Anyone who deals with SEO, whether at an agency, company or working as a freelancer, will come across the subject of “SEO KPI” – or SEO performance indicators – sooner or later. What are they and who needs them?
What is the general meaning of KPI?
- KPI is the abbreviation for “Key Performance Indicator” and refers to the so called key indicators in business economics, that are used to quantitatively rate how far a certain project has come in achieving important goals.
- Companies should define and use their Key Performance Idicators in such a way that they are tailored specifically for their own product or target audience.
- When choosing your KPI, you will have to distinguish between operative-, strategical-, technical-, organisational-, or financial-viewpoints.
Why are KPI useful?
By using KPI that are specifically tailored to your own product or target audience, you can track the success for the company – cue controlling.
- Information management
- Controlling- or surveying-functions
- Navigational-functions
How many and which Key Performance Indicators you use depends on the industry you are in as well as your (own) position.
Who needs KPI?
Generally speaking, everyone can “benefit” from KPI, regardless of position or responsibility, as these indicators are primarily used to track your own goals and the results of your work and make them measurable.
If you have to justify the results of your work to others, such as your managers – cue reporting – then it is a good idea to choose your key indicators with care. This is because, sometimes, an indicator that you may think of as key may not necessarily hold any interest for your superiors.
We talk about this question in a little more detail in our Ask SISTRIX article “How to identify and use a SEO KPI?”
So what are SEO KPI?
SEO KPI (simplified SEO-indicators) are an important instrument to measure, control, and steer SEO-measures.
We go into more detail on which indicators are useful for SEO, which are seen as good KPI and which are not, in our article “How to identify and use a SEO KPI?“.
