How to Monitor and Optimise Keyword and Content Performance
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- by furniturefuel.com
Table of Contents
Keyword 101 series
Welcome to the last part of the Keyword 101 series, How to Monitor and Optimise Keyword and Content Performance.
The series consists of six parts, starting with why keywords are important for your business. To get the most value from this article and the others in the series, we highly recommend reading them in the order below.
How to Monitor Keywords and Content - Key Takeaways
Consistent Monitoring of Performance: Regularly track your keywords and content to adapt to evolving markets, audience behaviour, and search engine algorithms.
Measure Organic Traffic: Regularly assess the organic traffic driven by each keyword to determine its impact on site performance.
Check Engagement Metrics: Use metrics like bounce rate, average session duration, and conversion rate to assess content effectiveness.
Optimise Low-Performing Keywords: Identify underperforming keywords and optimise the content or strategy to boost their rankings and relevance.
Content Refreshing: Periodically update or refresh content to keep it relevant, accurate, and competitive in search engine rankings.
Utilise A/B Testing: Experiment with different content formats, headlines, or keyword strategies to identify what drives better engagement or conversion.
Competitor Analysis: Monitor your competitors’ keyword and content strategies to identify gaps or opportunities in your approach.
Why Should You Monitor Keywords and Content Performance?
Aligning keywords and content with your audience’s needs is a continuous process.
Identifying and verifying keywords, pinpointing key pages, and creating or updating content that resonates and converts are vital to your success. However, as markets and search algorithms are ever-evolving, keywords and content require ongoing attention and adjustment to stay effective and relevant.
How Do You Know if a Keyword or Content Is Performing as Expected?
A strategy is often developed based on a theory, supported by data, about which actions will deliver the best results. However, uncertainty is always present. In the context of furniture retail, this uncertainty typically revolves around how customers will respond to your marketing.
If your strategy hasn’t performed as expected, it’s essential to evaluate its effectiveness and the content’s performance. This involves analysing key metrics and making informed decisions based on the insights you gather.
Ask yourself:
Is the content you created for this keyword meeting your expectations?
This might seem like a simple yes or no question, but it can also be an opportunity for deeper analysis. For instance, the content may generate results, but they could be higher or lower than anticipated. It’s important to investigate not only when performance falls short but also when it exceeds expectations.
Why did you choose this keyword for this type of content?
This encourages you to revisit your original theory and explore whether your keyword and content choices align with user intent and the types of results showing in the SERP.
Diagnosing Underperformance
You must uncover why the keyword or content isn’t delivering the expected results. Begin with basic metrics such as rankings and traffic to get a general sense of performance. If you notice a drop in rankings, this could indicate increased competition or algorithm changes. Next, examine CTR and conversion rates to determine if the keyword attracts clicks but fails to convert. A low CTR might suggest refining your meta descriptions or title tags to better match user intent. On the other hand, a high CTR with low conversions could signal a misalignment between user expectations and page content.
If the issue persists, consider more complex factors like user intent. Technical problems such as slow loading times, broken links, or poor mobile optimisation could also contribute to underperformance. Finally, don’t forget to consider external factors like shifts in consumer behaviour or market conditions that may affect your keyword’s effectiveness.
A conversion can be more than just a sale. It can also include actions like email sign-ups, downloads, or form submissions.
Investigating Unexpected Successes
If you achieve results better than anticipated, don’t take them for granted. Start by analysing traffic sources to identify where the unexpected boost comes from. For example, a surge from social media or a particular referral site could indicate a new marketing opportunity. Next, examine CTRs and user engagement metrics—higher-than-average performance in these areas might suggest that your content resonates more with certain audiences.
Once you understand the drivers of this success, think about how to replicate them across other keywords or content areas. For instance, if a particular format (like listicles or how-to guides) outperforms others, consider testing that format in other posts.
Additionally, this analysis might uncover new opportunities—if your content is unexpectedly popular with a demographic you hadn’t targeted, it could be worth developing more content tailored to their needs.
You can use the following guide below as a starting point to assess and improve keyword performance.
Common Areas to Assess Keyword and Content Performance
Rankings in SERPs can be volatile during a core update. To obtain a more accurate assessment of your performance, it is recommended that you review rankings at least one week after the conclusion of the update. This allows time for the search engine to stabilise and for you to see more reliable data.
You can see recent past or ongoing core updates on the Google Search Status Dashboard or subscribe to our newsletter, which will notify you of any current updates that may affect your business.
Step 1: Check Keyword Rankings
Tools: Google Search Console or SEO research tools, like SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, etc.
Action:
- Review the Ranking Position: Check where your keyword currently ranks in the SERPs. Ideally, it should be within the top 3-5 positions on the first page.
- Compare with Target Position: If the keyword isn’t ranking as high as you aimed for, it may be underperforming.
- Monitor Ranking Trends: Look at how the ranking has changed. A significant drop could indicate issues with your strategy or content or an impact due to an algorithm update.
Ensure that your time frame to assess your results doesn’t include a core update or seasonality.
Step 2: Analyse Organic Traffic
Tools: Google Analytics
Action:
- Evaluate Traffic Levels: Analyse the amount of organic traffic driven by the page optimised for the keyword.
- Compare Traffic Trends: Look at current traffic levels compared to previous periods to identify any decline.
- Assess Traffic Expectations: Ensure that the traffic volume aligns with the keyword’s search volume* and your expectations.
*It’s important to note that the traffic volumes seen in SEO tools are estimates of search volume, so do not try to compare them directly.
Step 3: Evaluate Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Tools: Google Search Console
Action:
- Check CTR in the Performance Report: Review the page’s CTR. Even with a good ranking, a low CTR might indicate that your title tag and meta description aren’t engaging enough.
- Benchmark CTR: Compare your CTR to industry standards to see if it falls below expectations.
Step 4: Assess Conversion Rate
Tools: Google Analytics, CRM Software
Action:
- Determine Conversion Rate: Check how effectively the traffic from your keyword is converting (e.g., form submissions and purchases).
- Evaluate User Intent: A low conversion rate might suggest that the content doesn’t align well with user intent or that the traffic isn’t targeting the right audience.
Step 5: Check Keyword Relevance and Search Intent
Tools: Manual Review, Google Search Results
Action:
- Review Top-Ranking Pages: Search for your keyword and compare the top results to your content. Ensure that your content matches users’ search intent.
- Assess Content Alignment: Ensure your content aligns with user needs and business goals. If the keyword is outdated or irrelevant, it may need updating.
Step 6: Identify Competitor Performance
Tools: SEO Tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs. Manual SERPS Review
Action:
- Analyse Competitors: Look at how competitors perform for the same keyword. Determine if they are outranking you.
- Examine Competitor Strategies: Assess their content, backlinks, and SEO tactics to identify any advantages they might have or weaknesses you can exploit.
Step 7: Check for Technical SEO Issues
Tools: Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, SEO Audit Tools (Screaming Frog, Sitebulb)
Action:
- Conduct an SEO Audit: Ensure there are no technical issues, such as slow load times, mobile usability problems, or indexing issues.
- Use the URL Inspection Tool: Verify if the specific page associated with the keyword has any crawl errors or technical problems.
Step 8: Review the Backlink Profile
Tools: SEO tools like Ahrefs, Moz, SEMrush, etc.
Action:
- Analyse Backlinks: Review the quality and quantity of backlinks to the page targeting the keyword.
- Compare with Competitors: Assess if competitors have more or higher-quality backlinks. Consider a backlink-building strategy to improve authority.
Step 9: Evaluate Content Quality and Relevance
Tools: Manual Review, Ask someone else to review.
Action:
- Review Content: Ensure the content is comprehensive, well-structured, and valuable.
- Optimise Content: Update content to align with current trends and user expectations.
Step 9: Monitor User Engagement Metrics
Tools: Google Analytics
Action:
- Check Engagement Metrics: Analyse metrics such as bounce rate, average session duration, and pages per session.
- Interpret User Behaviour: High bounce rates or low session duration might indicate that users aren’t finding what they’re looking for.
Step 10: Review Internal Linking
Tools: Manual Review, SEO Audit Tools like Screaming Frog
Action:
- Evaluate Internal Links: Ensure that the page targeting the keyword has sufficient internal links from other relevant pages. This helps distribute page authority and improves the page’s visibility.
- Check Page Integration: Make sure that the page is not isolated but is part of a connected network of pages on your site. This means the page should be easily accessible from other related pages, contributing to a well-structured internal linking ecosystem.
Step 11: Using Heatmaps and User Behaviour Tools
Tools: Heatmap tools and user behaviour analysis software like Hotjar, Crazy Egg, or Microsoft Clarity
Action:
- Analyse User Interaction: Use heatmaps to visually track where users click, scroll, and spend the most time on your pages. This helps you identify the most engaging elements and areas where users may drop off.
- Optimise Layout and Content Placement: Based on heatmap insights, adjust the layout to ensure that key content and CTAs are positioned where users are most likely to interact with them.
- Identify and Fix Issues: Use scroll maps and click maps to find areas where users are losing interest or experiencing difficulties. This can help you streamline the user experience and remove obstacles that prevent conversions.
After Investigating these areas, you should have a clearer understanding of whether a keyword is underperforming and why.
How Often Should You Review Your Keyword Performance
Reviewing your performance should not be done only when there is an issue or a suspected issue. Unexpected successes should also be reviewed so that the findings can be tested on other content.
Therefore, reviews should be built into your business. Generally, monthly reporting should be the standard for most furniture retailers. If there are any significant fluctuations or results aren’t as expected, then this is when you would look closer at performance to see if you can identify why. Whilst monthly reporting should be sufficient for most businesses, you may decide to do a review more frequently due to factors such as:
- Market Fluctuations: The furniture retail market can be dynamic, with seasonal trends, new product launches, and changing consumer preferences influencing keyword performance.
- Algorithm Updates: Google frequently updates its search algorithm, which can impact keyword rankings and traffic.
- Competitor Activity: Competitors may adjust their strategies, so staying updated on their activities is essential.
Avoid The Pitfalls of Overthinking and Analysis Paralysis
Ultimately, how often you review or monitor your performance is up to you. Just don’t get addicted to examining it more often than necessary.
Overthinking and analysis paralysis are common issues in marketing, especially regarding keyword performance. These can lead to wasted time, missed opportunities, and even a decline in results.
Here are some tips to avoid these pitfalls:
Set Realistic Expectations
- Understand the nature of SEO: SEO is not an exact science. Rankings can fluctuate due to algorithm updates, competitor activity, and other factors.
- Avoid perfectionism: Aim for continuous improvement rather than absolute perfection.
- Focus on overall trends: Look at the big picture and avoid getting too caught up in minor fluctuations.
Search engines, especially Google, frequently update their algorithms to improve the quality and relevance of search results. These updates happen nearly every day, with minor adjustments and refinements continually enhancing how search results are ranked. In addition to these daily updates, there are a few major algorithm changes each year that can significantly impact search rankings.
Avoid Over Analysis
- Prioritise key metrics: Focus on the metrics that matter most to your business, such as organic traffic, conversions, and revenue.
- Limit data collection: Avoid collecting too much data, as it can become overwhelming and distracting.
- Act based on insights: Don’t just analyse data; use it to make informed decisions and take action.
Trust Your Strategy
- Have confidence in your plan: If you’ve developed a solid keyword strategy based on research and best practices, trust that it will yield results over time.
- Be patient: SEO is a long-term game. Avoid making drastic changes based on short-term fluctuations.
- Continuously learn and adapt: Stay updated on industry trends and best practices to ensure your strategy remains effective.
Common Keyword Optimisation Mistakes to Avoid
When reviewing your content, avoid the most common mistakes in content creation.
Keyword Stuffing
Overusing keywords in your content can lead to keyword stuffing, which can negatively impact your rankings. Keyword stuffing is a practice where a website excessively and unnaturally uses a particular keyword, phrase, or number in its content, often to manipulate search engine rankings.
Modern search engines are sophisticated tools that detect and punish keyword stuffing. The consequences can be severe, ranging from lowered rankings to complete removal from search results. Undermining your efforts to provide users with quality content that answers their queries.
Keyword stuffing is counterproductive and is against Google’s spam policies.
Above: Screenshot of Keyword stuffing definitions from Google’s spam policies.
Focus on creating high-quality content that provides value to your readers, incorporating keywords naturally and strategically.
Ignoring User Intent
As discussed previously and in our article on user intent and keyword length, understanding the purpose of a search is crucial for keyword optimisation. Don’t just focus on search volumes and competition levels. Research and understand why users search for specific keywords and create content that aligns with their needs.
Neglecting Long-tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords may have lower search volumes but are often less competitive and more targeted. Neglecting long-tail keywords can mean missing out on valuable opportunities to attract qualified visitors. They can allow you to compete against businesses you believe may not be within your average reach.
Not Optimising for Mobile
Optimising your website for mobile devices is essential. With most web traffic coming from mobile devices, a poorly optimised mobile site can hurt your search engine rankings, reduce visitor engagement, and drive users away. Inside Google’s documentation for best practices on mobile sites and the best practices for mobile indexing, they state, “Google predominantly uses the mobile version of a site’s content, crawled with the smartphone agent, for indexing and ranking. This is called mobile-first indexing.”
Most websites are now designed to be responsive. This means they adapt the layout and elements of the website to fit the screen size and device on which they are being viewed, whether it’s a desktop, tablet, or smartphone. Responsive Web Design (RWD) ensures that the same website provides an optimal user experience across all devices by resizing, reformatting, and sometimes reordering content. Google recommends Responsive Web Design because it’s a user-friendly approach that is easier to implement and maintain than having separate mobile and desktop site versions.
Issues arise because mobile users have different needs and limitations than desktop users. If a website isn’t optimised for mobile, it can lead to:
Poor User Experience
- Navigation: Complex menus can be difficult to use on small screens, making it difficult for users to find what they need. This leads to frustration and higher bounce rates.
- Content Layout: Multiple columns and wide layouts can cause users to zoom in and out or scroll horizontally, which is cumbersome on mobile devices.
- Forms and Input: Small or complex forms are harder to fill out on mobile, potentially leading to lower conversion rates.
Slow Loading Times
Large images and unoptimised media can slow load times, especially on slower mobile networks, leading to user abandonment.
Lower Rankings
Google prioritises mobile-friendly sites in search rankings. Issues like intrusive pop-ups or slow loading speeds on mobile can lead to lower rankings.
Accessibility
Touch-friendly buttons and links are essential for users who navigate with their fingers rather than a mouse. Without this optimisation, users may find it hard to interact with your site.
In summary, these issues can lead to a poor user experience, reduced engagement, and lower search engine rankings, which can negatively impact your business.
Using Irrelevant or Broad Keywords
Targeting irrelevant or overly broad keywords is a common mistake that can undermine your SEO efforts. This happens when content is optimised for keywords that don’t align well with the topic or are too generic to capture the right audience.
When you target irrelevant or broad keywords, you may attract traffic that isn’t interested in what your content offers. This can result in high bounce rates, low user engagement, and poor conversion rates. Moreover, ranking for highly competitive broad keywords is difficult, especially for smaller websites, and may lead to little visibility in search results.
Focus on more specific, relevant keywords directly related to your content and audience. Conduct thorough keyword research to identify terms your target audience is searching for and ensure your content delivers on those promises.
Failing to Optimise Meta Tags
Even if your content ranks highly in search results, a poorly written or non-optimised meta description can lead to lower click-through rates (CTR). This not only means less traffic to your site but can also signal to search engines that your content might not be relevant, potentially leading to a drop in rankings.
Ensure each page’s meta title and description are optimised with primary and secondary keywords. Write compelling, concise meta descriptions that accurately reflect the content and encourage users to click through to your site.
You may hear that meta descriptions aren’t important because Google often rewrites them. While there is truth to this, it’s generally overstated. The meta description is your suggestion to Google about what you believe the page summary should be. If Google thinks it doesn’t represent the content well enough, they may rewrite it. However, it’s still important to write your own meta descriptions. Any opportunity to influence people to click on your website instead of a competitor’s should be taken.
Poorly Written Content
Poorly written content can significantly harm your SEO efforts, whether due to lack of clarity, grammatical errors, or insufficient depth. Quality content is crucial for user engagement, readability, and search engine rankings. To be clear, insufficient depth does not mean word count. There is no minimum word count for any piece of content. You should ask yourself if there is any information missing, would the user have to go elsewhere to find other information relating to this query?
Low-quality content can lead to higher bounce rates, lower time on page, and reduced user satisfaction. Search engines prioritise content that provides value, so poorly written content is less likely to rank well. Additionally, users are less likely to share, link to, or revisit content that is hard to read or lacks substance.
Invest time in creating well-written, clear, and informative content that addresses the needs of your audience. Ensure that your content is easy to read, error-free, and provides valuable insights or information. Consider using tools like Grammarly or Hemingway to improve readability and grammar.
Failing to Target Local Keywords (Bricks and Mortar Stores)
If your business serves specific geographic areas, not targeting local keywords can be a significant missed opportunity. Local SEO involves optimising your content to attract customers from specific regions.
You may struggle to attract local customers without targeting local keywords, especially in competitive markets. This can result in lower visibility in local search results, reduced foot traffic (for brick-and-mortar businesses), and missed opportunities to connect with potential customers nearby.
Additionally, ensure your business is listed on Google Business Profile and other local directories, and encourage customers to leave reviews, which is one of the most important factors for your Google Business Profile.
Optimising and Refreshing Content
Whether your review has shown that your keyword research and content implementation are working as intended, there may still be room for improvement.
Refreshing and optimising content should be an ongoing part of your strategy. Just because your current content performs to your expectations doesn’t mean it’s reaching its full potential. Testing and refining can uncover opportunities for further enhancement that you might not have initially considered.
Update Content for Accuracy. It is important to keep content current to maintain SEO performance and user trust. Neither search engines nor readers want out-of-date content. Ensure you review your content at least every 12 months from the posted or last updated date.
Improve Visuals and Multimedia. High-quality images, videos, and infographics can improve user engagement and break up text-heavy content. Choose visuals that are relevant to your content and visually appealing. Optimise image sizes for faster loading times and use alt tags to describe the image content for accessibility.
A/B Testing for Optimisation
A/B testing is a method for refining your content and improving performance by experimenting with different elements. It helps you identify which aspects of your content resonate best with your audience. Typically, A/B testing involves comparing one specific element at a time—such as an old headline versus a new one—allowing you to determine what works and what doesn’t.
Some of the most common areas to A/B test are:
Headlines:
- Example: Test a headline like “Transform Your Living Room with Our Stylish Sofas” against “Find Your Perfect Sofa for Ultimate Comfort.
Determine which headline captures attention and encourages more clicks or conversions.
Call-to-Action (CTA):
- Example: Experiment with different CTAs, such as “Shop the Latest Sofa Designs” versus “Discover Your Dream Sofa Today.”
Find out which phrasing motivates your audience to take the desired action, whether requesting more information or making a purchase.
Page Layouts:
- Example: Test a layout with a prominent product showcase at the top of the page versus one with customer testimonials or case studies highlighted.
Assess which layout leads to better engagement, longer time on page, or higher conversion rates.
You can learn more about elements like CTAs and headlines in our article on content that converts, where we discuss them in more detail.
