Hi there, and welcome to issue #17 of the Outranked SEO newsletter.
In this issue, I’m sharing the framework I use for tracking SEO progress (and for setting expectations and milestones for everyone working on a project).
You’ll learn:
- Why (and how) our industry keeps using the term 'KPI' wrong
- How to measure and track SEO progress against 3 KPI groups
- How to use this framework to set expectations & milestones
Let’s get into it.
Traction → traffic → transactions.
Measuring SEO success often ends up being a shitshow.
At one extreme, you’ve got the mindset of “rankings = success.”
At the other, it’s “we need to know the exact ROI of every single word of content.”
I joke, but there’s truth in it…
The way SEO success gets measured often ends up being more about people pleasing than actually showing the progress and the effectiveness of the channel.
You know how it is.
There's that one person who you report into who isn't interested in anything except the rankings of a set of 5 keywords.
So to keep the peace (maybe after trying a few times, and failing, to educate why that's not representative of the channel's value), you report like that.
Or that person whose goal is to just drive more traffic.
But the real problem is you're not using a measurement framework that clearly shows progress.
Think about it this way...
- If you only report on rankings, it tells you nothing about the outcomes they delivered for the business.
- You might be seeing rankings increase every month, but what does that actually mean? Without further context, not a lot. It could mean a great impact, but it could just as easily mean no impact.
- On the other hand, if you only report on revenue, you're going to be sending a good few monthly reports that look pretty poor, probably with an note of "just give it time."
- You know you're seeing great progress and that visibility is increasing, as is traffic. But the way you report doesn't highlight that.
Showing SEO progress doesn't have to be difficult; so long as you're doing this in a way which aligns with how progress actually happens.
Keep reading and I'll share my simple framework for showing progress in a way that tells the full story.
Our industry keeps using the term KPI wrong...
Time for a quick rant.
Somewhere along the line, our industry started using the term KPI to mean a target or even a guaranteed result.
You know how it goes...
- The campaign KPI is 10 links.
- This quarter's KPI is a 20% increase in leads
- This year's KPI is to increase traffic by 100%.
I'm all for goals and targets. You need them in place. After all, if you don't know where you're going how can you figure out how to get there?
But these aren't KPIs.
It's 2025, so let me ask ChatGPT to tell me what a KPI is...
--
A KPI (Key Performance Indicator) is just a way of measuring if you’re on track to hit a goal.
Think of it like a scoreboard:
- In football, the score tells you who’s winning.
- In business, a KPI tells you how well you’re doing at something important.
For example:
- If your goal is to grow sales, a KPI could be monthly revenue.
- If your goal is to improve customer service, a KPI could be average response time to a support ticket.
So, a KPI = a number that shows progress toward a goal.
--
In SEO then, KPIs could be things like rankings, impressions, clicks, conversions or revenue.
And it needs to be known what trend is expected.
For example if organic clicks is a KPI, you want it to trend up.
KPIs and goals aren't the same thing.
And the measurement framework I'm about to share is based on 3 KPI groups.
Measuring SEO progress using traction metrics, traffic metrics and transaction metrics...
If we look at the typical progress of SEO, it goes something like this:
Rankings increase,
Which increase impressions,
Which increase clicks,
Which increase conversions,
Which increases revenue.
Whilst SEO progress is by no means linear in many ways, the way KPIs ladder up to one another pretty much can be.
And that's how you should report on progress.
I do this by breaking down the metrics I report on into 3 KPI groups:
→ Traction metrics
→ Traffic metrics
→ Transaction metrics
Early progress is seen in traction metrics. An increase in rankings or impressions, for example. Even if there's no upwards trend in revenue, growth in traction metrics gives confidence that things are moving in the right direction.
After this comes traffic metrics. It's exactly what it says on the tin. An uplift in traffic (clicks) as a result of traction metrics trending up. It's the next step in progress and proof that increased rankings etc are actually turning into traffic.
The most important KPI group is transaction metrics. This can, of course, mean leads instead of transactions. And it should also include revenue. This is what really matters, but it's also what comes last. Everything else ladders up to these metrics.
Break your reporting down into this framework, and it tells a story of what's happening.
You might not be seeing growth in revenue yet, but if you're seeing growth in traction and traffic metrics, you can build real confidence and earn buy-in to what you're doing.
Here's how different KPIs sit in the 3 groups:
Traction metrics.
Early indicators that progress is being made. Things like:
- Keyword rankings
- Organic impressions
- Brand searches
Traffic metrics.
Follow-on indicators that traction metrics are turning into clicks and potential customers. Things like:
- Organic clicks
- Share of organic clicks
- Branded clicks
- Non-brand clicks
Transaction metrics.
Priority indicators that show commercial impact and a return on investment.
This is a three-phase measurement framework that’s set up to show progress then impact against clearly defined commercial goals.
Use this to set expectations and milestones...
Shift your reporting to this type of framework (there's lots of other KPIs you might want to bring into these groups) and the biggest benefit is that it lets you set and manage better expectations with stakeholders.
People want to see progress, but reporting often isn't set up to show that.
If you can show a positive trend in traction metrics, and use the framework to explain that there's a lag effect; that you need to see an increase in X for this to turn into Y, you'll find it easier to show progress than if you jump straight to showing transaction metrics that aren't (yet) moving.
It's simple, but it works.
Try it out and let me know how you get on.
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If you learned something from this issue or it’s made you think about SEO a little differently, please consider forwarding it to someone else on your team.
I’m on a mission to make sure more SEO investment actually has an impact on real business metrics.
Appreciate you making it to the end; same time next week?
- James Brockbank
P.S. If you ever need expert support with SEO or digital PR and want to drive results that actually matter, I’d love to chat. Let’s talk.
✍️ From the Loft...
Fresh from our side of the web; here’s a few things me and other Lofties put out into the world this week.
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📌 This week’s bookmarks:
If I could only send three links to a fellow marketer this week, it’d be these…
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👋 Hi, I'm James...
Managing Director & Founder at Digitaloft.
I've spent the last 10 years building an agency that's perfectly positioned to help ambitious brands to drive real business growth from SEO and digital PR.
You might have seen me speaking at events like BrightonSEO, SMX and the International Search Summit.
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