08 / Metrics
This page defines 10 SEO Measurement terms. Each entry gives a plain definition, a What to check step you can apply to your own site, and links to deeper SiteAuditLint guides where they exist.
Impressions
An impression is counted when a link to your site appears in search results a user sees, whether or not they scroll to it or click.
Rising impressions with flat clicks often signals new low-position rankings or more SERP features taking attention.
Clicks
In Search Console, a click is counted when a user clicks a search result that leads to your site.
Compare clicks with analytics sessions to spot tracking gaps, consent banner effects, or misattributed traffic.
Click-through rate (CTR)
Click-through rate is the percentage of impressions that result in a click, calculated as clicks divided by impressions.
Compare CTR by query and position, not sitewide, since an average across very different queries is misleading.
What is a good CTR for SEO?
It depends heavily on position, query type, and SERP features. Benchmark against your own pages at similar positions.
Average position
Average position in Search Console is the mean ranking of your highest result across all impressions for a query or page.
Filter by query and country before interpreting it, because aggregated averages hide real ranking movement.
Organic traffic
Organic traffic is visits that come from unpaid search results.
Segment organic traffic by landing page and by branded versus non-branded queries to find the real drivers of change.
Go deeper: SEO KPIs, How to measure SEO success
Bounce rate
Bounce rate traditionally meant the share of single-page sessions. In Google Analytics 4 it is the share of sessions that were not engaged. It is not a Google ranking factor.
Use engagement rate in GA4 and judge it by page type, since a high bounce rate is normal for quick-answer pages.
Conversion
A conversion is a valuable action a visitor completes, such as a signup, purchase, or demo request.
Track conversions by organic landing page so SEO work can be tied to business results, not just traffic.
Go deeper: Tracking and analytics audit
Google Search Console
Google Search Console is Google's free tool for monitoring how a site performs in Google Search, including queries, indexing, and technical issues.
Verify a domain property so all subdomains and protocols are covered, and export data regularly since history is limited to 16 months.
Page indexing report
The Page indexing report in Search Console shows which of your URLs are indexed and why others are not, such as noindex, redirects, or duplicates.
Watch for sudden increases in "Crawled, currently not indexed" or "Excluded by noindex tag" after releases.
Share of voice
Share of voice in SEO is the percentage of total available search visibility your site captures for a defined keyword set, compared with competitors.
Keep the tracked keyword set stable over time, since changing it distorts share of voice trends.
Go deeper: The SEO metrics we buried and forgot
Browse the full SEO terms glossary, or run a technical SEO audit with SiteAuditLint to check these signals on your own site.