In its Webmaster Central blog, Google announced that marketers can now analyze query data going back 90 days to provide a more complete look into search activity surrounding their websites. According to the company, the previous setting of 35 days prevented some from properly analyzing the paths prospects took when landing on their websites.
For marketers, understanding the search terms prospects use to land on sites is crucial to developing an effective SEO strategy. Content marketing campaigns are reliant upon the keyword strategies businesses use to ensure that articles have optimum value for both users and search crawlers. Being able to see which terms have driven more traffic to a site over the course of 90 days will provide a better understanding of prospect behavior.
Javier Tordable, tech lead for Google Webmaster Tools, said the company has also made adjustments to allow marketers to see data as soon as they verify ownership of a website. Tordable said that marketers often had to wait a couple days before they could begin using search data after proving they managed the domain.
Having more expansive Webmaster data can help marketers create better content for their users. Rather than focusing on a limited number of terms for content marketing campaigns, developing articles or blog posts that use multiple terms or phrases that have proven to be valuable traffic drivers over time will make content appeal to different audiences.
Brafton recently reported that a new Google search algorithm targeting spammy keywords and link schemes further builds website content to ensure a strong user experience as essential to SEO. As this algorithm, dubbed Penguin, evolves, content strategies that contain natural keyword usage will likely succeed while sites with keyword stuffing will see their search rankings suffer.
