SEO — or search engine optimization — is the process of improving your website’s visibility on search engines to reach more potential customers. It’s all about using data to decide the best way to carry out your strategy. By tracking key metrics of your SEO performance, you gain insight into what’s growing your online presence and what’s holding it back, so you can adjust your approach as needed.
So, where do you start? Let’s dig into how to track SEO effectively for your goals— Which metrics to check and when, what tools to use, and how to use the data to your advantage.
Set SEO Goals to Define Your KPIs
Setting the Right SEO Goals
Goal setting gives your SEO strategy purpose and focus, helping you stay on track and measure what matters. Without the direction of a goal, you could end up putting your effort into things that aren’t beneficial to the bigger picture of the business. For movers, the end goal is conversions like forms and phone calls. How you get there will vary per business, and that’s where key performance indicators (KPIs) come in.
What Are KPIs, and Why Do They Matter?
A KPI—short for Key Performance Indicator—is a measurable value that shows how well you’re hitting your SEO goals. These aren’t just numbers—they tell a story about what’s working and what isn’t. In SEO, common KPIs are organic traffic, engagement rate, engagement time (time on page), keyword rankings, and conversion rate. According to SEMrush, “Monitoring these KPIs helps you:
- Track and evaluate performance
- Assess ongoing SEO efforts
- Make data-driven decisions
- Demonstrate return on investment (ROI) to stakeholders.”
Aligning Your KPIs with Business Goals
One thing to keep in mind when setting KPIs is that SEO is just one part of a larger strategy. For example, if your moving company’s goal is to book more jobs, your SEO KPIs should reflect that by monitoring the number of form submissions and phone calls you receive from the website.
Defining “SMART” Goals
Not all goals move the needle, but SMART KPIs do. It’s a handy acronym for setting targets that are:
- Specific: Instead of “get more traffic” — “Increase conversion rate on landing page.”
- Measurable: You should be able to track your goal progress. For example, “Increase conversion rate by 10%.”
- Achievable: Aiming for a 100% conversion jump in a month sets you up for disappointment — a more realistic goal of 2-3% is more attainable.
- Relevant: Some metrics only hold value on paper. Relevant goals like increased calls and forms support real business growth.
- Time-bound: Goals that give a clear deadline keep you accountable and on track. For example, “Increase conversion rate by 10% by Q3.”
What SEO Performance Metrics to Track & When
Think of SEO metrics as the feedback on your work. Some data is going to provide more useful feedback than others. Performance indicators like keyword rankings and conversions show you where you’re appearing to customers searching the internet and what content is driving customers to reach out. These metrics can be tracked weekly, giving your business the chance to quickly catch any issues. Similarly, tracking the growth of organic traffic and engagement metrics monthly shows how users are receiving your content and allows you to adjust it to match what people are searching for.
Keyword Rankings
Keyword rankings show where your pages land on search engines for specific search terms. These rankings help you measure how visible your content is to potential customers. High rankings for the right keywords bring in more organic traffic and more leads. “The top 3 Google search results get 54.4% of all clicks,” according to Backlinko. Tracking keywords also shows what kind of content search engines reward and what needs adjusting.
Conversions
SEO isn’t just about visibility, it’s about action. This comes in the form of calls and form submissions. “Conversion tracking is the most straightforward way to tie your marketing efforts to your revenue,” states Ahrefs— It’s where you see the fruits of your SEO labor.
- Ranking high for the right keywords increases traffic from people who are actively looking for your services, leading to more conversions.
- Enhanced user experience on your website encourages conversion by placing key information, call-to-actions, and buttons where viewers are most likely to see and interact with them.
- Local SEO targets nearby users searching for movers, directing them to your service pages where they can access the information that steers them to reach out.
- Drive conversion by connecting with customers through helpful and relevant SEO content.
Organic Traffic
Organic traffic refers to visits to your website that come from unpaid search engine results. This type of traffic occurs when your content relates to what users are searching for, making your site easier to find on platforms like Google or Bing. “Seasonal fluctuations aside, a month-over-month increase in visitors from organic search shows that rankings are improving (even for keywords you weren’t targeting),” informs AgencyAnalytics. These visitors are typically high-intent users actively seeking the services you provide, making them more likely to convert.
Engagement Rate
Engagement rate shows how users interact with your content once they land on your site from search results. If they’re clicking around, scrolling, or staying on a page for more than a few seconds, that’s a green flag for Google—and your business.
- Average engagement time: GA4 tracks how long users interact with a page using scrolling, clicking, and activity. Anything under 10 seconds signals a disconnect.
- Engagement rate (GA4): This is the number of engaged sessions divided by total sessions. Pages under 50% need improvement.
Search intent plays a major role in engagement. One keyword can mean multiple things depending on the user’s intent. If the content doesn’t provide what a user is looking for, they will leave the site after little engagement. Matching intent boosts engagement, which tells search engines your content deserves a higher rank. Understanding this makes a huge difference in your SEO success.
- Higher engagement usually reflects content that matches search intent—what users actually want to find.
- Lower engagement often means there’s a disconnect between what users expected and what they got.
If a page’s engagement rate is low, Moz recommends, “It’d be worth taking another look at the SERP and seeing if there are certain types of media you missed…It may also be useful to see what the other ranking pages look like.”
SEO Tools to Organize Your Performance Data
Moving companies looking to measure their SEO success can use any of the tools below to track their performance metrics.
- Google Analytics 4 (GA4):
- Organic traffic volume and sources
- Engagement metrics
- Conversions
- Traffic sources
- Google Search Console:
- Keyword ranking
- Top-performing pages & search queries
- Google Looker Studio:
- SEO dashboards & reports
- Automated key metric reporting
- Integrate data from multiple sources
- SEMrush:
- Keyword ranking
- Competitor analysis
- Content analysis
- Ahrefs:
- Content performance
- Keyword analysis
- Screaming Frog:
- Integrate with tools such as Google Search Console and GA4 for data analytics
- Perform an SEO audit of your website
For businesses concerned about the time commitment to tracking and strategizing, it is worth considering the help of an SEO agency to get the most out of your efforts. These search engine experts have the expertise and tools to analyze your performance, strategize, and execute a plan according to your business goals, leading to increased visibility and conversions.