Why Analytics Should Be a Key Part of Your SEO Strategy

Featured article by Calvin Paige, Independent Technology Author

If you have been following all the recent changes that Google is adding to their algorithms you’ll likely see a pattern that has developed over the past couple of years. More and more search engines are all about providing an awesome experience for users and not so much about how websites are following rules. Yes, keyword stuffing and other black hat strategies are still frowned upon and highly penalized, but even they are starting to take a backseat to how well a website is doing in providing a great experience for visitors to that site. But why are analytics important as a key component of your SEO strategy? Actually, there are a few reasons to consider.

A Focus on Analytics Measure User Experience

Since we know that the ultimate goal is to improve UX, user experience, the question now becomes how you can use analytics to measure UX. Most laypeople don’t realize just how many metrics Google analyzes when tracking a website’s performance and why industry specialists like SEO Guru Atlanta are called in to interpret Google’s findings. There is an event tracker extension that you can plug into Chrome if you are using that browser that will list all the events Google is analyzing, but some of them are not easy to understand and even less easy to build strategies around.

A Treasure Hunt with No Clues

It’s like saying, “Build a road to the city of Metropolis” without even knowing it exists, is not on any maps in existence, and so you have to begin a hunt for someone who has heard of it or has been there. That’s what it’s like trying to use metrics you don’t understand! It’s like being on a treasure hunt with no clues. Suffice it to say, there are metrics that measure UX and there are ways to improve an SEO strategy based on those metrics, but unless you understand them, they are useless to you. Do you have time to learn a new language? If not, it’s best left to the pros.

Interpretation of Data Is What Analytics Are All About

Facts and figures by themselves do you no good. You can’t isolate data and hope to use it in any meaningful way. In order for those metrics to have meaning and be useful in an SEO strategy they need to be put into context.

Knowing the Importance Isn’t Always Enough

So then, knowing that analytics are a key component in your SEO strategy because they tell you who is accessing your site, how long they stay there, what they do when they are there (and so much more) is a vital part of building an SEO strategy going forward. If you have the time to learn how to use analytics then by all means build your future strategies around the metrics you have analyzed.

However, the average business owner needs a pro that speaks the language and is adept at interpreting what is on the page in front of him or her. It’s what you do with this information going forward that counts and why an SEO specialist is most often going to be a resource you can’t do without.