Search engine optimization is facilitated greatly by the use of appropriate SEO tools. It obviously makes sense that knowing more about the progress of a SEO campaign is an asset when it comes to advancing further. Not all site owners appreciate the value which can be added by the effective use of the right information-gathering tools. Measurement of sales alone will not necessarily be sufficient to make a specific campaign the best that it can be. By engaging in thorough exploration of the data that suitable tools can make available, it can be possible to fine-tune a continuous campaign and maximise its evolving impact.

Web analytics was always a useful item to have at hand. It could help a site owner ascertain what was going on in terms of a site’s server hits, unique and return visitors and typical time spent. Moreover, it could offer information in relation to where visitors entered and exited. All this data was of considerable utility, especially if results were contrasted with objectives. Much of the information gained was of significant practical assistance in planning and implementing future steps within the context of an ongoing search engine optimisation campaign.

However, there were limits to what this information could be of assistance with. Constrained by the nature of the technology then available, it was not possible to provide some salient facts which can be of worth when evaluating the current state of affairs with regard to a specific site. For instance, it did not have the capacity to reveal conversion ratios. Without knowing this particular information, assessing site performance and making necessary adjustments was on occasion inherently problematic. The need for innovation was therefore present.

The response to the demand for innovation in this area has arguably been fairly impressive. Web analytics can not only provide useful data with regard to conversion ratios, but it can also give the user details such as browse or buy rates. The technology is not just able to facilitate the generation of appropriate keywords; it also has the capability to enable adjustments to a site. If utilised proficiently, it can help a SEO company or site owner alter a site’s architecture, making it more receptive to visitors.

It is important that no one strand of search engine optimisation should be perceived as a panacea. Web analytics can enable subtle improvements to be made to an evolving campaign. For this to be successful, it is vital that the SEO strategy retains the necessary degree of flexibility. With no flexibility, the best laid plans will not have the best possible outcomes. A site needs regular SEO maintenance and even basics like keywords and content production may need periodic adjustment. The wider ongoing changes in the world of search underline why flexibility is imperative.

If the proper data is not being regularly monitored, the competition is being given a tangible advantage. Competitors can utilise off-site analytics to chart how a site is faring and many of their strategies will be informed by pertinent information. Using appropriate search engine optimization tools is thus usually a shrewd tactic in the battle for higher rankings in the search engine results pages.

Not every SEO company uses tracking to keep an eye on their client’s sites. Some maintain that their search engine optimisation techniques are so effective that the technical statistics-based approach can add little or nothing to the overall value of their campaigns. This view seems to overlook the fact that the statistics which can be collected via traffic software may be revealing and of practical assistance to a search engine optimization consultant. Being aware of what visitors are actually doing on a site does seem to be of considerable value. Furthermore, realising where visitors have been previously can also be well worth knowing.

Traffic software can assist in maximising the effectiveness of a site. If it is not known what visitors are doing, it is more difficult to make necessary adjustments. The following examples may illustrate the point:

•   Traffic tracking can help ascertain facts about onsite visitor behaviour. Are they wandering all over it? Or do they typically go to the one spot? Perhaps they need assistance when it comes to navigation. The utilisation of something like Google Analytics can help determine this
•    If the site visitors are largely heading to the same site, this has implications for what is to be done. It could be that a site owner or SEO professional is quite happy with this outcome, because it provides the opportunity to try to sell the visitors goods or services at this juncture. Alternatively, it could be thought that more should be done to bring the remainder of the site more effectively into the game
•    Where have the site visitors been before arriving at the site? Has a social media or networking site, a blog or a news site sparked their interest? What kind of location has been proven effective in this respect and why might that be? Strategies may need updating if it is found that the users are coming from specific places. It all helps in the battle to research the target audience effectively. Site referrals can be very useful ingredients to have in the mix
•    On the other hand, many visitors will have come directly from one of the major search engines. It is of great utility to be certain about which search engine has been involved in the process. It can certainly be of assistance in developing keyword research further, for example
•    Other useful statistics may include things like bounce rate. There is little point in acquiring a large volume of traffic, if very little of it sticks around for a meaningful amount of time

The traffic software sceptics, if one can label them that way, are not Luddites. They have a point in that statistical information alone cannot provide a search engine optimisation campaign with the necessary impetus. However, the precise data that Google Analytics, for instance, can help collect can be a valuable resource. If knowledge is power, then having additional insights into what is going on surely makes a great deal of sense. Therefore if traffic software is used in the context of a multi-faceted continuous SEO campaign it seems probable that it will lead to a more comprehensive and thoughtful approach.

Search Engine Optimization is best conceived of as a continuous process. Certainly, it should never be thought of as a quick fix. To get a continuous process right, performance monitoring is an imperative. One difficulty is that a site’s position is not determined solely by its own attributes because the SEO activities of other competing firms are obviously relevant to outcomes. Despite this important issue, it is possible to assemble a considerable of data in relation to what is working. This information can be a very useful guide to which elements of an SEO campaign are in need of adjustment.

It is sometimes helpful to think of an SEO campaign in distinct phases. There is the first stage of SEO analysis, keyword research and production of a coherent SEO strategy plan. Then there is a second stage where the SEO plan is implemented. After this stage is completed, it is probably a good time to begin the periodic reviews which will examine performance. Subsequently, there is a period where success may have been achieved and it may be necessary to put in place a maintenance package. These things may very between SEO services and an approach based on flexibility may be rewarded with very positive outcomes.

There is some controversy amongst the SEO industry with regard to the use of tracking software as part of the review process. Sceptics contend that the statistics that are delivered by this software do not illuminate the whole picture. However, while statistics gathered from Google Analytics, for instance, might not provide the complete picture of what has occurred as a consequence of a SEO campaign, they do help in revealing valuable insights into what has been happening.  Hence it would seem to be prudent to use Google Analytics, while being cognisant of any of the limitations of the tool.

When engaged in a SEO campaign, it is important to know how visitors are accessing a site. Being aware of the search engine or blog that directed the visitor there can be of considerable worth. It can help in the process of content planning, for example. If many visitors are coming to a site after visiting an art blog, it may be astute to have additional content which would appeal to such an audience. Researching the contents of the art blog may give you an idea of additional products that could be marketed on the site. Knowing the specific places that visitors depart from a site from can also be highly relevant to future strategy. Such data can be interpreted so that a lot is learnt about the strengths and weaknesses of a site.

It is particularly useful to have a notion of what visitors are engaged in while they are present on a specific site. There is little point in attracting visitors if the site is so cluttered that they find it very tricky to become consumers, for instance. Google Analytics (or other tracking software) may not provide you with all the answers, but it can help you to start asking the right questions. Reviewing performance has to be an integral part of a continuous campaign.

Web analytics is a broad field, but one element that’s fundamental to most applications is the tracking of traffic across the web and across individual sites. Being able to do this for a specific site helps you make search engine optimization efforts much more focused and effective, because we learn which subpages get traffic and which don’t. That knowledge is pure SEO gold.

It covers much more than just a number of hits. For every user that clicks on a link and enters a site, we can collect and analyse a wealth of data. It will tell us a lot of what we need to know to improve the SEO of that site.  First, we know where that user comes from. It could be a static inbound link from another site, a search engine results page, or their own bookmark for a regular visitor, for example. The user starts on the landing page and may spend some time there. Then they’ll either leave or move deeper into the site.

A key piece of SEO information is the bounce rate – so how many users land on a page then click straight back off. Search engines are thought to note this behaviour and it’s not good for rankings. The user obviously hasn’t found what they were looking for. Knowing the bounce rate is useful for us too. Either it needs to be minimised by improving the site or the landing page, or a high bounce rate tells us we need to refocus on different search keywords more relevant to what we have on offer. Great for the users too – which is a huge benefit of well implemented search engine optimisation.

Assuming the user doesn’t click straight off, they’ll go through the website, spending an amount of time on various pages. If there is a page where people tend to stop and spend a lot of time, we knowing they’re reading the content, which is great. That tells us we’ve got something good on that particular page. Either we pay more attention to that page because it’s important, or leave it as is and pat ourselves on the back.

But what about the content pages on the same level that don’t get so much time and attention. Those need some work. It could be they aren’t relevant or the content isn’t good enough. An analysis of the migration pattern across the website may reveal that a page just doesn’t have enough links from popular areas and users aren’t getting to it. Whatever the reason, we now have something to fix.

We can also track conversions like sales, for example. If a significant amount of users are reading a piece of text on one page and then moving on to buy a particular product, it’s obvious that the referring page is a winner. As with the pages that have greater residence times, this gives us an example of what’s working right and we can then go on to improve the poorer sections of the website.

Using this kind of tool gives us access to detailed information that we can use to improve the overall search engine optimisation of your site. There are a host of other web analytics and SEO tools available. We provide some simples one free SEO tools on this site. Have a go and see what you can find out.

We have discussed PageRank and TrustRank, which are SEO metrics based on the link structure of a given network of websites. Alexa Rank works differently and provides some other information about how well your site is doing. It’s appearing more frequently around the web and on search engine optimization discussion forums. What’s more, you can even check a site’s Alexa Rank on our free SEO tools page.

So, what is it and what does it measure? Rather than measuring the power and authority of various links and building a metric out of that like PageRank does, Alexa Rank is based on traffic. Until recently it was based solely on the wanderings and behaviour of Alexa Toolbar users. Like Google and Yahoo Toolbars, the Alexa Toolbar is a browser add on that provides shortcuts to various services. It collects information along the way. In addition to a pop-up ad blocker and a normal search entry window, the Alexa Toolbar shows the Alexa Ranking of the site you happen to be on at the time. So wherever you go, Alexa is both measuring rankings and displaying them to help you assess site quality and also collecting data about which sites you browse. The information is fed back into the Alexa Ranking algorithm.

Exactly how many people are using the Alexa Toolbar isn’t known. More than 10 million downloads have been made, but not all those people are necessarily using the toolbar in their everyday browsing. Still, even if the true usage figure is a very conservative 1 million, that’s a lot of people moving around and generating usage data. Toolbar users may not be fully representative of the average internet user, so Alexa Rank is not the perfect measure of site traffic, but it is useful SEO knowledge nonetheless.

More recently Alexa has started to use traffic information from sources apart from its own toolbar users, although what those sources are is less clear. Perhaps for legal reasons, Alexa is keeping quiet on the subject. It is common knowledge that Amazon purchased Alexa Internet for a staggering sum and there is a link to Amazon on every Alexa Toolbar. We know that Alexa Internet is certainly a big enough player to have access to rich traffic data sources.

But never mind about the details. What we really need to know is that Alexa Rank is a pretty decent metric of site traffic. Let’s play with it a bit. Remember it’s a ranking, so low numbers are good. Our SEO company site http://www.searchengineoptimization.co.uk/ currently has an Alexa Rank of 336,426. Not too bad, it’s a big internet out there and this site is pretty new. Now, what about a bigger one. Wikipedia.org has an Alexa Rank of 6. As we’d expect, that’s a brilliant ranking.

The SEO tools we provide are easy to use. Just pop the url in the box and away you go. Check out your site’s Alexa Ranking, but don’t stop there. Do a little bit of analysis on your competitors too, and find out who is getting the traffic in your field.

First, don’t panic. The algorithms used by Google and the other major search engines change every day, and the result is that search engine rankings flow up and down. Of course, millions of changes to individual websites also happen every day. Fresh content is posted and old stuff taken down, blogs are updated, links break and are re-formed to other sites. The internet is a highly dynamic and changeable network. Some of those changes will benefit you and some won’t. The same goes for search algorithms.

Chances are high that what you’re seeing is an algorithmic change. They really do happen all the time. Sometimes it’s just a tweak, sometimes it’s a major renovation. If you have a quality website with good, ethical and ongoing SEO, you have nothing to worry about. Let’s make some checks anyway, just to be sure a small fluctuation in rankings doesn’t mean something sinister is going on.

The people most likely to experience a sudden and serious drop in search rankings are those who’ve been tempted by unethical ‘black hat’ SEO services. If your ranking shot up suddenly after buying a stack of juicy-looking inbound links from a not so reliable SEO company, for example, your drop in rankings is the flipside. Google has caught up with the trick and will penalise anyone caught with grubby hands.

But let’s assume you haven’t been naughty. Your search engine optimization hat is nice and white. What about your links? Is any website you’re associated with doing something questionable? The quality of the websites you link to has negative as well as positive connotations, so be careful and remove low quality outbound links. Check all your links for breakages, too, because that can harm your SEO. Clean up your html code and keep it tidy and efficient. Web crawlers note messy or outdated pieces of code floating around your html.  Running a quick SEO analysis of your website can help you to see where any problems may lie.

Think about the smaller directories you list in. Some are taken into account by Google, some not. That can change overnight. Who is linking to you, and has anyone dropped your link for any reason?

The other major driver behind unexpected ranking change is the market. If one of your competitors gets wise and realises they need to pay attention to SEO too, you might notice they make some gains at your expense. It’s good practice to keep an eye on your main competitors’ search rankings all the time, and check their websites to see what new content or ideas might be changing the way they perform for good or bad.

You should also be monitoring social media sites. Do you have an unhappy customer poisoning your SMO? If so, seek them out and see what you can do to change their mind about your company. Make sure you address their comments in forums and let other users know you listen to your customer’s concerns and do your best to solve any problems that might arise.

Use SEO tools to check your PageRank and the general health of your SEO strategy regularly. If you see any changes (either positive or negative) with these tools, try and figure out what caused them and either fix it or get more leverage from it if you can.

For most, a small drop in rankings is nothing to worry about. You may find it disappears with the next batch of algorithm changes. If you see a really sudden and severe loss and can’t account for it, get professional help from an SEO company or get in touch with Google to ask what the problem is.

One of the enduring myths about SEO is that it is a practise that isn’t welcomed by the search engines, but this is couldn’t be more wrong, however, and search engine optimisation is not only welcomed by engines like Google, but they actually produce a variety of analysis tools to facilitate it. But what are these tools and which are the best methods of collecting data?

Well the big tool for monitoring traffic and a variety of other factors is Google Analytics, and if you practise SEO and you don’t run Analytics, basically you’re not doing it right! But what kind of data can Analytics offer and how do you put it to best use?

Simply, Google Analytics will provide you with all of the relevant clickstream data that will enable you to engineer a successful search engine optimization campaign. But what exactly is clickstream data? Basically it is data regarding visits, visitor sources, bounce rates, links from keywords etc. The value of these view bit of information in terms of SEO should be clear, but lets explore them a little:

Google Analytics will show you where most of your links are coming from, so if you’ve established a blog, with back links to your websites, all the links from that blog will be delineated for you; now you will be able to gauge accurately and easily the effectiveness of your various link building strategies, and efficiency of your various keyword focuses its as easy as that right?

Whilst Google Analytics might seem like a miraculous SEO tool, considering that it’s a tool produced by Google to help you exploit their page rankings its not entirely perfect and essentially by incorporating Analytics into your page you are providing Google with access to all of your sites information, most would say that this is a small price to pay.

Luckily, for the more paranoid link builder amongst you, there are a variety of other non-Google search engine optimisation tools available, and some of the best include the following:

Keyword suggestion tool, keyword density checker, meta tag generator, link popularity checker and a broken link checker. These fantastic free online SEO tools can help you to get the most out of any SEO campaign.

Of course, it doesn’t matter where you get your data from if you don’t know how to implement it and this should be done with a detailed report, with your data clearly put into categories. Keeping a handle on your SEO data is the best way to track your campaign.

Whilst it is true that any successful SEO campaign must be waged with the long-term in mind if you want any rankings to last, there are several spot checks you can make straight away, in order to gauge the effectiveness of your current on page search engine optimisation. Whilst the following in combination with our free SEO tools wont tell you everything about a page’s SEO health, I hope it will at least give you a definite idea and at least help you to identity any major deficiencies.
You need to start checking every web page and making sure you’ve got the simple things in place, this should consist of a quick quality scan for of your content; you should also be looking for frequent (but not too frequent) occurrences of relevant keywords within the page title, text links and image alt tags. Also, with SEO in mind, you should ensure that your page isn’t very javascript or flash heavy, as, for example, text links will always be preferred by Google’s bots.

Once you’ve given your webpage a primary check up, you need to take a look a little more closely which should consist of a thorough content check. Here you should be looking for fresh and relevant content, often in the form of regularly updated blogs, product descriptions etc along with plenty of keyword occurrences. Whilst looking for evidence of search engine optimisation, however, be on the lookout also for some spam traits e.g. keyword stuffing (too many occurrences) or hidden text (keyword occurrences hidden from view behind images or using same colour text as background) as both these techniques, whilst potentially effective, are considered spam by Google! (When checking a site you should also check that it has an all important site-map!)

Just as elsewhere on your page you should be checking for relevant keywords in your meta-data and ensuring that your javascript functionality is can be crawled by Google’s bots – the source code is also a great place to identify and eviscerate potential spam traits.

Apart from these initial checks for your page’s current SEO health, there are also plenty of other steps you should be taking in order to ensure successful optimistaion. Apart from practical methodologies, your strategy should be based on research – therefore you should e.g. check your rival’s pages for similar keyword occurrences, with a view to bettering rather than imitating their “on-site” content.

Of course beyond these relatively simple techniques there are also a variety of SEO tools available to make analysing site data as easy as it possibly can be, including Google’s very own Google Analytics – perfect for when you just need a snapshot of your page’s optimisation or a more thorough analysis.

A good SEO company will offer free SEO analysis to help you see which SEO techniques would benefit you and any current barriers which are stopping you from getting the rankings that you want.