What are the top SEO insights you can gain from data visualization?

To track the performance of our SEO efforts data visualization is very essential. I would view SEO data visualization in 2 aspects. - For Technical Experts - For Business Leaders Technical experts like data or BI analysts and project managers, would need various insights. Basic analyses can be performed within the web analytics tools. For complex analysis where multiple data sources are involved, it is best to extract data and visualize or analyze them in Excel. For business leaders reports with single data sources it is best to use the inbuilt reports or dashboards feature in tools like Google or Adobe Analytics. For reports with multiple data sources Looker Studio, Power BI, Tableau, Excel & and PowerPoint would be a great choice.

The way I view data in SEO terms are three basic ways because I also need people no related to SEO to understand them: - How much money does a quality lead bring me? - How many leads are coming to that page? - How well are each page's keywords ranking according to SERP?

True, Data Visualization is a powerful tool to identify SEO opportunities and issues. Issue Identification As our primary intention in creating an SEO dashboard is to monitor our website in real-time and track our SEO efforts, it is very easy to notice sudden changes in website metrics. This greatly helps us in addressing an issue immediately. Tools like Google/Adobe Analytics are integrating advanced reporting features like Anomaly Detection, Change Explorations, Conversion Probability, Intelligent Alerts, etc make reports more effective. SEO Opportuinity Identification When visualizing existing website data with external sources like Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, and Similarweb, we gain valuable insights.

"A picture is worth a thousand words", the same applies to a simple chart in data visualization. Many website goals can be easily monitored and understood by data visualization. The report can be designed in a simple way that anyone can understand by just including a few key metrics. Even a simple chart showing "Current Value vs Target Value" in percentage would give a clear understanding of how well the target is achieved for anyone who is even not familiar with web metrics. Many website goals like reducing bounce rate, increasing traffic, increasing conversion rate, decreasing cart abandonment rate, lead funnel, etc involve complex data, but they can be easily displayed and understood through effective data visualization.

The right SEO dashboard can act as a navigational tool for our decision-making. Here are a few things to be considered before creating a dashboard to make it an effective decision-making tool. - Extensive data analysis needs to be performed on the existing website data to find issues and opportunities - Clear goals have to be defined based on the previous analysis - An SEO dashboard has been created based on the above 2 factors When it is done right we can use the SEO dashboard to, - Monitor website health - Track our goal - Optimize - Find anomalies and so on

When it comes to pitfalls of SEO data visualization, I get the word "Data Puking" in my mind. What's Data Puking? Data puking involves sharing large amounts of data and producing reports without providing valuable insights into business processes. Here are some ways to avoid Data Puking. 1. It is important to concentrate solely on key performance indicators (KPIs) 2. It is important to concentrate solely on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that already have pre-assigned targets 3. Outliers are important to understand data and make informed decisions 4. It is important to ensure that the analysis and responsibility for data are properly cascaded

When it comes to SEO data visualization, one should have a clear understanding of both SEO and data visualization. The best place to learn more about SEO would be the "Google Search Central" channel on YouTube. They cover various topics on SEO, and it is helpful to learn and be updated. Check out John Mueller and Martin Splitt's content. Check out Avinash Kaushik, when I started working on web analytics many years back I read his book and I still find it to be relevant. His blog covers useful topics in creating effective reports. Choosing the right visualization for a particular data is very essential. Start collecting images of interesting data visualizations that can be referred to in the future. Check out the Data Viz Project.