Table of content
Table of Contents
By now you’ve probably heard of search engine optimisation (SEO) and know that it’s a vital service for any website that wants to do well online. Having a strong SEO campaign will boost your website to the top of search results so you are right where your potential customers can find you when they are looking for your products or services.
However, SEO takes time to see the results, so it’s important that you know that your SEO campaign is running in the right direction. In this post, we’ll cover the 8 crucial SEO KPIs to track and measure to ensure your SEO campaign is a success.
What are SEO KPIs?
SEO KPIs(key performance indicators) are indicators that help you evaluate the effectiveness of your SEO strategy. These indicators allow you to understand the extent to which your SEO campaign is working. Depending on the objective you want to achieve, you will track different SEO KPIs. You can measure the number of visits to your website or the average shopping basket on an ecommerce site.
Why are SEO KPIs important for your business?
Choosing, measuring and tracking kpis is important for your website and will help you to see what is working, or not working, in your SEO strategy. That’s why, before launching an SEO strategy, you need to set clear and achievable objectives that you can then measure the effectiveness of. Then, using performance indicators, you can adjust your SEO strategy to make it more effective.
How to measure a SEO KPI?
To measure, track and manage an SEO KPI you can use tools such as:
- Google Search Console: ideal for tracking your performance in terms of page indexing, CTR and impressions.
- SEO tools: such as Semrush to track more specific performances such as: backlinks, conversions or positions in the SERP organic results.
What SEO KPIs should you be tracking?
It all depends on the type of website you own and your objectives. If you have a blog, you won’t necessarily have the same expectations and objectives as an ecommerce website. However, there are some KPIs that are universally important. Let’s look at them together.
SEO Kpis that every website owner should follow
1. Number of Organic visits
An organic visit to your website means that the user found your website by typing in a relevant keyword or phrase into Google and then your website showed up in the search results which resulted in the user clicking through to your site. You can track the number of organic visits your website receives by setting up Google analytics.
2. Number of impressions
Whenever a user searches for a keyword or phrase via a search engine like Google if your website is displayed that is counted as an impression regardless of whether the user clicked through to your website or not. This metric is important because if an SEO campaign is working well, your website should be showing up for more search results and therefore generating more impressions and then ultimately more clicks through to your website. You can learn how many impressions your website is receiving by setting up the Google Search Console.
3. Keyword Rank Tracking
When it comes to SEO, the secret lies in targeting the right keywords. But once you have selected the keywords to target, you must make sure that your SEO efforts are paying off by checking how well your website is ranking for your chosen keywords. To track how well you are ranking for each keyword you could choose to type each keyword into Google and then see which position your website is and keep a note of it, however, a much easier way is to use a keyword ranking tracker tool such as Ubersuggest that will automatically keep a list of your target keywords and update your ranking position for each keyword in real-time. Saving you a lot of time and effort.
How do you track your search engine rankings?
You can track the positioning of the different pages on your website in the SERP:
- Use Google search console
- Use more precise and detailed analysis tools such as Semrush or Ahref.
4. CTR(Click-through Rate)
The CTR is the percentage of people who click on your website after seeing it in the organic results of the SERP (search engine results page). If your CTR is high, this means that a lot of people click on your website when they see it. This is a good indicator that your content is attractive.
How to calculate CTR?
Calculating your CTR is simple: you divide the number of clicks on your page by the number of impressions, then multiply by 100.
How to track CTR?
To track the CTR of your pages, go to Google search console, then to performances and click on search results. Don’t forget to click on the CTR box to see the graph displayed. At first glance, this will give you an idea of the overall CTR of your website. To see an overview page by page, scroll down and click on the ‘pages’ tab.
SEO KPIs you can track for your Ecommerce website
We’re now going to look at the KPIs that you can monitor if you have an ecommerce shop:
1. Conversions (Leads & Sales)
You can track how many conversions you have generated since launching your SEO campaign. This metric will prove just how effective your SEO campaign is. A conversion may be a lead, online sale, phone call, appointment booking, or even a newsletter sign-up! So depending on what a conversion means to you will determine how you can set up conversion tracking for that metric.
2. Shopping cart abandonment rate
This metric lets you know how many users add one or more products to their shopping basket without completing their order. If this rate is high, there’s probably a problem with the checkout process.
How to track shopping cart abandonment rate?
You can track this data by:
- Using and configuring Google Analytics
- Using plugins such as MonsterInsight
3. Bounce rate
The bounce rate is an indicator that lets you know how many visitors have left your ecommerce shop after viewing just one page. If the bounce rate is high, you need to understand why visitors are leaving your site without exploring it.
How to track bounce rate
To track bounce rate, you can use Google analytics or MonsterInsight
4. Average order size
This very important indicator lets you know how much a customer spends on a single order.
How to calculate average order size?
To calculate it, you’ll just have to divide total revenue by the number of orders.
Conclusion
SEO KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are measurable metrics that help you understand how well your website’s SEO efforts are performing. Think of them as the “scoreboard” for your SEO game, showing whether your strategies are working and where you can improve. Depending on your objectives and the type of website you own, you will establish different KPIs. But remember that whatever you do, you have key performance indicators that you need to track!
