SEO reports are overwhelming. Pages of data, dozens of metrics, charts going in every direction. Most business owners look at them and think: "What am I supposed to do with this?"
Here's the truth: Most of those metrics don't matter for your business.
You don't need to track 47 things. You need to track three things well, and take action on what you learn.
Vanity Metrics (Ignore These)
- Total website visitors (without context)
- Social media followers
- "Domain Authority" scores
- Bounce rate in isolation
- Number of backlinks (without quality consideration)
- Keyword rankings (without conversion data)
These metrics feel good but don't tell you if SEO is making you money. Here's what does:
Leads from Organic Search
This is the only metric that directly measures whether SEO is working for your business. How many calls, form submissions, or appointment requests came from people who found you through Google?
How to track it: Set up goal tracking in Google Analytics. Track form submissions, phone clicks, and appointment bookings as conversions. Filter by "Organic Search" as the source.
What to look for: Month-over-month growth. If leads from organic are increasing, SEO is working. If they're flat or declining despite more traffic, you have a conversion problem, not a traffic problem.
Organic Traffic to Money Pages
Not all traffic is equal. Traffic to your blog is nice. Traffic to your service pages, your contact page, your pricing page? That's the traffic that converts.
How to track it: In Google Analytics, look at landing page reports filtered by organic traffic. Focus on pages where people can take action: service pages, contact page, booking pages.
What to look for: Are your important pages getting organic traffic? If your "emergency plumber" page isn't getting traffic from people searching "emergency plumber Louisville," you have an optimization opportunity. This connects directly to finding the keywords you're missing.
Local Search Visibility
For local businesses, this means: Are you showing up in the Map Pack? Are you visible when someone searches for your services in your area?
How to track it: Use Google Search Console to see what queries you're appearing for and your average position. For local pack specifically, check Google Business Profile Insights for "searches" and "discovery" queries.
What to look for: Are you appearing for the searches that matter? A plumber should be appearing for "plumber near me," "emergency plumber," "water heater repair," etc. If you're ranking for irrelevant terms or not appearing for important ones, that's where to focus.
How Often Should You Check?
SEO is a long game. Checking every day will drive you crazy and won't give you useful information.
- Weekly: Quick glance at leads from organic. Are calls coming in?
- Monthly: Full review of all three metrics. Compare to previous month.
- Quarterly: Deeper analysis. What's working? What needs adjustment?
Important: SEO improvements typically take 3-6 months to show results. Don't panic if you don't see immediate changes after optimizations.
When These Metrics Tell You Something's Wrong
Lots of traffic, no leads: You're attracting the wrong people or your website isn't converting. Check if your traffic is coming from relevant searches. Check if your pages make it easy to take action.
Good rankings, no traffic: You might be ranking for keywords nobody searches for. Time to find better keyword opportunities.
Local visibility declining: Your competitors are out-optimizing you. Time to focus on reviews, citations, and Google Business Profile optimization.
Everything flat: You've probably captured the easy wins. Time to expand into new content, new keywords, or new service areas.
The Bottom Line
Stop drowning in data. Focus on these three metrics:
- Leads from organic search (The bottom line: is SEO making you money?)
- Traffic to money pages (Are the right people finding the right pages?)
- Local search visibility (Can nearby customers find you when they need you?)
Everything else is noise.
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