11 Key SEO Metrics You Need to Monitor for Success
You’ve likely come across various SEO dashboards, like those from Screaming Frog that integrate with Looker Studio. Maybe you rely on a robust enterprise tool that helps you oversee technical SEO in the cloud.
While that’s all well and good, how effective is it really?
- Is it actually boosting your search rankings?
- If you’re overseeing multiple sites—30, 50, or even 100—does employing cloud crawlers for technical SEO yield actionable insights?
If your answer is yes, that’s fantastic! I’m genuinely pleased for you.
However, if you’re among those who wish for a more efficient method, there’s definitely hope!
The secret lies in being more precise and deliberate about what and which pages we monitor.
This article will explore what aspects are crucial to keep track of, and the best means to monitor each one. Additionally, I will share some valuable paid tools for tracking SEO components. (Please note that I have no affiliation with these companies, but I have utilized several of them myself.)
Indexability Elements
Monitoring your site’s indexability is essential and should be your top priority. If your site can’t be indexed, all your hard work goes to waste.
In this section, I will outline the primary indexability factors that impact your visibility on Google and ways to keep an eye on them.
1. Changes to Robots.txt
The robots.txt file is the first document that search engines check when crawling your site. It provides guidance on how bots should navigate your website.
What should we monitor?
All SEO professionals should keep track of any changes made to the robots.txt file, particularly if it begins to block search engines.
Many tools are available for this purpose, but it’s crucial to establish email alerts to inform you if the file starts restricting search engine access.
This issue often arises when developers deploy a site from a staging environment to production, inadvertently transferring the robots.txt file.
This generally happens when all files are made live rather than just the updated items.
Recommended Tools
While I often create custom Python scripts for various tasks, here, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Several budget-friendly tools efficiently validate your robots.txt file.
I personally favor LittleWarden as it allows you to monitor specific changes or general indexability checks and delivers email notifications. You can configure it to check either daily or hourly.
Similarly, Visualping (which I utilized in this knowledge graph case study) is another excellent option for tracking modifications to the robots.txt file.
2. Noindex Robots Tags
Ah, the notorious noindex tag. This meta robots tag can be applied to pages that you want to prevent from being indexed by Google, such as login pages, account views, or other low-priority pages.
If certain pages must be indexed or excluded from indexing, monitoring adjustments to your configuration is vital for the health of your SEO strategy.
Recommended Tools
LittleWarden is superb for this, as it provides customization options for each page, allowing you to set most pages as indexable while designating a few as noindex.
Tools like Screaming Frog and Sitebulb can also accomplish this task, but they require more extensive setup assistance.
3. Changes to X-Robots-Tag
Essentially, the x-robots-tag serves the same purpose as the noindex meta tag but appears in the HTTP response headers instead of the page’s <head> section.
Recommended Tools
LittleWarden is designed to automatically check your HTTP response headers for potential indexability concerns, including changes to canonical tags.
4. XML Sitemap Validation
XML sitemaps are another vital SEO resource. These files lay out a map of all links on your site.
Google uses these maps as significant indicators for which pages to discover and add to its crawling queue.
If there are errors in your sitemap (for instance, fetch or parse failures), Google will keep making attempts to process it for several days. If these attempts continually fail, Google will stop trying to crawl that URL.
Recommended Tools
Once again, LittleWarden excels for its user-friendliness in monitoring adjustments to your XML sitemaps and ensuring their correctness.
5. Adjustments to Canonical Tags
Canonical tags are often misinterpreted and mismanaged within SEO circles.
While Google considers these to be mere suggestions, not hard rules (unlike noindex), it’s imperative to track any changes occurring on your pages.
Recommended Tools
LittleWarden is capable of monitoring this, but you could also utilize tools like ChangeTower or VisualPing. Besides these, Screaming Frog and Sitebulb can track changes, but setting up email notifications can be more cumbersome.
On-page Ranking Elements
On-page SEO encompasses factors visible on your pages for both users and search engines.
If you’re involved in local SEO, you might not see frequent changes to your site. However, with more team members gaining site access, someone might inadvertently make marketing changes that could influence your rankings.
This is why it’s critical to track on-page elements.
6. Heading Tag Adjustments
Heading tags are any text formatted with designated heading HTML (<h1>,<h2>,<h3>, etc.). There has been debate over how these are interpreted by Google.
According to Google, heading tags aren’t significant for rankings, but they are essential for accessibility.
Many SEO professionals, including myself, contend that a well-optimized H1 and overall heading structure can enhance rankings, although that’s a topic for another time.
For now, it’s important to monitor changes to your H1 tags on your key pages.
Recommended Tools
Here’s where the variety of tools available really shines. You can confidently explore any of the following:
- Little Warden.
- Versionista.
- Wachete.
- Visualping.
- ChangeTower.
Once more, while it’s possible to use Screaming Frog and Sitebulb, configuring email alerts tends to be more complex.
7. Internal Linking Adjustments
Monitoring modifications to your internal links is essential for sustaining a solid internal linking structure.
If a well-placed internal link with optimized anchor text gets altered or removed, it could have an impact on your rankings.
How significant is that effect? Likely not massive, but are you willing to take that chance?
Recommended Tools
- Little Warden.
- Versionista.
- Wachete.
- Visualping.
- ChangeTower.
8. Changes to Keywords
It’s vital to keep track of your keyword usage across your site for successful SEO.
If a different marketer on your team decides to revitalize your content, they might inadvertently hurt your page’s rankings.
Recommended Tools
- Little Warden.
- Versionista.
- Wachete.
- Visualping.
- ChangeTower.
SERP Visibility
While tracking your appearance in the SERP may not have a direct influence on your rankings, it could certainly impact your organic click-through rates (CTR).
9. Adjustments to Title Tags
Title tags are essential elements provided to search engines indicating our preferred displayed title.
Yes, Google may modify title tags, but it doesn’t mean we should overlook them.
Recommended Tools
- Little Warden.
- Versionista.
- Wachete.
- Visualping.
- ChangeTower.
10. Changes to Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions can be one of the most debated topics in SEO. Several factors contributing to its complexity include:
- While they aren’t technically ranking factors, they play a crucial role in our sales approach within the SERP.
- SEO tools warn us regarding pixel and character limits, yet Google may alter them to align with search intent.
- At a conference, I distinctly heard Gary Illyes assert that optimizing title tags and meta descriptions is a futile effort. (I strongly disagree with this sentiment.)
Nevertheless, if you’re tracking unintended changes to your site, taking an extra second to click on the meta description box is well worth it.
Recommended Tools
- Little Warden
- Versionista
- Wachete
- Visualping
- ChangeTower
11. Validation of Schema
Schema markup is a powerful asset that can communicate important structured data to Google and assist us in creating engaging SERP features for our listings.
Generating and implementing schema markup demands time, making it essential to monitor any changes, particularly since SERP features can enhance your organic CTR.
Recommended Tools
- Little Warden.
- Versionista.
- Wachete.
- Visualping.
- ChangeTower.
Happy Monitoring!
Now that you possess a thorough list of SEO elements to keep track of, it’s time to implement effective monitoring for your SEO initiatives.
Trust me, being prepared is far more advantageous than discovering a change that occurred days prior.
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