Developing spreadsheet to track SEO results

Would like some opininions...

[aus_dave]

I'm developing a spreadsheet to help in tracking the performance of a site over time. It's basic but provides a way to track keywords, PR and a few other things. I find it useful in monitoring the results after SEO work or a new site launch.

I'm thinking of making this spreadsheet available for download on my site as part of some other content on SEO etc. I am interested in any opinions on this approach - should I keep it secret as a 'competitive edge'?

Most people doing SEO could knock up a similar spreadhseet quite easily (probably many already do), so I tend to think I should make it freely available and be pleased if anyone actually downloads it ;).

[sun818]

Hey, if you make it public, I'd take a look at it :)

Also found a thread that discusses the merit of tracking monthly visits via Excel:
Anyone developed an Excel Speadsheet for tracking visits? [webmasterworld.com]

[aus_dave]

Thanks sun818 for that pointer and the positive comment :). What I am talking about is tracking keywords and other search engine related info, not referrals or server logs. Probably similar to what Web Position Gold can do but very basic and using manual checking of search results.

[Robert Charlton]

Just the other day I was searching for a way of using spreadsheets to keep track of inbound linking, and I came across this thread, which I bookmarked:

Monthly keyword position record keeping
Efficient method to keep track
[webmasterworld.com...]

You'd want to track the phrase, the engine, the page returned, and the date returned.

For phrases in some very competitive market areas, it might be interesting to track the number of competing pages too. I don't know how you'd set up a spreadsheet to do all this. I'd love to see whatever you come up with.

[Digimon]

Hey man, download your spreadsheet would be a pleasure. I've been thinking about it but I haven't found time to build one. Sounds cool.

[Hunter]

Yeah aus_dave, count me in as well

[aus_dave]

Hmm, I thought my first message went all but unnoticed but you guys have given me some more enthusiasm to keep developing the spreadsheet ;).

I checked that thread Robert and there was some good info in there. I'm not a database guru and I think most people find a simple spreadsheet less daunting to customise and use.

So far I have keyword rankings by engine (separate pages per engine), Google PR by page and a submission/appearance summary for the different engines. I hadn't thought of page returned - I can see it would be useful when changing pages etc. but it will add twice as much info to track which is a pain ;).

Will keep working on this, will sticky you the URL when it is in a useful form.

[Digimon]

I hope it!;)

[Robert Charlton]

>>I hadn't thought of page returned - I can see it would be useful when changing pages etc. but it will add twice as much info to track which is a pain.<<

What I was thinking of doing was to have a column for either some sort of page IDs (or urls), and then have a separate row for each page/target phrase combination. So, if two pages both ranked for "red widgets," I'd duplicate the red widgets row and enter the appropriate page ID in the Page-ID column.

This way you could sort by page, if you had a page ranking on several terms. I think it's really important if you're comparing the rankings among engines to help you psych out the algos and tune the pages.

I don't know how you can track pages over time and also among engines simultaneously for a whole bunch of variables. I wish I knew more about pivot tables, which I'm guessing may be very helpful here.

Unfortunately, I have Office 97, which lacks the pivot table features of newer versions of Excel. I'm already thinking I wish I knew more about databases too. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

[EquityMind]

Aus Dave

Would love to see that. Sticky me when you finalize it...thanks.

[jlr1001]

I'm developing a spreadsheet to help in tracking the performance of a site over time.

It's funny, but I've been working on such a spreadsheet for the past couple weeks.

I'd love to trade ideas on this . . . Also, I think everyone else should chime in with how they'd create the spreadsheet, rather than just say they'd want to download it.

-jlr1001

[itrainu]

I have a client who only wants a basic summary each month...not interested in reading the log analysis report - as pretty as it is *grin*

I created a very simple excel sheet which I update manually each month and show all the previous months as well for comparison. I figure the most important fields to track are:

Total Visiting Users
Average Users per Day
Unique IP Addresses
Average Hits per Day
Hits on Files
Hits on Pages

My log analysis software (FastSTats) can export to *.csv but it exports to individual workbooks for each category of report...not helpful ;-)

itrainu

[webwoman]

aus_dave. Yes pleeeeeaaase keep working on it. I would love access to something like this. I use an excel spreadsheet but it's very slap dash and not something I would show to my clients.

-webwoman