Link Building KPIs That Actually Matter

Stop Counting Links. Start Measuring Impact.

"We built 47 links this month!"

Great. But did your rankings improve? Did traffic grow? Did revenue increase?

If not, those 47 links didn't do their job.

Tier 1: Business Impact

Organic traffic growth (the ultimate measure)

Keyword ranking improvements

Revenue from organic channel

Organic conversion rate

Tier 2: Link Quality

Average DA of new links

Percentage of followed links

Anchor text distribution

Tier 3: Process Efficiency

Cost per link

Outreach response rate

Link placement rate

Time from outreach to placement

Total number of links (without quality context)

Domain authority of YOUR site (lagging indicator, not actionable)

Number of outreach emails sent (activity, not results)

Based on 500+ campaigns, reasonable monthly targets for mid-sized companies:

8-15 quality links (DA 30+, relevant)

Average DA of new links: 35+

Cost per link: $200-500 (including all labor and tools)

Review process KPIs weekly.

Review quality KPIs monthly.

Review business impact KPIs quarterly. Our guide on link building reporting shows you how to present these to leadership. Moz's beginner's guide to link building also covers KPI frameworks worth reviewing.

Track all of it alongside 113 SEO tasks at SEO Playbook. Free. 30 seconds.

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