Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Excellent keyword research, combined with rank tracking and data analysis via your Analytics, can create opportunities for you to increase your visibility and maximize your SEO investment.
Monitoring keyword rankings via a rank tracker can help you benchmark the terms where you have strong positions in Google and correlate these positions with your SEO and link building efforts. Combining rank tracking with a strong evaluation of your Analytics can provide data gold that can shape your online marketing strategy.
Using data pulled from your site’s analytics, you can get a sense of which keywords drove clicks (and/or impressions) to your site, how many total keyword phrases brought visitors, and which keywords brought the highest number of visitors. Sometimes the numbers that Google’s keyword tool displays and the actual traffic that you receive for that keyword does not highly correlate. Rank tracking in combination with Analytics can help you define not only what keywords actually bring traffic, but to determine the value of that traffic.
5 Steps to Find Keyword Gold
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Here is a strategy to use your Analytics data to improve your keyword rankings:
- Do some keyword research and drop them into your rank tracker. Identify keywords where you are in positions 8-15. Those keywords in the ideal position to be improved.
- Look at your analytics to see how much traffic you are getting for each keyword in each position. Then figure out how much more traffic you’d get if you ranked higher.
- Select a handful of these every month to build links, content and optimize. Add external links using those keyword phrases. Add content on your site using those keywords as well as on guest blogs and other sites. Promote the new content via social media.
- Track your results using your rank tracker to see if your efforts are moving your keywords ahead. Based on the results, you can determine which ones:
– Have not made any movement and probably are not worth the optimization investment
– Have moved up in the rankings and you can continue building on the momentum and growth
– Need a little extra work in order to rank higher. - Analyze the traffic and engagement for those keywords in your Analytics. For the keywords where you had improved rankings, did you see a substantial increase in traffic? Where those visitors engaged and action-oriented? Track using goals to qualify the traffic for each of those keyword terms.
Then rinse, lather, and repeat with a new set of keywords.
What’s It All For?
Gathering the information on your keyword ranking is a great way to assess how your website is currently performing; but knowing where you stand does not improve your keyword position unless you take action and use that information to improve your rankings.
By targeting the “low hanging fruit” of spots 8-15, you have the greatest potential to achieve forward movement with the least amount of investment. A far more efficient method, it is much easier and faster than trying to rank for keywords where your site isn’t ranked in the top 30.
Be sure to keep tracking and monitoring results and rankings so you can benchmark results and adjust your strategy over time.
