If you’re investing in copywriting, it’s probably because you want to improve your website's chances of appearing at the top of the search engine result pages. But how do you concretely measure the success of your copywriting efforts? Let’s dig into the critical metrics you’ll want to keep track of to determine if your copywriting is working to get you the results you want. 

Why having a company blog matters

Having a blog on your website is a great way to do two things: first, grow your business, and second, connect with your audience.

For example, the brand Ritz Crackers has a page on their website where they share recipes and ideas for what customers can put on top of their crackers. But they also have partnered with the National Foster Parent Association to support foster families, and on this webpage, they share “Foster Stories” and provide resources for how to become a foster family. This enables Ritz to rank for more keywords than just those related to crackers — plus, these inspiring stories can expand customers’ perceptions of Ritz as not just a food brand, but a brand that cares about improving the world around them.

Blogs enable businesses to use content to grow their organic search traffic, which you get from appearing in the search results on Google, Yahoo, or Bing. By having your website be an established resource for multiple topics, you can appear in a wider variety of search results. While you can pay for ads to allow you to rank on search results pages, organic traffic is free and will last as long as the content remains on your site. Traffic from ads, on the other hand, disappears as soon as you stop paying for the ad.

Organic traffic is also a positive feedback loop: the more highly you rank, the more credible and useful your site appears, which in turn affects how highly you rank. This is because search engines are designed to provide useful, trustworthy content to their users. As you continue to establish yourself as an expert in your industry through your content, search engines will recognize your website as credible and trustworthy. Sites that search engines deem credible will rank more highly in search results, thus receiving more traffic, which will make them appear more useful, which in turn improves rank. 

What are the most important metrics to track?

So how do we know if our content is working to establish credibility, create a connection with our audience, and improve our brand visibility in search?

There are a few metrics you should keep your eye on:

• Organic traffic: While this may seem obvious, you should always keep tabs on your organic traffic numbers. Your copywriting efforts should steadily grow your traffic over time.

• Traffic value: The economic value of your traffic is the amount that you would pay for your organic clicks if you had targeted them in a Google Ads campaign. This is a great way to track your return on investment.

• Keyword ranking: Keep track of the keywords you’re ranking for and in what positions you tend to appear on search engine results pages.  

• Conversion rate: Traffic isn’t valuable if it doesn’t eventually turn into leads for your business. If you’re noticing that your organic traffic is growing steadily, but conversions aren’t, this could highlight an opportunity to optimize your landing page to make it more compelling or re-consider if you’re targeting the right audience. 

How long does it take to see results from SEO?

Copywriting for search engine optimization is a long-term strategy, not a quick fix. Depending on your industry, who your competitors are, and what keywords you’re trying to rank for, estimates range anywhere from 2 to 12 months to see results. The good news is that these results will be long-lasting. This is why it’s so important to track metrics to help you determine if your investment was successful. 

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Investing in copywriting is so important for a business. We all want to see more traffic to our site and more inbound leads, and a blog can make a huge difference in achieving that goal. Plus, it can help you to develop your brand, establish credibility, and engage with your audience. 

If you’re excited about the possibilities of adding a blog to your website, but you’re overwhelmed by creating content, we can help!