Realistic SEO goals prioritize measurable business outcomes, achievable benchmarks, and data-driven objectives. Learn how to create SMART SEO goals that align with your business from the experts.

Search engine optimization (SEO) can feel unpredictable.

Algorithms change, rankings fluctuate, and results can take time — especially amid the rise of AI-powered search experiences.

All of these factors can make it feel like you’re guessing your way through your marketing strategy.

But successful SEO is possible by setting clear, realistic goals that align with your business objectives, whether that’s increasing sales or generating qualified leads.

We tapped HawkSEM SEO expert Leila Giles to walk us through how to set realistic, effective goals to guide your SEO success.

What are SEO goals?

SEO goals are specific objectives and targets set by businesses to accomplish over a set duration. The goals should contribute to business outcomes by improving the website’s visibility and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Why SEO goals are important

To achieve the best results with your SEO strategy, you need to set goals before you begin implementing.

If you’re not focused on achievable SEO goals that’ll move your business forward, you risk using tactics that won’t lead to desired outcomes.

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(Image: Adobe)

How to set realistic SEO goals

SEO goal-setting helps you build a strategy that’s measurable, achievable, and aligned with your business objectives. Here’s how to set realistic SEO goals you can actually achieve:

1. Consider overarching business goals

Before building an SEO strategy, make sure your SEO objectives align with your larger business goals.

“Meaningful and achievable SEO goals must start with the business’s goals — otherwise, meeting your goals won’t actually help the business,” says Giles.

Vague goals like “increase sales” or “grow the business” leave too much room for interpretation, causing team members to bump heads. Instead, pinpoint exactly what you’re aiming for.

Are you looking to boost online sales by 20% in the next quarter? Or perhaps you aim to increase leads for a particular service by 30% within six months? Whatever it is, write it down and share it with all stakeholders.

2. Evaluate your current SEO performance

Before setting goals, assess where your SEO performance currently stands. An SEO audit can help you identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities so you can create realistic benchmarks.

Using a tool like Semrush or Ahrefs can help you analyze your website for SEO errors and areas for improvement.

Review factors like:

  • Current keyword rankings
  • Organic traffic trends
  • Technical SEO issues
  • Existing backlinks
  • Conversion performance
  • Competitor visibility

These insights should serve as a roadmap for setting realistic SEO goals and prioritizing opportunities for improvement.

Further reading: SEO Audit: A Step-by-Step Guide + Free Checklist

3. Identify your SMART goals

The SMART goal model is an ideal way to set goals that lead to results.

Each SEO goal you set should be:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Achievable
  • Relevant
  • Time-bound

So, an example of a SMART SEO goal would be to increase organic demo requests by 20% within six months by improving rankings for bottom-funnel service keywords.

This goal is specific (demo requests), measurable (20%), achievable (depending on resources), relevant (supports lead generation), and time-bound (six months).

4. Define primary and supporting SEO KPIs

“Once you understand a business’s goals, SEO goals can be developed by identifying relevant SEO strategies to apply,” says Giles. “Match relevant metrics to those strategies to create a tangible improvement goal.”

This ensures your SEO strategy contributes to tangible business growth instead of vanity metrics.

For example, if your goal is to increase revenue for an ecommerce business, your KPIs may include:

  • Organic conversions
  • Revenue from organic search traffic
  • Product page rankings
  • Organic click-through rate (CTR)

If your goal is to generate more leads, relevant KPIs could include:

  • Organic form submissions
  • Demo requests
  • Phone calls from organic traffic
  • Landing page conversions

“Conversions (like requesting a demo or making a purchase) matter the most,” says Giles.

Supporting SEO metrics

Some metrics may not immediately result in more revenue but ultimately contribute to your larger goal of SEO.

“Pay attention to organic new users and organic engaged users. When these start to increase, it’s often a [precursor] to increased conversions,” says Giles.

“While these users are not necessarily customers, their experience with the organization or brand leads to further engagement (and conversions) down the road.”

Supporting metrics that might be worth tracking include:

  • Organic traffic growth
  • Keyword rankings
  • Backlink acquisition
  • Bounce rate
  • Time on page
  • Indexed pages

5. Set realistic SEO timelines and benchmarks

SEO goals can be long-term, short-term, or a mix of both. For each specific goal, define the timeline for results. “It’s good to set shorter-term (3-6-month) goals as well as one-year goals,” says Giles.

While some SEO improvements can produce results relatively quickly, others take more time.

For example, improving title tags and meta descriptions may increase click-through rates within a few weeks, while ranking for highly competitive target keywords or ambitious link-building efforts could take months or even years.

Use your SEO audit findings to estimate realistic timelines based on factors such as:

  • Your website’s current domain authority
  • The competitiveness of your industry
  • Available resources and budget
  • The size of your website
  • Existing technical SEO issues
SEO issues

(Image: Adobe)

6. Monitor, measure, and adjust

Rankings, algorithms, and business priorities evolve — so your strategy should be able to evolve too.
To do this, regularly monitor your KPIs and adjust your tactics.

“Long-term conversion tracking allows you to see SEO’s influence on your business,” says Giles.
To track your SEO efforts:

  • Use analytics tools like Semrush, Google Search Console, and Google Analytics to monitor rankings, traffic, and conversions
  • Establish a regular reporting schedule
  • Refine goals based on performance data

Examples of SEO goals

The right SEO goals will depend on your business model, industry, and overall digital marketing objectives.
Below are several examples of realistic SEO goals businesses commonly set to improve organic search performance and drive growth.

1. Increase ecommerce conversions

Boost ecommerce conversion rates by 15% within the next quarter by optimizing product descriptions, improving internal linking, and streamlining the checkout experience.

2. Grow organic website traffic

Increase organic website traffic by 50% over the next 12 months through consistent content creation, keyword targeting, and quality backlink acquisition.

3. Improve keyword rankings

Increase rankings for 10 high-intent service keywords into the top three Google search results within six months through on-page optimization and content marketing efforts.

4. Increase organic leads

Generate 25% more organic demo requests within six months by optimizing landing pages and targeting bottom-funnel search terms.

5. Improve technical SEO performance

Resolve all critical technical SEO errors identified in a site audit within the next two months to improve crawlability and indexation.

6. Reduce bounce rate

Decrease homepage bounce rate by 10% within six months by improving page speed, aligning content with search intent, and enhancing user experience.

These SEO goals are effective because they include:

  • Timeframes for results and for the action steps
  • Specific metrics
  • Well-defined action steps
  • Realistic timelines
  • An alignment with broader business goals

The takeaway

Well-researched, data-driven SEO goals are your roadmap for improving your search rankings and raising the overall profitability of your business — and you need to continually dial them in over time.

Crafting strong SEO goals requires a lot of research, time, and effort. If you’re looking to take the fast track to improve your SEO, consider partnering with a team of experts.

At HawkSEM, we helped Caring Places Management increase its organic traffic by 85% using data-driven goals and a performance-oriented strategy to sculpt its SEO campaign.

We love developing goals and strategies that boost our clients’ rankings, conversion rates, and ROI. We build personalized strategies that drive powerful results for each business we collaborate with.

If you’re looking for a strategic partner who can help you take your SEO to the next level, reach out to HawkSEM SEO experts for a free consultation.

This article has been updated and was originally published in August 2024.

Chris Collins

Chris Collins

Chris Collins works with growing B2B companies like SwipeGuide, Smart Panda Labs, Meadow, and Canonical to nail their positioning and messaging so they can stand out from the competition and scale faster. He brings a strategist's mindset to copywriting, leveraging customer research and consumer psychology to craft messaging that gets results. An obsessive reader and reluctant runner, Chris is based in Charlottesville, Virginia.