SEO is the starting point of every marketing strategy but results don’t come overnight.
As a matter of fact, SEO has a lag time. That’s why it’s crucial to track the developments and adjust your strategy as needed.
It is important to distinguish between the two aspects of SEO to track:
- SEO success
- SEO progress
Obviously, some changes take place instantaneously, while others take more time. Updating page titles, for example, is a quick fix, but to actually make it to the first page of Google search results, you’ll need to wait for weeks, sometimes even months.
It’s essential, therefore, that you know exactly what you are doing every step of the process, and to set achievable goals. Tracking KPIs is the right way to go about things, so let’s take a look at the process in a bit more detail.
Tracking SEO Success
To be able to distinguish whether your SEO strategy is successful, you should track the following KPIs:
- Rankings
- Organic traffic
- Organic conversion
- ROI
1. Rankings
Content that ranks on the first page of Google search results receives the vast majority of the traffic for the target keyword. However, it’s important to note that even if all of your keywords are highly ranked, they may be irrelevant for your brand.
You should focus on the keywords that are frequently used by your target audience. Now, when these keywords help your content rank highly, this is the road to success.
It is crucial, therefore, to define the exact keywords based on their relevance, search intent and volume.
2. Organic Traffic
Organic traffic is what counts in the long run. The increase in relevant traffic depends on the size of your target audience and the volume of keywords they’re searching for.
The goal is to use keywords that are closely related to the scope of your business. Only in that way can you attract the right kind of audience that is actually looking for your products and services.
- To determine whether your content is relevant, look for the following indicators:
- The time the visitors spend reading your content (the more the better)
- The number of pages per visit
- The number of conversions
Organic traffic is easily tracked. Simply go to your Google Analytics dashboard -> Acquisition -> Overview -> Organic Search.
3. Organic Conversion
As mentioned above, if your content converts, you can be sure that it is, indeed, relevant.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach in this regard. It’s recommended to customize your goals in Google Analytics so that you can track the exact types of conversions.
4. ROI
Good SEO doesn’t come cheap, so tracking ROI is a natural step.
The easiest way to do this is by assigning a monetary value to every conversion you track. Note that you shouldn’t only track first conversions. Rather, include the entire lifetime value. In other words, to accurately calculate the ROI of your SEO strategy, assign a monetary value to every type of conversion coming from organic traffic and add customers’ lifetime value to it.
To track SEO performance and overall progress, you should come up with a viable strategy. That, however, is not just a collection of tips. Rather, it is a number of approaches that jointly contribute to better rankings and increased traffic and conversions.
There are three things that are crucial in this regard:
- High-quality backlinks
- Number of SEO-focused blog posts published
- The absence of technical issues
5. High-Quality Backlinks
Backlinks originating on websites that rate well and are reputable are certain to increase your website’s authority. Needless to say, this can skyrocket it in terms of Google search results.
Backlink building is an important part of every successful SEO strategy. You should keep in mind that it’s an ongoing process: new quality backlinks are always welcome.
To stay on top of developments, you may want to track a couple of parameters on a monthly basis, as follows:
- The total of new backlinks built
- Anchor text of the new backlinks
- The total of backlinks from industry-specific sites
- The domain rating of the backlinks built
- The total of backlinks from high-authority websites
6. Number of SEO-Focused Blog Posts
It’s no secret that quality outranks quantity all the time, but with SEO, things are somewhat more complicated. Sticking to a content calendar is important, too, as SEO is a never-ending process.
Keep your targets in mind and stick to the number of new monthly blog posts. But, using more lateral thinking, you also must remember that creativity and actually writing for the reader must also be applied.
7. The Absence of Technical Issues
Lastly, technical issues pose a tremendous problem, and not only because they’ll affect your website’s Google ranking. They are also considered poor user experience.
To ensure that there are no technical issues whatsoever, make sure to undergo a full audit regularly. Typical issues that can occur include broken links, redirect chains, and crawler issues.
Remember that the website must at all times be fast and user-friendly. Also, make it responsive; the number of mobile users is constantly rising.
Summary
In a nutshell, there are 7 KPIs you should be regularly tracking when it comes to SEO:
- Rankings
- Organic traffic
- Organic conversion
- ROI
- High-quality backlinks
- Number of SEO-focused blog posts published
- The absence of technical issues
Keeping everything in order will ensure that your website generates quality leads and speaks to the exact audiences you’re targeting. Tracking both SEO progress and success is important because without the first there will be no latter.
Take your time devising an SEO strategy that works for you and keep the goals in mind. Much like incorporating business SOPs, your SEO strategy is there to keep you on track and provide a clear guideline. Adjustments are only to be expected, but you should always know exactly what you are doing.
SEO is, after all, a lifetime effort. Once it starts working its magic, you should make sure to continue the trend. New posts should be optimized, evergreen, and cross-marketed through different channels like newsletters, videos, social media, etc. And, don’t forget to stick to your content calendar!