How to Track SEO Changes on Your WordPress Site (Easy Tutorial)

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Introduction: Why Track SEO Changes on Your WordPress Site?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a continuous process. You can’t simply optimize your WordPress site once and expect to see results forever. Google’s algorithms are constantly evolving, and your competitors are constantly trying to outrank you. That’s why tracking SEO changes is crucial.

Tracking allows you to:

• Identify what’s working and what’s not.
• Understand the impact of your SEO efforts.
• Quickly react to algorithm updates.
• Pinpoint the cause of ranking fluctuations.
• Improve your overall SEO strategy.

Without tracking, you’re essentially flying blind. You might be making changes that are actually hurting your rankings, without even realizing it. This tutorial will guide you through the easy ways to track SEO changes on your WordPress site.

Setting Up Google Analytics for SEO Tracking

Google Analytics is a free web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. It’s an essential tool for any website owner who wants to understand their audience and improve their online presence. Here’s how to set it up:

1. Create a Google Analytics Account: Go to Google Analytics and sign in with your Google account. If you don’t have one, create one.
2. Set up a Property: Once logged in, click on “Admin” in the bottom left corner. Then, under the “Account” column, click “Create Account.” Follow the prompts to enter your website name, URL, industry category, and reporting time zone.
3. Get Your Tracking Code: After setting up the property, you’ll be presented with a tracking code (a snippet of JavaScript). Copy this code.
4. Install the Tracking Code on Your WordPress Site: There are several ways to install the tracking code:
   • Using a WordPress Plugin (Recommended): Install a plugin like “MonsterInsights,” “GA Google Analytics,” or “Analytify.” These plugins simplify the process of adding the tracking code to your site. Just install the plugin, activate it, and follow the plugin’s instructions to connect it to your Google Analytics account.
   • Manually Adding to Header.php: You can manually add the tracking code to your theme’s `header.php` file. Caution: Editing theme files directly can be risky. It’s recommended to create a child theme first to avoid losing changes during theme updates. Locate the `` tag in `header.php` and paste the tracking code just before the closing `` tag.
5. Verify Your Installation: After installing the tracking code, go back to Google Analytics and click on “Real-Time” -> “Overview” in the left-hand menu. Visit your website in a new browser tab. If the tracking code is installed correctly, you should see yourself as an active user on your site in the Real-Time report.

Key Google Analytics Metrics for SEO Tracking

Once Google Analytics is set up, it’s time to understand which metrics are most important for tracking SEO changes:

• Organic Traffic: This shows the number of visitors who arrived at your site through organic search results (e.g., Google, Bing, Yahoo). This is the most direct indicator of your SEO performance. You can find this under “Acquisition” -> “All Traffic” -> “Channels” and select “Organic Search.”
• Landing Pages: These are the pages on your site that users first land on after clicking a search result. Analyzing landing page data can help you identify which pages are attracting the most organic traffic and which need improvement. Find this under “Behavior” -> “Site Content” -> “Landing Pages.”
• Bounce Rate: This represents the percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate can indicate that your content isn’t relevant to the search query or that your website has usability issues. You can find this metric on most reports within Google Analytics.
• Average Session Duration: This is the average amount of time visitors spend on your site during a session. Longer session durations generally indicate that visitors are engaged with your content. This is also available on most reports within Google Analytics.
• Pages per Session: This metric shows the average number of pages a visitor views during a session. A higher number usually suggests that users are exploring your site and finding valuable information. Available on most reports.
• Keyword Rankings (Indirect): Google Analytics doesn’t directly show keyword rankings anymore due to privacy concerns. However, you can get a sense of the keywords driving traffic to your site by analyzing the “Queries” report in Google Search Console (see below). By correlating traffic to specific landing pages with known target keywords, you can infer which keywords are contributing to your SEO success.

Connecting Google Search Console to Your WordPress Site

Google Search Console is a free service from Google that helps you monitor and maintain your site’s presence in Google Search results. It provides valuable insights into how Google sees your website.

1. Verify Your Site: Go to Google Search Console and sign in with your Google account. Add your website as a new property. You’ll need to verify that you own the website. Google offers several verification methods, including:
   • HTML File Upload: Download the HTML verification file provided by Google and upload it to the root directory of your website.
   • HTML Tag: Add the provided HTML meta tag to the `` section of your website’s homepage. You can do this using the same methods described for installing the Google Analytics tracking code (plugin or manually editing `header.php`).
   • Google Analytics: If you’ve already verified your site in Google Analytics, you can use that verification method.
   • DNS Record: Add a TXT record to your domain’s DNS settings. This is a more technical method but is reliable.
2. Submit Your Sitemap: A sitemap is an XML file that lists all the important pages on your website. Submitting your sitemap to Google Search Console helps Google discover and crawl your website more efficiently.
   • If you’re using an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO or Rank Math, they typically generate a sitemap for you automatically. The sitemap URL is usually something like `yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml`.
   • In Google Search Console, go to “Sitemaps” in the left-hand menu and enter your sitemap URL. Then click “Submit.”

Key Google Search Console Features for SEO Tracking

Google Search Console offers a wealth of information for SEO tracking:

• Performance Report: This report shows you:
  • Total Clicks: The number of clicks your website received from Google Search results.
  • Total Impressions: The number of times your website appeared in Google Search results.
  • Average CTR (Click-Through Rate): The percentage of impressions that resulted in clicks.
  • Average Position: Your average ranking position in Google Search results for the keywords your site ranks for.
• Queries Report: This shows you the actual search queries (keywords) that people are using to find your website in Google. This is invaluable for understanding what keywords you’re ranking for and identifying new keyword opportunities.
• Pages Report: This report shows you which pages on your website are getting the most impressions and clicks from Google Search.
• Coverage Report: This report identifies any issues Google is having with crawling or indexing your website, such as errors, warnings, and excluded pages. Addressing these issues is crucial for improving your website’s visibility in search results.
• Mobile Usability Report: This report identifies any mobile usability issues on your website, such as small font sizes, clickable elements that are too close together, and content that is wider than the screen. Ensuring your website is mobile-friendly is essential for SEO, as Google uses mobile-first indexing.
• Links Report: This report shows you which websites are linking to your website (backlinks). Backlinks are an important ranking factor, so it’s important to monitor your backlink profile and disavow any low-quality or spammy links.

Using SEO Plugins for Tracking Changes

Many WordPress SEO plugins offer built-in features for tracking SEO changes:

• Yoast SEO: Yoast SEO is one of the most popular SEO plugins for WordPress. It allows you to track keyword rankings, monitor readability scores, and manage your website’s schema markup. The premium version offers even more advanced tracking features.
• Rank Math: Rank Math is another popular SEO plugin that offers a comprehensive set of features, including keyword tracking, content analysis, and schema markup. It also integrates with Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
• SEOPress: SEOPress is a user-friendly SEO plugin that offers similar features to Yoast SEO and Rank Math, including keyword tracking, content analysis, and schema markup.

These plugins typically provide dashboards that allow you to easily monitor your SEO performance and track changes over time. They can also send you notifications when there are significant changes in your rankings or traffic.

Tracking Specific SEO Changes

Beyond the general tracking tools, it’s vital to meticulously document and monitor specific SEO changes that you implement. This granular approach allows for a clear cause-and-effect analysis.

• Keyword Optimization: When you optimize a page for a specific keyword, note the date, the target keyword, the URL of the page, and the specific changes you made to the title tag, meta description, headings, and body content. Monitor the page’s rankings for that keyword in Google Search Console over the following weeks and months to see if the optimization was successful.
• Content Updates: When you update existing content, document the date, the URL of the page, and a summary of the changes you made. Track the page’s traffic, bounce rate, and average session duration to see if the update improved user engagement.
• Technical SEO Changes: When you make technical SEO changes, such as improving site speed, fixing broken links, or implementing schema markup, document the date, the specific changes you made, and the affected pages. Monitor your website’s crawl rate, indexation status, and mobile usability in Google Search Console to see if the changes had a positive impact.
• Backlink Building: When you acquire new backlinks, document the date, the URL of the linking website, the anchor text used, and the URL of the page on your website that the link points to. Monitor your website’s domain authority and organic traffic to see if the backlinks are helping to improve your SEO.

Using Spreadsheets for SEO Tracking

Spreadsheets (like Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel) are a simple but powerful tool for tracking SEO changes and analyzing data. You can use spreadsheets to:

• Track Keyword Rankings: Create a spreadsheet with columns for the keyword, the URL of the page you’re targeting, and the ranking position for each week or month. You can manually track rankings or use a rank tracking tool to automate the process.
• Monitor Website Traffic: Create a spreadsheet with columns for the date, organic traffic, total traffic, bounce rate, average session duration, and pages per session. You can pull this data from Google Analytics.
• Analyze Backlink Data: Create a spreadsheet with columns for the linking website, the anchor text, the URL of the page on your website, and the domain authority of the linking website. You can use a backlink analysis tool to collect this data.
• Document SEO Changes: Create a spreadsheet to document all the SEO changes you make to your website, including the date, the URL of the affected page, a description of the changes, and the results you observed.

Setting Up Alerts and Notifications

To stay on top of SEO changes, it’s important to set up alerts and notifications that will let you know when something significant happens.

• Google Analytics Custom Alerts: Google Analytics allows you to create custom alerts that will notify you when there are significant changes in your website’s traffic, bounce rate, or other key metrics. For example, you could set up an alert to notify you if your organic traffic drops by 20% or more in a single day.
• Google Search Console Email Notifications: Google Search Console sends email notifications when it detects issues with your website, such as crawl errors, security issues, or mobile usability problems. Make sure you have email notifications enabled in Google Search Console so you don’t miss any important alerts.
• Rank Tracking Tool Alerts: Most rank tracking tools offer alerts that will notify you when your keyword rankings change significantly. For example, you could set up an alert to notify you if one of your target keywords drops out of the top 10 search results.

Analyzing and Interpreting Your Data

Tracking SEO changes is only half the battle. The other half is analyzing the data you collect and using it to improve your SEO strategy.

• Look for Trends: Analyze your data over time to identify trends and patterns. For example, are your keyword rankings consistently improving, declining, or fluctuating? Is your organic traffic increasing or decreasing? Are your bounce rate and average session duration improving or worsening?
• Identify Correlations: Look for correlations between your SEO changes and your website’s performance. For example, did your keyword rankings improve after you optimized a page for a specific keyword? Did your traffic increase after you acquired new backlinks? Did your bounce rate decrease after you improved your website’s speed?
• Draw Conclusions: Based on your analysis, draw conclusions about what’s working and what’s not. Which SEO strategies are generating the best results? Which strategies are not working as well as you hoped?
• Adjust Your Strategy: Use your conclusions to adjust your SEO strategy. Focus on the strategies that are working well and try to improve or eliminate the strategies that are not working.

Regular SEO Audits

Conducting regular SEO audits helps maintain site health and ensures optimal search engine performance. An SEO audit includes:

• Technical SEO Audit: Checking for crawl errors, broken links, site speed issues, mobile usability problems, and other technical factors that can affect your SEO.
• On-Page SEO Audit: Reviewing your website’s content, keyword usage, title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and internal linking structure to ensure they are optimized for search engines.
• Off-Page SEO Audit: Analyzing your backlink profile, social media presence, and online reputation to identify opportunities for improvement.

Conclusion

Tracking SEO changes on your WordPress site is essential for improving your search engine rankings and driving more traffic to your website. By using the tools and techniques described in this tutorial, you can gain valuable insights into your SEO performance and make informed decisions about how to improve your strategy. Remember to be patient and persistent, as SEO is a long-term process that requires ongoing effort and attention.
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