How exactly can I measure SEO - the correct way?

[shanky1]

Hi,

A very challenging questions I always ask myself is that how exactly do I measure SEO. I am writing content, building pages, correcting links and so on. So now how I measure as to what I am doing is this really working out for me?

Are the content which I am building is it working for the benefit of my website etc.

What tools can I use to measure SEO specifically. What factors should I look at to measure when in cases where I am just begun my seo strategy.

Could anyone highlight the correct tools and where inside these tools or which features inside those tools could give me good measures of the SEO Implementation.

Thanks

[DeptAgency]

I think you can come a long way with Google Analytics and a basic rank checker.

1. The basis is to create a filtered profile for Google Analytics which includes only Organic Search Engine traffic and excludes any keywords for which you already rank very well at the start of your SEO campaign (and preferably also exclude traffic from your IP).
2. Look for increases/decreases in traffic and see if you can mach them to A) changes in rankings for the keywords visitors used or B) changes made by you to that aim to affect the click through rate of the pages the new visitors landed on).
3. See how much conversions (subscriptions or sales or time on site or whatever) are made by the visitors that are (probably) attributable to SEO.

It will never be a fully exact science but I personally think that you can lay a pretty good claim to SEO benefits if they are calculated this way.

Sven Witteveen
Expand Online

[shanky1]

That looks good. When you said

"create a filtered profile for Google Analytics which includes only Organic Search Engine traffic and excludes any keywords for which you already rank very well at the start of your SEO campaign (and preferably also exclude traffic from your IP)."

as of now I already have a profile so you want me to create a new filtered profile - for this will I have to create a new profile all over again? How can I create a new filtered profile? I think I should exclude keywords like our firms name and products name right? we have a dynamic IP address then how do I exclude that ?

what exactly would organic serach engine traffic mean to us? Anything which has come in from a definitive search on google or something?
Can you please explain the above for me.

Thanks

[DeptAgency]

Hi Shashank,

These websites explain how to make profiles and apply filters to it:

http://www.canadianschoolguide.com/setup-website-profiles.php http://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/#!topic/analytics/uC6l1DLSLgM

It doesn't show how to filter out certain IP adresses so I've attached a screenshot that illustrates that.

You're right that the keywords you typically want to exclude are branded keywords. However you may also already rank 1st or 2nd for some important keywords that are not targeted in your SEO efforts.

For any other Google Analytics questions you can check out http://www.google.com/analytics/iq.html. You can view short easy to understand video's on any topic related to Google Analytics.

Good Luck!

SEO_Profile.png

[shanky1]

Thanks. I managed to create a different profile from today under the same analytics tracking code. But when I move to standard reporting again I see no data. That means from today I will have to actually wait for data to be filled in is that correct for filtered profiles?

Cant I do this in seomoz? Cant seomoz help with tracking how do I fare for my SEO as time progresses.?

[DeptAgency]

Historical data can indeed not be copied from profile to another. It is therefore a good idea to create such profile's as soon as you start your SEO efforts. When this is not an option for you I'd suggest you make an advanced Segment.

In this advanced segment you can filter the branded keywords and non organic traffic. However, you cannot filter IP adresses in advanced segments. (see the analytics university I suggested earlier for help

Whether or not you can find additional software that will help you monitoring your SEO efforts, I would strongly suggest you have your Google Analytics set up properly. It is often the source of many usefull insight's regarding your website and your SEO campaing. Trust me when I say it's worth mastering this software.

[shanky1]

The GA is setup perfectly well. I was trying to understand how to use advance segments. Now there are these Ctr and clicks % changes shown in my webmaster results for searches. Can I get this same % change results in GA too. So say today I start seo with a set of keywords and build content around it. Tomorrow I have fresh traffic coming to it. Then down the month I want to measure the % change in traffic can I do this via GA ? What keywords I need to compete towards is something which I am finding difficult. How can I overcome that. How can I select the right keywords to build content around and then have traffic diverted to our website ? Any tips on this specifically. I don't wish to over stuff the articles with keywords so want to the get the basic correct and then move on. Thanks

[DeptAgency]

Hi,

If you connect your analytics to your webmaster tools, you can indeed see some (rough) estimates on Search Engine CTR (and more). This you will find under 'traffic sources'=>search engine optimization.

For comparing current traffic with earlier time periods you can click the checkbox 'compare to previous period' in the date range selection menu. The report will then also show % changes in traffic etc.

On the point of what keywords to use, look around the SEOmoz website for 'keyword research' topics. That topic is far too broad to be answered in this thread. A good starting point might be the keyword research section of the SEO Guide.

Best of luck!