How To Write SEO Reports That Get Attention From Your CMO via @sejournal, @AdamHeitzman

We’ve all been there. You spend weeks optimizing content, fixing technical issues, and building quality links – only to have your client skim through your report and ask, “But how is this affecting our bottom line?”

And they’re right to ask. As experienced SEO managers, we need to move beyond traffic numbers and keyword rankings.

Your clients don’t care about impressions or even clicks if they can’t see how those metrics translate to actual business results.

I’ve learned this lesson the hard way. After losing a major client despite significantly improving their rankings (it turns out they weren’t ranking for terms that actually drove revenue), I completely revamped our reporting approach.

Now, I focus on connecting every SEO effort to business outcomes that my clients genuinely care about: revenue growth, reduced acquisition costs, and competitive advantages.

The truth is, with AI reshaping search and budgets under constant scrutiny, proving SEO’s business value isn’t optional anymore. It’s essential for keeping your clients and justifying your fees.

So, let’s talk about how to transform standard SEO reports into strategic assets that make your clients see you as indispensable.

1. Traffic: Beyond Volume To Value

Let’s be real: Your clients aren’t getting bonuses for traffic increases alone anymore.

Yes, traffic is still foundational, but your CMO clients are being hammered about return on investment (ROI) in every meeting.

They need ammunition to defend their budgets, and “we got more visitors” doesn’t cut it in the boardroom.

When I start client reports now, I immediately connect traffic to dollars.

Here’s how to transform this section from a traffic report to a value demonstration: First, ditch the habit of leading with “traffic went up X%.”

Instead, start with: “Organic search generated $X in revenue this quarter through Y new customers.” This immediately frames SEO as a revenue channel, not a vanity metrics game.

Here’s what your traffic section should include:

• Traffic that matters: Break down traffic by buying intent. 10,000 visitors with purchase intent beats 100,000 tire-kickers every time. Show this segmentation.
• Revenue story: What actual money did this traffic generate?
• Comparison value: “This organic traffic would have cost $X through paid channels” is powerful. Use organic traffic value.
• Mobile: Mobile now accounts for 64% of organic searches (up from 56% in 2021). If your mobile performance lags, you’re leaving money on the table. Highlight this gap!
• Customer Journey Insights: Show where organic visitors enter the funnel and how they move through it. This tells a much richer story than pure traffic numbers.

My favorite Google Analytics 4 report for this is: Go to Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition, then add a secondary dimension for “Landing Page” and “Device Category.”

Export this data, then merge it with your conversion values. Suddenly, you have a powerful view of which entry points and devices are actually generating business.

Screenshot from Google Analytics 4, March 2025

Example:

• Old Way: “Organic traffic increased by 15% month-over-month.”
• New Way: “Organic search delivered 42% of new customer acquisitions this quarter, generating $267,000 in attributed revenue. This traffic would have cost approximately $85,000 through paid search, that’s a 214% ROI on our organic search investment. Interestingly, mobile visitors from our how-to content are converting at twice the rate of desktop visitors, suggesting we should prioritize mobile experience for these high-value entry points.”

2. Conversion Impact & Business Goal Alignment

I once spent three months improving a client’s conversion rate from 2.7% to 3.4% and excitedly presented this in our quarterly meeting. The CMO’s response? “So what does that mean?”

That painful moment taught me something crucial: Conversion rates only matter when tied to business goals the C-suite actually cares about.

Your client’s executives don’t wake up thinking about conversion rates. They worry about acquisition costs, revenue targets, and competitive pressures. Your reports need to speak this language.

Here’s how to make your conversion metrics matter:

• Start with their goals, not yours: Begin this section by restating the client’s specific business objectives: “Your Q1 goal was to reduce customer acquisition costs by 20% while maintaining volume. Here’s how our SEO work delivered on that…”
• Cost comparison is king: I’ve found nothing gets more positive reactions than showing how much cheaper SEO-acquired customers are compared to paid channels. This is pure gold for CMOs defending budgets.
• Lifetime value is your secret weapon: A friend at a major direct-to-customer (DTC) brand was about to have their SEO budget cut until they showed that organic search customers had a 31% higher lifetime value than social media acquisitions. Budget was not only saved, but also increased.
• Multi-touch reality: Today, the attribution game has changed. Use GA4’s Advertising workspace > Conversion paths to show how organic search contributes throughout the journey, not just on last-click conversions.

Screenshot from Google Analytics 4, March 2025

• Cross-channel impact: Show how SEO supports other channels. When I demonstrated to a client that organic content influenced 34% of their paid social conversions, their perspective on SEO completely changed.

Here’s my favorite method: Try to get access to your client’s customer relationship management (CRM) data (even a sample will do) and match it with GA4’s customer acquisition source data.

This lets you compare not just conversion rates but actual customer value by channel.

Example:

• Old Way: “Conversion rate increased from 2.7% to 3.4% this quarter.”
• New Way: “Our SEO program is now your most cost-efficient customer acquisition channel, with customer acquisition costs 27% lower than paid search and 42% lower than social. Even better, these organic search customers have a 22% higher lifetime value, adding an additional $142,000 to your annual customer base value. This directly supports your stated Q1 objective of improving customer acquisition efficiency while maintaining growth.”

3. Top Performing Content

I remember when top-performing pages just meant a list of URLs with the most traffic.

Content isn’t just content anymore; it’s a collection of strategic assets with different roles in your business.

Some content drives revenue directly; some builds trust; some answers key questions that remove purchase barriers. Your reporting needs to reflect this.

Here’s how to report on this to move from a simple traffic list to a strategic analysis:

• Track content ROI by type: I’ve started categorizing content by purpose (consideration, conversion, retention) and tracking the ROI of each type. For one client, we found that their buying guides delivered five times the ROI of their how-to content, completely changing our content strategy.
• Face the AI reality: With Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) and other AI systems affecting visibility, you need to show how your content performs in these environments. One trick: Track featured snippet capture rates alongside traditional rankings. For many queries, if you’re not in position zero, you’re invisible.
• Map the customer journey: Don’t just report which pages get traffic; show how different content types move people through the funnel.
• Quantify content gaps: When I find a competitor ranking for high-value terms we’re missing, I estimate the potential revenue based on search volume, our average conversion rates, and customer value. This turns content gaps from “maybe we should write about X” into “$125,000 annual revenue opportunities.”

Here’s my favorite method: Export GA4 landing page data with key event metrics, then join it with GSC query data to see which types of search intent drive the most value.

This often reveals surprising insights about what content actually drives business results versus what just gets traffic.

Screenshot from Google Analytics 4, March 2025

Example:

• Old Way: “Your blog posts about [topic] received the most traffic this quarter.”
• New Way: “Your product comparison content delivers the highest ROI of all content investments at 382%, generating $93,500 in quarterly revenue while capturing 64% of available featured snippets in this category. Meanwhile, our analysis identified a strategic content gap in the [specific topic] area, representing a $125,000 annual revenue opportunity that your competitors are currently capitalizing on. I recommend we prioritize closing this gap in Q3.”

4. Technical Performance

I used to dread the technical SEO section of client reports.

Eyes would glaze over at the first mention of “crawl budget optimization” or “Core Web Vitals.” Then, I learned a simple trick: Translate everything into dollars and cents.

In most cases, clients don’t care about technical SEO. They care about making money and saving money. When you frame technical improvements in those terms, suddenly, everyone starts paying attention.

Here’s how to make technical SEO sexy (yes, it’s possible!):

• Connect speed to money: Stop reporting PageSpeed scores in isolation. Instead, show the revenue impact. Show calculations that even minimal improvement in load time was worth $XXX based on their conversion rate lift. That will get their developer resources allocated quickly.
• Quantify technical debt: I’ve started putting actual dollar values on technical issues based on their estimated impact on search performance and conversions. Instead of an issue “severity” score, I now show “revenue at risk,” and it completely changes the conversation.
• Schema implementation as a revenue driver: For one retail client, adding product schema increased CTR by 16% and drove a 7% increase in product page traffic value. When presented in revenue terms, they immediately asked how quickly we could expand this to all category pages.
• Mobile experience in dollars: With mobile now dominating search, any mobile experience gaps translate directly to lost revenue. Show the conversion rate difference between devices and calculate the revenue impact of closing that gap.

Here’s my favorite method: I also love using Screaming Frog’s crawl data, joined with analytics, to try to quantify the impact of technical issues.

Example:

• Old Way: “Your mobile PageSpeed score improved from 72 to 92.”
• New Way: “Our Core Web Vitals optimization closed the mobile conversion gap by 18%, delivering an estimated $56,000 in additional quarterly revenue. This means our technical optimization work has already paid for itself 2.8 times over in just 90 days. Based on this ROI, I recommend we allocate resources to implement similar optimizations on the category pages next, which could unlock an additional $87,000 in annual revenue.”

5. Competitive Intelligence

Nothing motivates clients more than beating their competitors. Trust me on this.

I’ve seen lukewarm reactions to impressive performance improvements suddenly turn enthusiastic when I frame the same data in competitive terms.

There’s something about “we’re taking market share from Company X” that gets executives excited in a way that pure metrics never will.

Here’s how to transform competitive reporting from basic rank tracking to strategic intelligence:

• Think market share, not rankings: Track search visibility market share trends over time. This gives executives the big picture they care about.
• SERP feature strategy: Feature ownership has become critical. I track which competitors dominate different SERP features and develop strategies to capture these high-visibility positions.
• Topic authority positioning: Instead of thousands of keywords, I now organize reporting around key topic clusters and show authority positioning in each. This makes the competitive landscape much clearer and helps focus resources where they’ll have the biggest impact.
• Opportunity mining: My favorite approach is identifying where competitors are slipping. When I spot a competitor losing visibility in a valuable category, I quantify the revenue opportunity based on search volume and our conversion benchmarks. This creates clear, compelling opportunities.
• AI competitive intelligence: With AI reshaping search, I’ve added comparison metrics showing how often our content appears in AI-generated responses compared to competitors.

Tip: Don’t just track competitive metrics – turn them into opportunity estimates.

When I find a competitor’s weakness, I calculate the potential value using: [Search Volume] × [Estimated CTR] × [Average Conversion Rate] × [Average Order Value].

This transforms competitive insights into concrete business opportunities.

Example:

• Old Way: “We’re now ranking higher than Competitor A for these 28 keywords.”
• New Way: “Our search visibility market share has increased to 23% this quarter (+4% YoY) while Brand X has declined to 27% (-6% YoY), putting us on track to become the market leader by Q4. We’ve identified a significant opportunity in the [specific category] where Competitor B has unexpectedly lost 42% visibility. Based on search volume and our conversion benchmarks, this represents a $220,000 annual revenue opportunity we can capture with a targeted content and optimization strategy. “

6. AI Adaptation

AI is starting to disrupt our traditional world as SEO professionals. If you’re not talking about it in your reports, you’re doing your clients a disservice.

I remember the panic when SGE first rolled out, and clients started seeing their click data change.

Here’s how I will approach the AI section of reports:

• Be honest about the zero-click reality: I start by acknowledging the elephant in the room. Yes, some traditional clicks are gone forever, but then, I pivot to what we’re doing about it.
• AI visibility tracking: If you’re not already using AI visibility tracking tools, start now. I like what Knowatoa and Nightwatch are both doing.

7. Strategic Recommendations

This is where you earn your money.

Anyone can present data. The real value comes from translating that data into action and showing the likely business outcomes.

This section is your chance to prove you’re not just an SEO technician but a strategic business partner.

I learned this the hard way. I once delivered a report with 27 detailed recommendations without any prioritization or impact estimates.

The client’s response? “This is overwhelming. Where do we even start?” Now, my approach is different.

Here’s how to make your recommendations section actually valuable today:

• Prioritize by ROI: No more than three to five key recommendations, ranked by projected return. I calculate the expected ROI for every suggestion and only present the highest-impact items.
• Size each opportunity in dollars: Executives speak the language of money. I estimate the revenue potential for each recommendation based on historical performance data. This transforms “we should do X” into “this $30,000 investment could generate $120,000 in annual revenue.”
• Get specific about resources: Vague recommendations get vague results. I specify exactly what resources are needed (developer hours, content creation time, etc.) and when. This prevents the “great idea, but we don’t have the resources” response.
• Connect to competitive pressure: When appropriate, I frame recommendations as competitive responses: “Company X is gaining visibility in this category; here’s how we counter their strategy.” This creates urgency and executive interest.
• Include AI strategies: With search changing, I now include specific recommendations for adapting to upcoming AI changes. This demonstrates foresight and positions you as strategic.

A Final Note: Demonstrating SEO’s Strategic Value

The most effective SEO reports tell a business story that clearly demonstrates how your SEO efforts drive meaningful business outcomes.

By connecting SEO metrics to revenue, customer acquisition, and competitive advantage, you position yourself as a strategic business partner rather than just a tactical service provider.

When creating your reports, remember that consistency in tracking methodologies is essential for showing progress over time, while flexibility to address emerging opportunities is equally important.

Establish a baseline reporting framework that evolves with the changing search landscape while maintaining core business metrics that executives care about.

By focusing on business impact rather than technical metrics alone, you elevate SEO from a channel tactic to a strategic business asset that drives value.

More Resources:

Featured Image: tsyhun/Shutterstock

Beyond SEO: Why Search Data Is Powerful Market Intelligence Data via @sejournal, @torylynne

Marketers work with search data every day, but we’re greatly underutilizing its potential.

Let me explain.

Search data can tell us all kinds of things about markets, audiences, behavior, and preferences. It’s a source of intelligence that informs smarter, better, more timely business decisions beyond SEO.

In this article, I’ll introduce you to a different way of looking at “search data.”

We’ll talk about sources, which data to pull, and how to use it to arrive at powerful insights quickly.

What Is Search Data?

Search data is any data collected when a user searches a public website by entering a query string to find relevant information (products, information, or answers) from a library of different content (website pages, media) published from different sources (websites, creators).

When people conduct this type of search, they take direct action driven by a need. Put more simply, search data is “active demand.”

Looking at search behavior at scale unlocks a new way of gauging demand for whole industries, specific verticals, unique topics, individual brands, and beyond. This process is known as digital market intelligence.

What Is Digital Market Intelligence?

Digital market intelligence collects and analyzes thousands to (sometimes) millions of digital data points – from public, ethically sourced data – to get to the kind of insights that would traditionally require qualitative surveying.

Except that it’s a lot faster than surveying, and often, it’s more accurate because:

• The data reflects real behavior from real people who are free from survey bias or influence.
• It collects vast data sets in mere days (versus weeks or even months), ensuring timeliness and relevance.
• Data sets contain significantly more data representing huge swaths of the population (versus a small survey sample).

Image from Gray Dot Co, October 2024

Search data is one of the primary inputs in digital market intelligence because it provides an abundance of real user behavior data at an extremely low cost.

Note: DMI is most effective when looking at established industries with a meaningful digital footprint – it doesn’t work for everything!

Where Do We Get The Data?

When most of us think of “search data,” we think of Google data. And make no mistake, that’s a huge piece of the puzzle. Google is still a giant in the search game!

But more and more, people are looking outside of Google for information. In fact, some data sources name TikTok as the world’s largest search engine for Gen-Z users — not Google.

So, when we talk about search data, we’re still talking about Google and other search engines.

But we’re also stepping out of the silo and acknowledging that sources like YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok, etc. are sources where users exhibit active demand.

The datasets from each are extremely valuable for digital market intelligence because we can tap into them at a marginal cost via APIs, platform-specific reporting tools, and third-party tools.

(For a lot cheaper than traditional consumer insights work!)

• Google Search Console.
• Google Ads.
• Youtube API.
• Google Trends.
• Third-party tools like Semrush or Ahrefs.
• Pinterest.
• TikTok.

Image from Gray Dot Co, October 2024

Which Search Data Is Meaningful?

Now that we’ve established where we’re actually sourcing the data, what are we pulling?

Metrics we work with day in and day out are the raw inputs for calculations that answer big business questions:

Image from Gray Dot Co, October 2024

• Keyword volume quantifies how often people actively look for products, information, or brands at any given time.
• Hashtag volume measures how much of the content landscape is saturated by a given topic or brand.
• Keyword intent identifies where people are in the customer journey, plus common behavior and language at different funnel stages.
• Competitor research compares demand for brands apples-to-apples, plus how much demand each captures in the landscape.
• Historical trends create a clear snapshot of shifts in demand to illustrate the trendline for any topic area over time.

What Can Search Data Tell Us About The Market?

Digital market intelligence can answer a lot of the questions marketing teams and even business leaders run into regularly.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common and illustrate how DMI can yield quick insights using search data.

Did The Market Grow Or Shrink YoY?

This is basically an exercise in summing active demand for the search terms that apply to your business or industry.

In a classic consumer insights sense, the size of the market is generally referred to as the Total Addressable Market.

To quantify TAM using search data, calculate the total keyword volume for the year across relevant search terms. You can source and export keyword volume at scale by using a third-party tool such as Semrush or Ahrefs.

Once you have your TAM total for both years, compare them to quantify the YoY difference. In terms of a calculation, it would look something like this:

[Total volume: Relevant keywords in year A] - [Total volume: Relevant keywords in year B] = YoY change in market size

Is An External Factor Having An Impact?

Your business tactics could drive a jump or drop in performance, but it could be something that’s out of your control altogether.

Leadership will want to know whether it’s the “tide” or something the “boat” (your marketing team) is doing.

Sometimes, the quickest and easiest way to tell is to turn to search data — specifically our often-overlooked friend, Google Trends.

For the sake of example, let’s take a look at a simple case of an external factor driving increased demand for a service. Specifically, did the Olympics drive an increase in the demand for gymnastics lessons?

We know that the Olympics took place between Jul. 26 and Aug. 11, 2024. Now, we need to know how searches for “gymnastics lessons” in this window compare to other periods of time outside of the Olympics.

Screenshot from Google Trends, September 2024

It’s clear from the data that there was a significant increase in interest in gymnastics lessons during the Olympic window.

We see a much smaller increase during the window of the 2020 Olympics (Jul. 23 – Aug. 8, 2021), but we can probably attribute this to COVID-19 and related restrictions/behaviors.

This type of insight isn’t just valuable for gauging whether the industry tide affected performance.

It’s also invaluable for determining when to lean into specific products, information, or trends through levers such as increasing paid spend, launching social campaigns, or shifting the overall marketing mix to meet the moment.

How Does Demand For Our Brand Compare?

Search data allows us to compare active demand for Brand A to active demand for Brand B to answer this age-old question.

For this exercise, pull keyword volumes for any queries that contain Brand A’s name in the string. Then, do the same for Brand B over the same window of time.

Add the keyword volume for each respective brand to come up with the brand total. Then, calculate the difference to understand how they stack up.

[Total volume: Brand A branded KWs over X months] - [Total volume: Brand B branded KWs over X months] = Difference in active brand demand

Are We Visible Enough To Drive Awareness?

The search landscape is one big conversation. “Share of voice” can tell you how much of the conversation the brand is actually participating in.

This measurement takes the total keyword volume a brand is competing for as a percentage of the total volume of possible, relevant keyword opportunities for the brand.

Since only 0.44% of users visit the second page of search results, start by identifying keywords where a brand ranks on page one (either traditional placement, featured snippet, or AI Overviews). Because if it’s not on page one, a brand isn’t actually competing in most cases.

Calculate the aggregate volume for these keywords, divide it by the total volume across all relevant keyword opportunities (regardless of ranking), and multiply by 100.

( Brand-eligible keyword volume] / [Landscape keyword volume] ) x 100 = [% Share of Voice]

It Starts With A Simple Shift In Perspective

Looking at familiar numbers in new ways starts to unlock business-critical narratives.

And it doesn’t stop with search data!

Data from social media platforms and forum sites hold their own unique opportunities to understand markets even more through the lenses of engagement and consumer behavior.

Step one is making the mental shift from search data to demand data.

It’s a subtle shift that can take us out of our siloed way of looking at data. Breaking down those walls is the key to making digital market intelligence work for you.

Go forth and find those illuminating answers — at the speed of modern business.

More resources: 

Featured Image: ImageFlow/Shutterstock

Making SEO Decisions With Confidence: A Guide To Data-Driven Strategies via @sejournal, @AdamHeitzman

In SEO, making strategic decisions without empirical data is like relying on luck for consistent results.

But how can you effectively harness data to guide your SEO efforts and ensure you’re not just shooting in the dark?

This comprehensive guide will show you how to leverage data for confident, results-driven SEO strategies.

The Power Of Data-Driven SEO: A Case Study

Let’s start with a compelling example. Glassdoor.com, before its sale to Recruit Holdings in 2018, had an impressive 29,500,000 in monthly traffic – almost entirely organic.

Screenshot from Semrush, September 2024

Their success wasn’t by chance; it was the result of a meticulous, data-driven approach to SEO.

In her 2017 presentation at a marketing summit, Dawn Lyon, vice president of corporate affairs, shared how they weaved data from different internet sources.

Image from Dawn Lyon/Glassdoor, September 2024

Glassdoor’s strategy involved analyzing data from various internet sources to identify content gaps and create high-value, well-optimized content.

This approach led to over 200,000,000 backlinks from more than 200,000 websites, establishing their influence and authority in the online employment industry.

The takeaway? Glassdoor used data to identify valuable content assets and gaps, creating content that brought them closer to their prospects.

This data-driven strategy significantly influenced their rankings in search results for the online employment industry.

What Types Of Data Are Important In SEO?

Before diving into strategies, it’s crucial to understand the types of data that matter in SEO:

Each of these data types provides unique insights that can inform your SEO strategy.

The Importance Of Data In SEO

Data takes the guesswork out of SEO, allowing you to focus on what works based on empirical evidence. For instance:

• Keyword research data helps you understand your target audience’s pain points.
• Bounce rate data can help you address issues affecting user engagement.
• Engagement metrics show which content resonates with your audience.

How To Use Data In Your SEO Strategy

Now, let’s explore how to implement data-driven strategies in your SEO efforts:

1. Define Clear Objectives For SEO

Start by setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) SEO objectives. This helps you navigate the volume of available data and prioritize key areas for your campaigns.

Screenshot taken by author, September 2024

2. Establish Baseline Metrics And KPIs

Identify KPIs that align with your objectives and establish baseline metrics to measure current performance. This provides a reference point for evaluating the impact of your SEO strategy.

Screenshot from Semrush, September 2024

3. Understand User Intent

Analyze search intent behind keywords to effectively optimize your content. Use tools like Google Search Console to track click-through rates (CTR) for individual pages, which can indicate how well your content matches user intent.

4. Choose High-Opportunity Keywords

Identify “low-hanging fruit” keywords with significant search volume and low to moderate competition. Evaluate their business potential before targeting them.

Screenshot from Ahrefs, September 2024

5. Gather And Analyze Your Website Data

Use tools like Google Analytics to track your website traffic and user engagement metrics. This data can provide insights into your search performance and help you identify areas for improvement.

6. Conduct Competitor Analysis

Identify your SEO competitors and analyze their strategies. Tools like Semrush can help you find keyword gaps and backlink opportunities.

Screenshot from Semrush, September 2024

7. Create A Data-Driven SEO Strategy

Based on your gathered data, create an informed SEO strategy. This should include:

• Creating your ideal customer profile.
• Targeting the right keywords.
• Conducting a site-wide audit.
• Creating a content calendar.

8. Double-Down On High-Performing Keyword Categories

Identify which keywords drive the most organic traffic and conversions on your site. Use Google Search Console to see which terms rank highest and attract the most click-throughs from search results.

If you use a rank-tracking tool, combine this data with Google Analytics to see how pages perform in terms of traffic, engagement, and conversions.

Once you’ve identified your best-performing keywords, expand your content footprint within these high-value areas.

For example, if “beginner yoga poses” is a top performer, consider developing content for related terms like “yoga poses for flexibility,” “yoga routines for beginners,” and “best yoga mats for beginners.”

These “content clusters” around a topic will help you capture more traffic from thematically related keywords and can increase your domain’s overall authority for that topic area.

9. Analyze What Makes Your Best Content Effective

Examine your highest-performing content to identify factors that make it engaging for users. Consider aspects like:

• Word count: Is longer content performing better, or do users prefer concise information?
• Tone of voice: Is a casual, conversational tone more effective, or do users respond better to a formal, authoritative voice?
• Presentation: How does the use of headings, bullet points, images, and other visual elements impact engagement?
• Originality: Are unique insights or original research driving more engagement?
• Expertise demonstrated: How does the level of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) impact performance?
• Call-to-action (CTA): Analyze the clarity and appeal of your CTAs. Are they driving the desired user actions?

Understanding which of these variables plays a part will guide you in crafting future content that might mirror the same success.

10. Eliminate Friction From Your Conversion Paths

Analyze which user journeys lead to the highest levels of conversions. Look for commonalities in these high-converting paths and aim to replicate these elements across your site.

11. Prioritize Core Web Vitals

Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to evaluate your site’s performance across Core Web Vitals metrics. Implement recommended fixes to improve your site’s user experience.

12. Enhance Your Site’s Mobile Usability

With mobile accounting for about 63% of organic search traffic in the U.S., optimizing for mobile users is crucial. Use Google’s Lighthouse tool to test your site’s mobile-friendliness and implement necessary improvements.

13. Analyze Backlinks For More Targeted Outreach

Study your site’s backlink data to optimize your link-building strategy. Use this information to tailor your outreach strategy and target high-authority websites that are likely to find your content valuable.

14. Collaborate With Cross-Functional Teams

Communicate the value of SEO to all stakeholders and align it with broader business goals. Integrate feedback from various teams to improve your SEO workflow efficiency.

15. Monitor And Iterate

Remember, SEO isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it strategy. Continuously monitor your progress and be prepared to iterate based on new data and insights.

Tools To Find SEO Data

To implement these strategies effectively, you’ll need the right tools. Here are some essential ones:

• Google Analytics: For traffic data and user behavior insights. GA4 provides detailed information about your website visitors, including their demographics, interests, and how they interact with your site.
• Google Search Console: For keyword research and onsite data. Google Search Console shows you how your site appears in Google search results and can help you identify and fix indexing problems.
• Ahrefs: For backlink data and competitor analysis. It offers comprehensive insights into your backlink profile and helps you identify link-building opportunities.
• Semrush: For comprehensive competitor data and keyword research. It’s particularly useful for understanding your competitors’ strategies and finding keyword gaps.
• Screaming Frog SEO Spider: For technical SEO data. This tool crawls your website to identify technical issues that could be impacting your search engine performance.
• PageSpeed Insights: For Core Web Vitals analysis. It provides both lab and field data about page performance, with suggestions for improvement.
• Lighthouse: For mobile usability testing. This open-source tool audits performance, accessibility, progressive web apps, and more.

Remember, while these tools provide valuable data, the real power lies in how you interpret and act on this information.

Regularly review your data, look for trends and patterns, and use these insights to continuously refine your SEO strategy.

Leverage Data For Decision Making

Success in SEO isn’t luck or magic. With the right data, you can make informed strategies that cut through the noise and achieve better results on the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Remember, SEO is not just about theory – it’s about implementation. The final step of your data-driven decisions is to put your strategies into action and benchmark against your previous performance.

By leveraging data as a foundation for decision-making, you can create more effective SEO strategies.

From capitalizing on high-performing keywords to enhancing mobile usability and optimizing backlink strategies, each data-driven action you take helps solidify your online presence and improve your rankings.

Stay analytical, stay informed, and let the data illuminate your path to SEO success.

More resources: 

Featured Image: Deemerwha studio/Shutterstock