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In order to determine whether an SEO campaign is working and how to improve it, every SEO vendor should use an analytics platform. Aside from the basic metrics such as uniques, visits, page views, time on site, bounce rate, and so on, there are a few others that offer a more-detailed and valuable analysis of how an SEO campaign is working.

Here are five important metrics every SEO vendor should be sure to track:

1. Ranking

An SEO vendor should definitely check the ranking of the targeted keywords. Since SEO work is sometimes a game of trial-and-error as to what will work best, the ability to see positive movements in ranking is one of the few markers that his or her work is having an impact. The SEO vendor can evaluate trends, and also catch any backward slide in the rankings as well.

Be sure to break down the keyword metrics for Google, Yahoo! and Bing.

2. Organic Traffic per Keyword and Organic Traffic Conversions

Even if the SEO vendor’s efforts are bringing in more traffic, if the number of conversions isn’t improving alongside it, the vendor may be going after the wrong keywords. This metric will catch that, as well as be a red flag in case the problem lies with the site not converting properly.

3. Organic Traffic Conversion Rate

The organic traffic conversion rate will show if organic traffic is converting at a comparable rate to the traffic coming in from other methods. If particular keywords are converting at a high rate, the SEO vendor can target that keyword and make sure it ranks highly in all the search engines.

4. Revenue from Organic Search

Businesses almost always hire SEO vendors to create more revenue. With this metric, an SEO vendor can calculate ROI and see which keywords are bringing in the most profit.

5. Number of Inbound Links and Information About Those Links

Though it can be nearly impossible to determine whether links themselves made the difference if other changes are made to the site, an SEO vendor can still get a general idea that ‘x’ number of links moved the sit up this many spots in the rankings.

Many SEO vendors also track competitors’ keywords to find possible sites to obtain links from. They also keep track of how many links have a certain anchor text.

These metrics can be tracked with Google Analytics, Omniture and a variety of other sources. Some SEO vendors even use two analytics platforms and compare the data. These metrics should be checked weekly, if not daily. And, of course, every SEO vendor should benchmark their efforts before starting an SEO campaign.

Though these five metrics are by no means exhaustive, they offer an SEO vendor an excellent overall picture of how well (or poorly) an SEO campaign is performing. Tracking these metrics can prove the value of SEO efforts and allow the SEO vendor to report on positive SEO achievements. When the analytics show a growth in traffic, conversion rates and revenue, it is impossible to deny that an SEO campaign is working. As almost every SEO vendor can attest to, SEO can often be a numbers game.