Guide
How to measure SEO results honestly
The metrics that show whether SEO is paying off, the vanity metrics to ignore, how to connect search to enquiries and revenue, and what a useful monthly SEO report contains.
VAULT 33|27 · Updated 12 November 2026 · Reviewed 12 November 2026 · 2 min read
The problem with most SEO reports
They show rankings for dozens of keywords, a traffic chart and a list of tasks. They rarely show the only thing an owner cares about: how many enquiries and clients came from organic search, and whether that number is growing faster than the cost.
The metrics that matter, in order
| Level | Metric | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Money | Revenue from organic enquiries | CRM, with source recorded |
| Money | Enquiries from organic search | CRM and analytics conversions |
| Money | Cost per organic enquiry | SEO cost divided by organic enquiries |
| Visibility | Clicks from Google to money pages | Search Console, filtered by page |
| Visibility | Impressions for target searches | Search Console, filtered by query |
| Health | Indexed money pages, errors | Search Console page indexing |
Read from the top. If the money metrics grow, the rest is detail. If only visibility grows, find out why it is not turning into enquiries.
Vanity metrics to treat with care
| Metric | Why it misleads |
|---|---|
| Number of keywords ranking | Includes thousands of irrelevant searches |
| Site-wide average position | Mixes all searches together; it can fall while results improve |
| Total traffic | Blog visitors from other countries rarely become clients |
| Domain authority scores | Third-party estimates, not Google metrics |
Connecting search to revenue
- Track every enquiry type as a conversion: forms, calls, chats, bookings.
- Record the source of every enquiry in your CRM automatically.
- Mark won and lost deals with their value.
- Report revenue by source each month.
Without step 2, you will never know whether SEO pays. "How did you hear about us?" alone is not reliable.
Fair comparisons
- Compare with the same period last year to remove seasonality.
- Separate branded searches (people searching your name) from non-branded searches. Growth in non-branded searches is what SEO creates.
- Note big events: site changes, Google updates, new competitors, ad spend changes.
What a useful monthly report contains
- Organic enquiries and revenue, against last year.
- Clicks and impressions for money pages and target searches.
- What was done this month, and why.
- What moved, and what did not.
- What happens next month.
If your current report cannot answer "how much did SEO earn us?", that is the first thing to fix. Our tracking and attribution setup makes it possible.
Sources
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