How to Know if Your SEO Campaign is Working: Beyond Keyword Rankings

As an SEO expert, one of the most common questions I hear is, “How do I know if my SEO campaign is working?” It’s a crucial question because without proper measurement, you’re essentially operating in the dark. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the most effective ways to measure your SEO success, dispel some common misconceptions, and show you exactly what metrics matter for your business.

Why Keyword Rankings Alone Are Unreliable for Measuring SEO Success

Many people’s first instinct is to look at keyword rankings. After all, if your website is ranking higher for your target keywords, that means your SEO is working, right? Not necessarily.

Rank tracking can be unreliable. For example, I’ve seen cases where tools like Ahrefs show that a website’s traffic is down based on ranking data, even when I know for certain that it’s actually up. This discrepancy highlights why you shouldn’t rely solely on keyword ranking data.

That said, keyword rankings aren’t entirely useless. They can be a helpful indicator when you don’t have access to actual search traffic data. But if you do have access to that data (and you should), it’s far more valuable.

Google Search Console: The Primary Tool for SEO Measurement

When it comes to measuring SEO effectiveness, Google Search Console (GSC) is your best friend. It’s completely free to set up and provides data directly from Google, making it the most reliable source for search traffic information.

Setting up Google Search Console

If you haven’t already set up Google Search Console, here’s a quick guide:

1. Go to the Google Search Console website.
2. Click on “Start now” and sign in with your Google account.
3. Add your property:
   • For a domain, select “Domain” and enter your domain name.
   • For a URL prefix, select “URL prefix” and enter your website’s URL.
4. Verify your ownership of the property. Google provides several methods:
   • HTML file upload
   • Meta tag
   • Google Analytics
   • Google Tag Manager
   • Domain name provider
5. Once verified, wait for data to populate (this can take a few days).

Key Metrics Provided by Google Search Console

Once set up, GSC will show you crucial data, including:

• How many times your site appeared in search results (impressions)
• How many times users clicked through to your website (clicks)
• Which keywords you’re showing up for
• Which pages users are landing on

This data is invaluable because it shows you exactly how your site is performing in Google’s search results, straight from the source.

Focus on Business Outcomes: Not All Traffic is Created Equal

While increasing search traffic is great, it’s not the end goal for most businesses. What you really care about is sales and conversions.

The Difference Between Informational and Transactional Queries

Let’s take a window tinting shop as an example. They might have a blog post about repairing car paint chips that gets a lot of search traffic. While blog posts can be valuable for building authority and attracting visitors, the truth is that very little of this traffic is likely to convert into actual sales.

Why? Because Google doesn’t typically rank blog posts for what we call “transactional queries.” Blog posts rank well for informational queries – when people are looking for information. But when someone searches for “window tinting near me,” that’s a transactional query. For these types of searches, Google tends to show business listings, homepages, and service pages.

Why Transactional Page Traffic Matters More Than Blog Post Views

For most businesses, one visit to a transactional page is far more valuable than a thousand visits to a blog post. There are exceptions, of course – some blog posts do convert better than others. But in general, visits to your transactional pages are what you should be focusing on when measuring SEO success.

Isolating Transactional Page Traffic

Now that we understand the importance of transactional pages, let’s look at how to isolate this traffic in Google Search Console. We’ll use regex filters to focus on the pages that matter most for your business.

Using Regex in Google Search Console

Don’t worry if you’re not familiar with regex – I’ve created a tool to make this process simple. Here’s how to use it:

1. Open our URL to GSC Regex tool.
2. In the “Exact URLs” field, paste the URLs of your transactional pages. These typically include:
   • Your homepage
   • The page your Google Business Profile links to
   • Your service pages
   • Your product and category pages (for e-commerce sites)
3. If your site follows a consistent structure for service or product pages (e.g., all product pages are under /product/), you can use the “URLs that contain” field instead.
4. Hit “Generate Regex” and copy the resulting string.
5. In Google Search Console, click “New” to add a page filter.
6. Choose “Custom (regex)”, ensure it says “Matches regex”, and paste your regex string.
7. Click “Apply”.

Now you’re looking at data for just your transactional pages.

Excluding Branded Searches to Measure True SEO Performance

To truly measure your SEO effectiveness, we need to exclude branded searches. People searching for your company name aren’t finding you through SEO – they’re looking for you specifically.

Here’s how to filter out branded searches:

1. In GSC, click “New” to add a query filter.
2. Choose “Custom (regex)”.
3. Enter words from your brand name that wouldn’t appear in non-branded searches. For example, if your company is “Elite Window Tinting”, you might just use “elite”.
4. Set it to “Doesn’t match regex” and apply.

Now you’re looking at all the non-branded, transactional search traffic to your website – this is your true SEO traffic.

Analyzing SEO Performance

With your filters in place, you’re ready to analyze your SEO performance. Here’s what to focus on:

Comparing Year-over-Year Data

To account for seasonality, it’s best to compare your data year-over-year. Here’s how:

1. In GSC, set your date range to the last three months.
2. Click “Compare” and select “Compare to same period last year”.
3. Apply the comparison.

Now you can see how your SEO traffic has changed compared to the same period last year.

Key Metrics to Focus On

1. Overall traffic growth: Calculate the percentage increase in clicks year-over-year. This gives you a high-level view of your SEO progress.
2. Top-performing queries: Look at which queries have seen the biggest improvements. This can help you understand which aspects of your SEO strategy are working best.
3. Improved pages: Identify which pages are driving the most growth. This can guide your content strategy and help you replicate successes across your site.

Measuring SEO Success Through Business-Relevant Metrics

Measuring SEO effectiveness isn’t about tracking hundreds of keyword rankings or celebrating every increase in overall traffic. It’s about focusing on the metrics that truly matter for your business:

1. Non-branded traffic to transactional pages
2. Year-over-year growth in this traffic
3. Improvements in queries and pages that drive conversions

By following the process outlined in this guide, you’ll be able to cut through the noise and truly understand if your SEO campaign is working. Remember, the goal isn’t just to increase traffic – it’s to drive relevant visitors who are likely to become customers.

Keep in mind that SEO is a long-term strategy. While you might see some quick wins, sustainable growth often takes time. Use these measurement techniques consistently, and you’ll be able to track your progress, identify areas for improvement, and demonstrate the real value of your SEO efforts.