6

Simplifying SEO:

The

SIX
Core
Metrics
You Need To Know
 CO NT ENT S

INTRODUCTION 3
1: AUTHORITY 5
2: ON-PAGE 6
3: OFF-PAGE 8
4: BEHAVIOR 9
5: QUALITY 11
6: TRUST 13
CONCLUSION 14
 INTRODU C T I ON
SEO specialists use metrics to monitor rankings, detect an issue, or
measure the health of a website. Websites do not always leverage the
same set of metrics, though. Each website has its own unique metrics
that serve as a benchmark for SEO strategies.

What if the SEO specialist doesn’t know which metrics to track?

It is a common situation among SEO specialists who are not institutionally-

taught. In fact, most of them have a hard time figuring out what causes
the ranking problem or predicting how their work will affect the site. The
problem lies with how SEO specialists use the metrics they are familiar
with, causing them to implement outdated practices that endanger their
client’s website.

In this training guide, we will walk you through SEOReseller’s six core
metrics to provide you with an in-depth look at how our methodology
works and give you more direction in your SEO strategies.

Qu ic k Fact s
Google uses over 200 metrics to rank websites.

The algorithm is a filter that allows only the best and most
relevant content to appear to users.

Most SEO specialists use 1 to 2 dozen metrics to comb a website.

Metrics work synchronously.

No single metric can rank or penalize a website.

SEOReseller.com Partner Bootcamp | Simplifying SEO: The 6 Core Metrics You Need To Know 3
SEOReseller’s 6 Met r i c G r o up s
SEOReseller’s analysts conducted dozens of experiments on hundreds
of sites to create a methodology that segmented the search metrics to
the 6 most essential groups.

1 3
AU THORI T Y O N -PAGE
2 O F F -PAGE

4
5 6
BEHAVI OR Q UAL I T Y T RU ST

These six core metrics help our in-house experts define search parameters
to provide partners with a seamless methodology.

SEOReseller.com Partner Bootcamp | Simplifying SEO: The 6 Core Metrics You Need To Know 4
 1: AUT H ORI T Y
Authority is known internally to Google as
PageRank, which serves as the primary authority
algorithm. Released in 1998, PageRank was
named after Larry Page, one of the founders of
Google. PageRank functions like a link voting
system among pages to determine which pages
have the highest relevance. Google not only looks
at the quantity of the links pointing to a page, but
also at the quality of these links.

PageRank is difficult to influence directly, as one

of the primary metrics is website Age. Moreover,
Google emphasizes that PageRank is just one
of the many metrics for web rankings. Recently,
Google removed PageRank from public access
to prevent webmasters from manipulating it.

Best Pract ice s

1 Don’t optimize for this metric—you cannot manipulate PageRank.
2 Leverage Authority only if your client’s website has it.
3 Improve page elements: site speed, headers, Meta tags, content
quality, rich media, trust signals, social sharing buttons, calls to
action, and navigation.

SEOReseller.com Partner Bootcamp | Simplifying SEO: The 6 Core Metrics You Need To Know 5
 2: ON- PAG E
On-page is the first metric of search. Foundationally known as the LDA
(Latent Dirichlet Allocation), this serves as the core of all search engines.
As opposed to Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), LDA is the literal and basic
element of the On-page metric. It is the reason content will always be
king—search engines will figure out what the website is talking about
based on how the website talks about it.

When it comes to On-page, most SEO specialists would agree that the
essential factors that affect ranking include an optimized title and header
tags, a good keyword list, internal linking, and high-quality content. By
implementing the right changes to on-page elements, a website can rank
well on the search results pages and provide a better user experience
to visitors.

SEOReseller.com Partner Bootcamp | Simplifying SEO: The 6 Core Metrics You Need To Know 6
 Best Pract ice s
1 Optimize Meta titles by limiting it to 68 characters with the
keyword and brand name of the website.
2 Meta description should encourage higher click-through.
3 Use SEO-friendly URLs—should appear natural to users and
must include the keyword for the target page.
4 Wrap your title using the H1 tag and subheadings using the
H2-H6 tags.
5 Use bullets or numbered lists to make content scannable and
easier to read.
6 Keywords should be in the top 100 words of the body content.
7 Insert multiple content formats, such as images and videos.

8 Add internal links to the appropriate pages.

9 Link to authority sites, but don’t overdo it— 2-4 times are enough.
10 Use LSI keywords throughout the content.

11 Resize the images before uploading and insert the target keyword
in file name and alt text.

12 Publish long-form content (1,500 words +) to provide more in-

depth, valuable information to visitors.

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 3: O F F- PAG E
Off-page is a Google-invented metric that focuses on building quality
backlinks. Larry Page invented the concept of backlinks to view the
relevance of a website based on the links that point to it. This metric
involves all external factors that influence the performance or ranking of
a page or website—this is opposed to On-page, which focuses on internal
parts of a page or website that influence its rankings.

Think of Off-page as online chatter. This metric uses backlinks as a

measurement of how many people talk about the website online. The
more buzz you create, the more popular the site will be. Nonetheless,
off-page is not the core of what makes a website rank; it is only 1/6 of an
entire SEO strategy.

Best Pract ice s

1 Improve your content marketing strategy.

2 Create compelling content that can be cited as a resource.

3 Get your client’s business on relevant business listings online, such

as Yelp and Yellow Pages.

4 Get published on high-authority sites relevant to your client’s niche.

5 Develop a strategy for social media.

6 Create an engaging title and description with target keywords

when optimizing videos for YouTube.

7 Improve your client’s brand mentions—your client’s digital footprint

should refer to their name than it does by their keyword.

SEOReseller.com Partner Bootcamp | Simplifying SEO: The 6 Core Metrics You Need To Know 8
 4: B EH AV I OR
Search engines are turning to EXITS
user intent to determine which It indicates how often users
websites deliver relevant content exit from a page or set of
to visitors, which turns us to this pages when they view the
specific metric group: Behavior. website.
Unlike Authority, Behavior is a
metric that you can control if you SESSIONS
have Analytics. The period of time a user is
actively engaged with your
The Behavior metric tells you if website, app, etc. All usage
your SEO is targeting the right data (Screen Views, Events,
audience. User behavior data Ecommerce, and others) is
provide search engines insights associated with a session.
on how visitors engage a website
when they are searching. These REPEATS
metrics include: The number of users with
two or more visits during a
VISITS specific reporting period.
The number of times a
website gets accessed by UNIQUES
search users. The number of individual
users visiting a site over a
BOUNCE specific reporting period.
One-page sessions when
visitors land on a page CTR
and leave. The percentage of users
viewing a page, email, or ad
through a hypertext link.

SEOReseller.com Partner Bootcamp | Simplifying SEO: The 6 Core Metrics You Need To Know 9
 Best Pract ice s
1 Plan your site architecture with user experience engineering as
the foundation.
2 Make your clicks shallow—visitors usually don’t go past the
third click.
3 Showcase your client’s brand name and value proposition when
optimizing the meta data.
4 Change the layout of your site based on how users are behaving.

5 Look for opportunities based on the number of impressions vs

the number of clicks.

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 5: QUA LI T Y

The Quality metric is the on-page regulating element of the Google

algorithm. This augments or depreciates your on-page score. Along with
Google Panda, this does the incremental increases and decreases across
your client’s website.

You can leverage this metric through the following elements:

CONTENT ORIGINALITY USER FRIENDLINESS

Presenting unique Improving the usability of
information to users the website

MOBILITY CONTENT QUALITY

Providing a mobile- Providing relevant, coherent
responsive website information

SOCIABILITY TRUST SIGNALS ON-SITE

Including social sharing Including credibility badges
buttons on the website

SECURITY
Adding a security certificate

SEOReseller.com Partner Bootcamp | Simplifying SEO: The 6 Core Metrics You Need To Know 11
 Best Pract ice s
1 Apply an HTTPS certificate to your client’s site.
2 Build your client’s site using a mobile-friendly framework.
3 Use modern code (HTML5 and CSS3) and check for errors.
4 Include social sharing buttons above the fold to leverage social
signals.
5 Allow comments to encourage interaction among visitors, but
beware of spam by activating plugins like Akismet.

6 Make your content original, worthwhile and value-adding.

7 Implement rich media like images and videos for added interaction
with visitors.
8
Apply trust signals and badges.
9
Link to reviews.

10 Use Google PageSpeed Insights to check site speed and view

recommendations.

11 Use Rich snippets and markup your content items to increase

user engagement.
12 Create a sitemap to highlight the important pages on the
website navigation and help search engines understand your
site structure for faster crawling.

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 6: T RU S T
The Trust metric is the Off-Page regulating
element of the Google algorithm. Also known
as Google Penguin, this focuses on a website’s
backlink profile and digital footprint. Organic,
relevant link building is the most important
element to look at when it comes to the Trust
metric.

Like the Authority metric, Trust is a metric that

you cannot manipulate. Nonetheless, many SEO
specialists perceive that Trust has a big role in the
success of a website from a search perspective.

Best Pract ice s

1 Don’t optimize for this metric alone.

2 Don’t hire cheap SEO services—only trust the experts.

3 Build thought leadership to leverage expertise.

4 Don’t buy links; get people to naturally ask for content.
5 Balance your client’s digital footprint by disavowing irrelevant,
low quality links.
6 Build the About Us and Contact Us page of the site with relevant
information.
7 Do not develop a spammy-looking website that displays poor user
experience.

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 CO N C LU S I ON
SEO metrics provide a form of validation to your work and shows the
growth opportunities that you can integrate to your client’s website.
These lay out the foundation for your SEO strategies and provide context
behind the numbers and results.

Each of SEOReseller’s core metric touches on ranking factors to help

you better analyze your SEO strategies and make insightful, data-driven
decisions. These provide you a point of reference, so you can explain our
methodology with more confidence to existing and potential clients.

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