The SEO Metrics Worth Tracking
Most SEO reports track things that look impressive and mean nothing. These are the SEO metrics that actually tell you whether the work is landing — and the ones worth ignoring.
Metrics that matter
1. Indexed pages vs total pages
From Search Console's Pages report. If you have 40 pages and 12 are indexed, nothing else you measure means much. This is the first number to check and the one most reports omit.
2. Impressions and clicks by query
Search Console's Performance report shows the actual searches bringing people to your site. This is more valuable than any keyword tool, because it's real data about your site rather than estimates about the market. It also surfaces queries you never targeted deliberately.
3. Average position — per query, never sitewide
Sitewide average position is close to meaningless; it blends a #3 ranking for a valuable term with #78 for something irrelevant. Filtered to individual queries, it's genuinely useful for tracking movement.
4. Click-through rate by page
High impressions with low CTR usually means you're ranking but your title and meta description aren't earning the click. That's one of the cheapest problems in SEO to fix — rewrite the title, no technical work needed.
5. Core Web Vitals — field data, not lab scores
Search Console reports real-user data from the Chrome UX Report. That's more meaningful than a one-off Lighthouse run on your own fast connection.
6. Organic conversions
In GA4, the only metric that connects SEO to business outcomes. Traffic that never converts is a vanity number.
| Metric | Where | What it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Indexed pages | Search Console → Pages | Can Google see my site? |
| Queries & clicks | Search Console → Performance | What am I actually found for? |
| CTR by page | Search Console → Performance | Are my titles working? |
| Core Web Vitals | Search Console → Experience | Is it fast for real users? |
| Organic conversions | GA4 | Does the traffic do anything? |
Metrics worth ignoring
- Domain Authority / Domain Rating. Third-party estimates from Moz and Ahrefs. Useful for rough comparison; Google does not use them.
- Bounce rate as a ranking factor. Google has repeatedly stated it doesn't use analytics data this way.
- Total backlink count. One link from a relevant, credible site outweighs hundreds of directory listings.
- Keyword density. Not a real metric, and chasing a target percentage is keyword stuffing.
- A perfect Lighthouse score. Diminishing returns once you're in the green.
Everything above is available free. For the process that turns these numbers into fixes, see the SEO audit walkthrough.