Accessibility & Inclusion

How Website Benchmarking Can Help Boost Your Digital Presence

August 8, 2022 5 minute read

Stay ahead online: using website benchmarking to identify key performance metrics and strategies to amplify your digital visibility.

The internet is an increasingly crowded place, and it can be very difficult to gauge what website content is working in terms of enhancing and amplifying your online presence, and what is falling on deaf ears. This is where website benchmarking can swoop in to save the day by giving you a real competitive advantage.

So, what exactly is benchmarking? Well, it is defined as the process of measuring products, services, and processes against those of organizations known to be leaders in one or more aspects of their operations.

The purpose of website benchmarking is to provide you with the context required to understand how your website is performing in comparison to others in your industry-at-large, as well as to direct competitors.

In fact, website benchmarking not only allows you to see how your site stands in comparison to others of a similar size and industry, but can also help you to pinpoint its core strengths and weaknesses. On top of giving you a much clearer picture of your position in the market, the insights garnered by website benchmarking can be used to identify areas that require immediate attention, as well as help you make decisions that will form the basis of future improvement plans.

Three key benchmarks for digital presence: QA, SEO, and accessibility

Let’s take a look at three key areas that can have a sizable impact on your digital presence, and why it is important to run a benchmark check against these in order to understand if your site is hitting or missing the mark.

Why website benchmarking matters for QA

Website benchmarking for QA allows you to see how your website’s content quality, relevance, and user experience measures up to others in your industry. Needless to say this is valuable knowledge when trying to remain one step ahead of your competitors.

Why website benchmarking matters for SEO

Website benchmarking for search engine optimization (SEO) allows you to compare key metrics, such as keyword rankings, conversions, organic traffic, etc., with leading competitors in your industry, so that you can stay on the right track towards your SEO goals.

Why website benchmarking matters for accessibility

Website benchmarking against competitors allows you to measure your website’s level of accessibility compliance, so that you can ensure it delivers an inclusive and optimized user experience relative to the industry average. In other words, website benchmarking allows you to pull back the digital curtain and discover how accessible your website really is when compared to your direct competition.

Website benchmarking against the three areas mentioned above is absolutely vital to ensuring that your site is not letting you or your visitors down, as it allows you to see how your website performs relative to industry standards. While there are various types of website benchmarking practices that can be leveraged, in essence they all serve the same purpose: to enhance your understanding of how your competitors are performing, and show you what you could be doing better.

Ultimately, this information lets you pull back the digital curtain, highlighting the things that are working to enhance your digital presence, and exposing the elements that demand your immediate attention.

Why it is important to have relevant and trustworthy content

The ‘trustworthiness’ of a website’s content essentially refers to its level of credibility in relation to quality, relevance, and user experience. A website that is seen as being non-trustworthy will very quickly find itself without many visitors. Website benchmarking against industry standards for quality assurance enables you to see how your site is performing in this area, so that you do not fall behind the pack.

Why SEO is important to your website’s positioning

You might have the most interesting and insightful content on the entire web, but if it is not properly optimized for SEO it will inevitably be drowned out, lost in a sea of better optimized, if potentially lesser, material. Optimizing your website content for SEO ensures that your website is more visible, meaning more traffic and more opportunities to convert prospects into customers.

Why you should strive to outperform your competition on accessibility and user friendliness

In today’s online environment, a website that is non user-friendly and inaccessible will quickly find itself struggling to stay relevant. The simple fact is that visitors are increasingly put off by sites that are confusing, unnecessarily complex, or difficult to use. Competitive website benchmarking will give you the insights you need to ensure that your content is meeting or exceeding accessibility standards for your industry.

The bottom line

Website benchmarking allows you to compare your website to that of your competitors on metrics such as quality assurance, accessibility, and SEO compliance.

To see how Monsido by Acquia's tool can be used for benchmarking, check out some of our website performance industry benchmarks.