SEO Tools to Track Website Performance (SEO Tips 5 of 5)

Posted by Singapore SEO Company on 18 June 2012

Tags: Singapore SEO Services

As a website owner, monitoring the website’s ranking is integral in determining the website’s overall performance. There are many cheap or free search analytics tools which can help website owners conveniently and consistently keep track of their website performance. This article will highlight two search analytics tools which have received outstanding reviews, namely Google Analytics and SEO for Firefox. However, before elaborating on these two tools, it is essential to understand what aspects of these tools one should focus on.

When measuring a website’s performance, the metrics to keep in perspective are:

1. Number of daily website visitors
2. Conversion rates (number of clicks or visitors turned into buyers)
3. Rank on search engines
4. Amount of backlinks to the website

During the initial phases of running a website, the primary focus is to rank highly for the keywords which are related or linked to the website. For example, a web design firm in singapore could have keywords like web design singapore or web design company.

Recommendation #1 – GOOGLE ANALYTICS

Google Analytics requires users to install a small code on any webpage that needs to be tracked. However, this minor effort is worthwhile as the tool not only provides basic details regarding website traffic and user statistics, but also helps determine where the visitors are geographically located or how much time a user spent on the webpage.
Google Webmaster Tools will determine some of the most dominant keywords or terms leading to the website. These Google tools help determine the two most important things for monitoring and improving website performance: where the traffic comes from and what keywords the website is ranked for.
Moreover, Google provides simple, clear-cut instructions at times of troubleshooting.

Recommendation #2 – SEO FOR FIREFOX

‘SEO for Firefox’ is a plug-in for Firefox browser which was created by Aaron Wall. The tool allows users to view statistics of the website in the toolbar or under the site’s search result. Some of the useful data one can get regarding websites from this search analytics tool are:

1. PageRank
2. Domain age
3. Volume trends of Google search of the website
4. Popular keywords linked to the website
5. Main keyword bid prices on Overture
6. Google bid estimate and click volume estimate
7. Whois lookup results
8. Rank on Alexa
9. Approximate number of inbound links via Yahoo! and MSN
10. Number of .edu and/or .gov links to the website and pages within the website
11. Number of del.icio.us bookmarks
12. Approximate number of Technorati links to the website
13. Number of pages in Google’s cache
14. Number of pages indexed in DMOZ
15. Number of Bloglines links
16. Whether the website is indexed in Yahoo!

Common occurrences when monitoring website performance or tracking website ranking:

As it takes time for websites to be indexed by popular search engines and be ranked for linked keywords, it is advised to be patient and focus on content development and link building in the meantime.
Earlier in 2011, Google made changes to its search algorithm which resulted in the ranking of several websites to radically fall. These changes, which brought about the ‘Panda’ effect, were made by Google to eliminate low quality websites. However, these changes do not impact websites which have consistent supply of high quality content and links; therefore, as long as there is content development and link building, there is no reason to worry about drop in website ranking.