Analytics & Reporting glossaryAnalytics & Reporting, word by word.
Learn SEO analytics and reporting terms for measuring success. Understand key metrics to track progress, demonstrate ROI, and optimize your strategy.
Every analytics & reporting term, A to Z.
Fourteen terms, each defined in a sentence or two. Tap a letter to jump to it, or type to find a term.
- Attribution
The process of assigning credit to different marketing channels and touchpoints that lead to a conversion.
See also Conversions
- Average Session Duration
The average length of time users spend on your website per session. Longer durations typically indicate more engaged visitors.
See also Dwell Time
- Bounce Rate
The percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page. High bounce rates may indicate content doesn’t match user intent.
See also Dwell Time
- Conversion Rate
The percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action like making a purchase, filling out a form, or signing up for a newsletter.
- Dwell Time
The amount of time a user spends on a page before returning to the search results. Longer dwell times signal content satisfaction.
See also Bounce Rate
- Goal Completions
The number of times visitors complete a specific objective you’ve defined, like form submissions, purchases, or newsletter signups.
See also Conversions
- Organic Traffic
Visitors who come to your website through unpaid search engine results. The primary metric for measuring SEO success.
See also SEO·Conversions
- SEO ROI
Return on investment for SEO activities, calculated by comparing the revenue generated from organic traffic against SEO costs.
See also Conversions
- Sessions
A group of user interactions with your website that take place within a given time frame. A single session can contain multiple page views.
See also Users·Page Views
- UsersUnique Visitors
The number of distinct individuals who visit your website during a specific time period, regardless of how many times they visit.
See also Sessions
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Analytics & Reporting, in context.
Overview
Analytics and reporting is where SEO either earns its budget or quietly loses it. The terms in this glossary—organic traffic, dwell time, conversion rate, attribution, share of voice, SEO ROI—are the vocabulary you need to read your own data accurately and to push back on agencies, in-house teams, or executives who default to vanity metrics. Master these definitions and most marketing reporting becomes legible at a glance.
Why it matters
Most underperforming SEO programs aren’t failing on execution—they’re failing on measurement. Teams optimize for impressions when revenue is what matters, celebrate keyword ranking gains that don’t convert, or attribute every conversion to last-click and underinvest in the upper-funnel content that actually drives demand. Knowing what each of these metrics measures (and what it does not) is the difference between a marketing program that compounds and one that gets cut at the next budget review.
How to use it
Start with the foundational metrics—organic traffic, sessions, users, conversion rate, and goal completions—then layer in attribution, dwell time, and SEO ROI as your reporting matures. Cross-reference unfamiliar terms with our SEO glossary and FAQ pages, and talk to our team when you are ready to operationalize an analytics stack that connects organic traffic to booked revenue.
Analytics & Reporting questions, answered.
Quick answers drawn from the terms above. For more, read the analytics & tracking questions.
What does “Bounce Rate” mean in analytics & reporting?
The percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page. High bounce rates may indicate content doesn’t match user intent.
What does “Conversion Rate” mean in analytics & reporting?
The percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action like making a purchase, filling out a form, or signing up for a newsletter.
What does “Goal Completions” mean in analytics & reporting?
The number of times visitors complete a specific objective you’ve defined, like form submissions, purchases, or newsletter signups.
What does “Sessions” mean in analytics & reporting?
A group of user interactions with your website that take place within a given time frame. A single session can contain multiple page views.
What does “Share of Voice” mean in analytics & reporting?
A measure of your brand’s visibility compared to competitors, often calculated as the percentage of organic traffic for a set of keywords.
The rest of the glossary.
Twelve sections, each a page of terms in plain English. Keep turning, or open the whole glossary.
Goes with these terms.
Put the words into practice.
Now that you understand the terminology, let’s put it into practice. Our team can help you implement a comprehensive SEO strategy.