You can’t do SEO if you can’t measure itCosmin Negrescu CEO SEO monitor

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What’s the biggest problem with not-provided?

What’s the biggest problem with not-provided?

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Our take on measuring SEO performance relies on a very important segmentation of the organic traff ic: branded vs. non-branded searches.

People, who reached a website by using a brand related search, already knew the website they were searching for. Most probably, they just used a search engine instead of directly typing the domain name in the address bar. Moreover, the search results in this case surely refer to that brand, with or without any SEO contribution. Thus, we believe it’s very important to measure the branded organic traff ic separately, as a form of direct traff ic.

Consideration # 1 SEO Traff ic = Organic non brand traff ic

In this case, people are using Google or other search engine to discover websites that can answer their needs, and aren’t looking for any brand in particular. If they are looking to buy a book, they might search for “book stores”, “online books” or the title of the book itself, if they already know what to buy.

Both brand and non-brand queries bring visits to your site that your Analytics system will reportas organic traff ic. The questionis, how much of your organic traff ic is really triggeredby the website’s SEO performance.

If you have brand awarenessand people search directlyfor your brand, the SEOcampaign should not takecredit for branding activities.

Therefore, the first stepin measuring SEO traff icis to segment brandand non-brand organic visits.

II. Measuring traff ic

Amazonbooks

online library

fiction novelsAmazon.com

Brand Non Brand

ORGANIC TRAFFIC

Form of direct traffic

How we do itThere are lots of ways to split not provided but here’s our version

?If we fixed the not provided, do we still need keyword rankings?

but not the old fashion wayYes,

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I. Measuring Keyword PerformanceMonitor rankings, measure effects, diagnose campaigns, adapt strategies.

Keyword ranking is still the core indicator for measuring SEO performance. With visits hidden behind (not provided), measuring keyword changes is vital. At the same time, tracking rank changes is not enough. In order to really measure keyword performance we have to focus on quality, not quantity.

Consideration # 1 Search Volume is key in understanding Keyword Performance

To understand the real impact of keyword changes on the website’s overall visibility in search engines, we need to correlate them to the search volume. The drop or increase of one keyword with very high search volume can influence your visibility a lot more than one with low search volume.

This type of rank focused analysis doesn’t say much about how your campaign is performing

50% of the keywords are going up Ü

50% of the keywords are going down Ý

Correlate your analysis with the total Search Volumeof the keywords and you’ll get a better view

50% of the keywords totaling 1.000 Search Volume are going up Ü

50% of the keywords totaling 10.000 Search Volume are going down Ý

3

Consideration # 2 Rank changes need to be correlated to Impressions

Ranking Top 3 is obviously more important than ranking somewhere between page 2 and 10. This becomes an even more important thing to look at when you correlate Impressions with Search Volume.

As you see in the example below, we have 2 keywords with the same search volume, that both increased 5 positions. Now, it’s obvious that increasing from #5 to #1 in search results can really impact the traffic, while an increase somewhere after page will be insignificant.

Rank Change Search Volume Impressions

Keyword 1 1 5 Ü 1000 1000

Keyword 2 95 5 Ü 1000 0

Consideration # 3 Keyword groups and long-tailsJust like the “butterfly effect,” a single change in keyword ranking, no matter how small, can change the course of your SEO evolution.The evolution of a keyword can have a great impact within the entire semantic field, influencing the performance of its long-tail keyword variations.

This is why it’s important to monitor not only keywords but groups of keywords to assess their broad impact in visits, conversions, and revenue. You can group keywords based on different criteria such as priorities, opportunities, product categories. Or you could have keywords associated with a particular intent such as “cheap,” “price,” “online,” keywords related to a certain stage of the marketing funnel, etc.

The SEO performance measured only in keyword rank changes can be misleading

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Solution Use a global Visibility Score

For an accurate view of keywords performance, you need a global indicator that indicates just how visible your website is, based on a corroboration of the rankings and search volume. Here’s an example of how you can calculate your website’s visibility for your entire list of keywords.

Rank Search Volume Imp. Rate Impressions

Keyword #1 1 1000 100% = 1000 (SV) X 100%

Keyword # 2 95 1000 0% = 1000 (SV) X 0%

Total S1 =2000 S2 = 1000

Your visibility is 100% if all of your keywords are ranking #1. Now to calculate your actual visibility (%), simply compare your impressions with the total search volume of your keywords list: V(%) = S2/S1

Correlating the ranks tracking with search volume and impression rate to calculate the number of impressions

Introducing the Visibility Score

• The core performance indicator for SEO

• Segmented by topic

• Not influenced by seasonality

• Not influenced by trends

• Faster in observing anomalies

4

Solution Use a global Visibility Score

For an accurate view of keywords performance, you need a global indicator that indicates just how visible your website is, based on a corroboration of the rankings and search volume. Here’s an example of how you can calculate your website’s visibility for your entire list of keywords.

Rank Search Volume Imp. Rate Impressions

Keyword #1 1 1000 100% = 1000 (SV) X 100%

Keyword # 2 95 1000 0% = 1000 (SV) X 0%

Total S1 =2000 S2 = 1000

Your visibility is 100% if all of your keywords are ranking #1. Now to calculate your actual visibility (%), simply compare your impressions with the total search volume of your keywords list: V(%) = S2/S1

Visibility score

The long-tails

How do we get to conversions?

First we have to understand the role of the search engines in the conversion funnel: discovery and purchase

Low no. of KWHigh search vol. / KW

Low no. of KWHigh search vol. / KW

Intention Consideration PurchaseBooks Hunger games Buy hunger games book

AwarenessConversion Rate

AwarenessConversion Rate

+-

++

Keyword examples:

Intention

Consideration

Purchase

The biggest conversion rate influencer is the commercial offer

• Watch the competitors • Get the best offer in the search results

Take the opportunity today!• Still an emerging market

• 59% of the people who purchase products or services in Romania are using Google in their research. Twice as the United States.

• The lack of big players in many industries

Questions?

Cosmin Negrescu

www.seomonitor.com