Keyword tracking reports for search engine success

Posted by Mark Nunney on 18 October 2011

Tracking your site’s ranks on Google for your target keywords is an important part of search engine optimization (SEO). It allows you to report results, discover the cause of traffic gains and losses; and spot the seeds of future success. Mark Nunney explains why to do it and how.

Google rank reports go by many names including SERPs (search engine results pages) reports and keyword tracking reports. Call them what you will, ranking reports remain at the heart of SEO reporting and analysis.

Make sure you report on as many relevant keywords as you can afford to. Otherwise you might, for example, be losing ground for a trophy keyword but be doing well for the long tail and not know about it. Or vice versa.

Here are some reasons for running Google rank reports:

•   Reporting the results of your SEO work.
•   Discovering the reason for an increase in visits.
•   Discovering the reason for a decrease in visits.
•   Identifying successful keywords of the future.
•   Planning future SEO actions.

Let’s look at each of those …

Reporting the results of your SEO work

What if your site previously ranked on page three for a host of target keywords that deliver sales and now you're all over page one? Success is yours.

But nobody else will know this unless you record those results over time and put the results in a report. Perhaps with a nice graph and a table containing lots of useful information. Like this one below from Wordtracker Strategizer:

In SEO, information isn't just for reporting. The right information is a powerful tool for analysis and planning actions. The ranking report above shows:

•   Keyword Niche. A list of tracked keywords on the left of the table.

•   Visits. The number of visits to the tracked site via keywords containing the tracked keyword. Use to assess the potential of a keyword and plan your SEO campaigns, as described below.

•   Highest Rank. The tracked site's latest rank in the Google Rank column. Use for the analysis of change and planning.

•   Google Rank graph. Shows ranks over time on a trend graph. Match trends against your actions to discover what's working and what's not.

•   Google Rank (and changes). The Google Rank column shows the tracked site's latest rank and any changes (up or down) since a chosen 'benchmark date'. This gives you a snapshot of change, perhaps since last week (for regular reporting) or since a significant date such as 'when SEO started'.

•   URL. The URL of the page delivering the shown rank. If it's not the page you've optimized for that keyword then you need to review your SEO.

•   Highest Rank. If that's not the current rank then you need to find out why.

•   Competitors' Ranks. For four competitors, shown on the last four columns on the right of the table. Keyword by keyword, you can learn from sites beating you. You can learn even more from those beating you across a range of keywords. Study their SEO - what are they doing that you are not?

Click here to test Wordtracker Strategizer free for 7 days.

Discover the reasons for an increase in visits

If you know that visits to your site have increased, how do you know what caused it?

You might check your analytics software and see the increase comes from organic search engine traffic for your SEO’s target keywords.

Well done you. Or perhaps not.

Those keywords might have become more popular (this could be caused by seasonal changes, fashions or a relevant news story). Despite your increased visits, your website might be ranking lower (not higher) than it used to.

You might also have some great year-on-year increases in visits. They always look good. But again, how do you know the market size hasn’t increased even more dramatically?

There’s only one way to know …

Check your site's rankings on Google over time.

Discover the reasons for a decrease in visits

Alternatively, visits and response might be down. Year-on-year figures might be heading south too.

The pressure might be on you as the person responsible for SEO to explain these poor results.

But drops in visits and response don't necessarily mean your site is performing worse on search engines and your SEO is failing.

Your target market might be in decline. A seasonal change might be responsible?

It could be that you are getting better rankings on search engines. How would you know?

Again, there’s only one way to know …

Check your site's rankings on Google over time.

Ranking results and market trends

Estimates of keyword use over time (ie, market trends) are an important part of understanding what's happening to your site's visits and response.

Wordtracker Strategizer shows you such trend reports from Google Insights alongside your ranking graphs. See the Google Insights graph on the right of the report below.

You can also see niche size estimates showing you how popular each tracked keyword is? (See the Niche Size column below.) And a graph showing visitor numbers over the same period of time.

(See reports like these for your own site by testing Wordtracker Strategizer free for 7 days.)

Identifying successful keywords of the future

You might be tempted to track a small number of keywords in your target markets. Perhaps the most popular or those you already get results from.

You want to track both those groups of keywords, of course. But also try tracking a number of other keywords, including:

•   those from niches you don’t yet get results for but are interested in

•   a selection of long tail keywords from relevant niches

You’ll see increases in these keywords’ rankings before you see any visits. These early signs will tell you it’s worth investing in some SEO work to target them.

Plan future actions SEO

You can use your Google ranks to plan your SEO campaigns. For example ...

If your site ranks in the top 4 for a keyword then you can switch the emphasis of your SEO to content creation - targeting other keywords that contain that keyword.

Eg, if you come No 1 for donuts then build pages to target chocolate donuts, ring donuts and more.

If your site ranks 10-20th for a keyword then a push with some on-site SEO - perhaps some internal linking - might push it to the top 10 and bring a jump in visits.

If your site is ranking over 20th then you should either:

•  do some link building focused on that target to give it a big push over time, or

•  find an easier keyword within the niche to target first. Eg, you’re 25th for donuts, so try chocolate donuts as it might be easier to get results for

Wordtracker Strategizer does this kind of calculation for you. It uses information about your site’s ranks, target keyword niche size and visits to automatically recommend SEO actions for each of your target keyword niches.

Track your keywords with Wordtracker Strategizer

Wordtracker Strategizer Google Rank reports come with the following:

•    A built-in keyword research tool to find more keywords to track and target.

•    Niche size estimates showing you how popular each tracked keyword is.

•    Market trend graphs (with Google Insights) alongside graphs showing your site’s Google ranks over time. (So you can compare the two.)

•    Ability to track up to four competitors' SERPs results.

•    Reports of changes in rankings compared to a benchmark date of your choice.

•    Record of your highest rankings.

•    Facility to import your site’s Google Analytics keywords reports so you can see your site’s visits and response rates alongside your Google ranks over time.

And if you import your Google Analytics reports, Strategizer will automatically:

•    Find your site’s most profitable target keyword niches.

•    Recommend specific SEO actions for you to take to get results for those target keywords.

Click here to take Wordtracker Strategizer for a spin, free for 7 days.