What are the best SEO metrics to track for lead generation and conversion?

1 Organic traffic

Organic traffic is the number of visitors that come to your website from search engines without clicking on paid ads. Organic traffic is one of the most important SEO metrics for lead generation and conversion because it reflects the quality and relevance of your content, keywords, and backlinks. To track organic traffic, you can use tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or SEMrush. You can also segment your organic traffic by source, device, location, landing page, and keywords to identify the best opportunities for optimization and targeting.

2 Bounce rate

Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors that leave your website after viewing only one page. Bounce rate is an indicator of user engagement and satisfaction. A high bounce rate means that your visitors are not finding what they are looking for, or that your website is not user-friendly, fast, or appealing. A low bounce rate means that your visitors are interested in your content, products, or services, and that they are likely to explore more pages or take action. To reduce your bounce rate, you can improve your site speed, design, navigation, content quality, and relevance.

3 Conversion rate

Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors that complete a desired action on your website, such as filling out a form, subscribing to a newsletter, downloading a resource, or making a purchase. Conversion rate is the ultimate goal of SEO and lead generation because it shows how effective your website is at turning visitors into customers. To increase your conversion rate, you can optimize your landing pages, calls to action, headlines, copy, images, and offers. You can also use tools like Google Optimize, Unbounce, or HubSpot to run A/B tests and experiments.

4 Keyword rankings

Keyword rankings are the positions of your website pages in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords or phrases. Keyword rankings are a measure of your website's visibility and authority in your niche. The higher your keyword rankings, the more likely you are to attract organic traffic, leads, and conversions. To track your keyword rankings, you can use tools like Google Search Console, Moz, or Ahrefs. You can also monitor your competitors' keyword rankings and analyze their strategies.

5 Click-through rate

Click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of users that click on your website link in the SERPs. CTR is a measure of your website's attractiveness and relevance to your target audience. A high CTR means that your website title, meta description, and URL are compelling and match the user's intent. A low CTR means that your website is not appealing or relevant enough to entice users to click on it. To improve your CTR, you can optimize your title tags, meta descriptions, and URLs with keywords, benefits, and calls to action.

6 Lead quality

Lead quality is the degree of fit and interest of your leads in your products or services. Lead quality is a crucial SEO metric for conversion because it determines how likely your leads are to become customers. To measure lead quality, you can use tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, or Zoho to score your leads based on their behavior, demographics, and interactions with your website and marketing campaigns. You can also use lead nurturing and segmentation techniques to qualify and convert your leads.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?