What is a ‘like’ or a share on social media worth? Is keyword competition a good thing or a bad thing? Does it matter if website traffic is from local browsers or overseas?

In the vast and complex world of search engine optimisation (SEO), retailers need to understand the metrics of SEO to receive the best return on their investment and make the right decisions for their business.

When using the right SEO metrics, questions such as these can become quantifiable and guide the process of using the best SEO practices that are right for your retail business. There are many SEO metrics but there are several key ones that give the best indication as to the overall strength of your SEO activity.

Here are a few SEO metrics your e-commerce business should implement to succeed online.

1. Social media shares

Social media shares and ‘follows’ carry a degree of trust and credibility for your business and its products. When your website content is shared socially, it reaches new audiences that are now aware of your business, as well its size and reputation, potentially leading to greater website traffic.

2. Your website’s domain authority

In a world of bots, fake sites and fake news, the domain authority (DA) of your website gives an indication of how well your website is ranking. A DA gives a website ranking score of 1-100 (100 being the best) for your site in relation to other websites. Your DA score is not a complete picture of the outcome of your SEO efforts, but it includes numerous small SEO indicators that gauge the overall health of your website.

3. Keyword rank

Keywords are the one the pillars on which your SEO campaign should be built. Search engine crawlers use these terms as a means of placing your site among the industry you are competing in, tracking your progress and efficiency in the process. Free tools such as Keyword Tracker can quantify if your keywords are on an upward or downward trend, as well as pinpointing similar terms that could accelerate optimisation.

4. Bounce rate

The bounce rate is the percentage of website visitors who navigate away from a website after viewing only one page. Pages with higher rates of engagement are elevated in Google search results. Google Analytics offers support for examining your bounce rate and provides suggestions for how to improve in this area.

5. Local SEO

Search engines such as Bing and Google have tailored their platforms to meet the need of mobile internet searches, encouraging e-commerce companies with on-the-ground stores to switch to geo-specific thinking. For example, a retailer in Brisbane should try generating their traffic from the city and surrounding areas in South East Queensland.

6. Backlinks

There is a clear correlation between the number of quality backlinks and a website’s search engine results pages (SERP) – the list of results on a search engine in response to a keyword query. Keep up to date with trends in the retailing industry and see what is also trending on the internet and backlink with relevant content, but be careful not to backlink too much as it will affect your SERP negatively.

Davide Defendi is Head of Strategy at digital marketing agency SEO Shark, which has a 4.9/5 Google rating and an 8.8/10 Trustpilot rating. Visit seoshark.com.au.