Categories: SEO

How to Measure SEO Success

You know that SEO is essential to online success. But how do you measure your results? What do you use to determine how well (or poorly) your SEO efforts are doing?

The Challenge of Tracking SEO Success

Determining whether your SEO-related efforts are having the intended effect can be hard. Google uses over 200 different factors in its algorithm. Trying to cover all of those can be a full-time job in itself. Instead, focus on a few key metrics and let those guide you forward.

Organic Traffic

One of the most important metrics that indicate success or failure is the amount of organic traffic your site receives. Unless your site is brand-new, Google should have indexed and ranked it based on the keywords used in your on-page content, metadata, etc. If you’re not seeing the traffic that you should, then your SEO efforts haven’t been successful. You should also benchmark your performance against your competitors.

Search Visibility

Search visibility is a measure of how many people see your website in the search results for your targeted keywords. While the keywords you choose certainly play a role, other factors also affect visibility, including what are called SERP features. These are things like image packs, featured snippets, and knowledge panels, all of which can increase your ranking.

Engagement

When a visitor reaches your website, what do they do? How do they interact with your content? What pages do they visit? Engagement metrics give you this information, including things like page dwell time, bounce rate, visitor flow, and much more. Balance this information against your intended goals for those visitors and you’ll have a better idea of your SEO success.

Click-Through-Rate (CTR)

When a searcher sees your page URL in the search results and clicks through, that action is recorded. Your click-through rate (CTR) is a measure of how many people see your link and click through versus those who see it and do not click through. A higher CTR means that your SEO efforts are more effective, while a lower one indicates you have work to do.

Tracking Your Way to SEO Success

Tracking SEO success-related metrics is challenging at the best of times. Add in multiple ad campaigns, various traffic sources, and other factors and things become even more complicated. Working with a trusted SEO partner gives you access to expert tracking and analysis to ensure your site ranks highly and consistently delivers the results you need for success. If you should have any questions, please contact Search SEO Chicago today!

Share
Published by
Andrew Sansardo

Recent Posts

Social Media vs SEO: Which One Should You Focus On First?

For businesses investing in SEO vs social media marketing, digital marketing strategy, and online growth…

7 days ago

How Video Marketing Supports SEO and Improves Google Rankings

For businesses investing in video marketing, SEO strategy, and digital marketing, video content has become…

2 weeks ago

The Biggest Social Media Mistakes Businesses Make (And How to Fix Them)

For businesses investing in social media marketing, digital marketing strategy, and small business branding in…

3 weeks ago

Why Email Marketing Delivers Better ROI Than Most Digital Advertising

For businesses in investing in email marketing, digital advertising, and lead generation strategies, one marketing…

4 weeks ago

Why Most Business Blogs Never Generate Leads

For businesses investing in content marketing, SEO blogging, and lead generation strategies, publishing blog content…

1 month ago

Custom Websites vs Templates: Which Is Better for Long-Term Growth?

For businesses in deciding between custom website design and template websites, the choice can directly…

1 month ago