Life in search engines is always dynamic and changes can happen relatively quickly. You can think of Google and other search engines as a living Rubik’s cube in perpetual change.
❗To maintain your search rankings and gain new ones, it’s crucial that you know how to measure results and progress.❗
An investment worth the wait
Before we dive into what you should track, it’s important to briefly set expectations. As a beginner, it can be easy to think that SEO works the same way as Google Ads. However, if you have experience with SEO, you’re probably already aware that it’s a long-term investment.
How long before I can see progress in search rankings?
It can be hard to say how long you should wait before you see progress in your search rankings. Your organic results depend on approximately 200 different factors. Depending on your niche, it could take anywhere from a few months to over a year. ⏳
While this timeline may seem daunting, it’s worth remembering that even small steps can have a big impact on your website’s visibility and traffic, so it only makes sense to always stay up to date with best practices and the latest trends.
Do you remember to dip your toes?
No two markets are the same, and that’s true in the digital world as well. Some search phrases and terms can be bursting with competitors and con-colleagues, while others can be abandoned ghost towns. If the ocean is red, it can be a long time before you see progress in your search rankings. To get a good indication of the level of competition. Typically, high competition increases the barriers to entry to the pot of gold at the top of Google’s SERPS. Gradually an undisputed law of nature with haunting echoes of Porter’s 5 Forces, but enough about business Darwinism and more about SEO! The following 3 questions will give you good insight into the competitive situation of your keywords:
- How big is the demand (Estimated volume)?
- How saturated is the market (Number of competitors)?
- Your website’s strengths (SEO, traffic, user experience, etc.)?
We recommend that you take into account local dynamics and trends in your markets. For example, there is a big difference between Southern Norway and Northern Norway, etc.
Do you brush your teeth only once?
In addition to the competition in your market, it is important to be aware that search engine optimization is not a one-time job. Just like brushing your teeth several times a day, you should also work on SEO on an ongoing basis.
Google is constantly updating and your competitors are constantly introducing new initiatives. Being responsive and adapting through adjusted strategies is of great importance to your performance. Therefore, it is crucial that you constantly listen to the predictions in the SEO circles.
15 SEO KPIs for measuring SEO efforts
To make your tracking work more manageable and easily digestible, the x SEO KPIs are divided into their different work areas. Likewise, we have chosen to only include the most essential KPIs and not any vanity metrics.
We recommend that you use Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Pagespeed Insights and SEO tools such as Ahrefs, SemRush, GTMetrix, etc. to measure your KPIs.
NB: As an extra, we have included metrics for On-page (Keywords) and Off-page (Links) SEO.
Technical SEO KPIs
- Number of indexed pages
- The Page Experience (Core Web Vitals)
- Coverage error (Crawl / Coverage error)
General SEO KPIs
- Keyword rankings (milestones)
- Local keyword rankings (local landmarks)
- Number of clicks (total)
- Number of backlinks (referring domains)
- Organic traffic
- Organic conversions (Goal conversion)
UX & Rank Brain SEO KPIs
- CTR
- Bounce rate
- Time spent on site / Dwell time
SERPS SEO KPI
- Rich Snippets in search results (incl. Featured)
Business SEO KPIs
- Number of sales (Ecommerce)
- SEO ROI (Success metric)
