For every company to make their presence felt in the online world, it is necessary to invest in SEO projects. If you have invested money in SEO, you would surely like to know what results you are receiving out of this. The data that is derived from the SEO projects needs to be analyzed to understand whether the campaign is a success.
Through data analytics, you will collect your data to get organic traffic on the website. The organic traffic on your website will increase only if you can analyze the data correctly and adapt proper strategies for the same.
Data Analysis Process
The process for data analysis involves three main steps that we will cover here. The first step is the preparation of the kickoff report. The report contains the extracted data for your understanding and analysis using certain tools.
The second step is the analysis of the report. Here you will analyze the report that you have derived. The last step consists of the action that you will take once the report has been analyzed. You need to prioritize the tasks and segregate them according to the level of their importance.
Setting Up the Data Analysis Report
Before you initiate the SEO campaign, the first thing that you need to do is prepare the report analyzing certain necessary data. Three main areas need to be analyzed, and here we will learn how to prepare a report for the same.
1. Website Analytics
2. Google Search Console
Analyzing Overall Website Performance with Google Analytics
Google Analytics is one of the most common tools used to track website traffic. The report received through Google Analytics would be vast and would take a lot of time to manually sort it out. That is why a dashboard can be created to segment the data easily.
(Source : Google Images)
The data that you would generate can be for a year. Any data before that would not be important for the current analysis. A section is known as ‘Traffic Source’ would include different non-organic channels through which people can search your website.
The non-organic channels include Paid Search, Social Media Channels, and Referrals. These sources provide critical insights into the formulation of the link building strategy. However, there will not be an in-depth analysis of this data since it is derived to get an overall view of the traffic trends.
How to setup Google tag manager?
Without having any coding knowledge, you can add, manage, and distribute marketing and analytics tags on your website using Google Tag Manager (GTM), which is a free tag management tool provided by Google.
Tags are short pieces or snippets of code that gather information from your website and send it to various third-party applications, like Facebook Analytics and Google Analytics. To set up your GTM account, follow the steps mentioned:
Step 1: Signup for a Google Tag Manager account.
Step 2: Type in the account name and the region you belong to.
Step 3: Set the container by naming it appropriately and selecting the platform it will run on, such as AMP, iOS, Android, or the web.
Step 4: After selecting, click “Create,” and a screen containing the terms and conditions will appear. After reading it, click the Agree button to continue.
Step 5: You will then be provided with a snippet of the installation code for the container, which you can use to manage your tags.
Step 6: Copy the two snippets shown and paste them on each website page. The first should go in the website’s header, and the second should go in the body.
Step 7: Click OK to create your Google Tag Manager account.
Note: You can insert the snippets directly into your WordPress theme if you are using WordPress.
Analyzing Organic Landing Pages with Google Analytics
The search dates for this analysis would again be set for the last one year. Select Organic Search only for the Default Channel Grouping. This search will determine the top landing pages by traffic changes, conversion rates, and session counts.
(Source : Google Images)
You will be able to find out the pages that have the best performance and the type of the page as well. Certain pages have the dominant share of traffic, and picking out these pages would help you to understand the main areas that you need to focus on.
You also need to determine whether the key pages on your website have lost or gained traffic in the last year. The report will help you understand the time that audience spends on your web page.
Since most people access websites from their mobile devices, you can set the device category as mobile-only. This will access the data where you can determine whether the mobile traffic has increased or decreased in this one year.
Organic Search Trends with Google Analytics
Google Analytics helps you to compare the organic session every month. You can do this for the current year or the previous one based on your need. You can also garner a report where you will determine the seasonal changes in traffic generation on your website.
This is why it’s useful to keep track of major changes to your site, like if you started a PBN rental campaign for instance.
The report for this will be available since the time of inception of your website. The day to day changes in organic traffic will also be derived through this analysis.
See also: An introduction to link prospecting to improve search traffic.
Keyword Ranking Analysis using Ahrefs
(Source : https://ahrefs.com/rank-tracker)
Your website is made of certain keywords which are searched by the audience to reach your website. The performance and ranking of these keywords can be determined through a tool called Ahrefs.
Google Search Console Dashboard
GSC takes into account two kinds of searches, which are branded search and non-branded search. Branded search is when the audience searches for the business name, URL of the website, or the brand.
(Source : Google Images)
On the other hand, a non-branded search is when the audience has searched for keywords that are coincidentally related to your website. The clicks, impressions, and Click-through Rate (CTR) number for the last 90 days would be calculated in this data.
How to setup Google search console?
Google search console is an excellent tool for businesses to understand how their business and website is performing on Google’s search results by giving the business owners the required data.
It gives you information on how Google crawls and indexes your website and helps find problems that affect how well it performs in searches, such as crawl errors, security problems, and manual penalties.
So how do you set it up to analyze data for SEO projects?
Step 1: Visit Google Search Console and sign in using your regular Google account.
Step 2: You can add a property after logging into your Google Search Account. You can enter your website’s Domain or URL Prefix to move to the next step.
Step 3: Depending on your selected option, you’ll next need to verify your website.
>If you choose Domain Property, the sole method for verifying your website is through your DNS provider.
• You can find a list of DNS providers in the dropdown list from which you can choose.
• When you find your DNS provider, you will see comprehensive instructions unique to that service. If your DNS provider isn’t listed, you may simply select “Any DNS service provider” instead.
• Once completed, copy the TXT record for your DNS that Google has provided.
• Open your domain’s website in a new tab after copying the TXT record, then log in to your domain’s account (for instance, Hostgator, GoDaddy, etc.).
• Then, find the domain you want to set in your list of ones.
• You will have the choice of managing your DNS records. Look for anything that mentions DNS and click on it if you can’t locate one.
• A page displaying the Domain Management page will then be opened, displaying a list of your DNS Records. Once you do, select “Add” to make a new one.
• You will then see a list of options with dropdown lists. First, choose TXT under “Type,” then type @ under “Host” and select 1 hour under “TTL.” Paste the TXT record you previously copied in the provided “TXT Value” space, then save the work.
• Following these procedures will add a new TXT record for Google Search Console.
• Click on Verify and create your Google Console account after adding your TXT record to Google Search Console.
Keep in mind, though, that it could take up to 72 hours to update the DNS entries. Therefore, you can always try again if your verification is not displayed.
>On the other hand, if you choose URL Prefix Property, you can use an HTML file, an HTML tag, Google Analytics, and Google Tag Manager to verify your website.
– Using HTML File
• To use this method, you must upload an HTML file to your website’s main folder. You must have permission to access your server through the cPanel File Manager or FTP, so don’t use this method if you are unfamiliar with these tools.
• However, if you feel insured using this, download the file from Google and access the site’s root folder.
After that, upload your HTML file.
• Once the file has been uploaded, return to Google Search Console and select Verify.
-Using HTML Tag
You must first add a meta tag to your website’s header to use this method. Using WordPress, you can either individually add the meta tag to your header.php file or use a plugin to add it there.
• If you choose to use a header.php file, you can proceed similarly to how you would go with an HTML file.
• If you are using a plugin, here are the steps to take:
• First, copy the tag.
• Log in to the WordPress admin of your website in a new tab.
• By navigating to settings and inserting the header and footer, you may add the header and footer plugin to your website.
• Go ahead and paste the Search Console meta tag under the “Scripts in Header” space.
• Reopen Google Search Console, then select Verify.
-Using Google Analytics
To verify your site using this, you need to have a Google Analytics account and a tracking code set up on your site. Click Verify after opening the Google Analytics verification box in the Search Console.
-Using Google Tag Manager
Using this method is similar to the previous method. If you already have a Google Tag Manager account, click Verify in the Google Tag verification window in Search Console.
Step 4: Your Google Search Console will be created when you complete the appropriate procedures, choose the methods you’ll use to verify, and click on Verify.
Other ways to set up Google Search Console
While this may be the most common way to set up Google Search Console, there are other ways as well that you can use:
WordPress
We have already mentioned how you can verify your Google Search Console account on WordPress, but you can also verify using the WordPress SEO plugin. You can make use of All-in-One SEO and Yoast SEO.
We showed above how to verify Search Console on WordPress using an HTML tag and header plugin. But you can also verify using your WordPress SEO plugin. Yoast SEO and All-in-One SEO are the two most used SEO plugins.
Start by copying the provided HTML tag and then performing the same first two steps as described earlier.
• If you are using All-in-One SEO, go to your WordPress Dashboard> All-in-One SEO> General setting.
Once you see the page opened, paste the HTML tag in the space provided and click on Update.
• If you are using Yoast SEO, go to SEO on your WordPress Dashboard and select General. Select “Webmaster Tools” and paste your HTML tag into the space to obtain a Google verification code. After making your selections, return to Google Search Console and click “Verify.”
Google Sites
If you are working with a new Google site developed after 2016, you can use the Google Analytics account to verify your Search Console account, as mentioned above. On the other hand, you can use the HTML Tag method if you are using an older version.
Blogger
If you have a Blogger account and have been using it already, any new blogs you generate in Blogger will immediately be verified in your Search Console account. Using an older version of Blogger, you can set your Search Console account using the HTML tag method.
Specific Clicks, Positions, and Queries using GSC (Desktop, Mobile, and Image)
This data is derived only for specific searches conducted from desktop, mobile, or image files. The report would contain the average ranking of the whole website and the traffic generation. It will also consist of the exact searches for these sources that have led to the traffic generation on your website.
Analysis of the Report
Once the report has been established, it will help you not only to form an understanding of your website’s performance but also to form an initial strategy. Takes rough notes while going through the report, which can also be sent to the client or higher management.
The client or management has no use for the complete data. You need to derive the main points presented in the report and send a compact email to the designated person. You can add the link of the report as a supporting document for each of the findings. In the email, you can mention that the data sent is just for informational purposes so that the designated person understands the reason behind your email.
The areas that are the pain points need to be focused on more, and you need to formulate a proper strategy for these. Make sure that you create a priority list so that the assigned people can take care of the task. Also, keep an organized record sheet with you so that you can keep track of the progress that is being made on each of the tasks that have been deemed as important.
These skills will also help you when it’s time to do a technical SEO audit for yourself or for a client.
How to analyze local business SEO?
Local business SEO is important for generating the necessary traffic for all existing local businesses. And to make sure that your local business is performing how it should, you need to analyze the performance. There are various tools available, but each one requires a hefty fee to use. But why use the pricey tools when Google has already created a free one that achieves the same outcome? Thus, local businesses may look into local business SEO using Google My Business Data.
Using Google My Business Data, you can compare information about GMB contacts and directions queries to analytics about site and contact inquiries. Additionally, you can see which area of your company attracts greater interest from visitors who aren’t visiting your website.
Conclusion
Data analysis is an essential component of any SEO project. You can learn a lot about how your website is doing and spot areas for improvement by analyzing different data sets and user behavior. Data analysis is a continuous process that must be regularly tracked and improved. You can ensure that your SEO strategy is always current and effective in bringing traffic and conversions to your website by frequently analyzing the performance statistics for your website and making adjustments as necessary.
FAQ
How does analytics help improve SEO?
Analytics, which gathers and evaluates raw data for search engines, helps SEO by enabling you to identify the activities you should value, get permission for SEO plans, and make better choices to boost SEO.
What is the use of Google tag manager is SEO data analysis?
Google Tag Manager is useful for SEO data analysis because it makes it simple to update measurement codes immediately. When this is used by SEOs, SEOs have a great deal of room to include scripts and carry out tasks that professionals would often handle.
What are the tools for SEO analysis?
The most effective SEO data analysis tools you can use are Google Search Console, Google Anlaytics and Ahrefs.
Last Updated on April 21, 2023 by Gaby
