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The Complete Guide to

Greater ROI
From Your
SEO
Investment
About the Author
Jeff Quipp is the founder and CEO of
Search Engine People Inc. (SEP). He is very passionate about
content, content strategy, SEO, PPC, social media, and the
entire inbound marketing process. From humble beginnings
in 2001, Jeff has built SEP to become the most reputable
digital agency in Canada, with more than 100 full-time experts
on staff. Jeff has a BA in Economics and an MBA.

Follow Jeff Quipp

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What’s in this eBook
1 Basic Metrics 2 Intermediate Metrics 3 Advanced Metrics
Measurable SEO is effective To achieve a high ranking, you Using SEO metrics will keep you
SEO. Implementing an SEO need to understand your key on track, establish the practice of
strategy without first establishing performance indicators, which regular review and refinement,
a baseline and using metrics to metrics to use, how to measure and help you achieve a greater
track your efforts is like driving your efforts, and what you can ROI from your investment in
in an unfamiliar location without learn from the data. Failure to track SEO. If you don’t track your SEO
a map. You need to know where your SEO efforts makes it difficult efforts, you will struggle to know
you are going to arrive at your to understand your successes what is and is not working, and
destination. In the case of SEO, and failures. more importantly, which tasks
your final destination is the first are profitable and worth further
page of search results. investment in order to maximize
your ROI.

Page 4 Page 18 Page 31

The following e-book will outline some of the most important SEO metrics and discuss what they are,
how they can help you achieve your SEO goals, provide tips and best practices for these metrics,
and examine the significant role each metric plays in your SEO campaign.

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1

Basic Metrics

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Basic SEO Metrics
Lay the groundwork for more in-depth and
detailed analysis. They provide you with general
performance indicators and offer a starting point
for identifying areas where improvements can be
made and where you should focus your attention
and resources. They are the baseline for effectively
assessing your website from an onsite and offsite
SEO perspective.

Basic metrics can be divided into four core groups


that can be used to analyze the effectiveness of
your website in a general sense. They are keyword
research and mapping, on-page optimization, social
validation, and local SEO.

Once you have a deeper understanding of these metrics, how they impact your website, and the
changes that need to be made to improve your ROI, you can then move on to more advanced
metrics to further refine your SEO strategy.

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Keyword Research & Mapping is at the core of SEO Ranking for the keywords that are most
metrics and it is used by us to identify search terms frequently used by your target group
and phrases that people enter into search engines. of users or customers can significantly
The goal is to find the correct mix of keywords and increase the amount of targeted traffic
then implement them into your website to improve to your website, as opposed to obtaining
your overall search engine ranking. new website visitors by chance.

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3 Examine competing websites
Examine your top 3-5 competitor’s websites from
The Keyword Research Process
a keyword perspective. What keywords are they
While there is no one right way to
perform keyword research, there are a number optimizing for? Take a look at their meta tags,
of important steps in the process: content, headers, and anchor text. More on this in
the next section about on page optimization.
1 Set a baseline 4 Run your list through the Google
Take a look at your current website data to get an Keyword Tool
idea of which keywords are generating the most This is the main keyword tool that you will use.
traffic for your site and which keywords are not Add your keyword list into this tool to get an idea
getting any traction. of the search volume and competitiveness of
your keywords. Also, make note of related terms,
2 Brainstorm keyword ideas
keyword modifiers, local search terms, and other
Use the data you discovered from your website keyword ideas.
and brainstorm a list of potential new keywords
and phrases. Try to approach this exercise from a 5 Refine your keyword list
user’s perspective. For example, if you were going Use the information provided from the Google
to search for your website, what words would you Keyword Tool to refine your list of keywords.
enter into Google to find it? What words or phrases
most accurately describe your website?

Once you are confident you have a solid list of keywords,the next step is to perform
an exercise in keyword mapping.

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Keyword Mapping
Keyword mapping is the process of assigning your
keyword to the specific pages on your website.

It is important to know which pages you will be For example, you would not assign the keyword
targeting as you go through the keyword research “Oranges” if the topic of the webpage is Apples.
process. To begin the mapping process, you will
Mapping keywords is beneficial because it
want to simply layout the structure of your website
helps to provide clarity. It clearly outlines the
along with the corresponding keywords for each
targeted keywords for each web page, creates
page. A spreadsheet is an effective tool for this
structure, makes it easier to perform internal
exercise.
linking, and helps to create an organized site
map for your website.
The most important rule for
keyword mapping is to assign
keywords that are relevant and
related to the page.

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The Keyword Research Tools
Here is a list of keyword research tools that you
can use to get keyword ideas:

1 Google Adwords 4 Microsoft Advertising Intelligence


Keyword Tool
5 Bing Keyword Research Tool
2 Google Insights for Search
6 Wordtracker’s Free Basic
3 Google Trends Keyword Keyword Demand
Demand Prediction

An important thing to note about the keyword research process is that is not linear.
Expected to jump back and forth between tasks until you are confident you have a solid list of
keywords to use for on-page optimization.

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On-Page Optimization
Integrating keywords into the correct Identifying which keywords
places on your website is the most to target is the first step to
important part of onsite optimization. Effective achieving a good ranking, but
on-page optimization plays a significant role in your implementing your keywords
website’s ability to achieve a higher search ranking correctly will maximize their
for the keywords you have targeted. effectiveness.

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Keyword Implementation

1 Meta Title tag


Add targeted keywords into the title tag of each page on your
website. For maximum effectiveness, each title tag Quick tips
must be unique. Avoid simply listing keywords and be concise– • Keywords must be relevant to the content
you have 65 characters. on the page

2 Meta Description tag


• Do not force keywords into content. Include
them as they naturally enter the conversation
Every page must have a unique page description. The description • Include your targeted keyword in the first
must be relevant to the content on the page, 165 characters paragraph of text on the page
or less, and naturally include targeted keywords. Using a call • Never sacrifice the quality of your content to
to action will increase the effectiveness and clickability of the include keywords
description tag. • Use keyword modifiers to ensure your content
is grammatically correct
3 Anchor tags
• Refrain from keyword stuffing
“Click here” is not an effective use of anchor text. Include
keywords in the anchor text links on your website to link to other
relevant pages. Keywords need to be relevant to the content you
are linking to and the anchor text should be grammatically correct.

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4 Header tags
6 Image Optimization

Use keywords in the header tags on your website where Do not forget to include relevant keywords into the
appropriate. Only use a keyword once in the <H1>. alt tag. Refrain from simply listing keywords. Focus
Keywords used must be relevant to the page’s content. on writing a relevant image description and add
keywords naturally.
5 Site URL
7 Content
Many overlook keywords when naming pages and
setting up their website link structure. Use the assigned Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you need to
keyword to name relevant pages. Avoid including naturally include keywords into the content on your
keywords in the URL if they are not appropriate or website. Before you go and stuff your website
negatively impact the link structure. full of keywords, you need to pay particular attention
to the following guidelines for adding keywords
to your content.

Effectively optimizing on-page This is the one area of SEO where you have complete
control and it is important to get this structure in place
content will have a positive correctly the first time in order to enhance your website’s
effect on your search ranking. visibility in search engines.

On-page optimization and the proper placement of keywords improve the likelihood that your pages
are indexed by search engines. It will also establish a connection between the terms searched by
users and the keywords for which you have optimized your website.

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Social Validation
Social media has increasingly grown as an important component of internet
marketing. It is also increasingly becoming a more important factor in SEO. While
the exact impact of social media is not quite clear, the importance of social signals
and their impact on search engine results continues to grow. The notion that
social signals do have an impact on organic SEO has been verified by Google.

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Social Signals
Social signals are used to indicate that a post, web
page or piece of content offers value to users.
People use social signals every day when they
interact with websites.

Some common signals: These signals provide data to both users and search
• Re-Tweets engines about the relevance, quality, freshness,
• Likes and overall level of engagement that is offered by a
webpage. A large number of comments, likes, tweets,
• Sharing content +1’s and shares for a web page or blog post signals
• Commenting on a blog post to search engines that value is present and this page
• Writing a review for a product or service should receive a higher ranking than a similar page
• And, the newest on the block, the Google +1 from a competing site that lacks these social signals.

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Social Signals
The increased importance of social indicators is now a metric that
cannot be overlooked. You need to adjust your website to include
social media buttons and make it as easy as possible for your users to
engage with and share your content with their social network.

“…focus on creating high Getting users to share your content can be a challenge.
But, achieving a high level of social participation is
quality and engaging content
rooted in one core SEO principle – focus on creating
that your users want. Great high quality and engaging content that your users want.
content will be shared online.” Great content will be shared online.

Add content to your website or social media profile that solves a problem, answers a
question, or provides users with the information they are looking for. This will increase your
social signals and improve your organic search ranking.

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Local SEO
Local SEO is a specialized form of internet Any local SEO strategy needs to
marketing and component of SEO that increases a revolve around Google + Local, an
local business’s visibility online and improves the online listing for your business that
search ranking for geographically related keywords. provides information to users about
Local SEO helps to attract people to your website your location, hours of operation,
that are likely to visit your store or office because contact information, products and
they are located in close proximity. services and user reviews.

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Formerly known as Google Places, Google Local 1 Claim your Google + local listing
plays an important role in local SEO. It gives you the
opportunity to not only develop greater visibility in 2 Optimize your website listing and
search results, but it also enhances your Google + add as much relevant information
profile and provides search engines with information as possible
to assess your search ranking such as clicks,
3 Link to your Google Local and
number of reviews, your review score, and the Google + profile from your website
number of citations (additional directory listings) that
exist for your website. 4 Encourage users to write reviews
on your profile
Google + Local needs to be part of your SEO strategy, 5 Build citations over time.
especially if you are a small business looking to increase
Add your website to relevant business directories.
the amount of local traffic visiting your business in
This will verify your business information. Focus on
person. It provides greater visibility and can lead to an
niche over general directories.
increase in sales from residents in your area.

From a user perspective, Google Local helps you find businesses in your area. You can
read reviews, get directions, look at photos and read information about a business
before you decide to visit it in person.

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2

Intermediate
Metrics

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Intermediate Metrics
Intermediate metrics move beyond general
performance indicators by focusing on the
more specific functions of your website. These
metrics provide insight into web traffic trends,
the successful indexing of your web pages by Traffic Rates Index pages
search engines, and the effectiveness of link
building and content strategies. These metrics
allow you to understand specific operations in
greater detail, which helps you target specific
issues with a web page or your entire website.

Backlink Content
Profiling Strategy

There are four main groups of intermediate metrics that you can analyze to
pinpoint specific performance measures in more detail: Traffic rates, indexed pages, backlink
profiling, and content strategy.

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Tracking Traffic
Rates
Website traffic rates are more detailed than simply tracking the
number of visitors that you experience on a daily or monthly basis.
• Unique visitors
To fully understand your traffic trends, you need to dig down and use
• Bounce rates
the following metrics to gain a deeper understanding of how your
• Referrals
traffic is engaging with your site.
• Conversion Rates

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Unique Visitors

A unique visitor is a unit of measurement that tracks The unique visitor metric is significant because it
new (unique) visitors to your website. They only visit provides a more accurate assessment of how many
your website once and can be distinguished from people are actually visiting your website. Without
repeat visitors, which are people that visit your site the ability to track unique visitors, a single person
on multiple occasions during a specific time frame. who visits your website multiple times can skew
your website traffic data to make it appear that
more people are visiting your website.

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Bounce Rates

Bounce rates measure website visitors who only indicate that there is a greater issue with your
view a single webpage and then exit your website. website or landing page such as low quality
For example, they click on your website in search content, poor design and usability, or low value
results, get to your homepage, and then leave your provided in the mind of the visitor. As a general
website because they don’t like what they see. rule, a bounce rate of 50% is considered the
average, and if your bounce rate increases
This is an important metric because if your website it should be a cause for concern requiring
experiences a high bounce rate, then it might further analysis.

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Referrals

Referrals are an important metric because it provides Referrals as a metric are important because they
insight into the engagement level of users and their can provide you with data about how you acquire
willingness to not only support but promote your new customers. This is why it is vital to develop a
website. Traditional referrals happen through word method to track referrals through referral codes,
of mouth, but they have evolved online and now custom links, and tracking programs.
utilize social media, affiliate programs, and referral
marketing.

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Conversion Rates

Conversion rates are the number of visitors A high conversion rate is an indicator that your
that perform a desired action on your website. online marketing plan is working effectively and
Conversion rates are defined based on the you are driving targeted traffic to your website,
objectives of your website. Therefore, a successful have a good website design, and have high quality
conversion could be signing up for an email content that guides users through your website
newsletter for one website or making a purchase sales funnel. Conversely, a low conversion rate
for another website. The formula for this metric is usually indicates that there are issues with your
number of conversions divided by total number of website from an SEO, usability, content, and design
visitors. perspective.

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Tracking Indexed
Pages
Tracking the number of pages that are indexed by Google and other
search engines is important. In order for your page to appear in
search results it must be indexed. If a page is not indexed, then it will
not appear in search results and people will not be able to find it.

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The more pages that your site has indexed, 1 “Site:”
the better chance you will have at increasing Entering “site:” and then your website address into the
website traffic and also ranking for multiple address bar of your browser will tell you how many
keywords. This is why it is important to regularly pages are indexed by the search engine. This will
audit your webpages that are currently indexed provide you with a general understanding of how many
by search engines and tweak the entire website pages are indexed.
as required to index the maximum number of
pages. 2 Sitemap.xml
Creating a sitemap.xml and submitting it to Google is
an effective way to index your web pages. Once the
There are two ways to find sitemap is submitted, you can check how many pages
out how many pages are are indexed through your Google Webmaster account.
Google will tell you how many of your pages on your
indexed by search engines: sitemap are indexed and searchable. This provides you
with a more detailed understanding of the percentage of
web pages indexed, as well as which web pages need to
be revised to become indexed.

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Best practices for tracking indexed pages
How often you check your index rate will depend on how frequently you add
content to your website. As a general rule, it is a good idea to check your number
monthly. It is also a good idea to resubmit your sitemap.xml so search engines can
index new pages from your website.

Keep track of: “It is also a good idea to


• The number of pages that are in your resubmit your sitemap.
sitemap.xml
• The number of pages that are indexed xml so search engines can
• The percentage of total pages index new pages from your
indexed website.”

Over time, the number will provide you with insight about pages that need to be re-optimized and
refreshed. This may involve adding or re-writing content, editing meta tags, changing the targeted
keyword(s) or any other action that will help to get the page indexed.

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Backlink Profile
Awareness
Checking your backlink profile is important
Backlink profile awareness has become to maximize link equity.
increasingly important since the Google Penguin
update. All links are not created equal, and if your Link equity measures the strength
website has a large number of low quality links of your website based on:
pointing to your site, you could be putting your • The number of websites that link to
search ranking at risk. This is why you need to your website
know which sites are linking to your website. • The authoritativeness of the websites that
link to your website

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Viewing your backlink profile

To see which sites are linking to your You need to find the right balance between
website you can: volume of links and the quality of backlinks you
• Use the “Link:www.yourwebsite.com” to get a are obtaining. More is not better if it is at the cost
general list of websites of high quality links.
• Use Webmaster tools to receive a more
detailed view of inbound links

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Backlinks to Avoid

As a general rule, you want to avoid low quality Low quality links include:
links. These are links that are considered to
be high risk and could result in you being 1 Links that have no relevance or value
penalized by Google. They are also unlikely to
drive traffic to your website because they lack 2 Links acquired through link exchange
relevance to your website and are listed on
directories that are difficult to find. 3 Link from spam blogs and low quality
directories

4 A high number of backlinks that use


the same keywords in the anchor text

Avoiding these poor quality links and focusing on building backlinks naturally over time will help to
minimize repercussions from the Google Penguin update and help increase your link equity.

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Content Strategy
An effective content strategy is at the core of
any effective on-page SEO optimization plan. It
takes into consideration other SEO metrics, such
as keyword research, on-page optimization, and
social indicators and uses this information to adjust
content output and refine it over time.

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Content Plan

A content plan helps to establish a clear direction for your website. It is important to know the topics
you are going to write about, which keywords you are targeting, how often you will add new content
to your site, how you will share the content, and how you intend to track its effectiveness.

An effective content plan should • What are you not going to publish?
(What content can be left out?)
answer these questions:
• Use What are you going to publish? • What are the key messages and themes you
want to communicate?
(Articles, blog posts, news, commentaries)
• Where are you going to publish? (Website, blog, • How will your content help your search ranking?
social media, etc.) • Which keywords will be the focal point of your
content strategy?
• Why are you publishing? (To inform? To sell?
To create discussion?) • How does your content align with your business
goals and objectives?

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Content Strategies for Ranking Webpages

Here are content strategies and tips 3 Have a plan and write consistently
that are effective in ranking webpages:
4 Write content that your targeted users
are looking for
1 Optimize every piece of content you
add to your website 5 Link to other pages on your website
and to authoritative external websites
2 Focus on providing value first and
integrate keywords naturally 6 Share all new content on social media

Writing consistent and high quality content that provides value to your targeted users is a key
factor for successfully increasing your page ranking. The more often you give your visitors what
they want, the more often they will come back and share your content, all of which will help
boost your visibility in search engines.

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3

Advanced
Metrics

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Advanced Metrics
Advanced metrics are the most specialized form
of SEO analysis. They focus on specific data and
information that can be utilized to develop a
detailed understanding of your SEO practices and
Competition
offer insight into important adjustments that can Analysis 404 Errors
be made to your website to solidify your search
ranking.

Link
Website Usability Opportunities

There are four main advanced SEO metrics that can be used to refine the finer details of your SEO
strategy: Competition Analysis, 404 Errors, Website Usability, and Link Opportunities.

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Competition
Analysis
Competition analysis is an advanced metric that is The end game is to beat your competitors
used to record the SEO activities of your competitors. and rank above them for targeted keywords.
These metrics are used not to copy competitors, but to To do this you need to offer more value and
understand the key factors that are helping them rank. make your site more attractive to users and
You want to outline not only their strengths, but also search engines. This means having the data
weaknesses and opportunities. in place to fully understand as much about
your competitors’ SEO strategy as possible.

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Researching various areas of competitor SEO

The first action you need to take is developing a list of your Here are the areas of
competitors. For most websites, this should be relatively competitor SEO you need to
simple. These will be the websites that achieve a first page examine:
ranking in search results for the keywords you are targeting. • Keyword Analysis
You also should not forget about offsite competitors if you • Content Strategy
are a local business. • Social Presence
• Backlink Analysis
While the number of competitors you analyze will vary based
on your industry and the type of website you operate, you
should have at least a solid list of 10 competing sites to
examine. Make sure that you have at least one competitor
for each of your main targeted keywords.

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Keyword analysis: Content strategy:
• What keywords are your competitors targeting? • What type of content are your competitors creating?
• What keywords are used in their title and meta tags? • How often are they posting new content?
• What keywords are prominently used? • Where are they posting? (Blog, resource section,
• What keywords are they using in their knowledge hub, existing web pages?)
content and anchor text? • What keywords are they targeting in their content?
• What is their search ranking and the search • Is there anything unique about the content they
volume for these keywords? are creating?

Social presence: Backlink analysis:


• What social media accounts do they use? • How many backlinks do they have?
• How many followers do they have? What other • Are they doing guest posts, blog commenting, and
data about their social sites is worth noting? participating in forums to build links?
• How often do they post on social media? • Do you suspect they are buying links or obtaining
• What style are they using to engage with users? them organically?
• Are they going viral with their posts? • Are their links coming from high PR sites?
• What is unique about their approach to social media? • Do you see a pattern? (i.e. 50 new links added
per month, etc.)
• Are they running contests to spark engagement?
• Do they strongly promote their social presence
on their website?

Answering these questions and organizing this information will provide you some insight into your
competitors SEO strategy from multiple perspectives. Now you just need to understand how to apply
what you have learned to your advantage.

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Analyzing the data
Once you complete your competitor analysis you need to assess
the data and determine how you can use this information to
refine your current SEO strategy.

Go back to the questions that were “If something is working really well
outlined at the beginning of this
exercise:
for a competitor, then it is a good
• What is working for your competitors? idea to investigate this strategy on
• What is not working? a deeper level and see if it makes
• What opportunities exist? sense for your website.”

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Analyzing the data

Look at the data from each area that you examined However, failed efforts could provide you with
and answer these questions. If something is working some insight into opportunities that exist that your
really well for a competitor, then it is a good idea to competitors are not seeing and areas you have
investigate this strategy on a deeper level and see if overlooked in the past.
it makes sense for your website.
Sometimes, it is taking a look elsewhere that
Examining what is not working for your competitors is provides you with the best information and insight
simple – don’t emulate it. about what to do next with your SEO strategy.

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0
4 4 Errors
Most non-technical web users know about A 404 error, which is also referred to as a Not
the error messages that exist online, but Found error message, occurs when a user
do not have an understanding of what they clicks on a link that is either broken or is a
mean, and more importantly, how they can dead link. The 404 error is one of the most
be used to your advantage, especially well-known error messages because it is one
from an SEO perspective. users encounter most frequently.

While most people would just write this page off and click the back button, these pages have
significant value for SEO and can be leveraged to turn dead end traffic into prospects.

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How to maximize the effectiveness of your
404 error page

Rather than just using the default 404 error pages


that users encounter all the time, use the page to
2 Tell them why they are on the page:
your advantage by customizing it. Get to the point and explain why this page has
popped up and reasons why they did not get to their
Here is what you can do: desired page.

1 Get the user’s attention in a creative way: 3 Send them to your website:
Customize your page in a way that will grab your Provide links to your website. The trick is not to just
intended user’s attention. This could be custom graphics, send them to your homepage. Send them to areas of
a statistic, a quote, or anything that you think will be of your site where you think they will receive the most
interest to the user. value. Linking to your contact page is always a good
idea as well.

Use 404 errors as an opportunity to drive traffic to your website. You never know when you could
convert a prospective user into a repeat visitor, customer, or even a brand advocate.

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Website Usability
Every website needs to have aesthetics and structure Website usability is an important
that appeal to both search engines and website advanced metric because it
visitors. Focusing on one too heavily over the other addresses your website from two key
could create issues. Focusing too much on SEO could perspectives:
create a poor user experience, while, on the other
hand, focusing too much on user experience could 1 Optimization for search engines
negatively impact your SEO strategy and ability to
rank well in search results. 1 Optimization to create an effective
user experience

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The goal of website usability is to design your site in a way that will maximize the user experience. From the time
they arrive on your site, each subsequent step or click should be obvious. You don’t want your users to have to think
too much and you don’t want your site design to get in the way of a user’s ability to accomplish their goal (i.e. make
a purchase, find information).

Assess and measure your website Navigation effectiveness:


usability from these perspectives:
• Does your navigational structure make
Design effectiveness: sense to users?

• Can users find what they are looking for quickly • Does the naming of pages and navigational
elements make sense? Are they labeled
and easily?
appropriately? Will users understand what
• Does your website structure get in the way of they mean?
users accomplishing their objectives?
• Do users have to spend time to learn how to
• Is your site logical to navigate? navigate your site effectively?

Efficiency: User satisfaction:

• How quickly can users find what they are looking for? • Do users like your site layout?
• How many steps do they have to take to get • Do they like the design?
to a desired page? • Does the layout and design make logical sense
• Are there too many steps required for users to based on the subject matter?
achieve their objectives? • Is the overall user experience unobtrusive?
• Could there be a quicker and easier way for • Do obstacles exist that prevent users from
users to navigate through your website? meeting their search objectives?

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Website Usability Best Practice

Here are some general tips and tricks • Don’t bombard users with unnecessary
gimmicks, pop ups, and features
that will help you improve your website
usability: • Have a clear and consistent navigational
structure throughout your website
• Make content easy to read by selecting a
popular and web friendly font • Minimize clutter and focus on creating a
clean design
• Write concise content and format it so that
it can be quickly skimmed by users • Be consistent with terminology, color
scheme, and page layout
• Use bullet points and headings where
appropriate to break up content into • Make contact information readily available
smaller chunks

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How Usability Impacts SEO

Usability is an effective metric for your SEO From an SEO perspective, this can have an impact
campaign because it forces you to look at your on a number of key metrics such as website traffic,
website from a user perspective. If a user has conversions, bounce rate, social validation, and
issues navigating on your website, then it is likely could lead to negative reviews, all of which will have
they will exit and not come back. an impact on your ranking.

A great customer experience will not only give your users what they want,
it will also boost engagement, sharing, social validation, as well as other SEO elements that
will help your search engine ranking.

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Link Opportunities
Link building is one of the most important offsite SEO Link opportunities to consider
strategies, and it is a metric that is used by search engines There is no shortage of opportunities to
to determine your website’s overall popularity. Think of each build backlinks. However, it is NOT a good
backlink as a vote of confidence for your website. idea to buying bulk link packages. While
This is why it is important to find and make the most out of they may provide a large volume of links,
link opportunities. they are most often of low value and come
from websites that are low quality. Always
However, since not all links are created the same, you need review link building companies to access
to analyze if the opportunity is worth the link equity that a their authoritativeness, trustworthiness,
backlink could provide. and reputation in the industry.

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Assessing Link Opportunities

Consider these questions:


The quality of a link can vary
• What is the page rank of the website?
widely. This is why it is important
• How authoritative is the website? Is it a popular
to assess the value of a site? Is it considered an authority in your
industry?
backlink before you pursue the
opportunity. • Does the link have relevance to your website?
• Does the website seem trustworthy? Does it
appear that they are engaging in questionable
SEO tactics?

All links are not the same. Before you agree to a link opportunity, make sure that it will add
value to your website and improve your link equity.

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Closing
Tracking the right metrics is critical. It is often the selection and
proper use of the right key performance indicators that will that drive
ROI and improves your company’s bottom-line.

When it comes to SEO, using these metrics will position your


website to be successful. Most websites are successful with the
implementation of an SEO campaign. However, it is the effective
use of important SEO metrics to analyze and refine your website
SEO strategy over time that will not only help you identify strengths,
weaknesses, and opportunities, it will also help you pinpoint the SEO
strategies that offer the greatest return on your investment for your
online marketing and SEO campaign.

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website traffic.
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