SEO Results: How to Track & Measure SEO Performance

SEO show refers to however good a website ranks connected hunt engines (like Google) and attracts integrated traffic.

But determination are many utile ways to show SEO results.

1. Organic Traffic

Organic traffic is the fig of visits that travel to your tract from organic (meaning unpaid) hunt motor results. 

It’s a bully indicator of however good your webpages fertile for applicable keywords (terms and phrases that your perfect audiences hunt online). And however galore visits you get that whitethorn yet construe to much customers. 

One mode to measurement your integrated postulation is by using Google analytics 4. And heading to “Reports” > “Acquisition” > “Traffic acquisition.”

Like this:

Then, set the study to amusement information for the past afloat month. And cheque the fig of sessions (visits) you’ve received successful the “Organic Search” row.

To measure however beardown your integrated postulation show is, comparison it against the main players successful your space. Go to Traffic Analytics, participate your main competitors’ websites, and click “Analyze.”

Make definite the selected clip scope matches what you utilized successful Google Analytics.

Then, scroll down to the “Traffic Channels” conception and hover implicit “Organic Search” to spot however overmuch integrated postulation your competitors get.

Compare these values to your ain integrated postulation measurement.

If your competitors are getting importantly much postulation from integrated search, execute a afloat rival investigation (which includes uncovering hunt presumption they target, analyzing their content, etc.) to fig retired why. And travel up with a strategy to outperform them.

If you request help, cheque retired our SEO rival analysis usher that teaches you however to bash that.

2. Keyword Rankings

A keyword ranking is your website’s presumption connected a hunt motor results leafage (SERP) for a circumstantial keyword oregon phrase. 

And the higher you rank, the much postulation you’re apt to thrust to your site. 

But a website’s keyword rankings tin often change. For immoderate fig of reasons. 

Perhaps Google updates its algorithm, you suffer backlinks, oregon your competitors update their contented to amended it. 

So, keeping a ticker connected your SEO rankings is important.

Losing ranking positions whitethorn mean losing postulation to your site—which whitethorn wounded your business. 

One of the champion ways to show your keyword rankings is to acceptable up a run successful our Position Tracking tool. It’ll way your rankings daily. And automatically. 

Open thetool, participate your domain name, and click “Set up tracking.” 

The instrumentality volition inquire you to take a domain (“Root domain,” Subdomain,” etc.). And to prime a hunt engine, device, location, and connection to way your rankings. 

When you’re done, click “Continue To Keywords.”

In this adjacent screen, adhd the keywords you privation to track. 

You tin adhd them manually oregon click the “Import from…” fastener to import a database from an existing assets similar a CSV record oregon a erstwhile campaign. Or get suggestions from Semrush.

Then, click “Start Tracking.” 

Once it’s each acceptable up, you’ll spot your rankings successful the dashboard. 

Like this:

If you’re unhappy with wherever you presently rank, you tin instrumentality steps to improve your rankings by getting authoritative sites to nexus to you, expanding your leafage load speed, and utilizing different optimization tips..

3. SERP Visibility

SERP visibility is simply a measurement of however often and however prominently your website appears connected hunt motor results pages for applicable keywords. 

It takes keyword rankings into account. But besides the beingness of SERP features—nontraditional integrated results similar featured snippets, cognition panels, representation packs, and others. 

You tin easy cheque your website’s visibility utilizing the Position Tracking instrumentality we outlined earlier.

First, you’ll spot a “Visibility” scale successful the dashboard.

This percent is based connected click-through complaint and shows your site’s advancement successful Google’s apical 100 results for the keywords successful your tracking campaign. 

A 0% visibility people means your domain isn’t ranking successful Google’s apical 100 results for immoderate of your tracked keywords. 

And a 100% visibility people means your domain ranks successful the archetypal presumption successful the SERP for each your tracked keywords. 

The higher your visibility percentage, the amended your chances of bringing visitors to your site.

Now, click connected the “Overview” tab. 

Scroll down, and you’ll spot a array with keywords from your run and however overmuch visibility you person for each one.

Keep a adjacent oculus connected this table. And bash what you tin to bring your visibility percent up.

For example, immoderate champion practices to summation visibility include:

• Editing your contented to amended optimize for the SERP features that are presently appearing successful the hunt results
• Adding structured data (special code) to your pages to assistance Google recognize and amended contiguous your contented successful the SERPs
• Building much backlinks (links from different websites that constituent to your pages)

4. Impressions

Impressions are the fig of times your tract was viewed successful hunt results successful a fixed clip period.

It’s an important metric for tracking your SEO advancement due to the fact that it gives you an thought of whether your efforts are helping you look successful hunt results.

Often, the archetypal motion of SEO occurrence is an summation successful the fig of integrated impressions for your website.

To way impressions, spell to the “Search results” study successful Google Search Console.

And you’ll spot the full fig of impressions your website received successful the selected clip frame.

Now, scroll down and click the “Pages” tab. And you’ll spot content information connected a page-by-page level.

If you’ve taken the steps to optimize your website for SEO, your impressions should summation implicit time. As your pages commencement appearing much prominently and for much related queries. 

5. Click-Through Rate 

Click-through rate (CTR) is the percent of users who click connected your website from the SERP. 

It shows however effectual your titles and descriptions successful SERPs are successful attracting searchers’ attraction and interest.

And it’s calculated by dividing the fig of clicks by the fig of impressions, past multiplying that fig by 100. 

For example, if your tract appeared connected a SERP 100 times successful a period and 10 radical clicked connected it, your CTR is 10%.

To reappraisal your Google CTR, log successful to Google Search Console. 

Then, click connected “Search results” nether “Performance.” 

Check the container adjacent to “Average CTR” to spot your site’s mean click-through rate.

You tin besides cheque CTR connected a page-by-page basis. Scroll down to the array beneath and power to the “Pages” tab.

To summation your CTR, see rewriting your title tags (HTML that specifies your leafage titles and whitethorn look successful hunt results) to see powerfulness words (e.g., “best,“ “free,“ “step-by-step,” etc. ), numbers, oregon brackets.

And marque definite each rubric tag is 55 characters oregon little truthful it doesn’t get truncated successful hunt results.

You tin besides rewrite your meta descriptions (HTML that provides leafage descriptions and whitethorn look successful SERPs) to effort to amended your CTR.

So, guarantee you’re utilizing phrases similar “find out,” “learn more,” and “dive deep” that tin nudge users to click done to your pages.

And marque definite your descriptions are little and incorporate nary much than 105 characters each. To debar truncation.

6. Conversions

A conversion is erstwhile a idiosyncratic completes a desired enactment connected your site—like subscribing to a newsletter, downloading an ebook, signing up for a trial, making a purchase, etc.

If you person precocious conversions, it means your pages are effectual successful turning visitors into leads oregon customers.

In Google Analytics, conversions are called “key events.” 

To way your cardinal events, acceptable them up successful Google Analytics. 

Here’s Google’s guide connected creating and editing cardinal events connected however to bash conscionable that.. 

And then, you’ll beryllium capable to way the integrated visits that construe to cardinal events. 

To spot your cardinal events, spell to “Reports” > “Acquisition” > “Traffic acquisition.”

Now, you’ll spot the cardinal lawsuit complaint for each channels. Including integrated search.

Here are immoderate conversion optimization tips to amended your results: 

• Use wide and compelling calls to enactment (CTAs)
• Simplify forms and checkout processes by lone asking for indispensable information
• Leverage pop-ups to seizure visitors earlier they leave

7. Bounce Rate

Bounce rate is the percent of users who sojourn your tract but permission without engaging—like going to different leafage oregon filling retired a form. 

This circumstantial SEO measurement shows however engaging and applicable your contented is for the visitors who onshore connected it.

And monitoring bounce complaint tin assistance find if determination are immoderate weaknesses successful your SEO attack oregon website—like dilatory loading speed, mediocre mobile optimization, a mismatch betwixt contented and keywords, and more.

You tin cheque your bounce complaint successful Google Analytics.

Open the instrumentality and navigate to “Reports” > “Life cycle” > “Engagement” > “Pages and screens.”

To adhd bounce complaint to the report, click the pencil icon to customize your report.

Select “Metrics” from the “Report Data” section.

And past click connected the “Add metric” drop-down, take “Bounce rate,” and deed “Apply.”

You should present beryllium capable to spot the bounce complaint successful your report.

If you privation to benchmark your bounce complaint against your competitors, usage our Traffic Analytics tool.

Open the tool, participate your competitors’ domain names, and click “Analyze.” 

You’ll spot a array with the mean bounce rates for each the domains. And the quality compared to the erstwhile month. 

Like this:

You tin besides spot a inclination graph by scrolling down to “Trend by Competitors” and clicking connected “Bounce Rate.” 

See however you compare. And instrumentality steps to amended if needed.

Here are a fewer tips to assistance little your bounce rate:

• Ensure you’re addressing search intent (the main crushed wherefore users are searching a term)
• Make your contented casual to work and navigate
• Add internal links to different pages connected your site

8. Website Authority

Website authorization is an SEO metric that predicts however good your website volition fertile connected hunt engines. 

At Semrush, we telephone this metric “Authority Score.” And it’s based connected the prime and quantity of your site’s backlinks, integrated hunt traffic, and different data. 

The people is presented connected a logarithmic standard of 1 to 100. And the higher your score, the stronger and much authoritative your domain. 

You tin find immoderate domain’s Authority Score in Domain Overview, Backlink Analytics, Backlink Audit, and the Link Building tool. 

To amended recognize your site’s Authority Score, comparison it with your competitors’ Authority Scores. 

Open Backlink Analytics, participate your domain, and click “Analyze.” 

Then, adhd up to 4 competitors’ domains and deed “Compare.”

Don’t get excessively hung up connected your nonstop score. But bash enactment connected trying to amended it. 

And 1 of the astir effectual ways to bash that is to physique high-quality backlinks to your site. 

We’ll get into precisely however to bash that successful the adjacent section. 

9. Backlinks

Backlinks are links from different sites that constituent to yours. 

And they’re 1 of the astir important ranking factors for Google—they assistance amusement your tract is trustworthy and invaluable to others.

Which means:

Tracking and monitoring your backlinks is critical. And you tin easy bash that with Backlink Analytics.

Enter your domain and click “Analyze.” 

You’ll get a snapshot of your site’s referring domains (sites that nexus to you astatine slightest once) and full backlinks. 

You tin besides scroll down to spot inclination graphs for some metrics. 

Further down, you’ll spot inclination graphs for caller and mislaid referring domains and backlinks.

Work connected continuously gathering high-quality backlinks to your site. 

Some fashionable link building tactics include:

• Linkable content: Creating link-worthy assets similar infographics, in-depth guides, and archetypal probe that people attracts links from different websites
• Email outreach: Reaching retired to different websites successful your niche and asking them to nexus to your prime content
• Broken nexus building: Helping web admins find and hole breached links connected their tract and getting backlinks successful return
• Unlinked marque mentions: Asking websites that notation your marque sanction without linking backmost to the website to marque the mentions linked

10. Technical Health

Having bully method wellness means hunt engines tin crawl (find) your webpages, scale (store successful a database) them, and fertile them for applicable queries.

It besides impacts however accelerated your website tin load and however casual it is to usage connected mobile devices. And some of these are important factors for hunt motor rankings

But however bash you cheque your website’s method health? 

Use Semrush’s Site Audit tool.

Open the tool, participate your domain name, and click “Start Audit.”

Then, usage the configuration guide to acceptable up your audit. 

After it’s done, you’ll spot a dashboard similar this:

Notice your Site Health people (also called an SEO score oregon method wellness score). It measures your site’s wide wellness based connected the fig and severity of the issues the audit uncovered. 

The higher the score, the less captious issues your tract has. And amended it volition apt fertile successful hunt results.

Next, click connected the “Issues” tab. You’ll spot each the method issues listed 1 by one.

Work connected fixing them. And if you’re not definite how, click the “Why and however to hole it” nexus adjacent to the contented for a speedy explanation. 

11. Engagement Time

Engagement clip (sometimes called clip connected page) is the mean magnitude of clip your webpage was the user’s main focus.

It’s a adjuvant metric to spot however good your contented meets hunt intent. Which is important for SEO.

When a searcher types a keyword into Google, lands connected your page, and spends a batch of clip there, it suggests that your tract satisfied their intent. 

They recovered what they were looking for. And it was useful. 

On the different hand, a debased clip spent connected a leafage tin bespeak a mismatch betwixt what the idiosyncratic was looking for and what your leafage contains. 

(However, engagement clip is not a cleanable measurement of contented usefulness oregon whether you’ve satisfied hunt intent. For immoderate queries, engagement clip volition people beryllium low.)

In immoderate case, you tin way the mean clip visitors walk connected your tract utilizing Google Analytics. 

Log successful to your GA4 account and spell to “Reports” > “Engagement” > “Pages and screens.” You’ll spot the metric nether the file “Average engagement time.”

Pages that person a notably little fig are worthy investigating.

And an casual mode to find hunt intent is to tally the page’s people keyword through Keyword Overview.

You’ll spot its hunt intent successful the “Intent” box. 

Then, guarantee your pages’ contented conscionable the close benignant of intent. 

How Long Does It Take to See SEO Results?

It takes a noticeable magnitude of clip to spot results with SEO. 

So, dainty SEO arsenic portion of an ongoing task that volition ne'er beryllium complete. 

Your timeline for seeing results volition besides beryllium connected however caller your tract is, however bully your SEO strategy is, and however accordant you are successful implementing your tactics. 

If you person each that going for you, expect to commencement seeing results wrong 4 months to a year. 

Remember that your website’s visibility and rankings volition beryllium heavy influenced by who your competitors are and what keywords you’re trying to fertile for. 

To cognize if you’re making progress, way results and refine your strategy arsenic information comes in. 

Over time, you’ll spot it wage off. Prioritize sustainability implicit speed. And you’ll bask the rewards for longer. 

Further reading: How to Get Faster SEO Results

Evaluate Your SEO Performance

Now that you cognize however to measurement SEO performance, it’s clip to instrumentality it a measurement further and effort for yourself.

Open your Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and Semrush accounts. And commencement monitoring your SEO effectiveness.

If you haven’t yet signed up for a escaped Semrush account, present is the time.

Get started today.