Key SEO Metrics

Everyone knows that SEOs love to measure and analyze everything. Endless graphs and diagrams, in-depth analysis, and checking the reaction of search results to their work are the everyday life of an SEO analyst. So what exactly do you have to constantly measure, what basic metrics for SEO are needed to effectively promote the site, and not just waste money, endlessly directing financial flows to advertising campaigns?

Many experienced specialists are trying to formulate the answer to this question, but, unfortunately, there cannot be a single universal answer that would be ideally suited for each Internet project. After all, each web resource is inherently unique and has its own specific goals and objectives. Therefore, the approach to website optimization should be based on them, and not on generally accepted metrics.

Nevertheless, there is a list of SEO metrics that, in most cases, are used by specialists to optimize a particular web resource, that is, they definitely will not be superfluous, since they represent a certain base or basis for starting work with a project.

The main metrics that can be found at the specialized site include:

• organic search traffic;
• collection and analysis of statistics for a certain period (for example, comparing quarterly or annual indicators);
• unbranded search;
• statistical data regarding the ranking of a web resource by search engines.

Of course, it makes no sense to focus solely on metrics and not take into account other factors that also affect the effectiveness of web resource promotion. Unfortunately, such an indicator as a high position in search results is far from a guarantee of high sales. Moreover, even consistently good traffic cannot guarantee high sales.

To answer the question of why this is happening, you need to dig much deeper than the formal goals of SEO promotion. The problem is that the formal goals of SEO are to attract additional traffic and improve search engine rankings, and the main goal of any business is to attract customers and make a profit. As you can see, these goals do not quite coincide, so the main task of an SEO specialist is to harmoniously combine them and find a way of promotion that will lead the Internet project to the maximum achievement of the main goal of the business – attracting customers and making a profit.

In practice, this can be achieved as follows:

1. Compare metrics. This will immediately show how expedient investments in advertising campaigns are.
2. Revise the search promotion strategy in such a way that high positions in search results increase targeted traffic.

Then it is quite realistic to turn faceless metrics into a long-term development plan, which can be implemented. You need to calculate the real cost of organic traffic that goes to a web resource and compare it with a pay-per-click ratio.