How to Take a Data-Driven Approach to SEO

What is Data-Driven SEO?

The term “data-driven” is featured in most disciplines of marketing, and it refers to the accumulation and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data for use in strategy development. Therefore, data-driven SEO implies using data as a primary component when developing an SEO strategy.

For many people, web analytics and SEO data can seem cryptic. Indeed, it may feel like one is reading a foreign language at times. However, if you take the time to collect the available information, look at it, and figure out what it all means, you can find opportunities that lead to relevant and profitable search traffic.

Keyword Research

One of the most common ways data is used in SEO is to generate keywords and to determine which ones will be the most effective. It’s best if you take your time to choose the right keywords by selecting ones that align with what your potential online customers are searching for. To do this, you need to conduct an in-depth analysis of the search queries that relate to your products or offerings and analyze your potential customers’ browsing trends and behaviors.

I know it’s tempting to go for the keywords with the highest search volumes, but if you’re working with a brand new or young website, it can be challenging to compete against established companies in the search results for these queries. So, look for keywords where your competitors don’t have a strong presence. And once your target keyword starts ranking, keep going until you get it to the top spot. If you target too many keywords at the same time for a single page, you will likely spread yourself too thin and not rank high for your most targeted keywords. Remember: the secret to choosing keywords is to find the ones with high search volumes and low competition.

Monitor User-Behavior

An ongoing debate within the SEO community is about the correlation between user behavior metrics and rankings. Understandably, Google representatives have denied, confirmed, and denied again that there is any correlation between the two. However, if Google’s goal is to provide its users with an excellent experience, then behavior metrics must be considered. Rand Fishkin, the founder of SparkToro (and co-founder of Moz), did tests on user-behavior metrics and rankings in search results and found them to be highly related. Based on his results, it seems clear that user behavior metrics are very much a ranking factor.

Regardless of whether or not there is a connection between behavior and ranking, it’s still important to be aware of how search engines are evaluating user behavior. Here are some of the many signals search engines may use to understand their users:

• Click-through rate (CTR)
• Click on other search results
• New search generation
• Bounce rate
• Dwell time
• Time on site
• Pages per visit
• Repeat visits
• And the list goes on…

Here are some methods that you can use to improve and measure your user behavior from the search results:

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

A “click-through” is the action of a user clicking on a result from the search engine results page (SERP) and being sent to another page. The CTR is, therefore, the measurement of the number of clicks a result receives from the number of impressions delivered. If your page is seen in search results 100 times and is clicked on 12 of those times, then your CTR is 12%.

You can view your CTR and rankings for specific search queries using Google Search Console, which is a free tool for use with all websites. You can compare your CTR to where your page is ranking for a target keyword. If your CTR is below average, then this may be an area you would want to focus on improving.

You can view your industry CTR average per ranking by using Advanced Web Ranking’s Google Organic CTR History. It’s important to know that different CTRs occur for different types of search queries with different search intents (branded vs. non-branded, informational, location-specific, long-tail queries, etc.). I prefer to use Ahrefs Keyword Explorer to get data regarding the clicks-to-keyword search volume for particular search queries.

So, how can you improve your CTR? It’s simple: by merely adjusting the elements the user sees in the SERPs (page title, URL, and meta description).

While I won’t be going over the best practices for optimizing these elements in this article, you can learn more about how to optimize a title tag, as well as improving meta descriptions for click-throughs on Portent’s blog.

Dwell Time and Pogo-Sticking

Dwell time, also known as time on page, measures the amount of time a user spends on a given page. Increased user time on a page may send signals to search engines that the page is of good quality. However, if you have a high bounce rate from your organic traffic, then your users may be pogo-sticking.

Pogo-sticking is a typical behavior indicating a weak result of fulfilling the user’s search query. For example, when a user visits your page from the SERP, if that user returns to the search results quite quickly and then clicks on another result, that is pogo-sticking. The page that ranks the highest for a search query is the one that immediately has all the information the user is looking for so that they don’t go back to the search results to look for alternatives.

To identify if this is a problem for your target page, look at the organic traffic bounce rate (the percentage of visitors who visit only one page and leave) and the average session duration (dwell time) for your webpage using your website’s analytics. As already mentioned, the user intent and keyword will create different results for an acceptable bounce rate and dwell time. Here are some industry bounce rate benchmarks to help you start figuring out what’s acceptable for your website. There are also a lot of great resources out there that provide tips and best practices on how to lower your webpage’s bounce rate.

Choose the Right Tools and Resources

It’s essential to have the right tools if you want a precise data-driven SEO strategy. Surprisingly, most SEO professionals lack access to accurate data, so they have to make assumptions. As a result, SEO forecasting is not always correct. A data-driven approach uses accuracy and precision to keep ahead of your competitors in the search results.

Two important points to consider when choosing a tool to help you collect data is what data you want to analyze, and what data would help add greater clarity to your strategy. The goal of a data-driven approach is to collect information that allows your plan to improve. As tempting as it may be, don’t double-down on areas where you are already succeeding. Be critical and find ways to fill the holes in your strategy and create more visibility across the SEO landscape.

Lastly, utilize all your resources. Perhaps your company has already invested in pay-per-click ads. If so, talk to the person in charge of those ads as their data will be able to provide valuable information around what keywords convert, what landing pages have a low bounce rate, and more.

Conclusion

There are endless amounts of data and resources available to help you improve your SEO. Again, sit down, look at the data available to you, and figure out what it all means. You will then find opportunities that may lead to relevant and profitable search traffic.

Thanks for reading! Reach out to me on Twitter or LinkedIn if you have any questions, or if you would like some assistance with getting your SEO strategy started.