Have you spent a lot of time making contents and doing a lot of little operations for Seo optimization of your website and you don’t know if all of these activities brought results? The good news is that online everything is measurable, but you should know how to analyze charts and numbers. Website traffic and Google search data are great indicators to know what is working well and what could be improved.
A Seo plan can’t be repeatable exactly in the same way for different situations and it isn’t possible to suggest a universal method to read data. Indeed, there can be many different kind of goal depending from the context and the nature of the company and an in-depth analysis case by case basis is more appropriate. However, three steps are a great starting point to see very quickly if the Seo activities taken are working and if your site is optimized for Google and search engines.
First of all, be sure to have set Google Search Console (click here), free tool, and ensure that it works. On the contrary, fix the problem and wait at least a couple of weeks that it collects data. Now we move on to the 3 steps analysis of your website. We have to understand if your website can be found, if it is visited and how it is seen by Google.
How to know if your website can be found on Google
To get traffic from Google, obviously you have to be found. The tool that let you know that is Google Search Console, wich collect data directly from the search engine. Select the property of the website that you want to analyze and go on “Performance”. Always remember to set the period that you want to analyze. Select “Total impressions” and watch the value and the chart. An impression is counted everytime a webpage is seen among results following a search on Google.
A drop in impressions could be the signal for any problem. Google could have penalized the website because it have seen some misconduct or because something changed in algorithms. Another reason could be the entering of new competitors that have been able to overcome you. The drop could also be the effect of seasonality: if we are in December and your website is only about sea and beaches, I wouldn’t bother.
In the case of a drop, get a website check to know if technical operations are required to reach out Google guidelines (don’t understimate website speed). Then, work on content: improve the existing ones and write an editorial plan to expand the keywords for wich tour website ranks.
How to know if your website is clicked
If your website is found, you needs to gain clicks and visits. Stay in the “performance” setion on Google Search Console and enable “Average CTR“. Rate value gives the ratio between click and impressions (see previous explanation).
A page that is among the highest search results have better opportuinities to gain a click, but low CTR could be due to poor authority of a website that is considered unreliable and isn’t clicked, or to ineffective texts of the snippet, otherwise to little relevance with the search.
If you see a drop in CTR, check if you have lost positions: in this case, as for the drop of impressions, it could be due to penalizations or the coming of new competitors. You could also increase CTR value by improving SEO title and meta description: give a good reason to click.
How to know what image Google have of your website
Have you ever asked a friend: “What do you think I am? Do you really think that I’m that kind of person?”. Google not always Google see your site as you imagine. You can always check on Google Search Console: stay on “Performance”, enable again “Impressions”, then scroll down under the chart and look what queries are listed. Always consider interferences due to seasonality and try to analyze large periods to have more accurate picture.
Are them the queries you expected? Relying on these references, consider if it is time to delete misleading pages and try to expand the reach of your site with an editorial Seo plan.
Advanced analysis
These are three steps to make a quick analysis of your website Seo optimization through Google Search Console. Imagine that you are not alone on the field, but there are also Google and your competitors. Everything can change quickly: keep track and monitor regularly to avoid surprises.
