the effects of SEO on other channels\u2019 acquisition costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For this post, which is meant to help you derive more meaning from relatively basic KPIs, let\u2019s talk about building different conversion events aligned with the level of intent of the keywords you\u2019re targeting (e.g., \u201cdownload the guide\u201d for educational keywords or \u201cbook a demo\u201d for transactional ones).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Your report might look like this:<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/09\/Events-by-Organic-Search-GA4-800x315.png\" alt=\"GA4 conversion reporting.\" class=\"wp-image-388016\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Different conversion events, when used strategically with back-end CRM data, will have different values.<\/p>\n<p>When you use a variety of conversion events that align strategically with your keywords, you should see an increase in conversion rate <strong>and<\/strong><em> <\/em>get a more accurate picture of the value those keywords are driving.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_Links\"><\/span>4. Links<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Links are important. They\u2019re still a ranking factor, and they can help measure the impact of your content.<\/p>\n<p>That said, link quantity is a shallow metric. Links are simply a means to an end.<\/p>\n<p>SEO\u2019s overall purpose is to drive <strong>meaningful<\/strong><em> <\/em>traffic and acquisition. Focusing on downstream KPIs without rolling them up to business impact (which is admittedly more complex) will do little to move the needle in important ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If you focus on counting links, you\u2019re incentivizing yourself to chase more links. The incentive <strong>should<\/strong><em> <\/em>be actual impact. <\/p>\n<p>Counting will give you a quantity bias and will shift the way you run your SEO program. If you focus on business drivers, you\u2019ll be incentivized to <strong>deliver value, not volume<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Volume is easy. Value is harder.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Prove_the_value_of_SEO_with_better_metrics\"><\/span>Prove the value of SEO with better metrics<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>For the most part, these are fairly easy adjustments to make, and they\u2019ll help you paint a much clearer picture of the value you\u2019re driving with your SEO program and how that\u2019s trending over time.<\/p>\n<p>In my next post, I\u2019ll show how to take measurement to the next level by helping you understand how SEO is affecting your overall marketing efforts in relation to other channels.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/measure-seo-effectiveness-388013\" target=\"_blank\">4 smarter ways to measure SEO effectiveness<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Search Engine Land<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I find myself answering a lot of the same questions from new clients about ways to measure SEO. My answers generally fall into one of two categories: Why basic\/boilerplate SEO metrics aren\u2019t good KPIs and how to make them better. Which (more advanced) metrics we should establish to determine actual business impact. This article will tackle the first category and show how to apply an advanced approach to make basic SEO KPIs far more effective indicators of success. The KPIs I\u2019ll discuss include: Traffic (visits) Ranking [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"h5ap_radio_sources":[],"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-seo-blogs"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":false,"author_link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/author\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5998\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}