Have you ever wondered why consumers prefer digital marketing to conventional marketing?
Both can draw the audience’s attention, but the only thing that gives digital marketing an upper hand is you can track and measure performances, and the keyword here would be SEO metrics.
SEO metrics provide you with critical information about how your organic search strategy performs, whether you focus on ranks, traffic, engagement, leads, sales, revenue, or authority.
Additionally, SEO measurements are essential inputs for developing better tactics or refining already existing plans. But how do you choose the right metrics to track? After all, Google Analytics and SEO metrics provide tens of thousands of data points.
These analytics provide measurable data about the performances over SERP without misleading. But before we move further with SEO metrics, it’s important to know what is SERP, what ranking factors are, and how these metrics can improve the performance of your SEO.
Well, here in this blog, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about SEO metrics.
What is SERP?
Users who conduct online searches using a search engine, such as Google, are presented with the search engine results pages on their browsers. The search engine displays a SERP to the user when they input their search query, frequently made up of specific words and phrases known as keywords.
Even when utilizing the same terms or search queries on several search engines, each SERP is different. This is because almost all search engines personalize the user experience by providing results based on a variety of criteria other than the user’s search keywords, such as the user’s geographic location, browsing history, and social settings. SERPs may appear similar and have many of the same results, but they frequently have minor changes.
Due to studies carried out by Google, Bing, and other search engine providers to give its consumers a more intuitive, responsive experience, the design of search engine results pages is continuously changing.
What are Ranking Factors?
The phrase “Ranking Factors” refers to the standards that search engines use to rank the web pages that appear in their search results. The technological implementation of a website, user signals, backlink profiles, and any other aspects the search engine deems significant can all be considered ranking criteria. An essential component of successful search engine optimization is understanding ranking determinants.
Ranking Factors on SERP
An accessible and safe website
Naturally, having the proper sort of URL is the first of our SEO ranking variables. That particular URL is one that Google’s bots can readily access and crawl.
Page speed, including for mobile devices
For many years, one of the most important SEO ranking elements has been page speed. Fast-loading web pages will help Google achieve its goal of enhancing people’s browsing experiences.
In July 2018, Google revealed an algorithm upgrade to its search engine that prioritized mobile page performance. Your website can be penalized if it doesn’t load quickly on mobile devices.
While we’re talking about mobile, another important SEO ranking element is mobile friendliness. One reason Google has changed how it ranks search results is that more people use the internet on mobile devices than desktops.
Domain Age, Authority, and URL
Did you know that three years or older is the average age of websites with top 10 Google search rankings? There are hardly many sites that are less than a year old that rank in that position, according to data from an Ahrefs survey of two million pages.
Therefore, you already have a benefit if you’ve had your site for a long and have optimized it by utilizing the advice in this post.
Optimized Content
In this tutorial on Google SEO ranking variables, we’ve covered content extensively. That’s because it ranks right up there with user experience, links, and RankBrain, which we’ll talk about in a little, as one of the most crucial search ranking elements.
Duplicate content is one element that might harm your SEO ranking. The ideal material for SEO is always new, unique stuff. Additionally, if you have comparable material, let Google know which version should be regarded as the most authoritative by utilizing canonical URLs.
The primary keyword is only one aspect of SEO. Include terms that are connected to the key terms that people are searching for. Latent semantic indexing (LSI) keywords are what they are.
Technical SEO
As we said before, one part of content optimization for higher search engine results is writing proper code. This can seem scary to you if you’re more of a “wordsmith” than a “techie.”
User Interface
Google has been employing artificial intelligence to rank websites more favorably for some time. This contains additional factors that have an impact on your search engine ranking.
In contrast, if visitors to your website click through and stay on the page for a time, that lets Google know your material is pertinent to their search.
Consequently, you may improve your search engine position by optimizing titles, descriptions, and content to draw clicks and provide value on the other end.
- SEO Metrics DefinitionÂ
You’ve seen the word “metric” roughly a dozen times by this point on the page. Therefore, it’s critical that you fully comprehend what this implies in the context of SEO before continuing.
A metric is a numerical measurement of a single unique piece of data.
It is precise, unambiguous, and offers the very little possibility for misunderstanding.
In essence, when you base your reports on metrics, you concentrate on tangible performance indicators that can be precisely assessed.
And although it can occasionally be challenging to pinpoint precisely which tactics—if your SEO approach is complex—are to blame for your outcomes, the results themselves are purely dependent on easy-to-measure data points.
Top 5 SEO Metrics That Really Count
1. Organic traffic
Organic traffic is one of the most crucial criteria for gauging the success of SEO.
This is so because this figure sums together all of the site visitors that come from organic search alone.
So, while looking at your total traffic figures might give you a sense of how well your site is performing overall, focusing on organic traffic is a better approach to assessing the direct effects of your SEO strategy.
Since improving your visibility in search for terms related to your business and sector is one of the major objectives of any SEO plan, it seems to sense that if you’re succeeding, the number of visitors you draw from search results should continuously climb.
Why measure it?
The main goal of SEO is typically to increase organic traffic. As we’ve seen, ranking is crucial; the higher your ranking, the more likely it is that your traffic will grow. (You should also take CTR into account, but that is the following item.)
You should monitor the organic traffic to each of your pages to see how well they are performing. Find out which pages need to be optimized and why some are gaining or losing traffic.
Additionally, evaluating your performance involves comparing your traffic to both the market and your main rivals.
How to measure organic traffic?
Google Analytics may be used to measure the traffic to your whole website. You may find page-specific data by searching in the tool a little.
GSC gives a basic breakdown of organic clicks, but it’s best to go further after that. Compare yourself to the competitors, for instance, to comprehend the context and importance of effective measures. It’s another essential SEO measure to keep an eye on each day.
Also Read: Rank Your Website on SERP
2. Bounce rate
Have you ever heard the phrase “let’s bounce”? You’ve likely said that when you’ve ended yourself at a party that is completely out of your comfort zone.
The amount of visitors that “bounce” away from your site after reading only one page is referred to as your bounce rate in the realm of SEO data.
You want your bounce rate to be as low as possible because the objective is to have visitors stay on your site for longer periods of time.
You’ll need to change the content of your website if a peek at your site analytics indicates that you have a high bounce rate.
Why do you need to measure it?
Industry, specialty, and even page type can all affect bounce rate, but as long as it falls within the typical range, you’re doing OK.
You may find page faults by keeping an eye on bounce rates. Marketers can examine visitor behavior in conjunction with other engagement data. The measure is not a major concern for SEO, though.
How is the bounce rate measured?
The data is available via Google Analytics. However, GA does not offer details on what is “normal.” A keyword research tool offers far more useful data to benchmark against competitors and to correlate with other engagement measures. While some commercial sites like to measure monthly, others check engagement data frequently.
3. Keyword positions
This measure is rather simple to understand.
It makes it natural that you would want to keep track of changes in your site’s rankings for keywords that are significant to your company as you attempt to improve those rankings.
For certain of your most significant keywords, you could decide to carry out this task manually. After all, a quick Google search for those phrases will reveal your precise whereabouts.
Why measure it?
The SEO measure that is arguably the easiest to understand is keyword ranking. It’s a fairly accurate indicator of how well you’ve optimized a page for a certain term. Almost, since other ranking variables than keywords like domain authority, E-A-T characteristics, and others have an influence on how well your content performs.
You need to keep track of the optimization process because it takes time to improve ranking. Additionally, you must maintain your rank once you have attained it and are happy with it. It seems sensible to measure often in order to track changes and deviations.
How do you measure it?
In Google Search Console, you can see the keywords and pages that your website is ranking for. The dashboard is constrained, and the search query data is insufficient.
 4. CTR
The percentage of individuals who visit your website after finding it through the SERPs is indicated by your organic click-through rate. Therefore, your page’s CTR is 10% if 1,000 users see it listed in the search results and 100 of them click through to visit your website.
Organic CTR demonstrates how well your listing (including the title, meta description, and URL) appeals to and engages your audience.
Why measure it?
You need to know how many visitors to your page clicked to view its content after finding it. If a significant portion of searchers visits your URL on the SERP, you’ve successfully persuaded them that the information on your website addresses their questions.
Ranking and CTR clearly correlate with one another. The average CTR is greatest in the top slot and subsequently declines with rank. You’ll receive various numbers from various tools that drastically vary. This is due to the influence of various factors on the average click-through rate per rank, including the kind of industry, zero-click searches, SERP features, and search intent.
How is it measured?
Your daily SEO monitoring includes checking the click-through rate. The typical CTR for a certain page or term may be seen in Google Search Console.
Also Read: Common Google SERP Misconceptions in SEO
5. Core Web Vitals
How effectively (and quickly) your pages load is at the core of UX, and Google is rapidly moving its emphasis to rewarding websites that give a wonderful user experience (UX) with higher results.
Traditional performance measures, such as load time and DOMContentLoaded, put a lot of emphasis on elements that are simple to assess but may not be very relevant to users’ needs. Therefore, if your only focus is on improving your average page load time, you can end up with a website that nevertheless offers a bad user experience.
Why measure it?
Google has validated Core Web Vitals as a ranking criterion. For obvious reasons, every SEO should keep a careful watch on them. On a broader note, measuring may help you identify ways to enhance the entire user experience on your website.
How can it be measured?
Under “Experience” in Google Search Console, you can get a CWV report or check a page’s page speed using the Page Speed Insights tool. Depending on your website and the sort of business, you may check weekly or monthly. Additionally, the tool indicates if your CWVs are “good,” “need improvement,” or “poor.”
Word to Wrap Up
It’s critical to understand your SEO analytics in a world of ongoing algorithm modifications and shifting SEO trends. It’s time to begin tracking the key metrics listed above if you aren’t already. Fortunately, you can simply track all these SEO indicators and begin making continuous changes using a few free and reasonably priced tools like Google Analytics, Search Console, and Ahrefs (or SEMrush).
Measuring success has gotten more difficult as SEO has grown more complex. Individual indicators are no longer enough to reveal the full narrative of your SEO efforts. Instead, you should monitor a variety of indicators that include anything from engagement and conversions to backlinks and rankings.
