We are now marketing in an era where Search engine optimisation (SEO) and content marketing are both akin to titans. Understanding their power and the link between them is more significant than ever, whether it is as a link building tactic, a way to improving rankings or to communicate and convert visitors.

Great content drives Search Engine success, but it cannot be judged against this one metric alone. To analyse and understand the full impact of content marketing efforts, you need to know which key metrics to consider and learn how to track them.

Here are the most common ways to measure SEO success:

1. Keyword ranking
2. Organic search traffic
3. Organic CTR (click-through rate)
4. Links
5. Leads

Keyword ranking:

The most commonly recognised SEO metric is keyword ranking. The more keywords a website includes, the stronger its search engine ranking. Over time, by increasing the total number of keywords, you can ensure that your content strategy is targeting the right audience. Of course, the higher you can rank for your target keywords, the more search traffic you will get. Take a look at this example of 7G Media’s keyword ranking improvement progress:

There are a number of excellent tools out there that can help you track your individual keyword rankings. We suggest you try Moz, SEMrush or STAT search analytics.

Organic search traffic:

Organic traffic is the most relevant way to assess your audiences. This is because Google’s algorithms are becoming more and more intelligent, based not just on page rankings and keywords but also on user intent, interest, and semantics. Today, when a search engine delivers your content to a browser, it is because your content is truly tailored to that user’s search.

A month-over-month increase in visitors through search engines shows that your keyword rankings are improving. Keep in mind, though, that seasonal changes can affect traffic, so it is best to monitor movement over a period of at least a few months.

Organic CTR:

When it comes to search engine optimization, click-through rate (CTR) is the most valuable element in terms of keyword ranking. Your CTR is dependent on factors such as your industry, your keywords, and how competitive they are. Organic CTR refers to the proportion of clicks in relation to the impressions in the search engine result pages (SERP). Your CTR indicates the percentage of searchers who visit your site after seeing one of your pages in their search results. It also helps you to measure the relevance and appeal of your website content. We have found that our own customised SEO strategy drastically increases CTR. Here is an example of impressions and CTR for 7G Media’s website.

Links:

Backlinks – when one website includes a link to another – are an important Google ranking factor and one of the best reasons for creating great content! High-quality and relevant backlinks are those which are earned as a result of creating unique content which gains popularity. Here is the advice that Google’s webmaster guidelines have to offer:

“The best way to get other sites to create high-quality, relevant links to yours is to create unique, relevant content that can naturally gain popularity in the Internet community. Creating good content pays off: Links are usually editorial votes given by choice, and the more useful content you have, the greater the chances someone else will find that content valuable to their readers and link to it.”

Leads:

The best way to access leads data is by setting up custom goals in Google Analytics. You can establish goals for online purchases, enquiry form submissions, email newsletter signups, and virtually anything else that represents important action for your business. Once these are set up, you can easily monitor the percentage of your visitors that takes each of these actions – helping your business to make impactful progress towards your goals.

We would love to hear from you and discuss your business challenges in order to see if a different approach to measuring success might be more beneficial for your organization. Contact us today!

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