Back in 1996, during the nascent stages of the internet, Bill Gates penned an article titled "Content is King," a maxim that still holds true today. Regardless of your efforts to boost website traffic, nothing substitutes for compelling content that keeps visitors returning. However, optimizing your website for effectiveness requires a targeted approach. Understanding visitor interactions, identifying engaging elements, and rectifying potential deterrents are essential steps.

The most straightforward method to uncover these insights is through Google Analytics. Over the past 16 years since its inception, this freemium tool has become indispensable for online marketers worldwide, offering a user-friendly platform to monitor and analyze web traffic. Nevertheless, relying solely on Google Analytics might limit your perspective, potentially causing you to miss out on online opportunities.

So, what additional metrics should online businesses consider? We've consulted digital marketing experts to shed light on this matter, focusing on two primary aspects: gaining deeper insights and taking actionable steps to enhance website effectiveness.

It's important not to blindly follow Google Analytics as the ultimate authority.

While the insights it provides can be extensive and clear, our experts caution against relying solely on this source. Luke Budka, head of digital PR and SEO at B2B agency TopLine Comms, highlighted issues with Google Analytics, particularly after changes related to GDPR in 2019. To illustrate, Budka referenced a significant drop in session numbers on the ICO website following the implementation of new cookie regulations. This suggests that Google Analytics may only capture data from a fraction of your actual users. Budka advises complementing your analytics with insights from keyword rankings using Google's Search Console tool. Understanding user search intent at different stages of the buying journey is crucial for optimizing content. Additionally, Budka recommends utilizing Google's beta Search Console Insights tool, which provides valuable data on trending content, user engagement metrics, and top organic search rankings. Lydia German, marketing and outreach coordinator at Tao Digital Marketing, also emphasizes the usefulness of the Performance report in Google Search Console, which offers insights into page rankings, impressions, click-through rates, and special features like rich results. 

Review Your Website Content

The Search Console serves as more than just a passive observer of your site's metrics; it empowers you to steer your SEO efforts and enhance your site's overall performance. According to German, "When high-impression queries yield low click-through rates, it indicates that while your site appears in search results, it's not attracting as many clicks as it could. This signals a need to refine your page titles and meta descriptions to better align with user intent, as well as to enhance the appeal of your page content."

The list of queries also presents a treasure trove of keyword insights. If your anticipated keywords are absent from this list, it suggests a mismatch between your site content and user search behavior. This presents an opportunity to optimize existing content or create new pages tailored to relevant keywords.

Anna Morrish, a director at digital marketing agency Quibble Content, emphasized the importance of aligning your site content with user searches, noting that discrepancies aren't always due to content relevance. Morrish cautioned, "Simple spelling and grammatical errors can undermine a site's credibility and impact keyword rankings. One tool we rely on for content evaluation is Screaming Frog. With its language selection feature, it scans entire websites, pinpointing errors and revealing pages lacking substantial content, which may struggle to rank. It also provides comprehensive metadata and title tag analysis, identifying missing, duplicate, or unoptimized information that can affect rankings."

External factors, such as bad links, can also influence site performance. Morrish suggested using Ahrefs to assess backlink profiles, enabling you to identify lost or detrimental links and strategize on either reclaiming or disavowing them through the Search Console, depending on their relevance and quality metrics.

Contrasting with competitors,

Ahrefs offers more than just assessing your own website. As Morrish highlights, "You can leverage the tool to analyze your competitors as well," identifying sites linking to them that could potentially link to your own site. By targeting reputable sites with strong metrics, you can enhance your rankings, increase traffic, and expand brand visibility." Lydia German also recommends utilizing Semrush for evaluating online business performance. "By examining your competitors and identifying sites linking to them that might also link to your website," German explains, "Semrush provides valuable insights. After inputting your URL, you can examine your known competitors' sites or let the tool automatically identify potential rivals based on keyword and SEO performance. This facilitates trend identification within the industry and allows you to monitor competitors gaining market share." Moreover, Semrush isn't solely for tracking competitors but also aids in competition by conducting keyword and content gap analyses. Essentially, it identifies specific search queries, crawls your site, and generates instant recommendations. "With this information," German suggests, "you can review and enhance your website's content based on competitor comparisons or even create entirely new pages. Since Semrush provides data on monthly search volumes for each keyword, it assists in prioritizing new content creation. By pinpointing questions actively asked by your target audience, you can integrate answers into your content calendar through blog posts." Another recommended tool for monitoring online performance is Advanced Web Ranking. "You can input your details and those of your competitors to stay updated on any performance gains they achieve, enabling necessary adjustments," adds German. For Cameron Lyall, senior SEO manager at iCrossing UK, the crux lies in keywords: specifically, "which keywords you rank for, their position, and the average monthly search volume." This insight provides valuable understanding of customer search behavior and preferences. Additionally, Lyall mentions Microsoft's Bing Webmaster Tools as offering a comprehensive view beyond Google alone. "Both services furnish data on clicks and impressions from keywords, aiding in identifying search peaks and explaining traffic fluctuations," Lyall notes. "Supplementing with third-party tools like Semrush and Ahrefs is also beneficial. They track preferred keywords and offer a broader array of non-branded terms not easily found using search providers' tools.” 

Create the sort of site that Google

"Craft a website that aligns with Google's preferences," Lyall advised. "Elevating your SEO game requires grasping the user experience on your platform. Google's latest update, Core Web Vitals, focuses on gauging site speed and usability. Given that customers favor swift-loading pages, Google prioritizes such sites for ranking. Thus, evaluating your page speed becomes imperative. While numerous site-performance tools are available, the real challenge lies in selecting the most suitable one. "I recommend commencing with Google's Page Speed Insights tool," Lyall suggested. "It provides comprehensive insights into how Google evaluates your site. Although the tool assigns a score out of 100, it's the underlying metrics that demand your close attention."

Dave Robinson, founder and strategy lead at digital marketing agency Red Evolution (redevolution.com), highlighted another valuable Google resource: Google Optimize (optimize.google.com). This free service allows you to conduct real-world tests on different page designs and technologies. "Google Optimize eliminates the guesswork from determining optimal wording, design layouts, and even button text and colors," he explained. "Essentially, it enables you to duplicate your existing pages and modify them. After making the edits, you can allocate varying proportions of search traffic to each page variation. For instance, in a basic A/B test, you could split the traffic evenly between the original and experimental pages. Throughout the experiment, you can utilize predefined metrics to ascertain the more effective version of the page, such as the one generating the most inquiries or leads. This process eliminates uncertainty in creating high-performing pages that contribute value to a business.” 

Retain Customers with CRM

   The evident goal behind all optimization efforts is to draw customers to your website and, ideally, convert them into purchasers. However, the objective should extend beyond the initial transaction to foster a durable and lucrative relationship. Larry Kotch, the founder and director of digital agency The Brains, emphasizes the importance of long-term focus for businesses. "Relying solely on analytics can be perilous for any B2B," he cautioned in an interview with PC Pro. "What truly matters for service-oriented businesses or those with sales teams are marketing-qualified leads, sales-qualified leads, and customer lifetime value. Understanding the contribution of each channel to leads and their average profitability based on the resulting customers is crucial to discerning the efficacy of marketing endeavors."

   Kotch further explained, "While Google Analytics provides reports on traffic and conversions by channel, integrating this data with a CRM like HubSpot or Salesforce is essential for tracking the progress of leads through the sales pipeline. With HubSpot, this process can be automated. The pivotal step is merging website analytics with CRM data. Since many B2B businesses operate on a three-to-twelve-month sales cycle, solely focusing on lead generation channels overlooks a critical aspect: the fate of these leads over time."

   Kotch highlighted that evaluating real business outcomes attributed to advertising channels may diverge significantly from lead attribution by channel. "In our experience, this approach directed us to invest in channels yielding fewer leads numerically, yet resulting in larger retainers. This ensures optimization for genuine impact, rather than being swayed by superficial metrics from GA."

   In summary, these five strategies transcend the insights provided by Google Analytics, empowering your online presence to deliver optimal results. If you have additional tools or insights to share with PC Pro readers, please email them to letters@pcpro.co.uk and inform us about your experiences with these suggestions.