As we enter 2024, it’s important for SEO services and website owners to understand the key performance indicators, metrics and benchmarks that can guide efforts to improve search engine optimization success. Tracking the right KPIs provides insight into how your website is performing in organic search and where there are opportunities for growth for SEO company.
Core Web Vitals
In May 2020, Google announced that a website’s Core Web Vitals metrics would become a ranking factor. Core Web Vitals measure real-world user experience for key aspects like page load speed, responsiveness and visual stability. By 2024, having excellent Core Web Vital scores will likely be table stakes for ranking highly.
The three Core Web Vitals metrics you should track are Largest Concertful Paint, First Input Delay and Cumulative Layout Shift for best SEO UAE. Tools like PageSpeed Insights, Search Console and Chrome User Experience Report can monitor your scores. For top performance, aim for LCP under 2.5 seconds, FID under 100 milliseconds and CLS under 0.1.
Click-Through Rate
While we talk about best SEO services we must consider CTR. Click-through rate (CTR) measures how often searchers click on your listing after seeing it in the search engine results pages (SERPs). A higher CTR signals to Google that your content better matches the searcher’s query and intent.
Check your CTR performance in Search Console for key terms monthly and across devices. Benchmark against a CTR of 2-5% for organic results. If your CTR falls below 1%, there are likely issues with your title tags, meta descriptions and landing pages.
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate shows the percentage of visitors that enter your site from search and then leave without viewing additional pages. A high bounce rate may indicate content quality issues or a mismatch between what was promised in the SERP listing and what the landing page delivers.
Aim for a bounce rate under 50% as a general guideline. Review landing page experience, on-page SEO services and internal linking to improve this metric. Monitor bounce rate in Google Analytics.
Dwell Time
Dwell time reveals how long visitors remain engaged on your website after arriving from organic search. Longer dwell times demonstrate your content keeps searchers interested and meets their intent for the query.
Check your average dwell time in Google Analytics. Article-style content should keep visitors on-site for over 60 seconds. For informational sites, benchmark against an average dwell time of 90-150+ seconds. Increase content quality, depth and engagement to improve dwell time.
Mobile Performance
With over 60% of searches now happening on mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly site is no longer enough. Your site should provide an excellent user experience specific to smaller screens by 2024. MPIs like Core Web Vitals and page speed should be tracked for mobile alongside desktop.
SEO company monitor real mobile site speed with tools like PageSpeed Insights and Search Console’s user device report. Key pages and landing pages should load in under 3 seconds on mobile networks.
Voice Search Optimization
Voice search usage has grown exponentially in recent years. By some estimates, 50% of searches will be voice searches by 2024. This makes optimising content for spoken queries essential.
Review question words, long-tail natural language queries and featured snippets opportunities. Ensure your pages can answer conversational style questions out loud. Measure voice search clicks in Search Console.
Rankings and Visibility
While metrics provide crucial insights into the user experience, monitoring search engine rankings is still important to track visibility for key terms. Use tools like Advanced Web Rankings, SEMrush, Ahrefs or Search Console to track top rankings and visibility in SERPs. Are you gaining ground for competitive terms? Have major updates impacted rankings? Is brand search visibility where it should be?
Set monthly and quarterly goals for ranking improvements and organic traffic growth. For longevity, prioritise quality over quantity – rankings will stick better if the user experience is outstanding end-to-end.
Backlink Profile Analysis
Google has confirmed the backlink profile remains one of the top three ranking factors. Assessing the quality and quantity of the external sites linking to your content provides valuable context on areas of opportunity.
Use Ahrefs, SEMrush, Majestic or Search Console to audit your domain and page-level backlink profile. Review topical relevance of referring domains, contextual link anchor text, domain authority and quantity/growth over time.
Set goals around diversifying backlink sources, increasing placements on highly relevant sites and earning links from high-authority domains related to your content topics.
Organic Traffic and Conversions
While rankings represent potential of best SEO services, organic traffic and conversion metrics show actual performance and business impact. Monitor monthly and year-over-year trends for total organic sessions, new users from organic search, pages per session, average time on page, landing page conversion rate and goal completions (e.g. email sign-ups, purchases etc.).
Competitor Benchmarking
Keeping an eye on the competition is critical for goal-setting. Which SERP features are rivals earning? How do your rankings, backlinks and traffic compare? Conduct quarterly audits of key competitors using data from Ahrefs, SEMrush, Search Console and Alexa. Uncover gaps where they outperform your technical SEO, content and links.
Set goals to close these gaps and exceed their performance. With benchmarking context, you can realistically stretch your targets while ensuring they remain competitive and achievable in 2024.
Conclusion
Tracking metrics like Core Web Vitals scores, click-through rate, bounce rate, dwell time and mobile performance provides the insights needed to continually refine SEO efforts in 2024. SEO agency UAE setting benchmarks against industry standards allows you to evaluate successes and uncover areas for improvement. With the right KPIs guiding your strategy, your website and content can better meet searcher intent and gain visibility in organic search.