Log File Analysis and SEO

							Title:
Log File Analysis and SEO

Word Count:
1577

Summary:
If you own or manage a website, you
 are probably already aware of the
importance of your log files or sit
e statistics. Such data can give yo
u insights about your site's usabil
ity, errors in your HTML code, the
popularity of your site pages and t
he type of visitors your site attra
cts. But did you know it can also h
ighlight the success or failure of
your search engine optimization cam
paign?


Keywords:
seo, searchengines, optimosation, we
b


Article Body:
<p>If you own or manage a website,
you are probably already aware of t
he
importance of your log files or sit
e statistics. Such data can give yo
u insights
about your site's usability, errors
 in your HTML code, the popularity
of your
site pages and the type of visitors
 your site attracts. But did you kn
ow it can
also highlight the success or failu
re of your search engine optimizati
on
campaign? </p>
<p>There is specific data about you
r web site that you should be looki
ng at in
your log files on a regular basis.
Several variables should be examine
d monthly
or even weekly to ensure your site
design and page optimization is on
the right
track: </p>
<p><b>1. Entry Paths</b> </p>
<p>Most sites can be developed and
analysed around the concept of visi
tor
pathways. If, for example, your sit
e is a Business to Business (B2B) s
ite and
you service small, medium and large
 businesses, there should be pathwa
ys through
your site designed for each class o
f visitor. An extremely simplified
example
would be: </p>
<p>Clients coming to the site throu
gh an optimized home page: </p>
<p>home page ---> small business pa
ge ---> order page ---> order confi
rmation
page <br>
home page ---> medium business page
 ---> order page ---> order confirm
ation page
<br>
home page ---> large business page
---> order page ---> order confirma
tion page
</p>
<p>The site entry pages for these p
athways are often optimized home pa
ges or
optimized content pages. The final
page of this route is often the act
ion that
you want clients to take on your si
te (e.g., sign up for your newslett
er, buy
your products online or contact you
 for further information). You can
easily
determine how effective your pathwa
ys are by tracking the entry paths
on a
regular basis via your site stats. <
/p>
<p>You should have some idea of the
 main pathways that clients take th
rough your
site, both for monitoring the effec
tiveness of your page optimization
and
conversions, and for the purpose of
 subsequent site redesign(s). A goo
d starting
point to track the pathways through
 your site is via the graph or char
t called
"Entry Paths" in your log files / s
ite statistics. </p>
<p><b>2. Top Exit Pages</b> </p>
<p>These are pages from which most
visitors click away from your site.
 Why is it
useful to track these? Because exit
 pages can tell you: </p>
<p>a. If there is a technical probl
em with the page that is causing vi
sitors to
leave your site. For example, if th
ere are broken links, or the form o
n the page
is not working properly etc. </p>
<p>b. If your site design is breaki
ng the strategic pathway, for examp
le, you
may have links to external sites th
at are inducing clients to click aw
ay before
buying your product or signing up f
or your newsletter. </p>
<p>c. If there is something on thes
e pages that is encouraging visitor
s to leave
your site. For example, an unprofes
sional design or confusing layout.
</p>
<p>In your log files / site statist
ics, the graph or chart called "Top
  Exit
Pages" is the place to learn why vi
sitors are leaving your site. </p>
<p><b>3. Single Access Pages</b> </p
>
<p>These are entry pages that are v
iewed once before the visitor click
s away
from your site. Similar to Top Exit
  Pages, Single Access Pages can tel
l you a
lot about why people are not stayin
g on your site for long. </p>
<p>Have a close look at the search
terms used to find your site. Singl
e Access
Pages can often indicate that your
target search terms are too broad.
For
example, you may be getting a lot o
f traffic by targeting "printer car
tridges"
but if you only stock a particular
brand of cartridge, then people see
king other
brands are not going to find what t
hey truly seek when they arrive at
your site
so they will leave immediately. Thi
s can be resolved by narrowing down
  your
search terms to be more targeted an
d focused on your niche products an
d
services, for example, by changing
"printer cartridges" to "HP printer

cartridges" and so on. </p>
<p>To see what pages of your site a
re viewed once, look for the graph
or chart
called "Single Access Pages" in you
r log files / site statistics. </p>
<p><b>4. Most Requested Page(s) and
 Top Entry Pages.</b> </p>
<p>Tracking these pages is key to m
easuring the success of your SEO ca
mpaign. If
your optimization is effective, the
 Top Entry Pages and Most Requested
 Pages
should be those that you have optim
ized for target keywords. The Top E
ntry Pages
are particularly relevant as you co
nsider the pathways through your si
te. Do the
most popular entry pages have any r
elationship to the start pages for
your
plotted visitor pathways? Or are vi
sitors entering and navigating your
 site via
ways you didn't intend? You can use
 this information to continually tw
eak your
page optimization to guide visitors
 to the right pathways. </p>
<p>To see your most requested pages
, look for the graph or chart title
d "Most
Requested Pages" in your log files
/ site statistics. Also look for "T
op Entry
Pages". </p>
<p><b>5. Page refreshes</b> </p>
<p>Why are visitors refreshing page
s on your site? Are the pages not l
oading
properly? The "Page Refreshes" vari
able is another one to monitor on a
 monthly
basis via your site stats to ensure
 that there are not site usability
issues for
visitors. </p>
<p><b>6. Referring Domains and Refe
rring URLs</b> </p>
<p>Where are your visitors coming f
rom? Are they coming from sites tha
t are
linked to yours? Are blog authors o
r forum members talking about your
site?
Referring Domains will tell you wha
t sites are linking to yours, while
 Referring
URLs will list the actual pages whe
re the links are located. These can
 be little
gold mines because you can often fi
nd valuable sources of traffic via
links to
your site that you didn't even know
existed. </p>
<p>In terms of an SEO campaign, the
se links can all add to your site's
 overall
link popularity, an important facto
r in the ranking algorithms of many
 search
engines, particularly Google. Monit
oring these metrics can tell you if
 your site
requires a link-building campaign o
r help you measure the effectivenes
s of
various online and offline advertis
ing campaigns. </p>
<p>In your log files / site statist
ics, Look for the graph or chart ti
tled
"Referring Domains" and "Referring U
RLs". </p>
<p><b>7. Search Engine Referrals</b>
 </p>
<p>How many of your visitors are co
ming directly from search engines?
What
percentage of overall traffic does
this represent? This is a good vari
able to
track to help you keep up with how
many search engines are listing you
r site
(both free submission and paid subm
issions), how much traffic they bri
ng and
whether to renew your paid submissi
ons. It can also tell you whether y
ou need to
increase the number of search engin
es your site is submitted to in ord
er to
build on your link popularity. As a
 a very rough guide, you should be
receiving
at least 30 percent of your site tr
affic via search engine referrals.
</p>
<p>To see search engine referrals,
look for a chart or graph called "S
earch
Engines" within your site statistics
. </p>
<p><b>8. Search Phrases</b> </p>
<p>This topic is related to search
engine referrals generally, but giv
es added
insight into what terms you were ac
tually found for in the search engi
nes. Do
these terms match what your site wa
s optimized for? Are there any surp
rising
terms that you might want to develo
p site content for? Some log file a
nalysis
programs will even break down what
specific phrases your site was foun
d for in
which particular search engines. Th
e more detailed the data you have,
the more
closely you can tweak your optimiza
tion campaign to your precise marke
t. </p>
<p>To see the search phrases your s
ite was found for, look for "Search
 Phrases"
or "Search Phrases by "Search Engine
". </p>
<p><b>9. Landing pages for Pat-Per-
Click Campaigns, etc.</b> </p>
<p>If you run a pay-per-click campa
ign or dedicate specific pages to a
dvertising
product specials, you may use speci
al landing pages or tracking ids to
 monitor
your traffic and conversions. Your
site logs can help you track these
by showing
you how many visitors they each had
 and what they did after they visit
ed those
pages. </p>
<p><b>10. Metric values that show a
 radical change from developing tre
nds</b>
</p>
<p>Any site metrics that show a dra
matic change from one month to the
next could
pin-point a problem with your site
or with your optimization campaign.
 For
example, if your search engine refe
rrals have dropped dramatically, it
 could
indicate that you have been penaliz
ed in a search engine (or more than
 one).
Noticing changing trends early give
s you the chance to investigate pro
blem areas
and make adjustments if necessary. <
/p>
<p>Please note that all log file an
alysis and site statistics programs
 are
different and use slightly differen
t terms to describe the metrics lis
ted above.
If you're confused, ask your site a
dmin or hosting provider to highlig
ht these
for you. </p>
<p>Remember, your log files are gol
d mines filled with nuggets of info
rmation
about your optimized web site. If y
ou keep digging on a regular basis,
 you'll
eventually strike it rich with succe
ss. </p>
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