Tips for web page rank tracking and engagement metrics
Ranking first for every keyword you optimize for is not your only priority, the goal is to track your overall progress to improve your positions and organic traffic. Sometimes ranking in the middle of the first SERP can bring you more quality organic traffic than ranking in the highest positions. Also, a slight drop in one keyword’s ranking position can signify more than a significant increase in other keywords. So make sure you work with both current and historical data that are updated regularly and make use of aggregated metrics and indexes that calculate what’s behind the ranking changes.
Tracking your SEO performance through engagement metrics
The user’s behaviour, once they reach a website, is a popular metric to measure its SEO success. Engagement signals include the following:
Conversion rate
You can divide the number of conversions by the number of unique website visits to calculate your conversion rate. The conversion rate can be linked to any specific desired action; it could be email signup, account creation or service purchase. Figuring your conversion rate helps you gauge the return on investment (ROI) that your website traffic can deliver.
Pages per visit
If your goal is to keep users on your website and encourage them to take next steps during their visit, then pages per visit can be a useful engagement signal for you. It helps you understand the user’s behaviour and how he encounters your site.
Time spent on page
Is the average time people spend on your website enough for them to consume your content? If not, then it could be a negative thing. It depends on your intent behind the page, if it’s a full guide on a particular topic then you expect users to spend time on it. Some pages, however, do not require a long time to consume like a “contact us” page, for example.
Search traffic
The same way that ranking is a valuable factor; search traffic is essential to make sure you keep on ranking high. The point of showing up in SERPs is to be chosen by searchers as the potential answer to their query. Google Analytics can help you find out all you need to know about your site’s traffic.
Bounce rate
Bounced sessions mean that users left the page without browsing it any further, which have always been tied with site quality. Depending on what type of content you offer, high bounce rates are not necessarily a negative signal. Some users might visit your site for a quick answer on something, for your contact details or to even bookmark it for later use. However, your site’s bounce rate can still signify poor user quality, so make sure your website is user and mobile-friendly.
Scroll depth
A useful metric to measure site quality is scroll depth. It measures how far visitors scroll through individual webpages. To make sure visitors are reaching your key messages and significant content, test various ways of showing the most relevant content higher up on your page. Also, look at the quality of your content, make sure it’s enticing enough to keep the user on the page. You can also use Google Analytics to set up scroll depth tracking for your site’s pages.