SEO KPIs: 7 KPIs for SEO to track & measure

If you’ve ever been serious about search engine optimization, you know that it’s a data-rich science. Yet many teams still focus on the wrong metrics.

Lots of companies obsess over vanity numbers and keep forgetting about SEO performance metrics that truly reflect business growth.

Frankly, SEO used to be about traffic, but that’s no longer the case. Now, the optimization is more about relevance, credibility, engagement, and ROI. And it’s the same for every niche and team: without proper SEO KPIs, you can’t know what’s working and what’s wasting your time. 

So, let’s find out what the right metrics are and how you can work with them effectively. 

Top 7 SEO KPIs you should pay attention to

When it comes to KPIs, it’s important to not only choose the ones that matter most but also find out whether they are a good fit for you. Sometimes, what makes sense for one business will be a vanity metric for another, simply because their goals are different. 

So, if you’re still struggling to measure the success of your search engine optimization, it’s time to adjust your lens. Here are the 7 SEO key performance indicators that actually matter for pretty much any company out there.

1. Organic traffic (and why you should segment it)

Organic traffic is the most obvious metric, but it’s still the backbone of every SEO report. It tells you how many people find your site through search engines. But the key thing here is not to track your totals. 

You should segment this traffic by: 

• Source (Are there any other search engines except for Google?),
• Page/content type (What is your most successful content, and why?),
• Search intent (Do we struggle to cover a particular search intent?).

There are other segmentation options, too. But this is a good starting point.

To do this right, look at your landing pages, blog posts, and product pages separately. This also applies to other pages that play an important role in your conversion funnel, whether it’s case studies or a hub with your original research. 

For example:

• Product or pricing pages reveal a lot about your conversion potential.
• Blog posts uncover content reach and authority.
• Docs or resource pages show brand trust.

To analyze this properly, use tools that combine traffic insights with buyer journey tracking, from the first touch to conversion. This is what Usermaven is perfect for.

2. Keyword rankings for visibility

Everyone wants to see their keywords ranking high. However, today, positions alone matter much less than you might think. The share of voice or visibility index shows a much more important and coherent picture. 

Source: Flipflow

You can start by using any SEO tool to determine the percentage of clicks your domain has for a keyword cluster. That’s far more meaningful than knowing that one of your queries jumped from #12 to #9.

Besides, track keyword rankings by search intent:

• Informational – users looking for knowledge or answers.
• Navigational – users searching for a specific website or brand.
• Commercial – users researching or comparing options before buying.
• Transactional – users ready to take an action or make a purchase.

Analysts often miss this nuance when reporting, but it is huge. Why? Imagine if, for example, you’re ranking #3 for “how to optimize SaaS onboarding.” It will likely bring readers, right? But ranking #3 for “SaaS onboarding platform” will bring you customers. See the difference? 

Of course, all of the search intents matter for a healthy funnel. But if you only rank well for informational keywords, it is not really good for a business.

3. Backlink quality and authority

Backlinks are still one of Google’s top ranking factors, and this isn’t changing any time soon. If there was just one thing to remember about link building, it would be that quality beats quantity every single time.

Sure, gaining quality links is tough, even if you buy backlinks. But if you focus on valuable content for both on-site and off-site content, you’ll definitely find a cost-effective proposition for guest posting, press releases, etc. 

How do you know whether a backlink is high-quality, though?

As you could have imagined, it goes beyond just domain authority. Ideally, you should always track the following:

• Traffic tendency of the donor page. Don’t only check current traffic. Instead, look at how it’s changed over time. If in the past months, the traffic was decreasing, this isn’t the best link source.
• Spam score. Pages with high spam scores (anything over 5%) aren’t really high-quality.
• Random popups and ads. If your donor page looks like a dump of paid banners, likely, they don’t really care about their reputation.
• AI content. If the page you get a link from is full of plagiarized or AI-generated articles, it’s just a matter of time until Google notices that.
• Topical relevance. Of course. Do we even have to elaborate here?

Off-page SEO best practices are often changing, and according to Moving Traffic Media, the future of link building will be different. So, just keep an eye on it so as not to lose any great opportunities.

4. Click-through rate is your real engagement signal

If rankings tell you where you stand, CTR tells you how appealing your search results look. A high CTR means your title tag and meta description do what they are intended to. A low one means you’re invisible, even when you rank high.

What’s often missed is why CTR drops. There are tons of reasons for that, but these are some of the most common ones:

• Your title might simply not tell users, “Look, this is what you expect to find!”
• Sometimes, it’s because of what your competitors are doing. For example, they could be using rich snippets to add reviews, images, etc., next to their links. And all that visually dominates the SERPs. 

These are small things you could try to tweak and track how it works for your CTR: 

• Check what meta titles and descriptions other brands in the top 10 use, and see how yours compares.
• Mirror search intent. Meaning, use action words for transactional queries. “Buy,” “Compare,” “Discover”, and informative phrasing for educational ones.
• Include your brand name in high-value pages to build recognition. 

5. Conversion rate from organic traffic

At the end of the day, SEO has to drive conversions. The conversion rate from organic visitors shows whether your content and intent are on the same page. 

Your conversion could be anything, from booking a call or starting a free trial to subscribing to a newsletter or downloading a lead magnet. 

This doesn’t matter, but what matters is whether you track it properly.

To understand your funnel and see which blog posts or landing pages generate the most qualified leads, you need an efficient platform. Unless you know where your conversions are coming from, how can you improve your sales and marketing strategy? 

Below is how the onboarding funnel looks in Usermaven, mapping each step from the first visit to conversion. It highlights drop-offs, top-performing channels, and the content that drives growth.

6. Technical health: Crawlability and Core Web Vitals

No matter how good your content is, it will fail if your site is not crawlable or fast. To tell you the truth, technical SEO KPIs deserve their own kpi dashboard.

If you don’t know where to start, focus on these metrics:

• Loading speed (the major one),
• Crawl errors and indexation status,
• Core Web Vitals,
• Mobile usability,
• HTTPS and security status.

Google always prioritizes user experience. So, if your website is off when it comes to performance, all your other SEO metrics make no sense. 

For example, in SaaS, landing pages often double as onboarding portals. Can you imagine a few-second delay there? It can slash conversions really badly. That’s too costly in every sense of that word. 

Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights are your friends here. But make sure that you check them regularly, and that both your analysts and developers have access to them to address any issues quickly.

Source: PageSpeed Insights

7. Bounce rate and dwell time: Context is everything

A high bounce rate is not always bad, and a low one doesn’t always mean success. Yes, context here is everything:

• For example, someone who checks your pricing page and immediately signs up will “bounce,” but that’s a win. 
• On the other hand, someone who lands on your blog post and leaves in 5 seconds probably didn’t find value.

That’s why dwell time could be more insightful. It is the time a user spends on a page before returning to the SERP. This isn’t the same as time on page, and it’s generally more important.

Long dwell time signals strong content relevance and user satisfaction. And these are indirect ranking factors, which you want to prioritize.

Source: X

To improve these behavioral SEO performance metrics:

• Write clear intros that confirm search intent fast.

• Use internal links to guide users to other relevant pages.
• Optimize readability by using short paragraphs, bullet points, and visuals.

ROI of SEO: The KPI that ties it all together

If there’s one metric any business truly cares about, it’s ROI. Calculating SEO ROI requires combining cost and performance data. You can use this quite simple formula:

Return on SEO = (Revenue from Organic Traffic – SEO Costs) ÷ SEO Costs

Keep in mind that SEO might not show the results right away. It isn’t a PPC campaign that gives you your conversions in no time. SEO often compounds, so the payoff grows as your authority does.

But again, to make informed decisions, you need tools that can track all customer journey touchpoints.

What about content performance? 

Many teams obsess over page views but fail to ask a more strategic question: which content actually drives results?

So, yes, content performance is one of the most important (and definitely overlooked) things to track. It isn’t an SEO KPI metric as such. But without great content, making your search engine optimization work will be nearly impossible.

And while many assume that the main goal of content is to rank well, it isn’t really true.

Its true objective is to create an “ecosystem” that attracts, engages, and converts your website visitors. So, to measure this effectively, track the following three layers of data:

• Engagement quality. Look at average time on page, scroll depth, and exit rate to understand whether users are truly consuming your content. 
• Conversion contribution. Identify how each page contributes to signups, trials, or demo requests. Usermaven, for example, can attribute organic conversions across the user journey. This way, you’ll see what content helps conversions even if it isn’t the final touch.

• Topic authority. Google rewards depth. That’s why it is a good idea to build content clusters around strategic topics for your niche. 

Conclusion 

SEO is a long game of experience and trust. Today, you can’t win by tricking algorithms or finding some quick fixes. Those days are gone. Now, you win by serving users. And doing that extremely well.

When your KPIs in SEO go beyond surface metrics like “traffic” and focus on intent, engagement, and ROI, your optimization strategy starts to make real business sense.

If you’re ready to turn those insights into measurable growth, Usermaven is a top-rated website analytics tool that gives you the visibility to connect every click to a customer.

Book a demo to see how Usermaven helps you understand your organic performance and make smarter, data-backed decisions.

FAQs

What is a KPI in SEO?

A KPI (or Key Performance Indicator) in SEO is a number that shows how well your website is performing in search. It can be related to traffic, backlinks, conversions, rankings, etc. 

What are the key metrics for SEO?

The key SEO metrics include organic traffic by segments, keyword rankings, click-through rates, backlink number and quality, bounce rate, dwell time, and conversions. 

What tools can measure SEO performance?

To measure SEO performance, you can use tools like:

• Google Analytics to track traffic and conversions.
• Google Search Console to see keyword performance and site health.
• Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz to check backlinks, rankings, and competitors.
• Usermaven to understand how users behave after landing on your site.

How do I know whether my SEO is working?

It all depends on your goals. 

If you aim for brand visibility, getting more organic visitors and branded traffic means that your SEO is working. But if you want to grow your revenue, more conversions and higher transactional keywords rankings show that you are on the right track.