How to tell if your SEO is actually working

SEO is where agencies hide. "Rankings are up!" sounds great and means almost nothing if the right people aren't arriving and turning into customers. Here's how to judge your search investment honestly — and the five signals I'd actually look at.

1. Non-brand organic traffic

Branded searches — people Googling your company name — would find you anyway. The real test of SEO is whether it brings in people who didn't already know you. In Google Search Console, separate branded from non-brand queries and watch the non-brand clicks. That's SEO reaching new audiences.

2. Rankings for terms that convert

A #1 spot for a term nobody searches — or nobody buys from — is a vanity trophy. Track a short list of commercial-intent keywords: the phrases a ready-to-buy customer actually types. Movement there matters far more than a hundred rankings for terms that never lead anywhere.

3. Clicks, not just impressions

Impressions climbing while clicks stay flat usually means one of two things: you're showing up for the wrong searches, or your titles and descriptions aren't compelling enough to earn the click. Watch your click-through rate in Search Console — it's where a lot of quiet wins live.

4. Leads and revenue from organic

This is the one that pays the bills. Tag your organic traffic in analytics and follow it all the way through to enquiries and sales. If rankings are climbing but leads from organic aren't, something is off — and it's worth asking why before you spend another month on it.

5. An honest timeline

SEO is a 6–12 month game for most businesses. Anyone promising page one in 30 days is either gaming something that won't last or simply telling you what you want to hear. Steady, compounding progress is the goal — not overnight miracles.

Ask your agency to show you non-brand traffic, conversions from organic, and movement on commercial keywords. If they can't, you're paying for activity, not results.

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