How to Set SMART SEO Goals, KPIs and Reports?

In the term SMART Goals, SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. And goals represent clearly defined goals that you can later gauge your success against.

SMART SEO goals are the goals of SEO marketing activity and it keeps everyone focused, on track and can help in achieving the goal in a pre-defined period.

In this article, we will talk about:

• SMART SEO goals
• Importance of SMART SEO goals
• How to set your SEO goals
• How to monitor your KPIs and track your progress

SMART SEO Goals

Before setting any goals, it is important to understand why they need to be SMART goals. SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. This means that they are clear, measurable, and achievable, and they have a specific deadline.

For example, if you are overseeing your organization’s SEO strategy and you tell your team that they need to obtain backlinks to the company blog, this goal is not SMART. It is too vague and does not provide enough information. For example, it does not specify how many backlinks are needed, when the goal needs to be achieved, or what other factors need to be considered.

A SMART goal for this scenario would be:

• Specific: Obtain 100 backlinks to the company blog within the next 6 months.
• Measurable: The number of backlinks can be tracked using a tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush.
• Achievable: This goal is achievable with a focused SEO campaign.
• Relevant: This goal is relevant to the organization’s overall SEO goals.
• Time-bound: The goal has a specific deadline of 6 months.

By setting SMART goals, you can ensure that your team is on the same page and that they are working towards a common goal. You can also track your progress and make adjustments as needed.

We will now deconstruct the SMART goal-setting approach for your SEO strategy and put it all into action.

Set SMART SEO Goals for Your Strategy

Give priority to Business Goals

When setting SEO goals, it is important to consider the business goals that SEO should serve. This means understanding how SEO can help your organization achieve its overall objectives, such as increasing revenue, growing brand awareness, or generating leads.

Some questions to consider include:

• What do you desire to achieve for your company through SEO?
• What are your company’s overarching SEO objectives?
• How do my SEO efforts match the high-level business objectives of my organization?

Once you have a clear understanding of the business goals that SEO should serve, you can start to set SMART goals for your SEO strategy. These goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

For example, if your organization’s goal is to increase revenue by 10% in the next year, you could set an SEO goal to increase organic traffic to your website by 20% in the same period.

By setting SMART goals that are aligned with your organization’s business goals, you can ensure that your SEO efforts are making a positive impact on your bottom line.

Choose Performance Metrics

Once you know what you want to achieve with your SEO strategy, you need to choose the specific metrics that you will track to measure your progress. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are another name for these measurements. KPIs are measurable metrics that can be used to compare your performance to your objectives.

Some common SEO KPIs include:

• Organic traffic: The number of visitors who navigated to your website after clicking on an unpaid search result.
• Backlinks: How many times other domains have linked to a specific page on your website?
• Crawl errors: Errors that occur when a search engine fails to crawl a page on your website.
• Page load time: How long it takes for a page on your website to load and become interactive for the user.

The metrics that you choose to improve depend on your organization’s larger business goals, past performance, and your website’s health. For example, if your organization’s goal is to increase sales, you might want to track the number of organic leads generated by your website. Or, if your website is slow, you might want to track the page load time of your most important pages.

Once you have chosen your KPIs, you can start to track your progress and make adjustments to your SEO strategy as needed.

Track your progress by monitoring changes in your KPIs.

Setting SMART goals is only half the battle. You also need to track your progress toward your goals to make sure you are on track to achieve them.

Tracking your progress allows you to identify whether your current strategy is effective and make changes as needed. This can save you time and money, and it can also help you avoid disappointment at the end of the period when you may not have met your goals.

There are several methods for tracking your SEO progress. Google Search Console can be used to track index coverage, core web vitals, and mobile usability. You can also use a service like Databox to create a dashboard for your SEO KPIs by integrating your Google Analytics and Google Search Console accounts.

With a dashboard in place, you can monitor your progress toward your SEO goals in real-time and adjust your strategy as needed.

Here are some specific tips for tracking your SEO progress:

• Set up regular reporting: Set up a regular reporting schedule so that you can track your progress over time. This will help you identify trends and make sure you are on track to achieve your goals.
• Use the right tools: There are several tools available to help you track your SEO progress. Some popular tools include Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and Databox.
• Track the right metrics: Not all metrics are created equal. When tracking your SEO progress, it is important to track the metrics that are most important to your business.
• Be patient: SEO is a long-term game. It takes time to see results. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see results immediately. Just keep tracking your progress and making adjustments as needed.

Achieve Business Goals by Setting Smart SEO Goals 

SEO is a powerful tool that can help your organization achieve its business goals. However, to be effective, SEO needs to be planned and executed strategically.

SMART goals are a great way to structure your SEO efforts and ensure that everyone on your team is on the same page.

If you need help with setting and achieving SMART SEO goals, you can contact an SEO company that has the expertise and experience to help you grow your online presence.