Reports suggest that the majority of websites have already deployed or are in the process of investing in web analytics. 47% use web analytics with 12% planning to upgrade or replace in the next 12 months. Deployment is planned by 22%, however 19% of businesses have no intention of applying analytics.

As businesses invest more in their Web sites seeking new ways in which to engage customers with interactive and social media, so the expectations for online marketers are growing. Web 2.0 features including social networks, Blogs, wikis, consumer generated content, podcasts, RSS, rich internet applications (RIAs), social tagging and bookmarking, publishing and mash-up content all of which present innovative and powerful new ways in which organisations can interact, share their online messages and derive returns.

For most organizations the measure of search engine optimisation campaign success has traditionally and almost singularly been through Search Engine Ranking. With the emergence of Web 2.0 we are seeing new models emerge for the measurement of Web Statistics and Analytics.

As has been realised over the last few years there's a lot more to accurately tracking Search Engine Optimisation success than simply measuring rankings or counting page views. Neither offering a particularly insightful measurement of activity and performance. As most actions take place on page through rich Internet applications (RIA's), the traditional analytical measures require a new approach to assess the effectiveness of Web 2.0 elements.

Analytics is a dedicated, specialist discipline. Successful websites use analytics to drive their web design, search engine optimisation and marketing campaigns. To measure website performance and Search Engine Optimisation effectiveness, more than ever marketers need analytics solutions that offer the power and flexibility to uncover a complete range of information - analytics and professional analytical interpretations that accurately reflect the real performance of their organisation's web presence.

Revealing analytics empower marketers and management to swiftly and simply measure the complete range of their organization's online presence, from rich Internet applications, online video, RSS Feeds, consumer-generated media, to static site content. With functional reporting for almost every type of media and online activity - including Web 2.0 media - SEO Consult are perfectly positioned to answer the Search Engine Optimisation questions that are most important to your organization. We configure reports that provide dynamic views of a range of tracking metrics and results customisable to include success metrics specific to a variety of industries.

A major problem with collecting and analysing data is the sheer volume of data available as there are numerous things to measure - data can become unwieldy, lead to data overload and analysis paralysis. Not only do we collect the correct data we know how to correctly interpret it.

At SEO Consult we clearly appreciate that there's a great deal more to Search Engine Optimisation and analytics than just rankings and that a successful Search Engine Optimisation campaign will deliver traffic from a wide range of keywords, including terms and phrases you might not have expected. The success of SEO campaigns needs to be measured from all angles. Non-branded search traffic, percentage of traffic from search engines and rankings are all insightful metrics of value.

The bottom line is that your organisation needs to see whether your SEO is succeeding and more than that helping your business develop and grow and you don't necessarily have to be at number one in the Search Engine Rankings for this to be the case.

Here are some of the analytics that our Search Engine Optimization experts consider critical when studying data gathered through analytical tools including Google Analytic.

• Identify your top referring keywords. It's estimated that 25% of Google queries are unique. The referring keywords to a site will reveal patterns and themes that otherwise would be next to impossible to identify. We can use this analysis to guide keyword selection and hone campaign direction. A successful Search Engine Optimization campaign will deliver traffic from a wide range of keywords, including terms and phrases you didn't expect.
• Referring Domains. This metric highlights the biggest drivers of traffic to your site - usually search engines and related sites tend to occupy the top of the list. By being able to identify your references you are able to measure the effectiveness of a link building campaign and also pinpoint themes and hot spots where you may be able to create or build on a buzz. Perhaps a particular site is reviewing your product very favourably or an influential blogger is name checking you. With this sort of information to hand you might modify your content to integrate appropriate link baiting.

• Click path analysis. Analytics that tell you how people are navigating through the site can inform you of the effectiveness of your site layout. Click path analysis offer opportunities to engage visitors more effectively by improving the navigation experience.

• Paid vs. Natural. Identify gaps between your paid and natural campaigns. Paid search allows us to quickly target high volume terms and use ROI/conversion rate data to inform our decisions on where we want to compete organically. Similarly, areas that see high activity through organic Search Engine Optimisation can inform PPC campaigns.

• Geographic referrals. Location, location, location. The more targeted and niche the Internet becomes, the more geography matters. Identify regional hotspots or the effects of offline marketing. You can use accurate geo data to develop new content, launch targeted landing pages, and in some cases, even modify service offerings to better target geo revenue sources.

• Visiting trends. See how many visitors you have this month to month. Determine seasonal trends and optimise accordingly. Use trend analysis to identify and apply correlations between the time of year and referring keywords.

• Top Landing Pages. Plenty of powerful data can be derived from analysing which pages are proving most popular. Data can be used to optimise site structure and gear the internal linking scheme using optimal anchor text to channel traffic to other less visited pages.

• Conversion Rates. The million-dollar metric. Do your visitors do what you ultimately want them to do? If so, then how often? Is this more or less than before? Desired actions may include purchasing products, completing a registration form, or downloading a file.

Regardless of what the action is conversion is the ultimate arbiter of success. Driving traffic to the website is half the battle, having a website that drives the traffic to take a desired action might be considered to be just as important. Using conversion rate analysis informs decision-making (this principle applies to the other metrics listed here too) and is absolutely essential for you to take the right actions. The consequences of informed decision making might be changes to campaign budgets, landing page optimisation, re-targeting keywords, Fresh Copywriting, building different link bait or a host of other Search Engine Optimization changes.

• Bounce Rate. Essentially tells you how many people visited a single page on your site and didn't go anywhere else. A high bounce rate is not something you want. This will usually correlate to visitors spending a short amount of time on the page and leaving the site. It's normally the case that visitors don't hang around if they don't find the information they are looking for. Measuring bounce rate is important in evaluating the effectiveness of content.

• Browser type. A metric that fell out of favour but is now making a comeback largely due to mobile connectivity. Present your web presence in as effective a way as possible to those browsers that your analytics tell you are being used to view it. If you are being told that mobile browsers or spiders are struggling to view your information properly then act accordingly.

Of course there are many other web analytics that can also inform your SEO including analysis of non-branded traffic, the measurement of which will show how your audience looks for you, allowing you to further refine your campaigns.

Some Search Engine Optimisation experts even go as far as to say that non-branded traffic, how much traffic you receive from terms that don't include your company name is in fact the truest measure of search engine optimization success.

For a thorough and comprehensive review of your site's performance, Contact SEO Consult.