If you’re trying to learn how to track your SEO progress, you’re in the right place!
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a crucial aspect to getting found online. To ensure that your SEO efforts are paying off, you need to track your progress using reliable tools and metrics.
This post goes a little deep, so stay with it. As massage therapists, this type of information can be a distraction. Don’t let it be. Take time to understand the key concepts and then know what to check each month, then move on to build your business.
Now, let’s explore how to track SEO progress using Google Analytics 4, aHrefs for keyword rankings, Google Search Console for site health, and the importance of conversion tracking for submitted forms and clicks to call.
Google Analytics 4: Tracking Organic Search Progress
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is a powerful tool for tracking the performance of your website. When it comes to SEO progress, you’ll want to focus on the following key metrics:
a. Organic Search Traffic
Organic search traffic represents the number of visitors who arrive at your website through search engine results pages (SERPs). To track this metric, navigate to GA4 and go to “Reports” > “Acquisition” > “Organic Search.”
b. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
CTR is the percentage of users who click on your website’s link in the SERPs after conducting a search. You can find this data in GA4 under “Reports” > “Acquisition” > “Search Console” > “Queries.”
c. Bounce Rate
Bounce rate measures the percentage of visitors who leave your site without interacting with it. A high bounce rate can indicate issues with your website’s content or user experience.
d. Average Session Duration
This metric tells you how much time, on average, users spend on your website. A longer session duration is generally a positive indicator of user engagement.
aHrefs: Tracking Keyword Ranking Progress
aHrefs is a comprehensive SEO tool that offers keyword ranking tracking as one of its features. To track keyword rankings:
a. Add Your Website
Start by adding your website to aHrefs and setting up a project.
b. Enter Target Keywords
Enter the keywords you want to track. aHrefs will provide you with information on keyword positions in search results, search volume, and keyword difficulty.
c. Monitor Progress
Regularly check your keyword rankings in aHrefs to see how they are improving or declining over time. This is key information for how to track your SEO progress. Use the data in ahrefs to adjust your SEO strategy accordingly.
Google Search Console: Site Health and Performance
Google Search Console is a free tool provided by Google that offers valuable insights into your website’s performance and health in search results. Here’s how to track seo progress with it:
a. Submit Sitemaps
Ensure you have submitted a sitemap of your website to Google Search Console. This helps Google index your site effectively.
b. Monitor Indexing
Check for indexing issues and crawl errors. Google Search Console will notify you of any problems that need your attention.
c. Review Search Queries
Analyze the search queries that are driving traffic to your site. Identify keywords that perform well and those that need improvement.
How toTrack SEO Progress with Conversion Tracking
Tracking conversions is essential to measure the success of your SEO efforts. It helps you understand how many users take desired actions on your website. Here’s how to track conversions for submitted forms and clicks to call:
a. Use Google Analytics Events and Conversions
Set up goals in Google Analytics to track form submissions and clicks to call. This allows you to measure the conversion rate and identify which pages or sources are driving the most conversions.
b. Implement Event Tracking
For more detailed tracking, use event tracking in GA4 to monitor specific interactions like form submissions and phone number clicks. This provides deeper insights into user behavior.
c. Optimize Conversion Paths
Analyze the conversion paths users take on your website. Identify bottlenecks or barriers in the process and make improvements to increase conversion rates.
Tracking SEO progress is vital for the success of your online presence. Utilizing tools like Google Analytics 4, aHrefs, and Google Search Console, along with tracking conversions for submitted forms and clicks to call, provides a comprehensive view of your SEO performance. Regularly monitoring and analyzing these metrics will help you make informed decisions to improve your website’s visibility and user engagement in search engines. Stay proactive in your SEO efforts, adapt to changing trends, and watch your organic search traffic soar.
Monthly Routine to Track SEO Progress
As a massage therapist, you can’t afford to get bogged down in the weeds on these things. But it is important for you to understand the concepts and know when to get help.
The following list includes the things you should be checking at least monthly, if not a little more often. Stay on top of these few things and you’ll bee good to go.
The important part of tracking your SEO progress is to know what is important, and when to get help.
- Check your Organic Sessions and Users. In GA4 Go to Acquisition => Sessions (or Users) User Acquisition and look for your Organic traffic. You won’t always be increasing but you want to look for sudden drops or large down trends.
2. Check your top keyword rankings in ahrefs. We really like the ahrefs.com tool, you can use it to get a feel for how you’re ranking for various keywords. If you see anything unusual, take action.
3. Check Search Console for any potential issues, including the main performance section, and Core Web Vitals. If you see a problem (red warnings) in Core Web Vitals, you should use an optimization plugin or get some help from a pro. Contact Us if you need a recommendation.
That’s it! Check those three things each month, or every other week is fine too. If you see a big change, like your traffic drops like a stone, or if you suddenly see a huge increase, it could mean something is wrong.
If your traffic dies suddenly, there could be a malware problem, or you may have done something inadvertently spammy.
If your traffic has a huge spike, it could be a very good thing! Or you could be seeing bot traffic or something else.
The key to tracking SEO progress is to have a well organized site, and regularly add fresh, relevant, unique content, and then monitor these key elements. Do that, and you should see a generally positive trend, without any wild swings.
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