It is a known fact that SEO, when done properly, can help to increase site visits and sales. However, many businesses are not making nearly as much money as they could because they fail to compile information on the people who are coming to the site, sharing information and/or making purchases. Revenue and conversion tracking are an important part of any SEO strategy, because they enable you to see if your overall strategy is as effective as it is meant to be. Following are some tips on how to find out more about your site visitors so that you can better meet their needs.

Track Keyword Conversion Rate

A particular keyword may help you earn a high Google ranking, but it may not necessarily generate as many sales as you were hoping for. For example, a site that is selling children’s books online will not necessarily want good rankings for a keyword such as "children’s stories". People who do a search for this keyword are likely to be looking for free children’s ebooks online and thus are not interested customers. While your site may get a lot of traffic from the above mentioned keyword, the conversion rate is likely to be quite low.

However, your conversion rate for a keyword such as "buy children’s fables" may be a lot higher, as people who do a search using this type of keyword are definitely interested in buying something. Google Analytics information will clearly show just how effective any given keyword is in bringing about sales.

More Conversion Rate Tracking Options

Google Analytics provides unlimited conversion rate tracking options. You can track conversion rate according to visitors’ geographical location and language spoken. You can track the conversion rate for first visitors and those who have visited the site more than once. You can even track the conversion rate for those who have visited any particular page of your site. This information is provided in the Goals and Event Tracking section of Google Analytics.

Gender and Age Revenue Tracking

Google Analytics does not provide gender, age or IP information. However, Statcounter.com does provide visitor IP addresses for everyone who comes to your site. You can then match this data with your customer records and track the behaviour of your clients based on their gender. You can also track conversion rates and revenue conversion by age if you ask your clients to provide data that shows their approximate age. This is best done by providing a form on the customer checkout page asking a customer to note which approximate age group he or she falls under.

Link Tracking

Tracking your links to see which ones are bringing in the most sales is a good idea, as some links will probably be more effective than others. You will also want to see how much revenue each link is generating. Some links may perform better at certain times of the year than others, so be sure to calculate link conversion and revenue on a regular basis.

Google’s URL builder will also provide you with information noting stats per link type. This allows you to see how many successful links come from article submission sites, guest blogging, directory submission sites, etc. You can also see how much revenue each link category is generating.

On Site Page Analysis

Google’s Analytics channel will enable you to track customer interaction with your site. This tool enables you to track each customer’s "trail" as they visit your site. You will see the first page they came to on your site , the last page they visited before making a purchase and any pages inbetween. These pages are known respectively as first interaction, last interaction and assit interaction(s).

Conversion and revenue generation tracking helps you to find out who your customers are, what they are buying and even why they are buying it. The more you find out about your customers and potential customers, the more targeted and effective your SEO campaign is likely to be.