One of the chief benefits of SEO strategies is that they are trackable. Unlike some traditional offline marketing strategies, there are many different ways to track the success of your SEO strategy. In fact, there may be almost too many different metrics to consider and it could be overwhelming to people who have just started working with online digital strategies. In the past, we have covered how to make sense of Google Analytics insights as well as Google’s PageSpeed Insights. But another insight that should be tracked is how you perform for specific keywords.
How To Begin Tracking Keywords
The first step in tracking keyword data is picking the right keywords and tracking tool. You could of course track manually. Once a month you could perform a group of searches and see how your website ranks for them. However, there are a variety of factors to keep in mind. Google search results change depending on the location of the searcher and Google search results also change based on the user searching. Google has some ability to tailor search results to specific accounts based on previous searches. If you decide to track manually you will need to make sure you are searching in a private mode and that you are searching from the same location each time. A better choice is to use an SEO tool like BrightLocal or SEranking. Both of these platforms have a rank checking tool that lets users pick a variety of searches and locations for those searches. Alternatively, you can use Google Search Console, however, this method works backward. Google doesn’t let you pick search terms but instead shows you what search terms led to users finding you on Google and led to users going to your website.
Choosing The Right Keywords To Track
It is also important to choose the right keywords to track. If you are using a tool like Brightlocal you will want to consider a few factors.
- Search Volume: Different searches have different search volumes. For example “dentist near me” has more searches per month than “pediatric dentist near me”. Choosing relevant keywords with high volume can ensure you are tracking the right phrases.
- Long-Tail Keywords: It is important to understand what keywords will be most effective for your business. Some general searches may be too broad to provide valuable data. For instance “pizza delivery near me” likely reflects a search that would be valuable for a local pizza place, but “pizza” may be too broad to be useful. Run a few searches with the keywords you are thinking of using. You may notice that some SERPs (search engine results pages) are filled with informational websites like Wikipedia. In those cases, it makes more sense to track a variation of that keyword that is slightly more specific. Consider this from a user standpoint, if a user were to search “dental implants” and receives search results defining what they looked up, they are likely to edit their search by writing “dental implant procedure”.
- Competitor Keyword Research: Another effective strategy is to check what local and digital competitors are using for their metadata. Competitor keyword research can show you not only what you should track but what is best to optimize for.
SEO Keyword Planning Services For Small Businesses
If your small business could benefit from some SEO keyword planning services, we would be happy to provide a quote for you as well as a free website audit.