13 Key SEO Metrics to Track in 2023

There is software to track almost all SEO data. For marketers, this is both a blessing and a curse. Access to data helps make smart marketing decisions and, when properly analyzed, helps in a deeper understanding of users.

That said, having access to data doesn’t necessarily mean you need to monitor it, especially if it’s not useful or feels overwhelming.

For this article, I reached out to SEO and marketers who shared the SEO metrics they’ll be tracking in 2023 and why they’re important.

What are SEO metrics?

SEO metrics are sets of data that help determine the success of SEO’s role in digital marketing campaigns.

By analyzing the data, marketers can understand how valuable SEO’s contribution to marketing is. It allows marketers to benchmark success and understand what went well and what didn’t.

More importantly, SEO metrics help companies refine marketing campaigns to steer them toward achieving marketing goals.

Some SEO metrics are more useful than others. You may be familiar with the term “vanity metrics,” which refers to metrics that may be increased by marketing efforts, but don’t move the needle for the business. In SEO, vanity metrics can include impressions and even clicks.

But does that mean these metrics aren’t important? Not.

The truth is that the metrics you measure will depend on your goals.

The skill, which comes with time, is knowing which metrics to monitor, which to measure in consideration of others, and which metrics to set aside.

SEO metrics you can track in GA4

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is here, and with it comes valuable reports like traffic acquisition. Also, engagement rate, which (if you ask me) is a much higher metric than bounce rate.

1. Engagement rate

Engagement rate is one of the newer metrics that graced us with its presence at GA4.

Engagement rate is an SEO metric that measures meaningful interactions on your site. Out-of-the-box engagements include clicks, scrolls, conversions, and more.

On the engagement rate, SEO professional Kyle Rushton says:

Low engagement pages, which are not meeting expectations, will benefit from additional work.

2. Enhanced measurements

GA4 tracks conversion data as an event. Enhanced metrics provide a level of granularity in user behavior that we didn’t have “out of the box” with Universal Analytics (UA).

Freelance SEO consultant Natalie Slater shares the value of form submissions and interactions. slater says:

Form interactions vs. form submissions provide two big sets of data for SEO.

You can use these metrics to identify potential CRO issues on a site.

3. Landing pages

The Google Analytics Landing Page Report seems to be a favorite among SEOs, with many mentioning it when asked about SEO metrics.

The landing page report is perfect for understanding how effective the first page a user visits is.

You can see which landing pages are converting within the same session, which is perfect for identifying direct sales from SEO efforts.

Originally, you had to customize your own report in GA4, but (probably) thanks to its popularity, GA4 has now released a standard landing page report.

It’s important to note here that looking at sales directly from SEO is an injustice to SEO’s contribution to conversion and that’s why it’s important to keep track of other metrics that don’t seem so obvious.

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SEO metrics you might not think to track

SEO has obvious metrics like traffic, clicks, impressions, and revenue. But you may not have thought to track metrics from other marketing efforts to understand the contribution of SEO to sales.

SEO will always be a traffic driver, and the goal is to drive qualified traffic to a site. Qualified traffic is traffic that is interested in your site’s offering and is able to purchase.

For many of your web users, SEO will be the first point of contact in the marketing funnel. Users will search for a problem and stumble upon your page or article. From here, they can sign up for emails or join an audience for PPC retargeting.

4. Email sign-ups

Zack Reboletti, SEO Consultant at Get Web Focused, says:

It’s easy to see how SEO improves the metrics of other marketing tactics.

Also, when it comes to email marketing, SEO data provides trends and click-through data to see exactly when users are searching for certain types of content.

For example, an item may be of particular interest at a certain time of the year. Instead of waiting for your audience to search for you and find you (or worse, find your competitor), you can be proactive.

The data provided by SEO should inspire your content calendar for email or even social media. You can put content that you know people are searching for based on SEO metrics in front of your audience.

5. PPC metrics that are influenced by SEO: Retargeting and keywords

SEO drives traffic that PPC can redirect. And long-tail keywords serve ads well by attracting relevant traffic with specific problems.

Think about ranking articles for longer-tail keywords, like “[product] for [specific problem]” or your “how to [troubleshooting] guides.” Clicks on these pieces of content provide ads with qualified traffic with specific problems.

Display ads and retargeting messages can be highly targeted to grab attention, nurture the potential buyer, keep your brand front and then convert.

Leigh Buttrey, paid media specialist, says:

As much as SEO supports PPC, PPC also supports SEO. PPC is a fast track to the top of the SERPs. You can test your desired keywords for conversion and determine if your efforts to rank organically are working. Align SEO and PPC to dominate the SERPs.

6. Images

In 2022, Google launched its ongoing scroll to SERP. With continuous scrolling, websites may need a listing that stands out in the SERPs more than before.

It’s no secret that scrolling is addictive, and users may find it easier to skim through the SERPs until they come to a listing that’s more appealing.

In 2023, as we explore this new form of search, it might be worth tracking the impact of high-quality images.

With Google Search Console, you can see how many clicks you’ve gotten from images. To get to this report:

Which pages are generating the right clicks? What images could be contributing to this?

Bonus Tip: Increase your chances of ranking for images in Image SERPs by optimizing your alt text. (And remember to be natural when doing it.)

SEO metrics that aren’t going anywhere in 2023

There are some metrics as old as SEO itself, and they are still as useful as ever. Here are some of the metrics that, if you’re not already tracking, you probably should.

7. Content engagement

Content monitoring has been improved in GA4. The loss of bounce rate and the new engagement rate mean that the value of great content is less likely to be undermined by bounce.

In GA4, you can measure, per page:

All of the above metrics help determine the value of a page. If someone scrolls to 90%, reads an entire article, and then leaves the site, the content was still useful. In AU, the bounce rate could undermine these significant actions.

Content getting a deep scroll or file download is an indicator of an engaged audience that can be retargeted or nurtured through marketing automation, later on.

8. Customer lifetime value

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is incredibly important when tracking SEO revenue. Subscription based businesses are a great way to demonstrate this.

If a user lands on your site through an unbranded Google Search and signs up for a subscription, the initial payment could be $10 for the first month.

But, if they signed up for 10 months, the value of that interaction is really $100. If that customer is offered a referral scheme and they bring three friends for a subscription, the CLV increases again.

Customer lifetime value allows you to see the longevity of your SEO efforts.

9. Brand visibility

Tracking brand mentions and clicks from branded search terms can help marketers determine how branded searches are converting. In theory, those searching for your brand are looking for exactly what you have to offer.

Branded search tracking can be helpful in understanding which pages are getting branded clicks and which are not. If you have pages that get clicks from Google, but don’t have many (or any) brand related queries, then the SEO can be entirely attributed to the click.

If these pages also result in a conversion, the SEO is likely solely responsible for the click and conversion. These conversions are harder to achieve, but great when they come!

Tracking brand searches allows you to see how people are searching for your brand. You’ll find brand searches you’d otherwise miss.

10. Missed brand searches

If you stay close to how users search for your brand, you will gain insight into user trust in your brand.

Sara Taher, a contributor to Search Engine Land, says:

If you don’t keep up with brand searches, you could miss out on ranking and lose clicks (and users) to competitors or rogue sites.

Potential buyers who are close to converting, but perhaps a little nervous, can look for things like:

A good example of these search terms can be found on Groupon.

The nature of the industry (discounts and coupons) potentially increases buyer caution, but these searches can be found for many other brands.

Reviews, in particular, can result in lost clicks for brands with websites like Trust Pilot or Facebook taking the ranking on the domain of the site.

Brands can manage these queries by creating pages that satisfy the intent. By doing this, the brand site is more likely to rank, earn a click, and drive the narrative the potential buyer sees.

11. Conversions and conversion rate

Conversions and conversion rates (CVR) are metrics that should be considered in relation to each other.

Conversion is a significant action taken on your site. For e-commerce, that could be sales, but it could also be a contact form submission, download, or other.

Rebecca Oliver, Digital Marketing Manager at Sixty Eight People, shares the importance of conversion tracking and conversion rate.

12. Revenue

Marketing should always be a revenue generator. After the initial investment, if marketing doesn’t earn more than it costs, it’s failing.

When tracking revenue, keep organic metrics in mind, but don’t neglect overall revenue. Remember, SEO contributes to other marketing channels that drive qualified traffic to the website.

On tracking revenue, Louis Smith, an ecommerce SEO expert, says:

13. Clicks and impressions

Ultimately, getting clicks and traffic to a website will always be one of the main goals of SEO. So you’ll likely be tracking clicks in 2023. You don’t get conversions without a click, and you don’t get clicks without impressions.

When it comes to monitoring click value, you should monitor clicks alongside other SEO metrics like:

The key is to identify which SEO efforts are driving qualified traffic to a website.

Benefits of tracking SEO metrics

The benefits of tracking SEO metrics include a deeper understanding of:

Which SEO metrics shouldn’t you track?

It’s not easy for anyone to tell you which metrics are valuable and which are not. The truth is that the metrics you value will depend on what you are trying to achieve with your marketing.

The important thing is to look at the big picture. When looking at SEO metrics, you should look at some metrics alongside another.

For example, users who spend a lot of time on the site are often a good indicator when considered in isolation, but if your traffic isn’t converting, you may be attracting the wrong people or the site is complicated to use and the people have difficulty navigating to the page they want.

SEO metrics: A summary

If you were to track all of the metrics recommended by our experts, you would be tracking:

This is not an exhaustive list, but these items certainly came up time and time again when we reached out to the experts. Not all metrics apply to your site or goals, but if they do, keep track and see what you find.

Remember: have fun with tracking SEO metrics and approach it from a place of curiosity.

Don’t fall victim to analysis paralysis. Instead, enjoy the ride. You can get incredibly close to data with reporting in GA4 and track audience behavior with granularity.

It doesn’t hurt to track “too much” and if you’re just exploring SEO monitoring, it might even be better to track more until you can find the metrics you find most valuable to you and your site goals.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily those of Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

Zoe Ashbridge is a Senior SEO Strategist and Co-Founder of forank. Zoe has experience in digital marketing and digital project management. Zoe supports businesses around the world with actionable SEO strategy for internal teams, search engine marketing consulting and implementation. Zoe writes about SEO, digital marketing, and entrepreneurship.

What are the metrics to measure the success of a Google ad?

What are the 3 main components that measure your Google Ad Rank Quality Score? Quality Score is calculated based on the combined performance of three components: Expected click-through rate (CTR): The likelihood that your ad will be clicked when displayed… These factors include, but are not limited to:

• Devices used in the search.
• User location.
• Time of the day.
• Ad Extensions.

How do you measure success of Google Ads?

If you’re new to tracking your performance, start by clicking All campaigns in the navigation menu to the left of your Google Ads account. Click Ads & Assets or Keywords in the page menu on the left to view statistics tables that give you a complete and customizable view of all your data.

Why is it important to use measurements to track your SEO performance?

SEO tracking and measurement is an essential aspect of the search engine optimization process. You can use it to assess whether your strategy is working, whether you are achieving the results you want, and to understand where and how you can improve in the future.

What is the most important reason to continuously measure the performance of your SEO strategy? One of the most important aspects of performing SEO is getting new links to your website and content, so it’s important to analyze every aspect of your backlink profile to see if you’re getting relevant links from quality domains.

What is performance measurement in SEO?

SEO is the act of editing your website’s content so that it appears higher in search results and using it to drive more traffic to your site. So when you look at SEO performance, you are ultimately measuring your ranking. However, there are other important elements that you should also consider and measure.

Why is it important to measure SEO performance?

Professional SEOs track everything from rankings and conversions to lost links and more to help prove the value of SEO. Measuring the impact of your work and ongoing refinement is critical to your SEO success, customer retention, and perceived value. It also helps you change your priorities when something is not working.

How is SEO performance measured?

Your website authority score predicts how well a domain will rank. The SEMrush authority score is measured on a logarithmic scale from 1 to 100, with a higher number meaning more traffic and better ranking. A low number can cause decreased traffic and rankings.

Why is it important to measure SEO performance?

Professional SEOs track everything from rankings and conversions to lost links and more to help prove the value of SEO. Measuring the impact of your work and ongoing refinement is critical to your SEO success, customer retention, and perceived value. It also helps you change your priorities when something is not working.

What are the advantages of measuring success rate in SEO?

This tool allows you to assess your site’s link building progress, identify new backlinks, and find out when backlinks are being removed. Knowing the number of new backlinks to your site is valuable information for reviewing your link building efforts.

What is metrics in search engine marketing?

SEO metrics allow you to measure the effectiveness of your SEO efforts and make corrective changes based on the data. If you don’t stay on top of key metrics, you may miss the opportunities as well as the threats.

What is a metric in marketing? Marketing metrics are a quantifiable way to track performance and are an important marketing measurement tool for evaluating the effectiveness of a campaign. The most appropriate marketing metrics vary greatly from campaign to campaign, but in general they measure the effects of your campaign on audience actions.

What are search engine metrics?

Definition. Search engine metrics measure the ability of an information retrieval system (such as a web search engine) to retrieve and rank relevant material in response to a user’s query.

What are examples of metrics?

Key financial statement metrics include sales, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), net income, earnings per share, margins, efficiency ratios, liquidity ratios, leverage ratios, and rates of return. Each of these metrics provides a different view of a company’s operational efficiency.

What is the most important reason for using SEO?

In short, SEO is crucial because it makes your website more visible and that means more traffic and more opportunities to convert prospects into customers. Take a look at the SEO tools that you can use for optimal ranking.

What is the most important thing for SEO? #1 Google Ranking Factor At WebTek, we say that the most important parts of SEO and the most important Google ranking factors are web page titles and header tags. Headlines represent the main real estate element of any website – they are your best opportunity to tell Google exactly what your website or web page is about.

What are the 3 SEO KPIs you should be tracking?

Once you’ve set up your Google business profile, you’ll see several metrics tracked by default within the platform. Including searches, views, clicks, address requests, and calls. All of these are extremely important metrics for a local business and should be tracked as SEO KPIs.

What are SEO KPIs? SEO KPIs are quantifiable values ​​used to measure the effectiveness of a marketing team’s SEO efforts and performance. Keeping an eye on your most important search metrics gives you deeper insight into your search engine ranking and visibility, and conversions that can be attributed to organic performance.

What are 3 KPIs?

KPI types include: Quantitative indicators that can be presented as a number. Qualitative indicators that cannot be presented as a number. Leading indicators that can predict the outcome of a process.

What is SEO performance metrics?

SEO metrics are data points or indicators that you need to track and monitor to measure performance and maintain a healthy and optimized website. Whether it’s tracking engagement or reflecting on SERP authority, monitoring your SEO metrics can help you plan strategies for the future.

Why is it important to measure SEO performance? Professional SEOs track everything from rankings and conversions to lost links and more to help prove the value of SEO. Measuring the impact of your work and ongoing refinement is critical to your SEO success, customer retention, and perceived value. It also helps you change your priorities when something is not working.