Article · SEO
How to measure SEO results: six metrics that actually tell you something
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Simon TernSEO reports have a bad habit. They show a graph going up, and everyone nods. Then someone asks what it earned in money, and the room goes quiet.
Here are the metrics I look at, and what they really tell you.
1. Organic traffic
How many people come from Google without you paying for the click. This is the foundation. Look at a longer period, at least three months. Day by day it says almost nothing, because Google has moods.
2. Impressions and clicks in Search Console
Google Search Console shows how often you appear and how often someone clicks. It also shows which keywords bring traffic. It is free and comes straight from Google. Not using it is a bit like driving without a speedometer.
3. CTR
The share who click when they see you in the results. Low CTR despite a good ranking usually means the headline or description does not entice. It is often the quickest win. CTR is clicks divided by impressions. 30 clicks on 1,000 impressions is 3 percent.
4. Rankings for the keywords that matter
Pick 10 to 20 keywords that can lead to business. Follow those. Do not follow all 800 keywords you happen to show up for. Ranking first for a keyword nobody buys on brings no customers.
5. Conversions from organic traffic
How many get in touch, book or buy after coming from Google. This requires measuring correctly in GA4. That is where the problems usually are. If measurement is broken, you do not know whether SEO works, only that something is happening.
6. Revenue or value per lead
This is where the number turns into money. Can you work out what an enquiry is worth? Then you can work out what SEO gives back. That is the number management wants to see.
Where do you find what?
- Search Console: impressions, clicks, CTR, ranking per keyword and page, and indexing errors.
- GA4: organic visits, engagement and conversions per landing page.
- Tag Manager: what GA4 does not see on its own. Clicks on phone numbers and email, forms that are submitted, how far down people scroll.
Measure the whole chain: do you show up, does someone click, do they stay, do they get in touch? If you only measure the first step, you know you are visible but not whether it pays.
Reading the symptoms
| You see | It often means | Do this |
|---|---|---|
| Impressions up, clicks unchanged | A weak title or description, or an AI answer taking the clicks | Rewrite title and description |
| Traffic up, enquiries unchanged | Wrong search intent, or a page with no clear next step | Read about search intent, make the button clearer |
| Good ranking, low traffic | Few searches for the word | Pick a keyword with more volume |
| Traffic suddenly collapses | Broken tracking, indexing errors, a Google update or seasonality | Check in exactly that order |
Metrics you can see but should not trust blindly
- Domain scores and similar indexes. The tools’ own grades. Google does not use them.
- Session length on its own. A short visit can be good if the answer was at the top.
- Number of indexed pages. More is not better. Thin pages drag the whole down.
How long should you wait?
As a rule of thumb, three to six months before new pages show clear movement, longer in highly competitive industries. Always compare with the same period last year, or you will read seasonality as success. It is a rule of thumb, not a promise.
Two things that ruin measurement
Cookies and consent. People who decline do not show up in GA4. Traffic then looks lower than it is, and a change to the banner can look like a traffic change. Read up on Consent Mode. Check that consent is set up correctly before you interpret a dip.
Attribution. Organic search sometimes gets all the credit and sometimes none. Compare GA4 with what actually came in: calls, emails and bookings. Ask new customers how they found you. The answer is usually more honest than the chart.
And the AI answers?
Visibility in ChatGPT and Google’s AI answers does not show up as its own row in Search Console. Add AI services as a separate source in GA4 and test your most important questions by hand every month. More on that in AI Overviews and SEO.
What a simple monthly report looks like
- Organic traffic, compared with the same month last year.
- Conversions from organic traffic.
- Three keywords that went up, three that went down.
- What we did, and what we do next.
One page is enough. If the report needs ten pages to convince, something is wrong.
Want to get your measurement in order?
I am happy to help with SEO and with getting tracking to show the right numbers. Or get in touch and we will look at where you stand.
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