How to measure success in SEO
There are various ways companies use to measure success when it comes to SEO. In some cases, it is overall traffic growth, in others its sales. Most of this will be based on the company’s understanding of SEO and how it works. Here are a few ways to measure SEO:
SEO specific metrics
These metrics only matter when it comes to monitoring progress in comparison to previous entries and to the competition. They are not business related. In addition, they will also require paid subscription to one or both seoMOZ and Majestic. For example, if the plan is to improve the trust of the domain, then do a quarterly analysis and trending of Majestic Trust.
Majestic Citation Flow
Majestic Trust Flow
Majestic Trust & Citation Balance
Moz Domain Authority
Moz Page Authority
Moz Spam Score
Real world metrics
These are real world numbers that can be compared. Note that in order to do an Apples to Apples comparison, there will need to be historical data to compare with. For example, October 2016 traffic should be compared to October 2015 rather than September. The only way September should be used as a comparison is to examine the relative growth between the two months.
Increase in organic traffic
Increase in number of pages on the site that generate traffic
Increase in non-branded search traffic
Percentage increase in organic conversions
Percentage increase in traffic from specific geographic regions
Organic Impressions from the Search Console
Organic Click-Through Rate (CTR) from Search Console
In addition, there are also other metrics that can be used to measure improvements, such as ranking changes, referral traffic etc., but they are subject to many variables. The two sets above should provide a good enough base to explain to clients and bosses.