Measuring Your Digital Visibility
Now that you understand sound modern market techniques, you may want to focus on more technical aspects of search optimization, or what is more traditionally called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). One of the keys to SEO is measuring the effectiveness of your digital visibility. There are many ways to do that, and many tools to support that effort. This chapter will discuss a few things you can easily measure as a business. This book has focused on developing information about your marketing efforts helping customers to discover your products and services. This chapter will discuss how you can effectively manage that.
The topic cluster provides the foundation for organizing your business information. Your website serves as a central source of your detailed content. However, even the most informative websites may struggle to attract visitors if search engines cannot properly access and interpret your information. There are several important measurements that can help you evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing and search optimization tactics. We are going to keep it simple here, but there concepts will help you understand the more technical aspects of SEO.
Technical SEO refers to the underlying characteristics of a website that help search engines discover and understand its content. These characteristics include how quickly pages load, whether the website works properly on mobile devices, how information is organized, and whether search engines can identify important pages.
For many small business owners, technical SEO sounds intimidating. Terms such as indexing, structured data, XML sitemaps, and metadata can make website optimization seem like a task reserved for programmers. Fortunately, understanding the basic principles does not require extensive technical knowledge. Many modern website platforms handle important technical functions automatically, and relatively simple improvements can address common problems.
Structured Data: Helping Search Engines Understand Your Business
One useful concept in technical SEO is structured data, which is commonly called schema markup. Although the terminology sounds complicated, the concept is simple. Structured data provides standardized labels that help search engines understand what information on a webpage represents.
Consider a restaurant’s website containing its name, address, telephone number, or NAP information, as well as the operating hours, and menu. While visitors can easily recognize this information, search engines benefit from having it identified explicitly. Schema markup provides these labels, helping search systems distinguish business information from other webpage content. This structured data is typically added to a website’s underlying code. Business owners do not need to understand the programming language to appreciate its purpose.
Structured data can help eligible webpages qualify for enhanced search appearances. It may also provide useful context for AI-powered search systems. However, adding schema does not guarantee higher Google rankingsor recommendations from AI platforms.
The reason that schema is mentioned here is because it is a popular traditional SEO technique. It is important to understand the terminology if you decide to use an SEO expert in your marketing efforts. Ultimately, structured data complements the topic cluster by helping compatible search systems interpret information that has already been developed. It does not replace useful content or other marketing activities.
Can Search Engines Find Your Website?
One of the most fundamental aspects of technical SEO is ensuring that search engines can discover and access your website’s content. Even an informative website may struggle to attract visitors if search engines cannot find its pages.
Search engines generally follow three processes: crawling, indexing, and ranking. Crawling occurs when automated programs discover and examine webpages. Indexing involves analyzing and storing information about those pages. Ranking determines which indexed pages appear in search results and their relative positions. These processes are distinct and a webpage may be crawled without being indexed. Additionally, indexing does not guarantee prominent placement in search results.
Two additional concepts are worth understanding. An XML sitemap lists important website URLs to help search engines discover content. A robots.txt file provides instructions about which areas automated crawlers may access. Many website platforms manage these features automatically, although incorrect settings can prevent important content from being discovered.
Business owners should periodically use Google Search Console to verify that their most important webpages are indexed, particularly primary service pages and supporting content developed through their topic cluster.
Five Popular Tools for Evaluating SEO Performance
The following are five popular tools that SEO experts use to measure website performance. While you may want to explore these tools further, they are explained here simply to give you better insight into the tools that SEO experts may use.
Google Search Console is a free service that helps businesses understand how their websites perform in Google Search. It provides information about search queries, impressions, clicks, average search positions, and indexing problems. Business owners can identify which webpages attract attention and whether technical issues prevent important content from appearing in search results. Google Search Console is an excellent starting point if you want to understand technical SEO better because it provides information directly from Google about a business’s website.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is another free tool that focuses on what happens after visitors arrive at a website. It helps businesses understand where visitors come from, which pages they view, how they interact with content, and whether they complete meaningful actions such as submitting inquiries or making purchases. While Google Search Console measures visibility in Google Search, Google Analytics helps evaluate whether that visibility produces useful customer activity. Together, these tools provide a more complete picture of website performance.
Semrush is a comprehensive SEO platform that provides keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink information, ranking monitoring, and technical website audits. One of its strengths is helping businesses understand how their websites compare with competitors. For example, a business can investigate which search terms that competitors rank for. It can also identify topics that may be missing from a company’s own website. Semrush offers limited free capabilities, although many advanced features require a paid subscription, making it a popular option for SEO experts.
Ahrefs is another widely used SEO platform that specializes in analyzing backlinks, keywords, competing websites, and organic search visibility. Its Site Explorer tool helps businesses investigate which websites link to their content and how competitors attract search traffic. Ahrefs also provides technical auditing tools that identify broken links, missing metadata, and other potential SEO problems. Its competitive research capabilities can be particularly useful when identifying opportunities to expand a business’s topic cluster. Free features are available, but more extensive capabilities are offered through paid plans.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a website auditing tool that examines a website in a manner similar to a search engine crawler. It can identify broken links, missing page titles, duplicate content, redirects, and other technical issues that may affect search visibility. Unlike broader marketing platforms, Screaming Frog focuses heavily on the technical structure of a website. Its free version can crawl up to 500 URLs, making it particularly useful for small businesses seeking to identify common technical problems without purchasing an expensive subscription.
Business owners do not need to use all five tools. Google Search Console and Google Analytics provide a strong free foundation, while Semrush and Ahrefs offer additional competitive intelligence. Screaming Frog can be particularly valuable when investigating technical website problems. The objective is not to collect as much data as possible, but to identify information that helps improve the business’s digital visibility.
Applying the Lessons: The Standard Pizza Business
The Standard Pizza Business (TSPB) has a great website with delicious pizza photographs, helpful information, and an easy-to-read menu. But there’s one more thing to consider: Does the website work as well as it looks?
It’s time for a little technical SEO! Don’t worry. The owner doesn’t need to become a computer programmer to get started. To start, TSPB should make sure its website loads quickly and works properly on smartphones. After all, imagine a hungry customer trying to order a pizza, but the website takes forever to load. That customer might decide to order from somewhere else!
Next, the owner should check for broken links, missing pages, and other problems that make the website difficult to use. Google Search Console can help identify technical issues, and free tools such as Google’s PageSpeed Insights can evaluate website performance.
Here’s where artificial intelligence can help. The owner can ask ChatGPT to explain technical SEO problems in plain English and recommend ways to address them. Even complicated technical reports become easier to understand when AI explains what the problems mean and why they matter.
TSPB should also make sure its website uses descriptive page titles, clear headings, and an organized structure. Search engines need to understand which pages discuss pizza catering, specialty pizzas, delivery, and other services. The owner might also ask their website developer about structured data, which provides search engines with additional information about the restaurant, such as its location, hours, and menu.
The goal isn’t to become a technical SEO expert. It’s to make sure customers and search engines can easily access and understand your website. Simply put, customers shouldn’t have to wait longer for your website to load than they do for their pizza to arrive!