Key SEO Metrics to Track for Website Performance

You invest considerable time and effort in search engine optimisation (SEO) but see no results. Does this sound familiar to you? This is probably because you are not tracking your key SEO metrics. Search engine optimisation metrics provide a fair understanding of whether your SEO efforts are on the right track. It is worth noting that some metrics are more important than others, and some are just superficial metrics that do not impact your SEO performance.  

That said, since SEO has many moving parts, it is easy to get lost and misjudge which metrics are worth tracking.  

This article sheds light on some of the most important SEO metrics you should track to improve website ranking and online visibility. 

Let us start by understanding what SEO metrics mean. 

What are SEO Metrics? 

SEO metrics, as the name suggests are important metrics that help you evaluate the performance of your SEO activities. The metrics offer precious insights allowing you to tweak or adjust your SEO strategy depending on campaign results, ranking fluctuation, and other trends. 

Track these Important SEO Metrics to Boost Online Visibility

Now, let us explore some of the most important SEO metrics you should track to ensure your efforts yield the desired results.  

1. Organic Traffic 

You would not want your website to be a ghost town nobody visits, right? Organic traffic or internet visitors are your website’s most important performance metrics. Increasing web traffic indicates that more people are discovering your site and your site’s content is engaging your target audience.  

But what is organic traffic? Organic traffic is the number of people visiting your website from a search engine result page (SERP) when searching for a specific keyword related to your business or industry.  

2. Keyword Rankings

Keyword rankings have a direct impact on your site’s organic traffic and SEO success. Understanding keyword rankings for certain keywords gives you a fair understanding of how users visit your website. It is also essential to understand which keywords are performing well and which are not ranking high in SERPs.  

One way to find out whether your keywords are doing well is by running a Google search and checking your site’s ranking for every targeted keyword. Additionally, it is also worth noting that marketing campaigns, algorithm updates, and market competition can influence keyword rankings.  

Pro tip: Never lose sight of your keyword rankings by tracking their positions using a reliable SEO tool.  

3. Search Visibility

Search visibility primarily refers to the total percentage of all clicks for the keywords you are tracking that help users reach your website. It is the SEO equivalent of Share of Voice (SOV) which is one of the most critical marketing KPIs that helps you evaluate your business’s visibility.  

It is important to understand that there is a direct relationship between SOV and market share. In simple words, the higher the SOV, the larger your market share, boosting your organic SEO growth.  

4. Click-through Rate (CTR)

The click-through rate (CTR) is also one of the key SEO metrics you should track. The CTR is the percentage of visitors who click on a link that redirects to your website from a SERP. If you are ranking high but have a low CTR, you can focus on optimising your meta titles and descriptions to increase visitors. Follow the SEO guidelines to ensure your meta title and description are SEO-optimised.  

Here is the formula to calculate the CTR.  

CTR = page views/impressions x 100 

The CTR is a good indicator of what SEO techniques are effectively working to boost visibility and attract visitors.  

5. Traffic Value

Traffic value means the amount of money you would have to pay for all your organic clicks in case they were coming from pay-per-click search ads. This simply means that the higher the traffic value, the better your chances of generating revenue from organic traffic.  

It is worth noting that you must leverage SEO to boost organic traffic throughout the customer journey, interaction with visitors who are likely to convert into customers is the most valuable. Conversion tracking is particularly important to understand whether your SEO efforts are helping you generate organic traffic and conversion.  

6. Backlinks and Referring Domains

Referring domains and backlinks are considered some of the most important SEO metrics, crucial for your site’s SEO health. When a website adds a link to an external site, it is called a backlink in the SEO world. Backlinks generated from high-traffic and credible websites allow search engines including Google -.  

While it is not the only factor, a site’s backlinks improve its rankings across search engines. Additionally, websites that add links to your websites are known as referring domains.  

 7. Domain Authority

Domain authority indicates a website’s strength and potential search engine ranking that appears in search engine results pages (SERPs). You can check your website’s domain or web authority on several websites including Moz, Ahrefs, and SEMrush. Typically, a site’s domain authority is evaluated by its backlink profile.  

 8. Indexed Pages

The number of indexed pages is among the top SEO reporting metrics, and for good reasons. Anything that stops your pages from being indexed when it is not done on purpose via the noindex robots meta tag is considered an error. 

Google might decide not to index your pages right away or deindex them for a variety of reasons. Index coverage problems are the result of something you did not intentionally do, so it is critical to be aware of them and address them as required. 

 9. Core Web Vitals

 Technical SEO metrics concerning the speed and usability of your website are called Core Web Vitals (CWV). Since June 2021, Google has used CWV as a small ranking component. It is a good idea to take steps to fix them if they are not performing well.  

This is indicative of Google’s endeavour to give preference to pages that provide an excellent user experience, which includes fast loading times and seamless interaction. 

10. Website Health

You can download site audit reports that provide you with a technical site health score if you already use third-party tools.  

This score represents the technical SEO state of your website, considering problems like duplicate title tags, broken links, and missing meta descriptions, among other factors. Technical site health scores are a critical indicator to monitor as they may significantly improve your site’s SEO performance.  

Wrap Up

Remember that each business has different objectives and motivations while tracking SEO effectiveness. You must choose the most important and relevant SEO metrics to monitor for your website and link them to your organisation’s primary objectives. These metrics will be used to assess how well the selected optimisation technique meets the company’s objectives. It will also offer you an indication of how well your company is performing compared to your primary competitors in the market.  

Maximize your website’s potential with professional SEO services. Boost your rankings, drive organic traffic, and stay ahead of the competition today! 

Key SEO Metrics to Track for Website Performance – FAQ’s 

How is the SEO score calculated? 

 The SEO score of a website is calculated by analysing how a website adheres to the recommended or the best SEO practices. Typically, an SEO score is calculated using specialised and advanced SEO tools that use different metrics and formulas to calculate the SEO score of a website.  

What are the three A’s of SEO metrics?

The three Important A’s of SEO metrics are: Actionable, Accessible, and Auditable. 

How can tracking SEO metrics help in improving website traffic & ranking? 

Keeping a check on your SEO metrics allows you to monitor a site’s performance across different search engine results and identify parts of the website that need improvement. You can also adjust your site structure and content depending on how your SEO metrics are performing.