Article · Reporting
How to choose SEO KPIs with a client, and which numbers not to make goals
Agree on two to four numbers that connect search to the client's business, define each one the way Google does, and treat everything else as a diagnostic. Includes a worksheet for the kickoff call.
Outcomes, KPIs and diagnostics are different things
Many KPI disagreements with clients come from mixing up three layers. Keep them apart from the first call:
- Outcome: what the business wants, such as booked jobs or online sales. It often lives outside Google's tools, in the client's CRM, calendar or invoices.
- KPI: a number you can read every month, that tends to move with the outcome, and that your work can influence. Two to four per client is plenty.
- Diagnostic: a number that explains why a KPI moved, such as impressions or average position. You report it, but you do not set a target on it.
This split answers question 3 in the five-question report structure: is search bringing more of the right visitors? Google suggests that site owners ask an SEO how they measure success, so arrive at the kickoff with an answer.
Define each metric the way Google does
Put these definitions in your KPI agreement. When a client's numbers differ from yours, the definition settles it.
| Metric | Google's definition, in our words | What trips clients up |
|---|---|---|
| Clicks (Search Console) | Clicks on a Google result that take the person to a page outside Google Search, Discover or News. | Clicking a result, coming back and clicking the same link again counts once. |
| Impressions (Search Console) | A link to the site was seen, or potentially seen. On a regular results page it usually counts once it is on the current page, even if nobody scrolled to it. | In carousels and other scrolling features, the item usually has to be scrolled into view. An impression does not mean someone looked. |
| CTR (Search Console) | Clicks divided by impressions. | It can drop when impressions grow faster than clicks, even if clicks went up. |
| Average position (Search Console) | For each query, the highest position any link from the site held, where 1 is the top, averaged across every query the site appeared for. | It is only recorded when the link got an impression. Google warns it can be misleading and may not match what you see when you search yourself. |
| Key event (GA4) | An event you mark as especially important to the business, such as a form submission or a purchase. Any collected event can be marked. | In GA4, a "conversion" is now a separate item: you create it from a key event, mainly to measure and optimize ad campaigns, and creating one requires a linked Google Ads account. Marking an event counts from that day forward and does not change past data. |
| Session key event rate (GA4) | The share of sessions in which a key event was triggered. | It moves when sessions move, not only when leads do. Show the key event count next to it. |
Three details belong in the written definition of any Search Console KPI:
- Which total. Chart totals are aggregated by property; the Pages table is aggregated by page, so the two can differ. Name the view you use.
- Hidden queries. Some queries are withheld for privacy. They count in chart totals but drop out once you apply a query filter, so the query rows will not add up to the total.
- Fresh data. The newest data can be preliminary and change over the next few hours. Pull monthly numbers a few days after the month ends, the same way every time.
Map business outcomes to search metrics
Start from the outcome and work down to something a Google tool can count. If nothing can count it yet, setting up that measurement is the first task.
| Client wants | KPI candidate | Where to read it | Diagnostics |
|---|---|---|---|
| More leads | Key events from Organic Search sessions | GA4: Reports, Acquisition, Traffic acquisition; the Organic Search row, or search the table for "google / organic" | Non-branded clicks to service pages |
| More calls (local business) | Calls in Business Profile performance, plus a key event for phone-link taps if the site records them as an event | Google Business Profile, Performance; GA4 Traffic acquisition | Website clicks and direction requests from the profile |
| More online sales | Purchases and revenue from Organic Search sessions | GA4 Traffic acquisition (Key events and Total revenue) | Clicks to product and category pages |
| New customers, not only people who know the brand | Non-branded clicks | Search Console Performance report, branded queries filter set to Non-branded | Non-branded impressions |
Two cautions. The branded filter is only offered on top-level Search Console properties with enough queries and impressions, not on properties for a URL path or a subdomain, and Google's AI-assisted classification can misfile some queries. In Business Profile, direction requests are adjusted for repeat taps, cancellations and spam, so they will not match raw counts elsewhere.
The KPI-selection worksheet
Fill one per KPI during the kickoff call or the week after.
| Field | What to write | Example (hypothetical plumbing company) |
|---|---|---|
| Business outcome | A good month, in the client's words | More booked repair jobs from people who find us online |
| Where the outcome is recorded | The system with the real number, and who can read it | The office manager's job log; she emails a monthly count |
| KPI | One number from a Google tool that moves with the outcome | Key events in the Organic Search row of GA4 Traffic acquisition |
| Exact definition | Tool, report, filter, event name, counting method | The only key event is a view of the quote form's thank-you page, counted once per event |
| Baseline | Last three full months and the same months a year earlier, if the data exists | No key event existed before kickoff, so the baseline starts the month we create it |
| Direction | Up, hold, or slow a decline. Not a promised number | Up compared with the same month last year, once a year of data exists |
| Control | What moves the KPI on each side | Ours: service pages, technical fixes. The client's: ad spend, reviews, how fast the office calls back |
| Diagnostics | Two to four numbers that explain movement | Non-branded clicks to service pages; Business Profile calls |
| Review and sign-off | When you revisit it, and who agreed | Every quarter; the owner confirmed by replying to our kickoff email |
The decision rule
A number becomes a KPI only if all five are true. If one fails, it stays a diagnostic.
- You can read it with the access the client has given you.
- Its definition is written down, including the report and filter.
- It tends to move when the business outcome moves.
- Your work can influence it.
- It has a baseline, or a date from which the baseline starts.
Numbers to report, but not set as goals
These belong in the report. They make poor targets because they can move the wrong way while the business does better, or the reverse.
| Number | Why it is a poor goal | Use it as |
|---|---|---|
| Site-wide average position | It averages every query the site appeared for. When the site starts showing for new queries lower down, the average drifts down the page even while clicks rise. | A diagnostic for one page or a small query group, next to clicks and impressions |
| Total impressions | It counts appearances, including results nobody scrolled to. | An early sign that Google shows pages for new queries |
| Site-wide CTR | A ratio that falls whenever impressions grow faster than clicks. | A page check: sort pages by CTR to find titles and descriptions to review |
| Ranking for one keyword | One term is a small slice of demand, and Google's own page on hiring an SEO warns against anyone who promises rankings. | Part of a tracked keyword set, explained in context |
| All sessions | It includes email, ads, social and direct visits you do not work on. | The Organic Search row only |
| Branded clicks | They follow the client's brand activity more than your work. | Shown next to non-branded clicks, never merged |
| Tasks done, pages published | Activity, not results. | The "work completed" section of the report outline |
Google's Search Console help points the same way: it recommends focusing "more on trends in impressions and clicks than on position alone." When a client asks why a ranking fell, use how to explain a ranking drop to a client and bring the conversation back to the agreed KPI.
If the client still wants rankings for specific terms
Search Console reports average position for queries people actually searched. It does not track a fixed list of terms for a chosen city and device. If those rankings matter, track them as a diagnostic set, sized as in how many keywords to track per client.
A paid suite can do that. As listed on 28 October 2026, Semrush's "SEO" plan covers five websites in monitoring tools and 500 keywords tracked daily in total. Each Position Tracking campaign is set to a location, down to a city or ZIP code, and a device, and the original location and device cannot be changed later. Semrush's help pages say multitargeting (several locations or devices in one campaign) is available only on the Guru and Business tiers of its SEO Toolkit, so check whether your plan includes it before you plan extra cities or devices. See when a paid suite earns its place and what the entry setup costs.
With one or two clients, the free route may be enough.
Run the KPI conversation at kickoff
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Ask what a good month looks like
Ask in business terms: jobs, sales, sign-ups. Write the answer in the client's words. For an email that asks it before the call, see the kickoff agenda email.
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Confirm what you can measure
Check access to Search Console, GA4 and, for local businesses, the Business Profile; the onboarding checklist lists what to request. Linking Search Console to GA4 takes the Editor role in Analytics and verified ownership of the Search Console property, so the client may need to create the link. The Search Console report collection, which holds the Google Organic Search Queries and Google Organic Search Traffic reports, is unpublished by default; publish it from the Library.
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Make sure the key events exist
In GA4, go to Admin, Data display, Events, and click the star next to an event to mark it as a key event. If the lead form only produces a thank-you page view, use Create event to build an event from that page view without code. A standard property allows up to 30 key events. Do this in week one, because key events only count from the day you mark them. For the full steps, see step 1 of the GA4 organic search report.
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Pull the baseline
Search Console keeps 16 months of data, so take the baseline at kickoff while last year's months are still there, and compare similar time frames, as Google's help suggests. The Search Console reporting setup covers the views you will reuse.
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Write it down and get a reply
Send the filled worksheet in a short email and ask the client to confirm. Point to that reply when someone later asks why the report skips their favorite term.
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Review every quarter
If the business changes what it sells, change the KPI, and note it in the report so the trend is not misread.
Where the KPIs go in the monthly report
Put the agreed KPIs in the first lines of the report with the same definition every month, and the diagnostics below them in the visibility and traffic sections of the outline. The monthly report email template has a slot for each KPI and one line on what moved it. The walkthrough shows one way to build it in a paid tool.
Sources
- Search Console clicks, impressions, CTR and position: What are impressions, position, and clicks? (Search Console Help)
- Performance report metrics, aggregation and preliminary data: Performance report (Search results) (Search Console Help)
- Hidden queries, page grouping and branded query labels: Performance report: Dimensions and data groupings (Search Console Help)
- Branded filter, CTR checks, comparing periods and the guidance on position: Performance report: Common tasks and use cases (Search Console Help)
- Branded queries filter availability and classification: Introducing the branded queries filter in Search Console (Google Search Central Blog)
- Key events and conversions: Conversions vs. key events in Google Analytics (Analytics Help)
- Marking key events, the 30-event limit and past data: Mark events as key events (Analytics Help)
- Creating an event from a thank-you page view: Create or modify key events (Analytics Help)
- Key event counting methods: Change the counting method of key events (Analytics Help)
- Traffic acquisition report, Key events and Session key event rate: Traffic acquisition report (Analytics Help)
- Organic Search channel: Default channel group (Analytics Help)
- Search Console link in GA4, permissions and 16 months of data: Connect Search Console to Google Analytics (Analytics Help)
- Business Profile calls, website clicks and directions: Understand your Business Profile performance and insights (Business Profile Help)
- Questions to ask an SEO and the warning about ranking promises: Do you need an SEO? (Google Search Central)
- Semrush "SEO" plan limits, as listed on 28 October 2026: semrush.com/pricing/seo-ai-search
- Semrush Position Tracking targeting and limits, as listed on 28 October 2026: Semrush KB 548 and Semrush KB 32