SEO in 2009 Part One: Metrics Which Matter – Focusing and Refocusing
Focusing on Metrics Which Matter
For many people the fact that SEO is considered to be dying is just semantics, it’s all in a name! Some experts believe that SEO was a temporary label, and only part of a job. People who are well versed in customer relations and marketing, see SEO as being part of a holistic approach.
Online marketers who wish to assist their clients with online strategies use SEO, but only as part of what they do. Basically these marketers have to stop focusing on tactics and look more towards strategy. This is not a new concept in online marketing, and shifts in online marketing metrics and SEO have become important to website owners. Whereas before the importance of online marketing was focused on page views and rankings, then organic traffic as apposed to sponsored traffic, in 2009, it is the metrics that will matter. Not to say that metric don’t matter now, they certainly do. These include engagement metrics such as time spent, bounce rate, ROI and return.
Metrics which Matter – Refocusing
Online marketers and SEO’s are going to have to prove their mettle in the tough economic times being experienced at present. Experts have foreseen that these are not about to turn around for some time. This is not going to be achieved by ranking reports, although organic rankings provide a valuable insight into how a website is doing from a keyword point of view. In 2009 we should see more blended and personalized search results in the major search engines.
SEO associated search engine metrics which will continue to matter.
2009 will see non-branded or organic referrals for SEO monitoring. These check traffic which comes through as a product of clicking on natural or organic listings. Search engine page results will continue to provide a measurable factor in determining online success. But by adding the non-branded element website owners will be able to determine if their site is effective in capturing an online audience, and effectively addressing their information requirements.
In 2009 Bounce Rate will still be a fashionable metric, but lowering the bounce rate in your important pages should be made a priority. Both professional searchers and people in general who make use of the internet are being virtually bombarded with choices to click on. Once they click, website owners had better make sure they are getting what they are looking for.
Time spent is closely related to bounce rate. This is the amount of time that any one person spends on your site. Time spent is an engagement metric and website owners should monitor this to gain insight of how users engage with the site. Basically this monitors trends, if the website owner notices people spend less time on their site than they did in 2008, then they know that the recently completed website redesign, might not work. Insight into where users spend time when they visit your site will assist in addressing their information requirements.
Subscribers to Content: as personalization becomes more popular with searchers, in this sense rankings are unimportant. But one area to closely monitor is tracking the users who subscribe to whatever content you are providing. For example these include subscribers to your blog, RSS feeds, You Tube Channel, and the number of followers on Twitter. These are social subscribers, but they provide a great deal of valuable insight into how people engage with your online brand and web properties.
Site Search: This describes how users engage with the search functionality of your site. Apart from major search engines such as Google, one could imagine that users landing on a website would use the internal search options available. The site search is an engagement metric which allows website owners to have additional insight into the topics and keywords people are searching for from the website. The fact that they are actually making use of a site to conduct a search may indicate that they did not find the information they wanted when they visited a website. Engagement metrics will become even more important in 2009, and understanding the needs of visitors to websites, more so. Are they looking for video content or demos, or what?
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