SEO and Internet Marketing
Website Metrics
 It is important to have insight into
visitor activity to a Website. The value of Website metrics in Search Engine Optimisation
(SEO) cannot be overstated. Website optimisation should not be based upon guesswork
alone – implementing all the SEO Tips you can find can only go so far. Without
the facts and figures, you will be working blind.
Knowledge of the visitors will enable you to make the best decisions in fine-tuning
your Website. Equally important is to quantify and evaluate the resulting changes
to visitor traffic, after each optimisation attempt.
The Search Engines are becoming more and more sophisticated. The number of competing
Websites increases daily, and they in turn are becoming more refined in their approach
to SEO. As a result, Website Metrics are needed more today, than ever before.
The Target Audience
There are a large number of Websites that fail to meet expectations because their
Target Audience has not been correctly identified. Even when the Target Audience
has been correctly identified, a low conversion rate may occur due to the Website
unwittingly attracting the wrong class of visitor. Correctly targeted, quality traffic
is the life blood of a successful site. If you can get an accurate picture of who
is visiting your Website, you have a good chance of improving the quality of the
Website traffic.
The odd page may have to be rewritten, if most of the visitors to that page are
transient. But if the majority of the visitors to a Website are not the desired
audience, the emphasis of the entire Website may need to be redirected. This could
happen, for example, if many of the visitors come from the wrong country or if their
stay in the Website is fleeting and they look no further.
Volume of Visits
It is always pleasing to see a constant stream of visitors to a Website. But how
effective is the Website in attracting quality visitors? The best way to judge this
is the length of time that the visitors spend on the Website, and how many pages
they visit. These key statistics should be monitored regularly.
The objective is to make the Website and its pages appealing – and decrease
the number of single page visits
The Landing Page
Almost any page could be a Landing Page. It is useful to have Statistics on the
most popular pages. The goal of these pages should be to inform and invite the visitor
to look further – and thereby increase conversion rates.
Returning Visitors
It is important to have sufficient pages of interest and pages that are updated
frequently, so that visitors will return. Returning visitors are already attracted
by your Website, and the visit is more likely to result in a sale. The number of
returning visitors is a very important statistic, well as identifying which pages
are the attraction.
Segment Activity
Most Websites offer multiple services or multiple commodities. Website statistics
divided into segment lines can identify non-performing pages.
Historical Progress
Important metrics are the hit rate and conversion rate over a period of time. These
should be related to the SEO improvements and Search Engine releases.
Monitoring Spider Activity
To quantify any changes made to the Website, it is helpful to know exactly when
a bot has spidered the Website. To do this, the publish date (the date that the
latest version of the Website was uploaded) should be placed on each Web page. Any
change to the publish date that is shown when viewing the cached version of a Website
page, needs to be monitored. When a change occurs, the effectiveness of the latest
SEO tweaks can then be determined.
Free Analysis Software
 Use
StatCounter
for detailed Website tracking statistics. These include Popular Pages, Entry Pages,
Exit Pages, Keyword Analysis, Search Engines, Country/State/City/ISP, Browsers,
etc, etc. Even the screen resolution can be monitored. All this is vital information
for the Website designer and for SEO.
The
Google Analytics
software provides details of website traffic and marketing effectiveness. It has
custom reports, charts and statistics to help with Website fine-tuning.
To enable the tracking software, JavaScript text needs to be inserted into the HTML
of each page. If you are using an ASP Master page, this only has to be included
once.
Home-grown Metrics
The programmer, using ASP.Net, Visual Basic and SQL Server, can extract, store and
graphically display all the information needed for SEO. Statistics can also be derived
for file sizes, and Network and Server performance at full load. The country and
provider can be obtained from the IP Address, using readily available conversion
databases. The Home-grown solution is ideal where the wealth of information available
has to be tailored specifically to a company's requirements.
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