Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is more than just climbing up search engine rankings —it’s about understanding the data behind your SEO performance and using that information to drive smarter decisions.
This article provides a detailed breakdown of the 12 must-track SEO metrics, helping businesses focus on the KPIs to improve online visibility, user engagement and increase conversions. Whether handling in-house SEO strategy or collaborating with an agency, these metrics will help you understand and improve your site’s performance.
Why Tracking SEO Metrics Is Essential for Success in 2025
SEO is continuously evolving, influenced by new algorithms and changing user behaviour. To remain competitive, businesses must measure their SEO efforts, as this provides valuable insights into effective strategies and areas for improvement. The right metrics lead to data-driven decisions that enhance visibility, traffic, and conversions. Here are the SEO KPIs to track:
Organic Traffic
Organic traffic refers to the number of visitors who land on your website through unpaid search results. This metric is crucial for understanding your website’s performance in search engine results pages (SERPs) and indicates how well your content performs in search engines like Google or Bing. High organic traffic signals that your SEO strategy is working and you’re attracting visitors based on the relevance of your content to search queries.
However, not all organic traffic is the same. It’s essential to distinguish between branded and non-branded traffic.
- Branded traffic comes from visitors searching for your brand name or products they already know.
- In contrast, non-branded traffic refers to users who find your website by searching for relevant industry keywords.
Non-branded traffic is often more valuable from an SEO standpoint because it indicates that your SEO efforts successfully reach new audiences unfamiliar with your brand. Tracking the balance between branded and non-branded traffic can clarify how well your SEO strategy performs beyond existing brand recognition.
Organic Traffic is closely tied to SEO metrics such as keyword rankings and click-through rate (CTR). It’s common to see increased non-branded organic traffic when you improve your rankings for high-value, non-branded keywords. Optimising your meta descriptions and titles can also improve your CTR, which drives more traffic from search engines.
A study by HubSpot found that businesses publishing 16 or more blog posts per month get almost 3.5 times more organic traffic than those publishing fewer than four posts. This demonstrates how a content-rich website can lead to a significant increase in both branded and non-branded traffic through effective SEO.
How to Measure Organic Traffic
Use Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track changes in your organic traffic. Make sure to segment branded and non-branded traffic to get a clearer picture of your SEO performance. You can do this by filtering queries in Google Search Console that do or do not include your brand name. Segmenting your data by period, geography, and device type is also essential for a comprehensive view of your audience.
Keyword Rankings
Keyword rankings measure your website’s position in search engine results for targeted search terms. Being ranked on the first page of Google can significantly increase your visibility and organic traffic, making it crucial to track how well your site is performing for the most relevant keywords. Monitoring your rankings over time will help you assess the effectiveness of your SEO strategy.
However, rankings alone don’t tell the full story. There’s a direct connection between keyword rankings and metrics like organic traffic and bounce rate. For example, if you rank well for a specific keyword but experience a high bounce rate, it may indicate that your content isn’t aligned with search intent, causing visitors to leave your site quickly.
Measuring Keyword Rankings
Search engines use complex algorithms to determine the relevance and authority of a website. Key factors influencing keyword rankings include:
- Relevance: The extent to which a webpage’s content matches the search query.
- Authority: The credibility and trustworthiness of a website are often measured by backlinks and domain age.
- User Experience: It includes factors like page load speed, mobile-friendliness, and overall site design.
- Technical SEO: Proper website structure, XML sitemaps, and robots.txt.
You can track your progress with tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to ensure you’re moving toward your ranking goals.
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate often indicates irrelevant content or poor user experience (e.g., speed or mobile usability). However, it’s important to understand that some pages, like blog posts or landing pages, naturally have higher bounce rates, especially if they serve a single purpose.
Bounce rate is closely linked to dwell time and conversion rate. If users are leaving quickly, you’re not only losing potential leads but may also be sending negative engagement signals to search engines. This can indirectly affect your rankings, as Google factors user experience metrics like bounce rate and dwell time into its ranking algorithm.
How to Reduce Bounce Rate
According to a study, the probability of bounce increases by 32% as page load time goes from 1 second to 3 seconds. This illustrates the significant impact of technical SEO elements like speed on engagement metrics.
Start by identifying the pages with the highest bounce rates to reduce bounce rates. For example, if users are landing on a page about “SEO services metrics,” ensure the page provides comprehensive, relevant information about the topic, with clear CTAs guiding users to explore more. Google Analytics provides detailed bounce rate reports at the page level, allowing you to identify problem areas and adjust content, design, or functionality accordingly.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
CTR measures how often users click on your site in the search results compared to how often it’s shown (impressions). CTR is a valuable metric that reflects how well your content and meta tags align with what users search for.
Improving your CTR often leads to increased organic traffic without boosting your rankings. Crafting more engaging meta descriptions and titles can help attract more clicks even if you’re not in the top position. A low CTR combined with high keyword rankings suggests that while your content is visible, it may not be enticing enough for users to click.
How to Improve CTR
To increase CTR on top-performing pages, craft engaging and accurate meta descriptions and title tags to attract more clicks. Use A/B testing to find your industry’s most effective phrasing and format:
- Test different headlines
- Incorporate keywords in meta descriptions, and
- Ensure that your content previews in search results are compelling.
Monitor these changes using Google Search Console, which provides insights into CTR for specific search queries.
Conversion Rate
Conversion rate measures the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action, such as signing up for a newsletter, filling out a form, or purchasing. This metric ties directly to your business goals, showing how effectively your site converts traffic into leads or customers.
This metric often correlates with other metrics like organic traffic and bounce rate. If you’re driving significant traffic but not seeing many conversions, it may indicate a problem with the landing page design, the user experience, or even the quality of the traffic you’re attracting.
Tracking and Improving Conversion Rates
By understanding where visitors drop off and making targeted improvements, you can increase the number of website visitors who take desired actions, such as purchasing or signing up for a newsletter.
- Improve CTAs: Make calls-to-action (CTAs) clear, concise, and visually appealing.
- Simplify forms: Reduce the number of fields required to complete a form.
- Conduct A/B tests: Experiment with different landing page designs to see which performs better.
- Track conversions: Use Google Analytics or CRM systems to monitor conversion rates and identify areas for improvement.
Page Load Speed
Page load speed is a significant factor for user experience and SEO rankings. Google’s Core Web Vitals update emphasises the need for fast-loading, user-friendly websites. According to a study, 47% of consumers expected a website to load in 2 seconds or less, and 40% would abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load. Slow-loading pages leads to higher bounce rates and lower engagement.
How to Improve Page Load Speed
Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to evaluate your site’s loading times and get actionable recommendations. Common fixes include the following:
- Compressing images
- Leveraging browser caching
- Reducing server response times
- Using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to speed up load times.
Remember that even a one-second delay in load time can reduce conversions by up to 7%, making this metric vital for SEO and user experience.
Mobile Usability
With mobile traffic surpassing desktop in many industries, ensuring your site is mobile-friendly is crucial. Mobile usability measures how effectively your website operates on smartphones and tablets, making it essential to reach growing internet users through these devices.
This metric is correlated with load time, mobile-friendly score, and user engagement. Analysing these metrics can create a comprehensive strategy to optimise your site for mobile users, fostering higher engagement and satisfaction. For instance, a high load time may adversely affect your mobile-friendly score and increase bounce rates.
Tools for Measuring Mobile Usability
Google Search Console offers a Mobile Usability report that identifies mobile-specific issues. Ensure your site is responsive, loads quickly, and delivers an optimal user experience on mobile devices. Focus on key elements such as responsive design, legible text without zooming, and intuitive navigation.
Backlinks and Referring Domains
Backlinks are links from other websites to yours. The number and quality of your backlinks affect your domain authority and overall SEO performance. Referring domains show how many unique sites link to you, with a diverse link profile being more valuable.
Backlinks are also closely related to keyword rankings and organic traffic. High-quality backlinks can improve your domain authority, leading to higher rankings and, in turn, more traffic. However, low-quality or spammy backlinks can harm your rankings and may even lead to penalties from Google.
Research by Backlinko found that pages in the top position on Google have an average of 3.8 times more backlinks than those in positions 2 through 10. This shows the clear relationship between high-quality backlinks and top-tier search rankings.
Tools for Monitoring Backlinks
Tools like Ahrefs or Moz can help you monitor your backlink profile, giving insights into which websites link to you and identifying opportunities for new link-building strategies.
Domain Authority
Domain authority (DA) is a metric that predicts how well your website will rank on search engine result pages. Various factors influence this metric, including the quantity and quality of backlinks.
High-quality backlinks from reputable sites signal to search engines that your content is valuable, which can enhance your DA. A higher Domain Authority (DA) generally leads to better search visibility and traffic. This can create a positive feedback loop as your site’s traffic grows, and you may earn more backlinks, further enhancing your DA.
Increasing DA involves earning high-quality backlinks, improving the overall site structure, and regularly publishing valuable content that attracts both users and backlinks.
Traffic by Source
Understanding where your traffic comes from—organic search, social media, direct visits, or referral links—helps you allocate resources effectively. Knowing which sources bring in the most valuable visitors can guide your marketing efforts.
An increase in organic traffic often signals effective SEO strategies, while greater social media engagement drives more referral traffic. Regularly reviewing your metrics and performance helps you make informed, data-driven decisions that align with your objectives.
Use Google Analytics to monitor these sources. Optimise channels that generate the most traffic, and you can enhance your overall performance. Focus on organic and referral traffic, which typically have higher engagement and conversion potential. At the same time, underperforming channels should be improved to maintain a balanced approach.
User Engagement Metrics
User engagement metrics, such as average session duration, pages per session, and scroll depth, provide insights into how users interact with your content.
- Average Session Duration measures a user’s time on your site during a single visit. A longer session duration often indicates that your content is engaging and valuable to the user.
- Pages per Session reflects the number of pages a user views in one visit. When users navigate to multiple pages, it suggests they are interested in exploring your content further, which can lead to higher engagement and conversion rates.
- Scroll Depth tracks how far down a page users scroll, helping you gauge their interest in the content presented. If users frequently scroll to the end of your articles, they find the material captivating.
These interconnected metrics help you understand whether visitors find your content valuable and whether your site design supports deeper engagement.
Crawl Errors and Index Coverage
Crawl errors occur when search engine bots fail to access or index a page on your site. These errors can prevent your site from ranking properly, hurting your overall SEO performance. Common crawl errors include 404 pages, server errors, and blocked resources. Index coverage and crawl stats provide deeper insights into how effectively search engines interact with your site and can help identify and resolve these errors.
- Index Coverage in Google Search Console shows which pages have been successfully indexed and highlights any issues preventing pages from being indexed, such as “noindex” directives or duplicate content. Ensure your key pages are included in the index to maintain visibility in search results.
- Crawl Stats offers a detailed look at how often Googlebot crawls your site and how many pages are crawled per day. Low crawl rates or incomplete coverage of important pages can indicate issues with your site’s structure or performance, reducing the effectiveness of your SEO efforts.
To improve your site’s health, setting clear goals for resolving crawl errors and optimising index coverage is a proactive strategy. For instance, addressing all major crawl errors within a month and ensuring all important pages are indexed can significantly enhance your site’s search performance.
Regularly reviewing metrics like Index Coverage and Crawl Stats in Google Search Console will help you catch patterns in crawl errors and their impact on metrics like bounce rates, page load times, and user engagement, offering a more complete picture of your SEO health.
Conclusion
Tracking and understanding the right SEO metrics is essential to building a data-driven, effective strategy that supports your business goals. Focusing on these 12 essential SEO metrics can help you gain valuable insights into what’s working and where there’s room for improvement. This approach can drive sustainable growth in visibility, traffic, and conversions, making your SEO efforts more impactful and results-driven.
