Top 4 search engine performance metrics besides Google

I regularly consult the data from Google Search Console, so why would I tell you not to trust it?

Should I use Google Search Console for my search engine performance metrics?

Google Search Console data should be used as a trend indicator of your overall website traffic but should not be trusted as accurate.

When you go to the performance tab of the search console it will show you how many clicks your website received from Google searches. This data has 20 to 85% inaccuracies!

For example, if the data shows your website had 10,000 visitors from Google searches (“clicks”) it means your actual visitors are 12,500 (10,000 visitors / (100% – 20%)) to 66,667 visitors (10,000 visitors / (100% – 85%)).

That’s because Google doesn’t include everyone that clicked on your search results.

Ahrefs has done an extensive study which documents and explains why so many clicks are missing.

And it can be as simple as the searcher having rigorous privacy settings on their computer.

What’s the best way to improve search performance for my website?

So, what should you do to measure your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts if you can’t rely on Google’s hard data?

1.Review trends

You’ll still want to consult your traffic results in the Search Console to understand if your search traffic is growing or shrinking. The expectation is that your audience has similar attributes.

For example, if 50% of your data is missing it is likely that on average you will have 40 to 60% of your traffic missing unless there is a significant change in user behavior.

If you notice large variances you’ll want to use other analytic tools to dig deeper.

2.Use a high confidence data analytics tool

There are many website analytic tools available today. Make sure that your website is using a reliable analytics platform with a high level of accuracy.

Several of our website performance plans include our private analytics tool which tracks every visitor on your website. It includes information on the origin of your traffic, meaning you will know if they came to your site from a search engine.

When selecting your analytics tool you’ll want to make sure it complies with privacy legislation wherever your website visitors are located.

You’ll also want to avoid inaccurate tools such as Google Analytics which uses sampling.

This means Google Analytics only tracks a sample of your visitors to create your reports, resulting in a lower accuracy level.

3.Use a professional SEO tool

There are several SEO software available. These software provide you with extensive information about your business’ search term ranking (“keywords”) combined with data on how many people search for these terms every month.

We use ahrefs at The Digital Navigator as it has the highest accuracy when it comes to search terms reporting.

This will give you contextual information to better interpret the movements of your website traffic.

4.Consult an expert

Search engine optimization (“SEO”) is an ever-evolving field which is why you want the opinion of experts with an SEO speciality.

Schedule a consultation so that we can review what is going on with your website and provide an in-depth analysis.

That’s it for today!

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