{"id":6991,"date":"2014-10-29T06:14:26","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T13:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.dlvr.it?p=6991&preview_id=6991"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T10:57:11","slug":"monitor-seo-performance-metrics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/monitor-seo-performance-metrics\/","title":{"rendered":"21 Proven SEO Metrics You Should Be Monitoring for Epic Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monitoring your SEO metrics\u00a0on a daily, weekly and monthly basis is vital to ensure search\u00a0health, but it does not have to be overwhelming. Most people are not particularly keen on analyzing data and keeping track of various metrics and stats. However, performing an SEO audit<\/a> and ongoing monitoring of your website’s SEO health is essential for your businesses success.<\/p>\n

For example, an SEO issue that goes unnoticed, even for a few days, can have an enormous impact on business.<\/p>\n

With the amount of updates and improvements Google makes each year<\/a>\u00a0to its search engine, drops in rankings can happen at any time. If you\u2019re only checking your SEO metrics every month or so you may be missing vital information and site performance issues that are affecting your search engine rankings. As a result, you\u2019re likely losing website traffic, website conversions, and ultimately revenue.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/span>What Key SEO Metrics Should You Monitor<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

I like analyzing data. The process is second nature to me. I just need to know what is important to monitor and, equally as important, when to do it. Fortunately, I ran across a basic but comprehensive checklist from Search Engine Land on the 21 Metrics For Monitoring SEO Health<\/a> which discusses several SEO health metrics you should be monitoring daily or weekly to be more proactive about tackling issues that will hurt performance. I highly recommend that you print and study this article.<\/p>\n

Quick recap of key metrics you can use to detect problems early:<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Be on alert for changes in the following types of traffic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 – Organic.<\/strong>\u00a0Organic traffic is one of the biggest goals of SEO programs, and changes in your website\u2019s organic traffic are heavily influenced by your SEO strategy.<\/p>\n

2 – Direct.\u00a0<\/strong>Direct traffic is a huge performance metric because many times users will find your site through organic search first, then come back direct in the future.<\/p>\n

3 – Referral.<\/strong>\u00a0Referral traffic is a great link profile performance metric that can tell you if you\u2019ve gained or lost links.<\/p>\n

4 – Campaign.<\/strong>\u00a0Although campaign traffic does not have a direct impact on SEO performance, it can still give clues as to why direct or branded search traffic is experiencing changes.<\/p>\n

5 – Email.<\/strong>\u00a0Email traffic can also give you clues into why direct or branded search traffic has changed<\/p>\n

And changes\u00a0to\u00a0any of the following metrics:<\/p>\n

6 – Changes in sessions<\/p>\n

7 – Change in users<\/p>\n

8 – Mobile device usage<\/p>\n

9 – Page load speed increase<\/p>\n

10 – Server response time<\/p>\n

11 – Crawl errors<\/p>\n

12 – Server error logs<\/p>\n

13 – Pages crawled per day and time spent downloading pages<\/p>\n

14 – Branded keywords impressions and clicks<\/p>\n

15 – Non-branded keywords impressions, clicks, and CTR<\/p>\n

16 – Keyword rankings<\/p>\n

17 – Manual actions<\/p>\n

18 – Security issues<\/p>\n

19 – Index status<\/p>\n

20 – Bounce rate<\/p>\n

21 – 404 page views<\/p>\n

<\/span>Using Google Analytics to Create Alerts<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Google provides a variety of very useful SEO metrics. Fortunately for us, most SEO monitoring \u201cto-do\u2019s\u201d and custom alerts can be setup in Google Analytics to track and tweak your website\u2019s performance in search.<\/p>\n

Setting up Google Analytics custom alerts will give you immediate\u00a0notice of any sudden drops in your key\u00a0metrics. Review our post on setting up Google Analytics intelligence events<\/a>, which includes detailed instructions for creating custom alerts.<\/p>\n

Quick overview:<\/p>\n

Step 1.<\/strong> Go to Google Analytics > Intelligence Events > Weekly Events.<\/p>\n

Step 2.<\/strong> Select \u2018Create a Custom Alert\u2019 (located on the right side of the page).<\/p>\n

Step 3<\/strong>. Select the parameters you want in your report. Add recipients email addresses. Save Alert.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Key SEO Metrics Monitoring Schedule<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Now that we know what SEO metrics you should monitor and how to setup custom alerts, the next step is to break down the list into manageable tasks. The way we do this is by breaking up the relevant metrics into daily, weekly and monthly checkups.<\/p>\n

Using the 21 key metrics from Search Engine Land, the chart below provides a first-pass at a monitoring schedule for your company. Consequently, you can also use this as a blueprint for your SEO review process.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
KEY SEO METRICS <\/strong>MONITORING SCHEDULE<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Daily<\/strong><\/td>\nWeekly<\/strong><\/td>\nBi-Weekly<\/strong><\/td>\nMonthly<\/strong><\/td>\nOther Alerts<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
# of Sessions<\/td>\nOrganic Traffic*<\/td>\nPages Crawled\/Day*<\/td>\nMobile Device Usage*<\/td>\nServer Response Time*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
# of New Users<\/td>\nDirect Traffic*<\/td>\nTime Spent Downloading Pages*<\/td>\nKeyword Rankings*<\/td>\nServer Error Logs*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
% Bounce Rate<\/td>\nReferral Traffic*<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\nManual Actions*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
# of Pages\/Session<\/td>\nCampaign Traffic*<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\nBounce Rate*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Avg. Session Duration<\/td>\nEmail Traffic*<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\nBranded Keywords*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Top 10 Landing Pages<\/td>\n# of Sessions*<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\nNon-branded Keywords*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Top 10 Blog Posts<\/td>\n# of Users*<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n\u00a0Security Issues*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
All Social & Referral Traffic<\/td>\nPage Load Speed*<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n\u00a0Index Status*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Page Load Speed*<\/td>\nCrawl Errors*<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n404 Page Views*<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
*Refer to this\u00a0SEO Metrics post for detailed descriptions and pro tips.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span>Essential Google Analytics to Monitor Daily<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

In addition to the SEO performance metrics noted above with an *(asterisk), I recommend keeping track of the following in Google Analytics on a daily basis:<\/p>\n