7 SEO Metrics To Track In All Businesses

Great content is a goldmine of revenue opportunities—but knowing which SEO metrics to track so you can double, triple your leads and sales is a challenge.

 

In this guide, let’s explore the lucky seven metrics that are important in your business today.

 

• What are SEO Metrics and SEO KPIs
• What are the Most Important SEO Metrics to Track
• - Organic Traffic
• - Conversion Rate
• - Number of Backlinks
• - Keyword Rankings
• - Average Click-Through Rate (CTR)
• - Bounce Rate
• - Domain Authority (DA)
• How to Track and Measure SEO Success
• Summing Up: SEO Metrics are the Compass to Your Content Strategy

What are SEO Metrics and SEO KPIs

 

Before we kick start this guide, let’s quickly recap on the exact SEO metrics meaning. Nothing beats a refresher when we’re tackling a beast of a topic like SEO! 

 

Here is DashThis’ very own SEO metric definition: 

 

Search engine optimization (SEO) metrics are a set of measurable values that determine your website’s content performance.

 

Grab this SEO report template with your own data—for free!

 

Marketers rely on SEO key performance indicators (KPIs) to plot the next step in their SEO strategy—whether to continue investing in their SEO efforts or pairing SEO with social media strategies. 

 

Do these scenarios ring a bell?

 

“We have about 100 blog posts. Which specific page should we build more backlinks so we can rank on the search engine results page (SERPs)?”

 

“There’s a mix of different content types on the first page of the SERPs. Should we create a blog post or a landing page?”

 

“Our new website can’t compete with the big kahunas. Should we forget about our SEO campaign and switch to another digital marketing strategy?”

 

If you just nodded your head to these real-world scenarios, great news. 

 

That’s what your SEO KPIs are here for.

What are the Most Important SEO Metrics to Track

 

Here are the core SEO metrics you need to track today.

1. Organic Traffic

 

 

What it is: Searchers that land on your website from unpaid sources (e.g., search engine, backlink). Organic search traffic is the hard-won result of your inbound marketing efforts.

 

Where it is: GA > Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Organic Search.

 

2. Conversion Rate

 

 

What it is: Percentage of visitors who completed an action (e.g., signed up to an email newsletter, bought a product from an ecommerce store).

 

Pro Tip: To improve your conversion rate, target keywords from the bottom of the funnel, as those are the ones with high buying intent. Users who search for these keywords are much more likely to convert. 

 

Where it is: Set up goals in GA. Use the model comparison tool to measure which pages are driving the biggest organic conversion.

3. Number of Backlinks

 

 

What it is: Number of referring domains directing to your website. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the higher you rank on search engines (e.g., Google,  Bing).

 

Where it is: Locate it in SEO tools such as Ahrefs, Moz, and SEMrush.

 

4. Keyword Rankings

 

 

What it is: Ranking of your web pages for search queries (e.g., Your post “10 Ways to Boost Conversion Rate” ranks in the seventh position on the SERPs for the keyword “conversion rate”).

 

Where it is: GSC > Performance. Filter your queries by page to find the keywords you’re ranking for.

5. Average Click-Through Rate (CTR)

 

 

What it is: Number of clicks your post or page receives divided by the number of times it’s shown. CTR plays a significant role not only in SEO but also in copywriting and user engagement.

 

Where it is: Google Search Console (GSC) > Average CTR.

6. Bounce Rate

 

 

What it is: Percentage of visitors that leave your website without taking any action. There are multiple culprits behind a high bounce rate, such as a misleading meta description and low-quality site content. 

 

Note: There’s a lot to bounce rate benchmarks, so take them with a grain of salt.

 

Where it is: Google Analytics (GA) > Audience Overview > Bounce rate.

 

7. Domain Authority (DA)

 

 

What it is: Ranking score that predicts how likely your website will rank on the SERPs. The higher it is, the better. Also known as domain rating.

 

Where it is: Locate it in SEO tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz.

 

Now, which SEO tools should you use?

 

If you’re just getting started in content marketing, we recommend GA and GSC as they’re free.

 

Google Analytics focuses more on user experience. The engagement metrics (e.g., page views, exit pages, average time users interact with your site) tells you how users behave on your website based on a time frame. 

 

Here’s how a typical Google Analytics SEO dashboard will look when you’re on DashThis.

 

Grab this Google Analytics report template with your own data—for free!

 

On the other hand, Google Search Console revolves around the search engine (think search volume) and technical SEO (think crawl errors). 

 

Pro Tip: Use the PageSpeed Insights tool to speed up your site. Page load time is one of Google’s ranking factors. 

 

Free SEO tools don’t give a complete snapshot of your website’s overall SEO performance. For instance, it’s impossible to identify a competitor’s link building strategy for a particular page on GA and GSC.

 

But you can do this with advanced SEO reporting software like Ahrefs and Moz.

 

So don’t forget: When you’re ready to optimize your keyword research process (or you have a bigger marketing budget), invest in these paid SEO tools. 

 

They’re worth it.

How to Track and Measure SEO Success

 

At this point, you’re probably cringing at the amount of work involved to grab your data from these multiple SEO tools. 

 

There’s gotta be a better solution, right?

 

You’re right.

 

With DashThis, you can track and measure SEO within a single place without going into each individual tool.

 

Turn your SEO data from GA, Ahrefs & more into one beautiful report!

 

To get started, 

1. Connect your favorite SEO metric tools with DashThis (you only need to do this once for each tool)
2. Select a pre-made SEO template
3. Click the SEO tool and KPIs you’re looking for, and DashThis will automatically grab the data accordingly

 

Forget copy-pasting your SEO data. DashThis automatically gathers them after you click on our preset SEO KPI widgets or custom widgets. 

 

DashThis’ reports are incredibly versatile. 

 

We specially built them for SEO success. You never have to worry about how to create SEO reports for clients ever again.

 

Do you work with local businesses? Grab our local SEO report template. 

 

Want to create a personalized touch for your favorite clients? Give our white label SEO reports a whirl. 

 

And oh, did we mention you can also create multi-channel marketing dashboard reports? Because you can. ;)

Summing Up: SEO Metrics are the Compass to Your Content Strategy

 

Amateur marketers create content from random inspiration. 

 

Savvy marketers analyze their SEO metrics before plotting their next move in a content strategy. They also automate their reporting process and attract leads and sales on repeat.

 

DashThis is an automated marketing tool that streamlines your SEO reporting. 

 

Start your FREE 15-day trial today.

 

Here's how to create your SEO report in 5 minutes with DashThis: