Complete Guide to Performance Analytics Dashboard

The Performance Analytics dashboard helps you track your SEO progress over time with visual charts and detailed metrics.

**Note**: Analytics features are available on Pro and Business plans.

Accessing Analytics

Navigate to **Analytics** in the sidebar

Select your website

Choose your time range (4, 12, or 26 weeks)

Dashboard Overview

The analytics dashboard provides:

Four key metric cards

Interactive performance charts

Week-over-week comparisons

Suggestion impact correlation

Historical trend analysis

Key Metric Cards

Total Clicks

**What it shows**: Cumulative clicks from search over the selected period.

**Week-over-week indicator**:

✅ Green arrow up: Growing traffic

⬆️ Red arrow down: Declining traffic

➖ No change: Stable traffic

**This week's value**: Current week's click count for quick reference.

**How to improve**:

Optimize title tags for better CTR

Target striking distance keywords

Improve content quality

Build more internal links

Total Impressions

**What it shows**: How many times your site appeared in search results.

**Indicators**:

Growing = expanding keyword portfolio

Declining = losing visibility or rankings

Stable = maintaining current footprint

**Relationship to clicks**:

High impressions, low clicks = CTR problem

Growing impressions, stable clicks = CTR declining

Both growing proportionally = healthy growth

**How to improve**:

Target more keywords

Create more content

Optimize existing pages

Build topical authority

Average Position

**What it shows**: Your average ranking across all keywords you appear for.

**Remember**: Lower is better!

1-5: Excellent average

5-10: Good average

10-20: Room for improvement

20+: Needs significant work

**Inverted indicator**:

✅ Green arrow **down**: Rankings improving (moving up in search)

⬆️ Red arrow **up**: Rankings declining (moving down in search)

**Why it changes**:

Implemented SEO improvements

New keywords added (initially rank poorly)

Algorithm updates

Competitor activity

**How to improve**:

Focus on striking distance keywords

Implement high-impact suggestions

Build quality backlinks

Improve content depth

Average CTR

**What it shows**: Overall click-through rate across all keywords.

**Formula**: (Total Clicks ÷ Total Impressions) × 100

**Benchmark ranges**:

5-10%: Good overall CTR

3-5%: Average, room for improvement

1-3%: Needs optimization

<1%: Significant CTR issues

**Factors affecting CTR**:

Average ranking position

Title tag quality

Meta description appeal

SERP features present

Brand recognition

**How to improve**:

Write compelling titles

Create engaging meta descriptions

Use power words and numbers

Match search intent

Include calls-to-action

Performance Charts

Clicks Over Time

**What to look for**:

**Upward trend**: Successful SEO efforts

**Seasonal patterns**: Natural fluctuations

**Spikes**: Viral content or events

**Drops**: Investigate causes

**Annotations**: Green dots show when you implemented suggestions, helping correlate changes with results.

**Action items**:

Identify what's working

Replicate successful content

Address declining pages

Plan future content

Impressions Over Time

**What to look for**:

**Growing**: Expanding keyword coverage

**Stable**: Maintaining visibility

**Declining**: Losing ground to competitors

**Compare with clicks**:

Both growing: Healthy expansion

Impressions up, clicks flat: CTR declining

Both declining: Serious issues to address

**Action items**:

Target new keywords

Expand content topics

Build topical clusters

Refresh old content

Position Trend

**What to look for**:

**Trending down (better)**: Rankings improving

**Trending up (worse)**: Rankings declining

**Volatility**: Algorithm updates or instability

**Plateau**: Reaching natural ceiling

**Remember**: This is an average, so individual keywords may vary significantly.

**Action items**:

Focus on striking distance keywords

Update underperforming content

Build authority signals

Monitor competitor changes

CTR Trend

**What to look for**:

**Improving CTR**: Better titles/descriptions working

**Declining CTR**: Need optimization

**Seasonal drops**: Holiday or event-based

**Stable**: Maintaining performance

**Relationship to position**:

CTR should correlate with position

If position improves but CTR doesn't: Title/description issue

If CTR improves without position change: Better copywriting

**Action items**:

A/B test titles (update and measure)

Improve meta descriptions

Analyze high-CTR patterns

Address low-CTR pages

Time Range Selection

4 Weeks (1 Month)

**Use for**:

Immediate impact tracking

Recent change analysis

Quick performance checks

Testing new strategies

**Limitations**: May miss seasonal patterns

12 Weeks (3 Months)

**Use for**:

Quarterly reviews

Trend identification

Strategy effectiveness

Business reporting

**Sweet spot**: Balance between detail and context

26 Weeks (6 Months)

**Use for**:

Long-term trends

Seasonal pattern analysis

Strategy validation

Annual planning

**Best for**: Established websites with history

All Time

**Use for**:

Complete historical view

Major milestone tracking

Long-term ROI analysis

Lifetime value calculation

**Note**: Only available on Business plan with 24+ months of history

Suggestion Impact Correlation

Completed Suggestions Count

Shows how many SEO improvements you've implemented over the selected period.

**Insights**:

More implementations = more potential impact

Regular implementation = consistent results

Sporadic implementation = unpredictable outcomes

Success Rate

Percentage of implemented suggestions that showed measurable improvement.

**Benchmarks**:

60-80%: Excellent success rate

40-60%: Good success rate

20-40%: Some impact, room to improve

<20%: May need to reassess approach

**Factors affecting success**:

Quality of implementation

Time since implementation

Competition level

Site authority

Recent Improvements

List of specific suggestions that led to measurable gains:

What changed

Which page improved

Metric improvements (position, CTR, etc.)

**Use this to**:

Identify what's working

Prioritize similar suggestions

Learn from successes

Report on ROI

Reading the Data

Scenario 1: Growing Everything ✅

Clicks up

Impressions up

Position improving (down)

CTR stable or improving

**Interpretation**: Your SEO strategy is working. Keep doing what you're doing!

**Actions**: Double down on successful tactics, expand to more keywords.

Scenario 2: Impressions Up, Clicks Flat ⚠️

Impressions growing

Clicks not keeping pace

CTR declining

**Interpretation**: You're appearing more but not earning clicks.

**Actions**: Optimize titles and meta descriptions, improve CTR for high-impression keywords.

Scenario 3: Position Improving, Traffic Flat 🤔

Average position improving

Clicks stable or declining

**Interpretation**: You're ranking better for lower-volume keywords, or losing traffic from high-volume terms.

**Actions**: Analyze which keywords improved/declined, focus on high-volume terms.

Scenario 4: Everything Declining 🚩

Clicks down

Impressions down

Position worsening

**Interpretation**: Serious issues need immediate attention.

**Actions**: Check for technical problems, algorithm updates, competitor surges, or site changes.

Advanced Analytics Use

Segment Analysis

Filter data by:

Page type (blog, product, etc.)

Topic category

Creation date

Traffic source

Cohort Tracking

Track performance of:

Content created in specific months

Pages targeting similar keywords

Suggestions implemented together

Different content formats

Predictive Analysis

Use historical patterns to:

Forecast future traffic

Set realistic goals

Plan resource allocation

Identify optimal times for launches

Best Practices

✅ **Check weekly**: Stay on top of changes

✅ **Look for patterns**: Not individual fluctuations

✅ **Compare time periods**: Week-over-week, month-over-month

✅ **Correlate with actions**: Link changes to implementations

✅ **Set benchmarks**: Know your baseline and goals

❌ **Don't panic** over short-term drops

❌ **Don't ignore** sustained negative trends

❌ **Don't overlook** small consistent improvements

❌ **Don't compare** different time periods without context

Exporting Data

**Business plan feature**: Export analytics data for:

Custom reporting

Executive dashboards

Client presentations

Deeper analysis in other tools

Next Steps

[Tracking SEO Progress](/help/articles/tracking-seo-progress) - Long-term strategy

[Understanding GSC Metrics](/help/articles/understanding-gsc-metrics) - Data deep dive

[Position and CTR Trends](/help/articles/position-ctr-trends) - Specific metric analysis

The Performance Analytics dashboard helps you track your SEO progress over time with visual charts and detailed metrics.

**Note**: Analytics features are available on Pro and Business plans.

Accessing Analytics

Navigate to **Analytics** in the sidebar

Select your website

Choose your time range (4, 12, or 26 weeks)

Dashboard Overview

The analytics dashboard provides:

Four key metric cards

Interactive performance charts

Week-over-week comparisons

Suggestion impact correlation

Historical trend analysis

Key Metric Cards

Total Clicks

**What it shows**: Cumulative clicks from search over the selected period.

**Week-over-week indicator**:

✅ Green arrow up: Growing traffic

⬆️ Red arrow down: Declining traffic

➖ No change: Stable traffic

**This week's value**: Current week's click count for quick reference.

**How to improve**:

Optimize title tags for better CTR

Target striking distance keywords

Improve content quality

Build more internal links

Total Impressions

**What it shows**: How many times your site appeared in search results.

**Indicators**:

Growing = expanding keyword portfolio

Declining = losing visibility or rankings

Stable = maintaining current footprint

**Relationship to clicks**:

High impressions, low clicks = CTR problem

Growing impressions, stable clicks = CTR declining

Both growing proportionally = healthy growth

**How to improve**:

Target more keywords

Create more content

Optimize existing pages

Build topical authority

Average Position

**What it shows**: Your average ranking across all keywords you appear for.

**Remember**: Lower is better!

1-5: Excellent average

5-10: Good average

10-20: Room for improvement

20+: Needs significant work

**Inverted indicator**:

✅ Green arrow **down**: Rankings improving (moving up in search)

⬆️ Red arrow **up**: Rankings declining (moving down in search)

**Why it changes**:

Implemented SEO improvements

New keywords added (initially rank poorly)

Algorithm updates

Competitor activity

**How to improve**:

Focus on striking distance keywords

Implement high-impact suggestions

Build quality backlinks

Improve content depth

Average CTR

**What it shows**: Overall click-through rate across all keywords.

**Formula**: (Total Clicks ÷ Total Impressions) × 100

**Benchmark ranges**:

5-10%: Good overall CTR

3-5%: Average, room for improvement

1-3%: Needs optimization

<1%: Significant CTR issues

**Factors affecting CTR**:

Average ranking position

Title tag quality

Meta description appeal

SERP features present

Brand recognition

**How to improve**:

Write compelling titles

Create engaging meta descriptions

Use power words and numbers

Match search intent

Include calls-to-action

Performance Charts

Clicks Over Time

**What to look for**:

**Upward trend**: Successful SEO efforts

**Seasonal patterns**: Natural fluctuations

**Spikes**: Viral content or events

**Drops**: Investigate causes

**Annotations**: Green dots show when you implemented suggestions, helping correlate changes with results.

**Action items**:

Identify what's working

Replicate successful content

Address declining pages

Plan future content

Impressions Over Time

**What to look for**:

**Growing**: Expanding keyword coverage

**Stable**: Maintaining visibility

**Declining**: Losing ground to competitors

**Compare with clicks**:

Both growing: Healthy expansion

Impressions up, clicks flat: CTR declining

Both declining: Serious issues to address

**Action items**:

Target new keywords

Expand content topics

Build topical clusters

Refresh old content

Position Trend

**What to look for**:

**Trending down (better)**: Rankings improving

**Trending up (worse)**: Rankings declining

**Volatility**: Algorithm updates or instability

**Plateau**: Reaching natural ceiling

**Remember**: This is an average, so individual keywords may vary significantly.

**Action items**:

Focus on striking distance keywords

Update underperforming content

Build authority signals

Monitor competitor changes

CTR Trend

**What to look for**:

**Improving CTR**: Better titles/descriptions working

**Declining CTR**: Need optimization

**Seasonal drops**: Holiday or event-based

**Stable**: Maintaining performance

**Relationship to position**:

CTR should correlate with position

If position improves but CTR doesn't: Title/description issue

If CTR improves without position change: Better copywriting

**Action items**:

A/B test titles (update and measure)

Improve meta descriptions

Analyze high-CTR patterns

Address low-CTR pages

Time Range Selection

4 Weeks (1 Month)

**Use for**:

Immediate impact tracking

Recent change analysis

Quick performance checks

Testing new strategies

**Limitations**: May miss seasonal patterns

12 Weeks (3 Months)

**Use for**:

Quarterly reviews

Trend identification

Strategy effectiveness

Business reporting

**Sweet spot**: Balance between detail and context

26 Weeks (6 Months)

**Use for**:

Long-term trends

Seasonal pattern analysis

Strategy validation

Annual planning

**Best for**: Established websites with history

All Time

**Use for**:

Complete historical view

Major milestone tracking

Long-term ROI analysis

Lifetime value calculation

**Note**: Only available on Business plan with 24+ months of history

Suggestion Impact Correlation

Completed Suggestions Count

Shows how many SEO improvements you've implemented over the selected period.

**Insights**:

More implementations = more potential impact

Regular implementation = consistent results

Sporadic implementation = unpredictable outcomes

Success Rate

Percentage of implemented suggestions that showed measurable improvement.

**Benchmarks**:

60-80%: Excellent success rate

40-60%: Good success rate

20-40%: Some impact, room to improve

<20%: May need to reassess approach

**Factors affecting success**:

Quality of implementation

Time since implementation

Competition level

Site authority

Recent Improvements

List of specific suggestions that led to measurable gains:

What changed

Which page improved

Metric improvements (position, CTR, etc.)

**Use this to**:

Identify what's working

Prioritize similar suggestions

Learn from successes

Report on ROI

Reading the Data

Scenario 1: Growing Everything ✅

Clicks up

Impressions up

Position improving (down)

CTR stable or improving

**Interpretation**: Your SEO strategy is working. Keep doing what you're doing!

**Actions**: Double down on successful tactics, expand to more keywords.

Scenario 2: Impressions Up, Clicks Flat ⚠️

Impressions growing

Clicks not keeping pace

CTR declining

**Interpretation**: You're appearing more but not earning clicks.

**Actions**: Optimize titles and meta descriptions, improve CTR for high-impression keywords.

Scenario 3: Position Improving, Traffic Flat 🤔

Average position improving

Clicks stable or declining

**Interpretation**: You're ranking better for lower-volume keywords, or losing traffic from high-volume terms.

**Actions**: Analyze which keywords improved/declined, focus on high-volume terms.

Scenario 4: Everything Declining 🚩

Clicks down

Impressions down

Position worsening

**Interpretation**: Serious issues need immediate attention.

**Actions**: Check for technical problems, algorithm updates, competitor surges, or site changes.

Advanced Analytics Use

Segment Analysis

Filter data by:

Page type (blog, product, etc.)

Topic category

Creation date

Traffic source

Cohort Tracking

Track performance of:

Content created in specific months

Pages targeting similar keywords

Suggestions implemented together

Different content formats

Predictive Analysis

Use historical patterns to:

Forecast future traffic

Set realistic goals

Plan resource allocation

Identify optimal times for launches

Best Practices

✅ **Check weekly**: Stay on top of changes

✅ **Look for patterns**: Not individual fluctuations

✅ **Compare time periods**: Week-over-week, month-over-month

✅ **Correlate with actions**: Link changes to implementations

✅ **Set benchmarks**: Know your baseline and goals

❌ **Don't panic** over short-term drops

❌ **Don't ignore** sustained negative trends

❌ **Don't overlook** small consistent improvements

❌ **Don't compare** different time periods without context

Exporting Data

**Business plan feature**: Export analytics data for:

Custom reporting

Executive dashboards

Client presentations

Deeper analysis in other tools

Next Steps

[Tracking SEO Progress](/help/articles/tracking-seo-progress) - Long-term strategy

[Understanding GSC Metrics](/help/articles/understanding-gsc-metrics) - Data deep dive

[Position and CTR Trends](/help/articles/position-ctr-trends) - Specific metric analysis