The top ranking factors for successful SEO is old news. We get that content is king, that our pages should be filled with high-quality content and be helpful and informative, and we know that backlinks have a huge impact on rank.
But once you’ve got your Local SEO campaign up and running, how do you know if it’s working? How can you really tell if your efforts are being put to good use? Take a look at our list of KPIs for Local SEO to see if your campaign is making any headway.
Organic Traffic
Probably the most obvious measurement, your organic search traffic is one of the clearer indicators of your Local SEO reach. You can view your organic search traffic in Google Analytics by going to Acquisition>All Traffic>Channels in your Channel Grouping report. Take a look at your Sessions. This is the number of user interactions that, according to Google, “take place over a given time frame.” Comparing this data month by month will give you a good idea of the long term effects of your efforts.
Referrals
Referrals include the websites that have referred visitors to your site through links, and omits visits that were brought through advertisements or organic search. Your referral report will not only show you the amount of traffic that other sites are sending your way, but also how much engagement you’re getting from these visitors.
To view your Referral Report, head over to Acquisitions>All Traffic>Referrals and you’ll see the list of sites that are bringing in your traffic. A successful SEO campaign will have a good amount of traffic from referrals, but you can also see the bounce range, session duration, and conversion data to show how much engagement you’re getting from those referrals.
Reviews
You can’t underestimate the importance of reviews, especially when looking at a Local SEO campaign. Local businesses with a significant number of quality reviews can jump to the top of the SERP, and will reassure people that their services or products are trustworthy and worth doing business with.
There are plenty of sources for reviews—Google Reviews, Yelp, and Bing Places just to name a few. To measure how successful your reviews are, you have to look beyond sheer numbers. Google can tell that when all of your 1,000 reviews are 5 stars, something is up. A solid number of honest reviews will take your business much further.
Putting together an active Local SEO strategy is half the battle, but after you’ve put your plan into action, you can’t forget to look back and evaluate. Take into consideration these three KPIs when measuring your impact, and you’ll have a better idea of where to go in the future.
