SEO KPIs tracking is monitoring metrics that tell you how your website ranks in search engines. Organic traffic, keyword rankings, and bounce rates are just indicators that help you understand what is or isn’t working in your SEO strategy. If you want to see better results on search engines, you need to focus on key metrics that will drive your results.
Spend a little time to learn which 10 SEO KPIs you should track to improve your search rankings. Let’s follow along to optimize your strategy and achieve top search performance.
What Are SEO KPIs?
SEO KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are measurable metrics that show how well your SEO strategies are doing. Organic visibility, keyword rankings, organic click-through rate (CTR), and conversions are examples.
By tracking SEO KPIs, you can:
- You can measure your website’s performance.
- Track the progress of your ongoing SEO efforts.
- Make informed, data-based decisions.
- Show stakeholders the ROI of your SEO strategies.
The KPIs you choose to monitor should align with your website’s goals. However, certain metrics are important for most SEO campaigns. Let’s explore them further below.
12 SEO KPIs to Track for Better Search Rankings in 2025
You should focus on metrics that help you achieve your goals, provide actionable insights, and help you set long-term strategies. Below are 12 SEO KPIs you need to know to increase search engine optimization for your website.
1. Organic Search Traffic
Organic search traffic is the number of visitors that come to your website from unpaid search results. Organic search traffic shows how your SEO strategy is working to bring users naturally.
For example, if your target audience searches for “dog training at home,” websites ranking high on search engine results pages (SERPs) often provide solutions like:
- To address dog behavioral issues.
- To provide at-home training techniques.
- To train programs for individual dogs.
How to Track:
You can choose the 3 SEO tools below to track for search rankings.
- Google Analytics 4 (GA4): Find out who your traffic sources, user origins, and search queries are.
- SEMrush: Find out which keywords are high-performing and where they are positioned.
- Ahrefs: See detailed insights into organic traffic trends, top keywords, and site health through detailed audits.
When to Monitor
When you launch your website or SEO campaign, you can start tracking to measure a baseline. Next, you check out metrics weekly, monthly, or quarterly to identify trends and address issues early.
2. Keyword Rankings
Keyword rankings are the places where your website appears in search results for certain words or phrases. Keyword rankings KPIs help measure the visibility and effectiveness of content in search engines. When you know your keyword positions, you can adjust strategies to improve rankings and attract more visitors.
How Keyword Rankings Work
Search engines determine rankings through:
- Google crawl and index web pages.
- Calculate relevance using algorithms.
- Assess authority and trust.
Keyword Ranking Tracking Tools
SEO tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Serpstat are excellent for tracking keyword positions. With Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker, you can track keyword performance, see historical data, and see how you rank against your competitors. These insights help you trend, strategize, and stay competitive.
When to Track
You should regularly monitor rankings to track trends and detect sudden changes. Moreover, let’s review keyword ranking KPI during SEO audits, website updates, campaign launches, or seasonal promotions.
3. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
CTR is the percentage of users who click on your website link after they see the blog in search results. CTR is a necessary metric to determine how effectively your title and meta description attract attention.
How to calculate CTR
CTR is calculated by (Clicks ÷ Impressions) × 100.
For example, if your site receives 500 clicks from 5,000 impressions, the CTR is 10%. That’s 10 out of 100 users clicking your link.
Tools for Tracking CTR
CTR can be monitored by using Google Search Console. GSC’s performance report allows you to see CTR percentages for your website. Then, you apply filters to analyze specific pages, queries, or devices. Moreover, you can use CTR data on titles, meta descriptions, etc. needed for CTR improvement.
When to Monitor CTR
You should track CTR regularly, especially after you change titles or descriptions, launch new pages, or run active SEO campaigns. When you monitor CTR, you assess the impact of changes and identify areas for further optimization.
4. Indexed Pages
Indexed pages are the parts of your website that are recognized and stored by search engines. More indexed pages mean greater chances of appearing in search results for relevant queries.
Best Practices for XML Sitemaps
An XML sitemap will help you create and optimize SEO to improve indexing. Here’s how:
- You ensure your important pages such as main content, blog posts, and product pages are included.
- You organize the sitemap logically, grouping similar pages and using sub-sitemaps for large sites.
- Then, let’s check the URL, canonical, and real page location.
- You add metadata such as last modified dates, update frequencies, and page priorities.
- Last, you keep the sitemap manageable in size, if needed use a sitemap index file.
Tracking Indexed Pages Tools
Google Search Console is a top tool for monitoring indexed pages. GSC shows how many pages are indexed, gives insight into indexing problems, and shows site crawling.
When to Monitor Indexed Pages
Review your indexed pages monthly or more often if:
- You add or update content.
- Your site structure has changed drastically.
- Technical issues, like server errors or misconfigurations, arise.
5. Page Authority
Page Authority measures the quality and trustworthiness of a website, predicting how well that website will rank in search results. Page Authority is developed by Moz, the score is a score from 1 to 100, higher scores mean better authority. The assessment considers over 40 factors and uses machine learning for accurate scoring.
Tracking Page Authority Tools
You can use Moz to analyze your pages and compare that same page with a competitor.
When to Monitor Page Authority
You should monitor your Page Authority monthly or in the course of particular SEO campaigns. If you want to increase your ranking potential, let’s try to overcome their score.
6. Backlinks
Backlinks are endorsements for your website, backlinks tell search engines the value of your content. Backlinks often are clickable links within anchor text that give context to the target page. The good-quality backlinks from good-quality websites can boost your search rankings very much.
Backlink Tracking SEO Tools
Ahrefs is a tool that helps you analyze your backlink profile. Ahrefs comes with link attributes, anchor text analysis, competitor research, and backlink metrics. You can use these insights to better use your link-building strategies and keep an eye on performance.
When to Track Backlinks
You can track backlinks after link-building campaigns or big search algorithm updates. Backlinks help evaluate your strategy’s impact and detect any penalties or issues promptly.
7. Page Load Time
Page load time measures how quickly a website’s content becomes visible to users. A fast load time is crucial to rank high in search results and a better user experience. Ideally, pages should load in under 2 seconds, as longer times may lower visibility and audience reach.
SEO Tools to Measure Page Load Time
Google PageSpeed Insights analyzes load speed for desktop and mobile and provides optimization tips. If you want to evaluate speed globally, you can use Pingdom’s website speed test to offer metrics like speed, page size, and requests.
When to measure Page Load Time
Let’s check load times during development, before and after updates, or post-optimization. Regular tracking (monthly or quarterly) can also reveal performance trends.
8. Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who leave your site after seeing only one page. Bounce rate also helps to assess the relevance and user-friendliness of your site’s content. A high bounce rate may mean poor user experience or low-quality content. A good bounce rate (40% or lower) indicates better engagement.
Bounce Rate Tracking SEO Tools
Clicky is a web analytics tool that makes tracking bounce rates easy. You can collect data on visitor behavior by adding a unique tracking code to your site’s HTML. Reports include bounce rates by page, period, and other factors.
When to Track Bounce Rate
You monitor bounce rates monthly to spot trends, evaluate optimizations, and improve user engagement.
9. Conversion Rate (CR)
Conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action such as purchase, fill a contact form, or place an order. Conversion rate KPI measures how effective your website is in achieving business goals.
SEO Tools for Conversion Rate Tracking
Google Analytics 4 is a reliable tool for tracking conversion rates. With conversion tracking set up, you’ll be able to get accurate data on what users are doing.
When to Track Conversion Rate
You should monitor conversion rates after you’ve implemented changes to your website or marketing strategies. This allows you to determine the impact of those changes and see where you can improve.
10. SEO Return on Investment (ROI)
SEO ROI is the effectiveness and profitability of your SEO efforts. ROI looks at what SEO activities (e.g. content creation, website maintenance, and link building) have brought in profit and what costs were incurred. If you see a positive SEO ROI, it means you are getting traffic and conversions from your efforts.
SEO ROI Tracking Tools
You can use the formula to track SEO ROI:
SEO ROI = 100 × SEO profit / SEO costs
When to Track SEO ROI
SEO results can sometimes be slow, sometimes months or years before they produce clear benefits. Let’s work out the ROI for each page you work on. However, you should be patient before making decisions.
11. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) predicts a business’s total revenue from a customer throughout their relationship with the brand. CLV is a key metric for understanding the long-term value of customers acquired through organic search.
How to Calculate CLV
The formula to calculate CLV:
CLV = (Average purchase value) x (Average purchase frequency) x (Average customer lifespan)
For example, if a customer spends $100 per purchase, buys three times a year, and stays loyal for five years:
CLV = $100 × 3 × 5 = $1500
This means that every customer you get from organic search will make $1500 with your business over their lifetime.
9. Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) measures the cost of acquiring one converting user. For SEO, CPA represents the cost associated with acquiring a customer through organic search.
How to Calculate CPA
SEO costs are CPA = Total SEO costs / Total conversions.
For example, if you spend $4000 on salaries and $1000 on agency fees to acquire 100 customers:
CPA = ($4000 + $1000) / 100 = 50
That means you’re paying $50 to get each customer through your SEO.
Final Words
SEO KPIs help you keep your site competitive and visible in search rankings. You should concentrate on metrics such as keyword ranking, organic traffic, and page speed to improve your SEO strategy. Moreover, you need to optimize these KPIs for the long-term growth of the website. Ready to take your SEO efforts to the next level? You can start tracking these metrics today. Therefore, let’s make informed decisions about how to get better search visibility.
