With the rise of SEO platforms and enterprise-level technology, we are drowning in a sea of SEO data, with a lot of information right at our fingertips. But are we really getting a true and accurate picture of our SEO performance?
As marketers, we pore over data all the time — but in order to glean meaningful insights, we need to make sure our data collection tools are set up properly and managed correctly for accuracy.
Here is how to do it.
Attribution
Attribution has been one of online marketing’s biggest challenges. Who gets the credit for a conversion when there are so many different touch points along the path to purchase? Is last click the right way to look at things? How about first click?
Some brands choose first click, while some agencies look at last click. Some even have complex attribution models which give partial credit to different touch points.
We need to come to a mutual agreement with our clients on what attribution model we are going to use and then make sure our reporting data reflects this. You can use the Model Comparison Tool in Google Analytics “to compare how different attribution models impact the valuation of your marketing channels.”
Channel classification
One common mistake that I have seen over the years is that the paid search is not set up correctly and can actually get misclassified as organic search, which can inflate your SEO numbers and make them highly inaccurate. Always check to see if your search channels are set up and classified correctly.
Site search
Tracking on-site search is a great way to get insights into what users are looking for on your site, helping you to develop a holistic content strategy at all stages of the user journey. Depending on your analytics platform, you need to enable this and add parameters to on-site search keywords.
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