Suppose you’ve done everything you can to get your website to rank higher in search results. Your website’s technical aspects have improved significantly, all your content is up to date, and you’ve actively engaged in link building.
When you search yourself, you’ll see that your website ranks high in the search results. Unfortunately, your website isn’t nearly as visible to others. This is because Google doesn’t view you as a random visitor; Google remembers your search history and uses that (among other factors) to provide you with relevant search results.
But how do you check whether your efforts have paid off? With the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) from this blog, you can make your search engine optimization process measurable.
The most important KPI of the search engine optimization process is organic search traffic. When you implement search engine optimization, you want to see an increase in organic search traffic.
Organic search traffic refers to visitors to your website who found you through Google or Yahoo, for example. You can track this using Google Analytics. In Google Analytics, go to “Acquisition” and click on “Traffic.”
Here you can see at a glance how many sessions (website visits) come from organic search traffic. Keep in mind that a single visitor can account for multiple sessions.
Compare the increase in organic search traffic to the same month last year. This is a reliable way to measure whether your organic search traffic is increasing. Is the increase marginal? Take a look at your meta descriptions and page titles.
Do they encourage users to click through to your website, and do they include a call to action? If not, optimize your meta descriptions and page titles. An inviting page title and meta description can make all the difference in whether or not users click on your listing in the search results.
Not every visitor finds you using the same search term. For example, if you have a website that offers SEO services, people might search for “search engine optimization,” “SEO,” or even “technical SEO.”
The ranking for each search query in the search results is a KPI. With keyword trackers, you can see where you rank in the search results for a particular keyword. So gather all possible keywords and search queries and enter them into a keyword tracker.
The keyword tracker shows your current ranking, how many positions you’ve moved up or down, and which page appears in the search results.
High-volume keywords are an important factor. These are keywords that many people search for. If you rank highly for these keywords, you’re sure to be found in the search results.
However, it is difficult to rank highly for high-volume keywords. For low-volume keywords—more specific keywords further along the customer journey—it’s easier to rank well.
Are you ranking poorly for certain search queries that are important to you? Optimize those pages. Chances are your content is too short and doesn’t match the search query. Tailor your content to your visitors’ search queries. So look at things from the visitor’s perspective and consider their question.
If you notice a drop in your search rankings, there’s no need to panic. You can’t just keep climbing. Keep updating your content, but don’t over-optimize.
Even if you have hundreds of visitors to your website, those visitors still need to convert. Visitors alone won’t put food on the table. Is your organic search traffic increasing, and are visitors signing up for your newsletter or calling you to request your services? If so, you’re using search engine optimization effectively.
You’re visible, and your visitors are converting. The number of conversions and leads you generate is a key SEO metric. You can set up goals in Google Analytics to track this. Place tags using Google Tag Manager and see where people click and drop off.
This also helps you identify areas where you may need to make further improvements to encourage visitors to convert. Take an objective look at your website and ask yourself the following questions:
Google aims to display the most relevant results for a search query. The bounce rate tells you how many visitors found your site but then took no action on it.
An important KPI is measuring whether visitors find answers to their search queries. The bounce rate is typically between 40 and 60 percent.
A low bounce rate is an indicator that your website is relevant and answers the visitor’s search query.
Is your bounce rate high? If so, take a close look at your website’s navigation and content. Then optimize your website using our 9 tips for lowering your bounce rate.
Does your content actually answer a search query, and can a visitor easily find the information they’re looking for? If so, visitors are more likely to click through and spend more time on your website.
Take a look at how many pages are viewed per session. Do visitors view multiple pages, or do they only view two pages? When visitors view few pages—or just one page—there’s a good chance they’re running into problems. So take a look at your website’s structure, but also make sure the content is good. Are you giving visitors the chance to complete the customer journey and convert, or not?
There are, however, exceptions to this KPI. Do you have a one-page website? In that case, it makes sense that the number of pages per session would be low. The longer a visitor spends on the website, the better. This indicates that they are gathering information. If they leave the website quickly, you need to optimize it.
Do you have an online store? If so, you’ll often notice that visitors browse multiple pages. They compare products and weigh their options. In e-commerce, it’s common for visitors to view many pages.
So think carefully about how many pages are typical for a visit to your website. Do you have a lot of content? If so, people will automatically visit more pages.
If visitors to a website with many pages view few or no pages per session, something is wrong—but the same is true the other way around. For example, if they view a hundred pages per session, something is wrong there, too. So take a realistic view of this.
Session duration is also an important KPI. Are visitors spending enough time on your website? If so, this indicates that they find your content interesting. They’re being encouraged to click further and explore more on your website. This is a good sign!
Is the average session duration short? If so, you’ll need to optimize it. There’s a good chance that your website’s navigation or internal link structure isn’t clear.
Make sure you guide visitors through the website. Create a logical menu and include internal links to relevant pages so that visitors can easily navigate to the right content.
You probably don’t think about it very often, but your website’s load time is also one of the KPIs in the search engine optimization process.
Put yourself in the shoes of a visitor. Imagine you click on one of the search results. The website takes a long time to load, and of course, you don’t feel like waiting that long. Chances are you’ll click back to the search results.
Load time is an important indicator for both search engines and visitors. Is your website slow to load? If so, there’s a good chance you’ll also rank lower in search results. It’s no coincidence that your website’s load time is a key factor in technical SEO.
In an ideal world, a page’s load time shouldn’t exceed 2 seconds. If it takes longer and visitors to your website have to wait a long time for a page to open, they’ll leave. Tools like GTmetrix and Google Speed Insights let you check your website’s load time. Is it more than 2 seconds? If so, follow the tips provided by these tools. That’s a guaranteed path to success!
In Google Analytics, you can also find the exit pages. These are the pages where visitors decide to leave your website. This is another important indicator of whether your website meets visitors’ expectations.
Are visitors leaving the website on a page where they weren’t supposed to? If so, you need to optimize. There’s a good chance they’re running into navigation issues or that the content isn’t answering their question. Include exit pages as a KPI for your funnel.
Search engines use crawlers to find new and updated URLs. A crawl error means that the crawler cannot access the URL, which prevents your page from appearing in search results. This makes crawl errors an important KPI. You can find crawl errors in Google Search Console.
Crawl errors can be caused, for example, by a redirect loop, a 404 error because the page has been deleted, or an error in your robots.txt file.
You can find these errors by fetching a page as Google in Google Search Console. Google Search Console also shows you a complete list of errors under the “Coverage” section. If you find crawl errors, take action to resolve them.
This KPI, the click-through rate, has already been touched on briefly in the previous KPIs. The click-through rate is the percentage of people who clicked on your website in the search results.
You can also find these results in Google Search Console, under the “Performance” tab. In Google Search Console, you can see which search queries led users to your site and how often your site appeared in search results, including the click-through rate.
Your click-through rate will vary depending on your position. If you’re in the 10th position on average, a click-through rate of 2% isn’t bad. If you’re in the 2nd position on average, 2% is very low.
If few or no people are clicking on your website, take another close look at your page titles and meta descriptions. Do they really encourage people to click? If not, optimize them!
With a passion for SEO and an unmatched drive for results, Jarik Oosting is the driving force behind SmartRanking. With over 15 years of experience in the field, he has built an extensive body of knowledge spanning technical SEO to complex site migrations. As the founder of SmartRanking, he has assembled a team of like-minded SEO specialists who help businesses achieve sustainable online growth.
His academic background in information science at the University of Groningen, with a specialization in natural language processing, gives him a unique perspective on the world of SEO. For Jarik, it’s not just about visibility in search engines, it’s about sharing knowledge and guiding businesses toward sustainable online success. That mission also led him to write a Dutch book about GEO.