One of the biggest challenges I face as an SEO consultant is making sure that the changes my clients make to their sites aren’t effecting the goals that I am trying to accomplish for them. For the most part, I allow my clients to do whatever they want to their sites after I educate them about the rudimentary principals of SEO. This allows them the freedom to work within best practices, while at the same time specialize and do things that work specifically for their business.
However, my clients aren’t always totally abreast with web standards or best practices. The code they write “works on their computer” and they don’t always do the most thorough testing. They also aren’t the best about notifying me of huge changes to their website. Luckily, they give me access to their Google Analytics account, and I’d like to share a cool tip I use to make sure they aren’t doing anything too crazy:
I monitor the bounce rate of the pages in different browsers. Statistically, if everything is hunky dory, then the bounce rate should be within a few percent in each of the browsers. However, if for some reason the site is broken in Safari, or Firefox, you’ll see a huge spike in bounce rate. Implementing this is simple:
- In Google Analytics, Go to “Content“.
- Then click on “Top Content“
- Then, above the center pane, click on the segmentation options, go down to Browser, and hit Browser.
- Then, just check out the bounce rate. You can cruise down the list and look at all the other pages as well. This is an easy way to spot check your clients work and make sure you have their backs.