Measuring SEO Performance - 3 Metrics That Matter Most

By: Lee Eliav

More and more marketing professionals are jumping onboard the online marketing band wagon. A key reason behind this is how easy and quantifiable measuring online marketing has become. Tools exist in many forms, from analytics to customer relationship management software, that help marketers quantify, track and report on their online marketing campaigns.

I believe that there are three key metrics that anyone running an SEO campaign needs to monitor to determine success.

1. Traffic - Many SEO professionals, business executives and marketers carefully track rankings when measuring SEO performance. This isn’t the metric that actually matters--website traffic is! It’s irrelevant if you rank #1 in Google or #100 if no one is searching on your targeted keyword phrase.
   
   By monitoring organic search traffic and the keywords people are searching on to get to your site, you will gain an understanding for what you are and aren’t ranking for. More importantly, you will know how many new eyeballs Google is sending to you.
    
2. Conversions- The goal of SEO is to drive relevant web traffic to your site. Once visitors are there it is important for you to present an action that you want them to take--a conversion. This conversion can range from calling you for a proposal, filling out a contact form, or downloading a book or guide. What matters is that you are tracking these conversions and monitoring them.
   
   Google analytics makes it simple to monitor conversions by setting up goals. You will  then be able to see what keywords and phrases are and aren’t leading to new conversions. Over time you will learn which keyword phrases are most effective for generating interactions and leads on your site.
    
3. Number of keywords- As your page and domain authority grow, your website will begin to rank for more keyword phrases similar to the ones you are targeting. It is useful to track this number and watch it grow as your SEO campaign unfolds. If the number of keywords isn’t growing, reconsider your link building strategy or the keyword phrases you are selecting.
   
   Aim to find keywords that people search for in many variations. In doing so you will generate traffic from different variations of your keywords.

By tracking these three SEO performance metrics and making adjustments when appropriate, organic search will become a viable traffic source for your website, and more importantly one that encourages conversions and increases inbound leads!