How to Measure SEO Performance and Success

Measuring your SEO performance comes down to a handful of useful metrics, including:

• Organic Traffic
• Keyword Rankings
• SERP Visibility
• Impressions
• Click-Through Rate
• Engagement Rate
• Referring Domains and Backlinks
• Website Technical Health

Organic traffic

First and foremost, for any SEO campaign to be successful, you need to ensure you are tracking your website’s organic traffic.

Organic traffic is the cornerstone of any SEO campaign. Unless you’re generating more visits to your website via search engines, you cannot call your SEO campaign a success.

As your SEO campaign progresses, more of your pages will start ranking in search engines and at higher positions than they were previously. This leads to more people clicking through to your website from the SERPs and, therefore, more organic traffic.

You can see this from our own website’s organic traffic. We have been actively working on our SEO for the past few years, and you can see the steady growth we have achieved below:

Keyword rankings

The next SEO metric you should track is keyword rankings. As your SEO campaign matures and progresses, your site will start ranking for more and more of your target keywords. Well, that’s the hope anyway!

As this happens, you can use a rank-tracking tool (more on this later) to check the progress of your keyword rankings. And you’ll be able to see evidence of your campaigns working in the SERP, just like we can here:

The above screenshot shows us ranking in Position 2 for one of our target keywords. We want to work on this keyword to take over Position 1.

It’s worth noting, however, that you will want to rank higher for some keywords than others.

The screenshot above is a keyword we would class as ‘nice to have’ whereas the screenshot below is one of our ‘business crucial’ keywords:

SERP visibility

The next SEO metric we’ll cover is SERP visibility.

SERP visibility is a similar metric to keyword rankings but with a few differences. Keyword rankings focus only on your rank for a particular keyword, whereas your SERP visibility considers different SERP features in which you may appear.

Generally speaking, your SERP visibility will increase as you progress with your SEO campaigns. Over time, you should improve your keyword rankings and start to get featured in more SERP features such as:

• AI Overviews
• Featured Snippets
• People Also Ask Boxes
• Knowledge Panels
• Local Packs

All of which should positively impact your SERP visibility over time.

Impressions

It will be challenging to track your SEO performance without monitoring your impressions.

An impression is classed as each time a user sees your result in the SERPs, whether they click on your result or not.

The more keywords your site starts to rank for, the more impressions your site will get in various search engines:

The above screenshot shows that our site has generated over 43 million impressions over the past 16 months. The progress (increase in impressions) made in that time indicates that our SEO efforts are leading to success.

Click-through rate

Your click-through rate measures your SEO performance and success and the extent to which your brand is well known compared to others competing on the SERPs.

Yes, it is true that the higher you rank on the SERPs, the higher your click-through rate is, as you can see from this data:

But if your brand is well known, you have a better chance of getting clicks even if your brand ranks lower for some of the keywords you are targeting. This is why it is crucial to measure your click-through rate when you are working to determine how successful your SEO campaigns are.

Engagement rate (previously bounce rate)

Your engagement rate is another crucial metric that will allow you to measure SEO performance.

In the previous version of Google Analytics (UA), this was called your bounce rate. However, following Google’s switch to GA4, the engagement rate was changed to a different number.

Your engagement rate shows the percentage of users who visit your site and interact with your page somehow. This could be as simple as scrolling through the content, clicking a CTA, or clicking another page.

You can use GA4 to measure your engagement rate:

Referring domains & backlinks

The number of referring domains and backlinks acquired throughout an SEO campaign is key to its success.

Google’s algorithm values authority highly. One key way it measures authority is through the number of links pointing from one site to another and internal links.

Increasing the number of referring domains and backlinks is generally one of the best ways to improve a website’s performance.

Website technical health

Website technical health is a crucial SEO metric because it directly impacts search engine visibility, user experience, and overall site performance. Search engines like Google prioritize websites that are fast, secure, and easily accessible. Technical SEO issues can prevent a site from ranking well, regardless of the quality of its content.

A technically sound website ensures that search engines can efficiently crawl and index its pages. If there are indexing issues, such as pages blocked by robots.txt, missing sitemaps, or duplicate content, search engines may struggle to understand the site’s structure, leading to lower rankings.

Website speed and mobile-friendliness are also key factors in SEO performance. A slow-loading site or one not optimized for mobile devices can increase bounce rates and decrease user engagement, negatively affecting rankings. Google’s Core Web Vitals, which measure loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability, are now part of the ranking algorithm, making them essential to monitor and optimize.

Security and structured data also affect SEO performance. Search engines can flag websites with security vulnerabilities, such as missing HTTPS encryption, reducing user trust, and harming rankings. Implementing structured data helps search engines better understand a site’s content, improving its chances of appearing in rich snippets and other enhanced search features.

Business metrics to track

You can also measure your SEO performance by tracking business-related metrics, including:

• New Leads
• Conversions
• Revenue
• Market Share
• Customer Lifetime Value
• Customer Churn

New leads

Tracking new leads is an essential component of measuring SEO success.

While organic traffic and keyword rankings are crucial SEO metrics, they aim to attract potential customers and generate new business opportunities.

New leads refer to the number of people who express interest in your business after discovering your website through search engines. These leads can be generated from various actions, such as filling out a contact form, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading a resource like an eBook or a case study.

By measuring new leads generated from organic search, you can determine whether your SEO campaigns drive the right kind of traffic—users who are genuinely interested in your products or services. You can track new leads using:

• GA4: Set up conversion tracking to see how many users from organic search complete lead-generation actions.
• CRM platforms: Track which leads originated from organic search.
• Lead capture forms: Monitor form submissions and their traffic sources.

A well-optimized SEO strategy should attract qualified traffic that converts into leads. If you’re getting high organic traffic but few leads, it may indicate that your content, messaging, or user experience needs improvement.

Conversions

SEO success is more than just driving traffic—it’s about turning that traffic into valuable actions. Conversions measure how many users complete a specific goal on your site, such as purchasing, signing up for a free trial, or requesting a quote.

SEO influences conversions by ensuring that high-intent users land on the right pages with relevant content that meets their needs. Some key ways to measure conversions from SEO include:

• Conversion rate from organic traffic: The percentage of users from organic search who complete a desired action.
• Goal completions in GA4: Track defined conversion events, such as form submissions, purchases, or downloads, filtered by organic traffic.
• E-commerce tracking: If you run an online store, set up enhanced e-commerce tracking in GA4 to track revenue generated from SEO.

A successful SEO campaign should drive traffic and optimize landing pages, calls-to-action (CTAs), and user experience to increase conversions.

Revenue

Revenue is one of the best metrics for measuring SEO’s real-world impact. While SEO can improve brand awareness, visibility, and engagement, the most important measure of success is the revenue generated for your business.

You can measure revenue from SEO in several ways. For example, if you’re an e-commerce site, you might want to look at your revenue from organic traffic. You can also look at your conversion rate, especially if the number of leads you generate relies heavily on SEO.

If organic search drives a significant percentage of your revenue, it’s a strong indicator that your SEO efforts are successful.

Market share

SEO shouldn’t just be about ranking higher. It should be about gaining visibility compared to your competitors.

Your market share is your percentage of sales in a market you control compared to your competitors. And SEO can certainly help you increase that market share!

As your website gains more visibility and notoriety in search engines, more people will visit it and buy from you rather than your competitors, increasing your market share.

Customer lifetime value

Customer lifetime value (CLV) measures how much revenue a customer generates throughout their entire relationship with your business. A well-executed SEO strategy doesn’t just drive one-time conversions—it attracts loyal customers who return to your site over time.

SEO impacts CLV by:

• Targeting high-intent keywords: Ranking for informational and transactional queries helps attract users who are more likely to become long-term, loyal customers.
• Improving user experience: Fast-loading pages, easy navigation, and engaging content encourage repeat visits.
• Building brand authority: The more your brand appears in search results, the more trust you establish with potential customers.

You can measure CLV from SEO by analyzing:

• Organic retention rates: How many customers who initially found you via SEO return to make repeat purchases?
• Customer segments in GA4: Compare the behavior and revenue of organic search users versus other traffic sources.

Higher CLV means your SEO drives sales and fosters long-term customer relationships.

Customer churn

Customer churn refers to the percentage of customers who stop engaging with your business over time. While churn is often associated with SaaS and subscription-based businesses, it’s relevant for any company looking to retain customers over time.

SEO can help reduce churn by:

• Providing ongoing value: Consistently publishing fresh, relevant content keeps customers engaged and coming back.
• Optimizing for branded searches: If customers regularly search for your brand and interact with your content, they’re less likely to switch to competitors.
• Improving customer support and resources: SEO-friendly FAQs, knowledge bases, and how-to guides can help existing customers find answers to their problems.

To measure customer churn, calculate the “churn rate” by dividing the number of customers lost during a specific period by the total number of customers at the beginning and multiplying by 100 to get a percentage.

Tools to measure SEO performance

Various tools can be used to help you measure SEO performance, including:

• Google Search Console
• SEOTesting
• Google Analytics 4
• Ahrefs
• Semrush

Google Search Console

Google Search Console, often referred to as GSC, is a free tool provided by Google that allows website owners to monitor their organic search performance and identify technical SEO issues. It provides insights into how Google views a website and how users discover it through search.

GSC helps track organic impressions and clicks, allowing businesses to understand how often their site appears in search results and how many users engage.

It is also crucial to monitor keyword rankings and SERP visibility. Google Search Console provides an overview of which queries drive traffic and how ranking positions change over time.

Google Search Console is also valuable for identifying indexing issues that might prevent pages from appearing in search results. The platform’s reports help detect crawl errors, blocked pages, and other indexing problems that could affect your site’s visibility.

Additionally, GSC provides insights into mobile usability and Core Web Vitals, which impact user experience and search rankings.

You can also analyze backlinks and internal links with the Links report in GSC to strengthen link-building strategies and improve your site’s authority.

SEOTesting

We built SEOTesting to help businesses analyze search performance and measure the impact of SEO efforts using real-world data.

By integrating with Google Search Console, SEOTesting simplifies the process of tracking key search metrics like:

• Clicks
• Impressions
• Click-through rate
• Average position

This allows businesses to gain clear insights into how their content is performing in organic search and identify opportunities for optimization.

One of SEOTesting’s key features is the ability to measure the performance of page updates using time-based testing. This approach lets you track the impact of specific changes (like content updates or internal link changes) on search rankings and traffic over time.

Beyond search visibility, understanding business impact is crucial, so we’ve also developed a GA4 integration for SEO tests. You can use this to monitor essential user interactions like:

• Form submissions
• Purchases
• Sign-ups

From before and after a page update, see whether your SEO changes have had a positive business impact.

If you want to analyze the long-term performance of a specific set of pages, you can use SEOTesting’s Content Groups. This feature allows you to create groups of pages and track their performance over time, separated from the main performance graphs offered within SEOTesting.

Google Analytics (GA4)

GA4 offers more profound insights into user behavior and the impact of organic traffic on conversions.

Unlike its predecessor, Universal Analytics, GA4 is event-based, allowing more flexibility in analyzing SEO success. GA4 helps measure organic traffic and user behavior by providing data on how many users arrive via search engines and how they interact with the site.

Analyzing engagement rates indicates whether visitors find the content helpful or if they leave the site quickly.

Another essential feature is conversion tracking, also known as key event rate. GA4 helps determine the number of users who complete specific actions, such as signing up for a newsletter, purchasing a product, or submitting a contact form.

Businesses can also monitor landing page performance to see which pages attract organic traffic and which need optimization.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is an SEO tool focusing on backlink analysis, keyword tracking, and competitive research. This platform provides insights into keyword rankings and traffic potential, allowing businesses to see how their targeted keywords perform in search engines.

Ahrefs also offers one of the most comprehensive backlink analysis tools. This tool allows businesses to track referring domains, anchor text distribution, and new and lost backlinks. The quality and quantity of backlinks play a significant role in search rankings, making it crucial for link-building efforts.

Regular site audits through Ahrefs help identify technical SEO issues that may hinder performance, such as broken links and slow-loading pages. Ahrefs has a tool for this, but you would be better off using a ‘proper’ site crawler, such as Screaming Frog or Sitebulb.

Additionally, the platform provides competitive analysis tools that highlight content gaps. These tools allow you to discover keywords and topics your competitors are ranking for that you don’t yet rank for.

Ahrefs also tracks SERP features, showing how a site appears in search result features such as featured snippets, knowledge panels, and People Also Ask boxes.

Semrush

Semrush is a comprehensive SEO tool that helps track keyword rankings, analyze competitor performance, and identify opportunities for optimization.

This platform allows businesses to monitor their keyword rankings and analyze how their positions change. By tracking SERP fluctuations, companies can identify patterns and adjust their strategies accordingly.

Competitive analysis is another powerful feature. It enables businesses to compare their rankings, traffic, and search visibility against competitors. Understanding which keywords drive traffic to competitors can provide insights into potential areas for improvement.

Semrush also offers a site audit tool that identifies technical SEO issues such as broken links, slow page speeds, and missing metadata. Regular site audits ensure a website remains optimized and performs well in search results.

Another critical aspect of SEO is backlinks, and Semrush provides detailed reports on new backlinks, lost links, and the overall quality of a site’s backlink profile. Monitoring backlinks helps businesses refine their link-building strategies and maintain a strong online presence.

Tools to measure business performance

Finally, tracking business metrics is also crucial when it comes to measuring SEO performance. You can use different tools to do this, including:

• ChartMogul
• Fathom
• Baremetrics

ChartMogul

ChartMogul is a subscription analytics and revenue management platform that helps businesses track Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), churn rate, and Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). The tool also offers customer segmentation, cohort analysis, and revenue forecasting to improve decision-making. It integrates with payment platforms like Stripe, PayPal, and Braintree. Businesses use ChartMogul to gain real-time insights into growth trends to help optimize their subscription models.

Fathom

Fathom is a financial reporting and analysis tool designed for businesses and accountants. It provides visual insights into profitability, cash flow, and key financial metrics. Users can create custom dashboards, plan scenarios, and generate in-depth reports. Fathom integrates with accounting software like QuickBooks, Xero, and MYOB. It helps businesses make data-driven financial decisions by simplifying complex reports into easy-to-understand visuals.

Baremetrics

Baremetrics is a subscription analytics platform for SaaS and subscription-based businesses. It tracks metrics such as MRR, churn, LTV, and customer engagement. The tool provides revenue forecasting, customer segmentation, and cohort analysis. It integrates with payment processors like Stripe, Chargebee, and Recurly. Businesses use Baremetrics to monitor financial health and uncover growth opportunities. Its user-friendly interface makes complex subscription data easier to analyze.

Wrapping things up

Measuring SEO performance is essential for understanding the effectiveness of your campaigns.

Key SEO metrics, such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, SERP visibility, and engagement rate, provide insights into your search presence.

Business metrics such as conversions, revenue, and customer lifetime value help determine SEO’s true impact on growth.

By tracking these metrics and using tools like Google Search Console, GA4, and SEOTesting, you can refine your strategies and drive sustainable success.

A well-optimized SEO campaign improves rankings, attracts valuable traffic, and increases business profitability.

If you are looking for a tool to help you measure SEO performance and provide testing tools to improve it, try SEOTesting. We’re offering a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, so sign up today.