Is 2025 the year you’ve decided to get serious about your SEO performance? If so, the best place to start is by benchmarking where you’re at now so you can see in real time how your new strategy is impacting your search rankings and online visibility.

Most people keep an eye on important Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) like organic traffic and conversion rates, and rightly so. These metrics are invaluable in helping you evaluate the strength of your content strategy and SEO efforts. But these metrics alone are not painting the full picture.

While the concepts overlap, monitoring your KPIs and benchmarking your SEO is not the same thing, and you need both to succeed. While KPIs show you how well you are performing, your benchmarks are the baseline upon which that growth is measured. By knowing where you started, you’re better equipped to track progress and identify areas that are falling short of your SEO objectives.

So, with that said, we’ll move on to the main topic of this blog: what metrics to benchmark for your SEO and how to do it.

Seven SEO Benchmarks Worth Establishing

It’s probably never a bad thing to have more insight into your SEO performance, but monitoring too many KPIs can become a little overwhelming. The good news is that benchmarking these seven metrics will give you enough insight into your SEO performance to allow you to make informed decisions without drowning in data.

Organic Search Traffic

Organic search traffic is what every SEO strives to improve. It’s a direct reflection of your website’s authority and relevancy for specific search queries. Traffic funnelled to your website from organic searches is generally more likely to convert than traffic from other sources. And outside of the money you’ve spent optimizing your website, organic traffic is also free, which makes it even more valuable.

Setting up your organic search benchmark is relatively straightforward. Use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to track the number of sessions that come from organic searches. In GA4, go to "Reports" > "Acquisition" > "Traffic acquisition," then apply a filter for "Session default channel group" to select "Organic Search." Here you will also be able to filter by where this organic traffic originated. In the same menu click the drop-down for “Audience Name” and select “First user source/ medium” from the list.

You should also benchmark organic traffic results to individual pages. Following a similar process select “Report” > “Engagement” > “Pages and screens” and click on the data icon to see specific page results.

For both your website and individual page organic search results benchmarking, choose a date that’s relatively current, say last month, and record the figures as a baseline to measure traffic performance going forward.

User Engagement Metrics

Once users make it to your webpage, how are they engaging and how long are they staying? These are crucial metrics to know and track because they let you know how effective your keyword strategy is at attracting the right traffic and how compelling your website is at keeping them there.

There are two benchmark statistics that are particularly relevant here. The first is engaged sessions, which measure how users interact with your content (replacing bounce rate in GA4), and the other is average engagement time. To find these, navigate to "Engagement" > "Overview" in GA4. Record your baseline figures, then monitor changes over time. High engagement typically signals that your content resonates with your audience.

Search Result Performance Metrics

In a perfect world, you want your search result performance to be steadily climbing. It may not jump every month, but overall, you want to see an upward trajectory. In GA4, four metrics are worth benchmarking to measure this performance trend: your total clicks, impressions, click-through rate (CTR), and average position in rankings.

There is a lot of invaluable insight to be gained from monitoring these metrics that are crucial to your SEO performance. For example, impressions tell you how often your page appears for specific search queries; high marks here but low CTR rates could be a sign your ads or copy simply aren’t compelling enough you’re targeting the wrong audience. Total clicks measure the actual engagement your content receives, while your CTR reflects the effectiveness of your ads and copy in driving traffic.

You can find all these metrics in Google Search Console under "Performance." Set the date range to the past three months to establish your benchmark. Record each metric separately and monitor for fluctuations.

Keyword Footprint and Keyword Value

In the fight for first in search results (or at least a place on page one), where your website ranks on a SERP (search engine results page) for specific keywords is crucial information. As you create your list of benchmark metrics, be sure to include your current position so that you may track your progress.

Google Search Console and Semrush both offer powerful keyword-tracking tools. In Google Search Console, go to "Performance" > "Search Results," then filter by queries to see which keywords you currently rank for and their average position. In Semrush, use the "Position Tracking" tool to track keyword performance over time. Compare monthly to see if your rankings are improving.

In addition to position, keyword value is another important metric to benchmark. This metric gives you a rough estimate of how much your organic search traffic would cost to replicate if you were to try and achieve the same results through paid ads. It’s essentially the price tag on your online visibility. You can use Semrush to benchmark your “Traffic Cost” and continue to review monthly to see where the value of your web traffic stands.

Individual Keywords

Keywords are the backbone of your SEO strategy, but they need constant monitoring and refining to ensure they are still performing. In addition to visibility and value, you also need to track how individual keywords are performing so that you can adjust your strategy as needed. This is also true if you’re targeting new markets or introducing new products.

Using tools like Ahrefs or Moz you can benchmark and track individual keyword performance. Enter your target keywords into their keyword explorer tools to track metrics like search volume, keyword difficulty, and SERP features. Record your starting positions and check them regularly (at least monthly) to identify which keywords need more optimization.

Backlink Profile

Backlinks are a very important ranking signal for Google; the more high-quality backlinks your website has, the more likely it is to rank high in search results.

To benchmark your backlink profile using Semrush, go to your “SEO Dashboard” and click “Backlink Analytics.” Here you’ll see the number of domains currently leading back to your website.

Ideally, the number of links pointing back to you should be growing at a pretty consistent rate, provided you’re actively building relationships and producing high-quality content. If it’s not, it’s time to invest in your backlink-building strategy and focus on content promotion. Be sure to pay attention to the quality of these links, not just the quantity. In Semrush, you can benchmark and monitor your “Authority Score” listed on the same page as your referring domains. High-quality backlinks from authoritative, relevant sources will have a more significant impact on your rankings than low-quality ones (which actually may end up hurting your position).

Local SEO

Your local SEO offers a huge number of benefits to your business. Not only does it help drive highly targeted traffic to your website, but it also increases your visibility with the people most likely to convert into customers. Two important areas to benchmark here are your name, address, phone, and website (NAP-W) profiles and your Google reviews.

As far as NAP-W goes, it’s not a significant ranking factor, but it is important to ensure your information is complete and consistent across all local directories and online listings. Your Google reviews, on the other hand, are an important ranking factor, so you’ll want to benchmark the current quantity (and quality) of your Google reviews while encouraging more satisfied customers to leave feedback.

It’s Time to SEO The Right Way

With the number of competitors online growing every day, there's no better time to prioritize your SEO performance than right now. Establishing a baseline of critical SEO metrics will give you a clear roadmap of where you started and how effectively your strategy is helping you realize your goals. It’s time to master your SEO in 2025!