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The most important SEO metrics you should be tracking!
So you have optimized your site for search engines. You have applied SEO to various metrics to increase ROI, page views, and profitability.
But how effective is your SEO? Is it delivering the results you seek? These questions are answered through an analysis of SEO metrics using website analytics.
Experts use a range of website analytics to mine SEO metrics. These tools include Google Analytics, SEMrush, Matomo, Adobe Analytics, Mixpanel, Yandex Metrica, StatCounter, HubSpot, Amplitude, and Baidu Analytics.
Of these, Google Analytics and SEMrush are the most popular. Google Analytics is freemium – free for small businesses. SEMrush is chargeable.Â
Tracking these metrics is key to understanding campaign performance. This article is a short guide on which metrics to track, why, and how.
Important SEO metrics
Metric 1: Conversions
Tracking sales and leads help define the success of marketing efforts. Use a conversion benchmark to measure success.Â
We recommend using the average conversions of three months before the commencement of your marketing campaign as the benchmark.
Google Analytics is great to measure conversions. Use the e-commerce report to track channel sales and measure goals for lead conversions.
Metric 2: ROI
The second among SEO metrics to track is the return on investment (ROI). ROI is arguably the best measure of success of marketing efforts.
Track ROI by two parameters – investment into SEO and the resulting revenue from the channel being tracked.
The SEO investment is a combination of investment into SEO tools, cost of agency resources, and cost of in-house resources.Â
Set your ROI target and regularly measure performance using website analytics to note improvements month-on-month.
Metric 3: Organic sessions
As organic impressions grow, so should organic sessions. This is one of the key SEO metrics to be tracked.
Use the Google Search Console to view organic clicks for non-brandable terms. Branded searches may not be due to SEO efforts.
Filter non-branded traffic performance in the performance report. Compare seasonal performance by comparing year-on-year.Â
Metric 4: Organic visibility
This is one of the key SEO metrics to define your performance.Â
Use Google Search Console to showcase growth in impressions. Alternatively, use the Organic Research Tool in SEMrush to show a change in visibility for indexed keywords.
Metric 5: Pageview and average time on page for SEO
If users visit several pages in a session, it indicates high-quality content.
A high average time per page also indicates high-quality content.
If these two SEO metrics are unfavourable, it might mean that you need to enhance the quality of your content. Track average time per page in Google Analytics via this path: Behavior > Site Content > All Pages.
Metric 5: Engagement behaviours and bounce rate
User behaviour on the website is one of the key SEO metrics available from Google Analytics.
A high bounce rate signifies users leaving the site without interaction. It indicates uninteresting or irrelevant content.
Google Analytics lets you see the bounce rate via this path: Behavior > Site Content > All Pages.
Metric 6: Location tracking
Knowing the location where users come from helps in tailoring content.
Google Analytics helps you understand this through the use of cookies.
However, data sometimes gets skewed due to deleted cookies or changing browsers.
Metric 7: Organic CTR
High organic CTR’s mean that more people are clicking through from the SERPs to your website.
Low organic CTR’s mean you have to optimize your meta-titles and meta-descriptions.
This needs to be measured against the average CTR the SERP position is expected to receive.
Metric 8: Backlinks
The SEO metrics you should measure for backlinks are:
- Toxic links
- Links earned
- Links lost
- Number of referring domains
- Total backlinks
SEMrush backlink analytics and backlink audits help you measure these website analytics.
Metric 9: Keyword rankings for SEO
Today, keyword rankings are not the key measure of SEO success like they were five years back.
However, this is still among the important SEO metrics. The SEMrush Position Tracking Tool and Organic research tool help you stay on top of these website analytics.
Metric 10: Pagespeed
Today, Pagespeed is an essential determiner of SERPs.
Choose the right host, and optimize elements to increase page speed and rank higher.
Metric 11: Coverage issues/crawl errors
The Google Search Console helps you analyze coverage issues. The path is Index>Coverage.
Once you know where the errors are and what they are, you can correct them.
Summing up SEO metrics..
So now you have a better understanding of SEO metrics and how website analytics can leverage them. Use this knowledge for optimized campaigns. It’s easy when you know how to.
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