Posted by Carlos Munoa, Principal, Ecommerce Marketing, NetSuite
Successfully leveraging search engine optimization (SEO)(opens in new tab) to improve ecommerce(opens in new tab) performance takes more than just some upfront keyword research and architectural adjustments to a website, it demands ongoing monitoring and adjustments to ensure continued success.
Part of my job here at NetSuite is to help our customers optimize their ecommerce websites to make sure they are performing and delivering the best results. Below are the top SEO KPIs I always recommend tracking to maximize the performance of ecommerce websites(opens in new tab).
Organic traffic. Simply put, organic traffic is the traffic coming in from unpaid keyword searches. Since the release of Panda and Penguin, most of what used to be good practices have become less effective. While it’s generally pretty steady, monitoring organic traffic on a weekly basis offers the chance to make adjustments if those numbers suddenly plummet.
Organic goal conversion. This tells you how much of your organic traffic leads to the goal you’re trying to accomplish. It could be a purchase, a content download or a request for more information.
Organic conversion rate. Specific to ecommerce, this tells you how many people who visit your website through organic search convert to a sale.
Organic ROI. This is a measure of the return you’re getting for your SEO expenses. If you are doing content marketing, hiring writers, issuing press releases, this tracks how you are doing vs. how much the content is costing. Once you start to assemble this data you can measure the ROI on different tactics and see what’s bringing in more revenue.
Brand vs. non-brand keyword traffic. This will help you measure how your company name performs vs. your products.
Keyword rankings. All businesses should be tracking how they’re performing for keywords that are central to their business. The moz.com keyword ranker retrieves search engine rankings for pages and keywords and stores them for comparison. By measuring those rankings you can see how a change in rankings can affect traffic.
Returning visitors by brand traffic. This shows how many people are entering your site by entering your name into Google. It’s a good indicator of customer engagement.
Bounce rates. How many people enter your site and immediately leave. Again, this is another indicator of a customer’s level of engagement with the site and can help you determine if you’re getting the wrong visitors or not giving them what they need when they arrive.
While this list of KPI’s isn’t all encompassing, it is a great starting point to help you figure out which metrics work best for your business to stay relevant and profitable.
What metrics are you tracking that are working great for your business? I would love to hear about some of the strategies that have worked. Please share in the comments below!
Want to learn more about SEO? Read the other articles from our SEO Strategy Series:
· How to Execute a Successful SEO Strategy(opens in new tab)
· Developing an SEO Strategy for Ecommerce Success(opens in new tab)
· Research is Fundamental to SEO Success(opens in new tab)
· SEO Efforts are Meaningless Without Quality Content(opens in new tab)
Learn More:
Check out the video below to see how SuiteCommerce enables B2C and B2B merchants, manufacturers and distributors to seamlessly connect every step of a multi-channel, multi-location business — from ecommerce, POS and order management to merchandising, marketing, inventory, financials and customer support. Learn more at: http://www.SuiteCommerce.com.(opens in new tab)
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