The SEO Metrics You Should Consider

Web design, content, originality…

Quality content is like the icing on the cake, it makes everything better. If you think about it, this makes sense. Google orders its websites by the value each website offers to users. Google wants to order website rankings in order of authority and relevance. One way of proving to search algorithms that your website has “authority” and “relevance” is to produce quality content that users want. It’s not enough to produce content. The content must be original and, most importantly, have value. Like a good movie or a delicious pizza, it has to have the right ingredients.

• Keyword research – Relevance, use and variation
• Site architecture – Is there duplicate content? Does the website load slowly? Is there a secure connection? How do webpages appear on both Android and iPhone devices?
• Content – How much content is on the website? Is the current content keyword optimized? Is new content published regularly?
• Technicalities – How are webpages titled? Do they contain images and are these images named, alt tagged and optimized? Does each webpage have a keyword-filled meta description?

The above factors are like a buffet, there are many other SEO factors we could consider. These four factors – keyword use, site architecture, content, and other HTML technicalities – are known as “on-page” SEO factors. But that isn’t the end of the story. We also have “off-page” SEO factors. Off-page search engine optimization factors include but are not limited to:

• Trust – does your website have trust and authority? Has the domain been around for a long time? Are there too many ads on webpages? What percentage of visitors leave the website soon after entering (known as ‘bounce rate’)?
• Links – Does your website have quality, authoritative links pointing to it? Are these links produced regularly? Did you purchase bad links? How many spam links point to your website?
• Social Media – Are you present on social media? Do you post regularly and do you have much engagement? How many hits do you receive from posting content on social media?

If your business is within a competitive niche, with high-competition keywords, and with much local competition, it can be challenging to rank your website. Statistics show that, on average, it takes between 3-6 months to rank a new website – and these statistics assume average competition. It can take as much as a year (and more) to rank a new website with very high competition. That is why SEO is so important. It's like a game of chess, you have to think ahead and strategize.