This is the first in a three-part blog series that will expand on the topic of Search Engines and generating visitor traffic to your web site as first discussed in last week’s blog Beep Beep: Monitoring Traffic Sources with Google Analytics. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to your web site from search engines such as Google, Yahoo, or Bing. SEO draws on the techniques used to improve the overall organic traffic to your site but through the addition of SEO software applications, it enables you to further increase your site’s accessibility and search engine ranking. This is achieved through tailoring your site content to feature specific keywords that search engines index when listing your site in a visitor’s search.
Carleton University web sites that have been migrated to the CCMS platform have already been configured with SEO applications so it is searchable by top search engines. These configurations occur before sites go-live and the specific technical details are beyond the scope of this blog. However, it would be helpful for you to understand the basics of how SEO works and what you can do, or not do, on your web site to enhance SEO.
SEO Applications
Two SEO applications have been built into your web site to enhance its web search engine performance. An XML site mapping WordPress plug-in helps search engine bots locate pages deep within your site. Bots are short for robots which are sent out by search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN to find pages in your site. Each page is converted into XML text files that are sent to search engines to help them “crawl” or locate and index your site based on a visitor’s keyword search. In addition, the All in One SEO Pack WordPress plug-in has been installed which automatically generates metatags (key content descriptors) for your web pages so you do not have to manually enter specific keywords for each of your pages. Next week’s blog will discuss using the All in One SEO fields on your WordPress pages.
Search Engine Report
The Search Engine report details the top ranked search engines visitors are using to reach your site. Although you cannot use Google Analytics to directly configure SEO, you can use the Search Engine report as a guide to help you determine whether your page content is current and accurate based on visitor keyword searches. You can access the Search Engine report from the following three locations in your Google Analytics Dashboard window:
- From the Dashboard window, select Traffic Sources Overview>View Report>Search Engines
- From the Dashboard side menu, select Traffic Sources>Search Engines
- From the Dashboard side menu, select Traffic Sources>Overview and from the Traffic Sources Overview window select Search Engines
Here are some of the things to look for when you are in the Search Engine window:
- How does the Search Engine traffic compare to the Direct or Referring Sites traffic sources? The pie chart provides a good visual representation on whether visitors are arriving at your site from a search engine or from visitors typing in the URL of your site.
- What are the top Search Engines used to find your site? Most visitors to sites under the Carleton.ca domain arrive using Google, Bing, MSN and Yahoo. However, don’t be surprised if you find a Search Engine that you may have never heard of such as Ekolay (from Turkey) or Yam (from China). Click here to view the complete list of Search Engines identified by Google Analytics.
- Click on the name of the search engine to drill down into the list of keywords used to send visitors to your web site. It is important to monitor these keywords and note changes in keyword trends so you can ensure your page content contains accurate information.
On that note, although it is important for you to be aware of the keywords visitors are entering and to have web content that represents what visitors are looking for, it is also possible to get too carried away with keywords. Next week’s blog will discuss using the All in One SEO feature to avoid keyword spamdexing. The final blog in this series will discuss how to improve your site’s search engine ranking.