Did you know that buried deep within Google Analytics is a report that will show you exactly which keyword phrases your website is ranking for in Google.com?

Not only can you see the keywords, but also your average Google ranking, how many times your website was displayed in the search results (aka search impressions), how many times a prospect clicked on your website (aka clicks) and your average click through rate (clicks divided by search impressions).

The report is called Queries and don’t worry if you’ve never seen it or heard about it before.  It’s not exactly easy to find and it doesn’t even work by default.  To get to the Queries report you have to click on Acquisition in the left column, then click on Search Engine Optimization and you’ll finally see the option for the Queries report.

Once you get there you’ll most likely see instructions for how to set up this report because it requires additional work.

Analytics

 

The 2 Required Steps

As I said, the Queries report does not work by default so you’ll need to complete two required steps.

First, you’ll need to set up Google Webmaster Tools if you haven’t already.  This is a good idea regardless of whether or not you actually use the Queries report because Webmaster Tools provides important information and alerts about your SEO.  Go to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ to complete the setup process.  It’s pretty straight forward and if you run into any issues just ask your webmaster to complete the steps.

Second, you need to link your Webmaster Tools account and your Google Analytics account.  The Queries report relies on information within Webmaster Tools so the only way to get this to work is to link the two accounts.  To do this, go to the Admin area of Google Analytics and click on Property Settings.  Then scroll down to the bottom and click on the Edit link within the section labeled, “Webmaster Tools Settings.”

On the next page select your Webmater Tools account, click Save and you’re in business!

 

Identify Your Low Hanging Fruit

Once everything is set up, then go to the Queries report to view your SEO data.  The goal here is to find the low hanging fruit opportunities that require minimal effort to see potentially a big return.

Where are these low hanging fruit opportunities?

First, sort by clicks to see all the keyword phrases that are already driving traffic.  For some of these keywords you may already be ranked #1.  Congratulations. :)  There’s not much more you can do there so keep scrolling down until you find keywords where you’re ranking on the bottom of the first page or even the top of the second page (i.e. average position between 5 – 15).

If you’re getting traffic from those keywords already, then there are probably some easy tweaks you can make to improve your rankings and drive even more traffic.

 

What Should You Tweak to Rank Higher?

The first thing you need to do is go to Google and search the keyword you’re going to optimize.  Find your website and click to that page.  Next, review the webpage Title tag.  This is the text between <title> and </title> in the HTML.

Can you edit your Title tag to match the keyword more closely?  If yes, then do that immediately.  This is the fastest and easiest edit that could get your website moving up the rankings.  Seriously, just that one edit could have a huge impact.

Next, look at your header, or in HTML your <h1> tag.  Again, is your target keyword mentioned in your header? If not, then edit that element on your page.  What we’re doing here is telling Google that your page is 100% relevant for the keyword phrase that your targeting.  If your page is more relevant, then it’s likely to move up in the rankings because Google’s goal is to show the most relevant results higher in the results.

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list to optimize your webpage, but in many cases these two tweaks will get you moving in the right direction.

 

What Else Should You Do?

Improving your rankings is great, but that’s not all you should focus on.  Once you know which keywords and webpages are driving SEO traffic, then you need to make sure you’re converting that traffic into leads and sales.

Here are two ideas to help you improve your SEO conversions:

  1. Add a stronger and clearer call to action on the webpages that are ranking in Google.  In many cases a blog article or an information webpage is ranking and driving traffic, but that particular page has absolutely no offer!  Fix that by adding a call to action to buy your products or services, or for a free offer to collect contact information.
  2. Match the content on your webpage to the intent of the keyword phrase.  Huh? By that I mean get into the mindset of the person searching the keyword.  What is she looking for? Then review your webpage and make sure you’re providing the best information and user experience for the person searching that keyword.  As you improve your webpage to more closely match what the searcher is looking for, then you’ll naturally reduce your bounce rates and get more visitors converting to leads and sales.

 

 

Want More SEO Advice?

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