Essential SEO KPIs to Track

Dec 2, 2024 | Search Engine Optimisation

8 Essential SEO KPIs to Measure Regularly

What Are SEO KPIs?

SEO KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are metrics we can use to measure SEO success and effectiveness of SEO efforts. They allow us to track, evaluate, and refine SEO strategies, ensuring our campaign aligns with business goals.

No Search Engine Optimization campaign is complete without setting clear KPIs at the outset. These metrics provide measurable goals to assess progress and make data-driven decisions.

Setting SEO KPIs at the start of your campaign helps establish a benchmark for performance. This makes it easier to evaluate results over time and ensures alignment with broader business objectives. Focusing on the KPIs help you prioritize activities that drive organic traffic and improve your site’s visibility.

SEO KPIs to measure

Essential SEO KPIs to Track

Here is a list of SEO Key Performance Indicators you need to track regularly,

1.Organic Traffic

Organic traffic refers to the non-paid clicks that come to your website from search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. It indicates how well your site ranks for relevant keywords and attracts visitors without paid advertising.

Why Does Organic Traffic Matters?

  • More organic traffic reflects better visibility in search engine results.
  • It brings a targeted audience actively searching for products, services, or information you offer.
  • Unlike paid traffic, organic clicks are free, making it a cost-effective way to attract visitors.

Tracking organic traffic can help you identify the most popular pages and replicate successful strategies on other pages.

How to Track Organic Traffic?

Using Google Search Console (GSC) is one of the best ways to monitor organic traffic. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

  1. Log into your GSC account.
  2. Navigate to the Performance Report and then, select “Search results.”
How to measure Organic Traffic Using Google Search Console

3. A graph will appear showing your site’s organic traffic over time. Ensure the “Total Clicks” metric is selected. This reveals how many visitors reached your site from organic search.

How to measure Organic Traffic Using Google Search Console
  1. Review traffic trends over different periods to identify growth or declines.
  2. Examine which pages drive the most clicks to understand what content performs best.

By consistently tracking organic traffic, you gain valuable insights into your site’s performance. Those insights help to improve visibility and attract a larger audience.

2. Organic Conversions

Organic conversions happen when visitors from unpaid search results complete a desired action on your website. It could be making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading a resource.

This is a critical SEO KPI as it directly measures effectiveness of your SEO efforts.

Why Organic Conversions Matter?

  • Tracks the real impact of SEO on your business objectives.
  • Helps identify which pages or keywords drive the most conversions.
  • Demonstrates how SEO contributes to revenue and customer acquisition.

How to Measure Organic Conversions?

1. Define Your Conversion Goals

Identify the actions that represent a conversion on your website. Examples include:

  • E-commerce: A customer making a purchase.
  • Lead Generation: Signing up for a newsletter or filling out a contact form.
  • Engagement Goals: Spending a certain amount of time on your site or downloading a resource.

    2. Set Up Conversion Tracking in Google Analytics

    Step 1: Create Goals

    • Go to the Admin panel in Google Analytics.
    • Under View, select Goals and click + New Goal to create a goal for each desired action.
    • Choose goal types, such as Destination (specific URL visits) or Event (e.g., button clicks).

    Step 2: Assign Goal Values

    • Assign monetary values to conversions to assess the revenue impact of organic traffic. For example:
      • A newsletter sign-up might be worth $10 if each lead generates $100 and has a 10% conversion rate.

    Step 3: Implement Event Tracking

    • For actions like button clicks or video plays, set up event tracking using Google Tag Manager or custom JavaScript code.

    3. Search Visibility

    Search visibility measures how often your website appears in search engine results for your target keywords. Unlike individual keyword rankings, this metric provides a broader perspective on your site’s overall presence in search engine results pages (SERPs), including appearances in features like “People Also Ask” or featured snippets.

    Why Search Visibility Matters?

    • Tracks your performance across multiple keywords, offering a holistic view of your SEO efforts.
    • It helps you understand if your strategies are improving your visibility across SERPs.
    • Highlights areas where you can optimize for better rankings or new keyword opportunities.

    How to Track Search Visibility?

    Using Google Search Console (GSC),

    1.Log into GSC and select “Performance” from the left-hand menu.

    2.Then click on “Search results.”

    3.In the performance chart, select the “Total Impressions” metric.

    How to measure Search visibility Using Google Search Console

    It shows how often your website appears on search results over a specific period, offering insight into your visibility trends. Consistent tracking and optimizing of this SEO Metric ensures your site remains prominent in search results.

    4. Click-Through Rate (CTR)

    Click-Through Rate (CTR) is the percentage of users who click on your website link after seeing it in organic search results. It serves as an indicator of how appealing and relevant your content is to users searching for specific terms.

    Why CTR Matters?

    • A high CTR suggests that your title tags, meta descriptions, and overall listing resonate with users.
    • Search engines may favor pages with high CTRs, as they indicate strong user engagement.
    • Pages with low CTRs can be improved by refining their meta descriptions, titles, or content relevance.

    How to Track Organic CTR?

    Using Google Search Console (GSC):

    1.Open the Performance Report:

    Log into GSC and select “Performance” > “Search results” from the left-hand menu.

    2.View Average CTR:

    Look at the graph that displays the average CTR over time.

    how to measure Click through rate using Google Search Console

    3.Analyze CTR by Pages:

    Scroll down and click on the “Pages” tab to view the CTR of individual pages. This reveals which pages are performing well and which need optimization.

    4.Analyze CTR by Queries:

    Click on the “Queries” tab to see how specific search terms contribute to your site’s CTR.

    By tracking and optimizing CTR, you can improve your site’s appeal in search results and increase the likelihood of attracting more organic traffic.

    5. Keyword Rankings

    Keyword rankings represent your website’s position on search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific search terms. This metric is important as higher rankings typically lead to better visibility, more clicks, and increased organic traffic.

    Why Keyword Rankings Matter?

    • Improved Visibility: Higher rankings increase the likelihood of users seeing and clicking on your site.
    • Organic Traffic Growth: High rankings correlate with more organic visitors, as users tend to click on results near the top of the SERPs.
    • Spot Opportunities: Tracking rankings helps identify high-performing content, keywords, and areas where improvements are needed.
    • Early Problem Detection: Monitoring allows you to spot ranking drops quickly and take corrective action.

    How to Track Keyword Rankings?

    Using Semrush Organic Research Report,

    1. Log into Semrush and click the Organic Research section under the Domain Analytics tool.
    how to check keyword rankings on Semrush
    1. View all the keywords your site ranks for with their current positions in the SERPs.
    2. Check the search intent (e.g., informational, navigational, transactional) of each keyword.
    3. Identify whether your site appears in special SERP features like featured snippets, “People Also Ask” boxes or local packs.

    6. Number of Indexed Pages

    The number of indexed pages indicates how many of your web pages are inside a search engine’s index. Indexed pages are essential because only indexed content can appear in search results. If a page isn’t indexed, it cannot rank or get discovered by users through search engines.

    Why Indexed Pages Matter?

    • Ensures your content is eligible to appear in search results.
    • Help identify pages that are excluded from the index and uncover potential technical issues.
    • Tracks how much of your web content is accessible to search engines.

    While Google indexes most web content, certain issues like duplicate content, thin content, or crawl errors can prevent indexing.

    How to Track Indexed Pages?

    Using Google Search Console (GSC),

    1. Navigate to the Page Indexing section in GSC.
    how to check Number of Indexed Pages using Google Search Console
    1. Check the total number of indexed pages under “Indexed” in the report.
    2. GSC also shows pages that were excluded from the index, along with reasons such as:

    Noindex tag: The page is intentionally excluded from indexing.

    Duplicate content: The content is identical or very similar to another page.

    Crawl errors: Googlebot couldn’t access the page due to server issues or broken links.

    reasons for non indexed pages
    1. Review GSC’s explanations for excluded pages and take corrective actions, such as fixing crawl errors or adjusting meta tags.

    Pro Tips for Maintaining Indexing Efficiency

    1. Submit a Sitemap: Ensure your XML sitemap is up-to-date and submitted in GSC to help Google index your site more efficiently.
    2. Avoid Duplicate Content: Use canonical tags to indicate the primary version of similar content.
    3. Improve Internal Linking: Link important pages within your site to make them easier for search engines to crawl.
    4. Address Thin Content: Remove or improve pages with little value to ensure they meet Google’s quality standards.
    5. Regularly Audit Your Site: Use tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs to identify and resolve issues affecting indexing.

    7. Bounce Rate

    Bounce rate is the percentage of users who land on a page and leave within a short time (typically under 10 seconds) without taking any action, such as clicking a link, filling out a form, or navigating to another page.

    Why Bounce Rate Matters?

    • User Experience Indicator: A high bounce rate shows  that your content isn’t engaging, relevant, or satisfying users.
    • Impacts SEO Indirectly: Although bounce rate isn’t one of the direct ranking factors, consistent bounces from a page can signal poor user satisfaction, potentially lowering rankings over time.
    • Identifies Issues: A high bounce rate can point to technical problems, such as slow loading times or poor mobile responsiveness.

    How to Measure Bounce Rate Using Google Analytics?

    Open Google Analytics and select Pages and Screens option under Engagement.

    How to measure bounce rate

    Click the pencil icon at the top right corner.

    Bounce rate measure

    Click Metrics.

    How to measure bounce rate

    Now click “Add Metric” and type bounce rate. Then click “Apply

    Bounce rate report on Google Analytics

    Now you can check the bounce rate of each page on your website.

    Bounce rate metric

    Tips to Reduce Bounce Rate:

    • Match your content to user intent and use engaging headlines and meta descriptions to set clear expectations.
    • Optimize images, enable browser caching, and use a content delivery network (CDN) to enhance loading times.
    • Ensure your site is mobile-friendly with responsive design and fast load times for mobile users.
    • Include relevant internal links to encourage users to explore more of your site.
    • Use clear formatting, short paragraphs, bullet points, and engaging visuals to make content easier to digest.
    • Regularly audit your site for broken links, missing images, or other technical problems that might frustrate users.

    8.Website Health Score

    A website health score is a rating that reflects the overall website performance and technical condition of a website. Maintaining a high health score ensures that your site functions effectively and provides a positive user experience.

    Why Is Website Health Score Important?

    • Search engines like Google prefer websites that are technically in good condition and user-friendly. Regularly monitoring and addressing issues in your health score can improve search engine rankings and drive more organic traffic.
    • A healthy website is fast, responsive, and easy to navigate, which keeps visitors engaged and reduces bounce rates.
    • Websites with strong health scores create a seamless user experience, encouraging actions such as purchases, sign-ups, or inquiries.
    • Identifying and resolving issues prevents costly problems later, saving time and resources.
    • A well-maintained website enhances your brand credibility and shows commitment to delivering a high-quality online experience.

    How to Measure Website Health Score?

    Using Semrush Site Audit Tool,

    • Log in to Semrush and navigate to the Site Audit tool.
    • Enter your website URL and start the audit.
    • The audit provides a health score (a percentage) based on the number and severity of issues found.
    Site Health Audit
    • The tool categorizes issues into errors, warnings, and notices. Focus on resolving errors first, as they have the most significant impact on your website health.
    • Re-run the audit after implementing fixes to track your progress and ensure no new issues have arisen.

    Benefits of a Good Website Health Score:

    • Better SEO Performance: Higher rankings and visibility in search engine results.
    • Stronger Engagement: Users stay longer, explore more, and are more likely to convert.
    • Cost Savings: Proactive maintenance avoids costly downtime or extensive repairs.
    • Positive Brand Perception: A well-maintained site reflects professionalism and reliability.

    By monitoring and optimizing your website health score, you can maintain a robust online presence. It delivers exceptional user experiences, attracts more visitors, and drives business growth.

    Boost Your Online Presence with DigiFix’s SEO Services

    At DigiFix, we specialize in building tailored SEO strategies that drive measurable results. Our comprehensive approach optimizes your website for better visibility and delivers detailed insights through performance reports. With our expertise, you’ll stay informed about essential SEO KPIs, ensuring your business is always on track for success.

    From monitoring organic traffic growth to improving your keyword rankings, we use advanced SEO tools and proven techniques to help your website reach its full potential.

    We understand the importance of tracking performance. That’s why we provide detailed, actionable reports on critical KPIs. These insights allow you to see the tangible impact of our efforts and make informed decisions for your business.

    Ready to grow your business? Partner with DigiFix for expert SEO services and data-backed results that make a difference. Let’s transform your online presence today!

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