I got an email from a reader asking me how to measure your SEO efforts? Only one way and that is with results.
End goal of SEO: Page 1 of SERPS (search engine result pages). By the way, if you are on page 1 don't think it's all over, you have to stay on top of it, there are always competitors lurking around the corner.
Okay so you are link building, doing on-site SEO and developing good content... are you moving up in the SERPS?
If you answered yes then that's all you need to know!
If you answered no:
1. Keep building links
Time Division Formula for Link Building:
40% - Article Marketing
25% - Social Bookmark Links/Forum Sig links/Blog comment links
25% - Reciprocal Link Exchange/Blogroll (related sites only, not links pages - home page or contextual links)
10% - Directories
More on Link Building Basics...
2. Add more keyword rich original content
3. Check your On-Site SEO, is it optimal?
Most Important... 
4. Look at your anchor text* for the keywords you want to rank for, if it's not in the anchor you won't be in the SERPS for those keywords. Learn more about the Importance of Anchor Text in Link Building.
*Use Free Backlink Checker from SEOPro, shows you top 10 anchors for your links.
Great Tool to Check SERP results:
I found this great tool the other day that checks where you are in Google SERPS. Other tools I have used were lame because they only gave a position number like 100, but I want to actually see the page and where my websites are, and for a long time I would sit and manually check the SERPS myself, but this could take a while with lots of pages to check one by one.
SEOAnalytic Google SERP Checker gives you the position number WITH a link to the actual SERP page where you could see your site- FANTASTIC!!
Just jot down the results and check again after a while to see the progress of your sites in SERPS and that is how you measure your SEO efforts.
By the way, do not use this tool or the backlink checker or any other automated tools too often, don't go crazy by using them constantly. Google does not like automated checks like this, it uses too much of their resources. For anchor analysis, you can always use Google Webmaster Tools - "What Google Bot Sees" to view your anchors without risking penalty.
PS: In general, do not get preoccupied with checking SERP stats all the time. Just keep building links and let your site age. Often people get too involved, like checking everyday and it causes stress and can lead to loss of focus.
What do you guys think? Are you checking too often? Are you seeing your SEO efforts pay off?
For me in a week alsmost everyday am check it out.What is the relation betwenn we check often with automated check Google didn,t like it………………..Am always looking for away to improve my SERP…One thing for qestion..Is it Redirect 301 give you big impact..If is it how you setting up.I have heard this one over the forum and free review for my website.thank you.
hidayah@Usa People Searchs last blog post..Eight Mostly Things For Customer Satisfaction ON Background Checks & Pre-Employment Screening In US
Hello Hidayah,
When you use automated tools the tools have to querry Google for answers and G does not like this because it’s heavy on their internet resources. If you are checking everyday then I strongly suggest you not use automated tools like the one I describe in the post, but go to the SERPS and manually find your site, this way you will not risk penalty.
Thank you my friend…..am appreciate for the answer.stick on it.
hidayah@Usa People Searchs last blog post..Eight Mostly Things For Customer Satisfaction ON Background Checks & Pre-Employment Screening In US
Follow Me on Twitter @: DennisEdell
(224 comments)
VERY well laid out, nice! I need to really get on this, but I am so trying not to become the stat addict lol. This is actually one of the biggest “time wasters” for many.
Dennis Edells last blog post..Is Your Online Reputation Solid? I hope so, It’s All You Have.
I normally check weekly. I find if I check more than that, it gets me some what discouraged if I do not see results as fast as I would like too.
Tara @ Affiliate Marketing Prodigys last blog post..Niche Marketing: How and Why You Need to Find a Niche
Hi Tara, I agree, me too!!
Follow Me on Twitter @: yansusanto
(7 comments)
Great write-up, JR. Article marketing is one of link building strategy that has stood the test of time. Those tools you recommended are all great but as you said, checking the stats shouldn’t be an obsession.
Yan
Blog for Beginnerss last blog post..7 Deadly Sins of Highly Ineffective New Bloggers
Hello Yan, thanks for your input, I totally agree Article Marketing beats everything else hands down for backlinks and traffic and promotion it covers all the basics and then some.
I’ve found that the number of solicitations I’m getting that say “We can get you to the top of Google & Search Engines”….goes way up when you’re on the top of SERP.
When the number of e-mail & telephone solicitations from these MORONS drops, I know its time to do some additional SEO work.
I like to rub their noses in it, before hanging up on them: I tell them to search for “Sacramento DJs” or “Weddings in Sacramento”…….that ALWAYS shuts ‘em up.
The higher you are in SERP, the more salespeople come a-knockin’……..
@ Matt
I HATE those fuckers!! Good for you!!
Follow Me on Twitter @: AussieSire
(43 comments)
I have a strange story where I did a joke post about ‘penile extensions’ and it actually got to number 1 in Yahoo SERPs but has since dropped to number 2. In Google I was on page 1 but am now page 2. What is funny is that I outrank a lot of sites that are actually serious about it.
Sires last blog post..The Parable Of The Employer, The Employee And The Blogger
@ Sire
That is hilarious, your site must hold more juice than the other sites overall.
Follow Me on Twitter @: AussieSire
(43 comments)
Actually I never looked into it to that extent. It’s a relatively new site and it got google slapped on the last PR round to PR0, but I think that google just didn’t like the name of the blog which is “Load Of Bullshit”. Now I ask you, what the heck is wrong with that?
Sires last blog post..The Parable Of The Employer, The Employee And The Blogger
@ Sire
LMFAO, I love it! I don’t think the G algo can detect “bad words”
Follow Me on Twitter @: AussieSire
(43 comments)
Actually it wouldn’t be that hard to work it in. A heck of a lot easier that factoring the difference between good and bad content.
Sires last blog post..The Parable Of The Employer, The Employee And The Blogger
You are totally right, but do you think they really care and would slap you for cuss words?
Follow Me on Twitter @: AussieSire
(43 comments)
Well JR, that all depends. Imagine that one of Google’s minions who also happened to be a prude happened upon my BS blog and was highly offended by the word Bullshit, she, a guy would have the sense to read some of the blog to see what it was all about
, would downgrade it without blinking an eye thinking she had done the World Wide Web a big favor.
I actually did a post on it called Ten Reasons Why Google Took My PR
Sires last blog post..Interact With Other Bloggers On Blog Engage The Real Social Bookmarking Site
Follow Me on Twitter @: DennisEdell
(224 comments)
Sire my friend, do you really think you have the worst URL out there? There are others with PR…although it’s a great conspiracy theory….run it past them at the next Q&A.
Dennis Edells last blog post..Do You Use eBay to Grow Your OTHER Businesses?
Follow Me on Twitter @: AussieSire
(43 comments)
Hey Dennis, no mate I don’t think I have the worst url at all and I have often wondered how some get any PR at all which is why I don’t pay too much attention to a site’s PR.
Sires last blog post..The Real Dos And Don’t Of Affiliate Marketing
I track my results using Google sitemaps. It tells you where you are ranked for your keywords on a monthly basis so its easy to see if any changes you have made have had a positive or negative result.
Ben
I also spend the most time on Article Marketing I find it has the best returns on the time I spend on it. But it is probably best to use all the possible ways to get backlinks.
Ron@Video Game Reviewss last blog post..Best Wii Games for Kids
Hello Ron,
Thanks for commenting and welcome!
For me after lots of hard work getting on page long tails right and link building is when I see the google traffic pouring in.
Yhe thing is to be patient. I have found since I started my efforts that after about a month some of my long tails that I know are good start ranking in google quite highly. This obviously goes along with having kept increasing links etc to the site.
I am also finding that commenting on blogs is becoming a much quicker way of getting links than article marketing. A few comments on four or five sites gave me 50 links in a few days and I can see it rising by the hour as the sites get crawled. Do follow sites naturally.
@ Three Dog,
Long Tails rock!! So many people ignore those in their keyword quests and miss out! Blog comments are very effective and even the no-follow on high rank blogs like Shoemoney work well since Yahoo ignores the no-follow tag.
One of the best pieces of advice in your article is right at the beginning: don’t think it’s over just because your site made it onto the 1st SERP. SEO efforts must be continuous. It may take you quite a while to see any measurable results, and once you do see them, you must keep on working to preserve your site’s position.
Thanks Karen and welcome!
Follow Me on Twitter @: spectraelite
(11 comments)
Long tail keyword are the greatest way to increase traffic and sales. Long tail keywords are easier to target and easier to convert. The strategy link building distribution is great in here JR. I do personally add several other but this basic way to star is awesome.
Thanks for breaking down.
LP
Luis Posselt recently posted..Tutorial Joomla
You can tract Google positions with Google analytics:
Apply these filters:
Filter name: Ranking 1
Filter type: Custom filter – Include
Filter field: Campaign Medium
Filter pattern: organic
Filter name: Ranking 2
Filter type: Custom filter – Include
Filter field: Campaign Source
Filter pattern: google
Filter name: Ranking 3
Filter type: Custom filter – Advanced
Field A -> Extract A: Campaign term, (.*)
Field B -> Extract B: Referral, (\?|&)cd=([^&]*)
Output To -> User Defined: $A1 (position: $B2)