Organic Traffic
Organic traffic refers to the users who have entered a search query on Google, Bing, or Yahoo and then enter a website from the ads and web pages displayed as results from the search. In other words, organic traffic is the users who click on your website when it’s displayed on a search engine result page.
Organic traffic is the single most important metric that you should pay attention to. All factors in Google’s algorithms are there for the ultimate satisfaction of users in having access to the information that they’re looking for. Needless to say, that’s where your focus should be.
As a marketer or a small business, you should look to increase organic traffic on your site. Having increased traffic means that you’re providing valuable content to users on your website, which in turn improves your rankings on SERPs for your targeted keywords.
Online tools like SEMRush and Google Analytics offer a comprehensive insight into your organic traffic sources and their activities on your site. You can check where you’re receiving the traffic from and their activity on your website (clicks, form fill-ups, subscriptions, etc.)
Keyword Ranking
Your website can rank on Google’s first results page by targeting a set of keywords. Keywords are search words or phrases that return results on SERPs. When a user types in a query, the search engine shows results based on the keywords inputted by the user.
However, to have your site ranked high on Google SERPs, you need to optimize the website and write engaging content with keyword insertion to and on top of search results.
Studies have shown that 25% of users click on the first site displayed on SERPs. This means that you need to rank your site on top of the results to see a heavy influx of organic traffic. You can simply track your ranking by entering specific keywords related to your business and see where you rank for those competitive keywords.
Again, various online tools can help you analyze which keywords are performing well for your business and those that aren’t. These tools can also help you identify your competitor’s keyword strategy and incorporate their search phrases that you currently aren’t using.
Click-Through and Bounce Rates
Click-through and bounce rates inform webmasters about the amount of traffic visiting your website and those who are leaving within the first few seconds of visiting a site, respectively.
The click-through rate or CTR represents how many users have clicked on your site from the SERPs. Your website’s click-through rate informs you of the effectiveness of your title tags and meta description.
In its search results, Google also displays featured snippets that pertain to the user’s queries. If you’re experiencing low CTR, you can optimize your URL, title, and meta tags or boost organic rankings for improving the same. You can quickly identify your top-performing pages based on CTR and look to optimize the ones which have a low CTR.
Meanwhile, bounce rate informs webmasters of the number of users who have entered their site and left without any interaction. With a high bounce rate, you need to make adjustments in your design or content in order to engage users and compel them to take further action (sign-up, contact, buy, etc.).
Bounce rate can also be measured as per device; if a web page has a low bounce rate for desktop but is higher for mobile searches, it means that you may need to make your web pages mobile-friendly for viewing and interactions. You can check bounce rates by device and time.
Backlinks
Backlinks are among the top metrics that Google analyzes to index web pages on its SERPs. Google rewards high-quality backlinks with niche relevancy to the site they’ve been placed on.
When done right, backlinking improves your search rankings on Google as the search engine considers that with quality links, you’re providing value to your users by redirecting them to external sources of content that may be helpful to them.
Online tools like SEMRush’s Backlink Analytics enable you to track your backlinks, identify new ones and inform you of the links that have been deleted. You can also know if any other site has linked your content. By monitoring these aspects, you can improve your link-building strategy for higher rankings on search results.
Page Speed
Along with content and backlinks, page speed is a vital factor that Google evaluates through its algorithms. Page speed is important because it affects the user experience on your site.
The attention span of an online user is 3-4 seconds. So if your web page takes longer than that to load and display content to the user, the chances are that they would ditch you for your competitor. And with loss of prospects due to poor page speed on your website, your bounce rates will increase, and conversion will drop down.
In its 2020 core web vitals update, Google emphasized the need for improved page speed as a major ranking factor. The search engine’s tool PageSpeed Insights helps you to identify which web pages of yours are lagging in terms of page speed. With the help of a web designer or SEO specialist, you can improve the page speed for enhancing the user experience on your site.
Conversions
At the end of the day, conversions are what you want. Having high conversions which give a boost to tour sales is the ultimate goal of SEO. With SEO-friendly tactics, you can get your site to rank on top of SERPs, witness heavy inbound traffic, and capture leads for your business. But ultimately, it’s the conversions that matter.
Google Analytics allows you to create goals that help you to measure conversions. These goals can be page visits, views, subscriptions, or any other action that converts the user into your customer.
If you’re experiencing high volumes of traffic but low conversions, you can alter your content strategy site metrics that influence user experience or create offers to lure users into becoming your customers.
Share this entry