With an estimated number of 657 million Smartphone flying off the shelves this year and with 1.4 billion mobile web users worldwide, there’s really no question whether you should target this “on-the-go audience,” but how well you do it.
A vital part of doing effective mobile SEO is being able to analyze the traffic. Every marketer knows that numbers are just numbers until insights or interpretations are derived from extensive scrutiny. Cue in Google Analytics – the ever reliable tool when it comes to diving deeper into the traffic your site is getting.
The Role of Analytics in Mobile Webpages
This section is really a neither new nor groundbreaking. Anyone who has used this tool for the desktop versions of theirwebpagesshould know just how central it plays in providing a more in-depth look at the quantity and quality of their websites. More specifically, the Analytics tool is meant to shed light on the following:
1. The source of your web traffic
If you are a local business with a very limited operations and no ecommerce functionality this is extremely beneficial as it allows you to see whether people within your geographic area are the ones noticing your site. There’s no use getting 1,000,000 unique visitors per month if 90% of them are from Zimbabwe and your business is located in California. Once you know this, you can make adjustments in your mobile SEO strategies and include other tactics such asgeotargeted pay per click advertising and the like.
2. Determining traffic magnets and outcasts in the site
It’s not uncommon to get more traffic in one page as compared to another, but your ultimate goal is to balance the distribution of visitors. Once you know which pages are getting lesser traffic, you can tap into the services of an SEO company to make them more appealing.
3. Identifying the highly utilized site features
Developing customized features for your website is one of the most expensive investments you can make, online marketing speaking. So how do you know if your investment is paying off? Google Analytics can help you pinpoint whether a site feature or application is getting the traction you have projected or not.
4. Establishing whether visitors are getting trapped hence, not achieving the things they want
Not everyone who visits your site has the same level of technical aptitude – some are highly techie while others are not. For an SEO company, the rule of thumb is to keep it as simple as possible. Google Analytics in the World of Apps Smartphone users are always on the lookout for the next great app and app development is fast becoming a necessity in mobile SEO.
Installing analytics to track your app’s performance is useful for the following:
1. Pinpointing which functionalities are being used and if you are achieving the objectives you set.
2. Determining whether the app has usability issues. This is pretty important as many users get turned off easily if there are technical difficulties with your app.
3. Yes, your market may be downloading your app but are they using it enough or is it just another app sitting idly in their device’s memory?
4. Your app may be working perfectly on iOS devices, but not in Android ones. You want to be compatible with as many smartphones/tablets and Analytics will enable you to determine if you are.
Mobile SEO is as much as a numbers game as it is a function of development and innovation. That being said, Google Analytics is still the best tool out there for you to put quantifiable and concrete metrics to your mobile SEO campaign’s performance.