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The framework
Metric trees
The problem
FAQ
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Free SEO Metrics Selector Build an altitude scorecard, an SEO metric tree, and a measurement report your stakeholders will trust.
Most SEO reports track what is easy to export, not what the reader is measured on. Answer five short questions and this tool picks the 3 to 5 SEO metrics that connect your work to the business, writes their GA4 and Search Console definitions, draws your metric tree, and audits the report you send today. Then download it as a ready-to-use SEO measurement plan.
Built on the altitude map frameworkWorks for SaaS, ecommerce, lead gen, publishers, localCSV and printable report
Build your SEO scorecard
About 3 minutes. Nothing leaves your browser.
Where do you sit?
A content hub owner and a head of SEO should not share a scorecard. Start by placing yourself.
How you would say it in a meeting.
Your metrics must connect to their scorecard.
What is your boss measured on?
Pick up to three. These are the numbers your work has to move, so a short list keeps you focused.
Who do you serve, and what is their pain?
Good metrics come from a clear user problem. Write it the way a user would say it, not the way a roadmap would.
My area helps
who struggle to
so they end up .
A rough estimate is fine. Refine it with GA4 later.
What proves you solved it?
Pick 2 to 5 actions. The first one you tick becomes your core action and anchors the scorecard.
Sets the rhythm of your retention metric.
Becomes your business impact metric.
How you will slice the numbers (1 to 3)
Unsegmented organic data hides almost everything useful.
What does your SEO report show today?
Tick every metric in your current report or dashboard. The tool sorts them into what to keep, what to demote, and what to park.
Does the report lead with one headline number?
For example, "organic traffic up 12%" as the whole story.
0metric health
Your altitude map
Read top down. Your numbers only matter if they connect to the level above.
What to fix first
Your altitude scorecard
Report and set goals on these. Open any metric for the exact build steps in GA4 and Search Console.
Your SEO metric tree
Your boss's metric at the root, your scorecard in the middle, search drivers underneath. Drivers explain movement; they are never goals.
Component: the parent is calculated from its childrenInfluence: correlated, not guaranteed. Test before you promise it
Where your current metrics belong
Nothing here is deleted from your data. It is moved to the level where it helps rather than distracts.
What is an altitude scorecard?
- Altitude scorecard
- The 3 to 5 metrics that describe the health of the part of the business you own (your altitude) and connect it to the metrics of the person one level above you.
The idea comes from the altitude map framework developed by Crystal Widjaja, former first data hire at Gojek, and taught in Reforge's Data for Product Managers program. It was built to move teams away from "data theater", where dashboards look impressive but drive no decisions. Read the originals: Reforge's guide to identifying key product metrics with an altitude scorecard and the Altitude Map framework by Crystal Widjaja.
The framework was written for product managers. This tool applies it to SEO and digital analytics, where the same failure is everywhere: reporting rankings and sessions to a boss who is measured on pipeline or revenue.
Map the altitudes
Place your area in the organisation: company, your manager's area, then yours. For SEO that might be company, marketing, organic search, then a content hub.
Borrow your boss's metrics
Pick up to three outcomes your manager is measured on, across acquisition, retention and monetization. Your work has to move these.
Describe your area in words
Who you serve, the pain they have, and the 2 to 5 actions that prove you solved it. This is the step that keeps every later number honest.
Build the scorecard
Adoption (are we reaching them?), retention (are we solving it, at the rhythm the problem recurs?), a user value proxy, monetization if you sit close to revenue, and one business impact metric borrowed from your boss.
The one-year test. If only your 3 to 5 scorecard metrics went up over the next year, could you honestly say your area succeeded? If not, a metric is missing or one of them is a vanity metric in disguise.
How this relates to metric trees (and credit to Mixpanel)
A metric tree is a hierarchy that shows how smaller metrics feed bigger ones, from inputs such as clicks and conversion rate up to a North Star at the root. Mixpanel's complete guide to metric trees is the clearest introduction we know of, and its comparison of North Star maps and algebraic KPI trees is worth reading too. The component and influence links in the tree this tool draws follow the distinction Mixpanel describes.
A metric tree tells you how metrics connect. An altitude scorecard tells you which branch is yours and which 3 to 5 numbers to report. They solve different problems, so we use both: the scorecard first, then a tree drawn around it.
| Mixpanel Metric Trees | This tool | |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | A live, collaborative map of company metrics, fed by product data | Decide which SEO metrics you should own and report, before you build any dashboard |
| Starts from | A North Star at the root | Your boss's scorecard one level up, plus the user's problem |
| Your branch | Recommends assigning an owner to each metric | Derives your branch from your altitude, so you do not claim numbers you cannot move |
| Size | Grows as deep as the business needs | Capped at 3 to 5 headline metrics; everything else is a driver |
| Vanity metrics | Advice on spotting them | Audits the report you send today and parks them by name |
| SEO specifics | General product and marketing analytics | Non-branded filtering, Search Console and GA4 build steps, AI-referred segments |
| Live data | Yes, connected to your Mixpanel project | No. A planning tool; export the plan into your dashboard |
| Cost | Paid add-on on Mixpanel's Enterprise plan | Free, no signup |
Use them together. Plan with this tool, then monitor the tree live in Mixpanel, Looker Studio or your BI tool. The CSV's metric tree section gives you the parent and child links to rebuild it anywhere.
Where a metric tree alone falls short for SEO
One root, one blind spot
Trees are built down from a single North Star. Everything is judged by that one number, and what it misses, such as audience quality or churn, fades from view.
Connections, not ownership
A tree shows organic revenue depends on sessions and conversion rate. It does not say which branch a content hub owner can claim.
No size limit
Trees can reach hundreds of nodes. Nothing forces the 3 to 5 metric discipline a monthly review needs.
Vanity hides in the leaves
Put Domain Rating at the bottom of a tree and it looks legitimate because it has a line to the top. That line is an untested assumption.
Value captured, not delivered
Many trees are rooted in revenue, which shows the business captured value, not that users received it. The scorecard keeps a separate user value metric.
Why analysts struggle to pick the right SEO metrics
Stakeholders ask for "a dashboard", but when you ask which number would tell them they are winning, there is rarely an answer. The analyst fills the gap with default exports: sessions, rankings, impressions, Domain Rating. The dashboard looks busy, nobody uses it, and the SEO budget becomes hard to defend. AI search makes it worse, because clicks are shrinking on many queries and traffic alone tells an even thinner story.
The single-number trap
"Organic traffic is up 15%." Traffic can rise while the target audience shrinks, conversions fall, or growth comes only from branded searches you did not create.
Vanity metrics
Keywords ranking, Domain Rating, pageviews. They trend upward and look good, but none tells you what to do next.
Solution-level metrics
Links built, CWV pass rate, articles published. They measure output, not results, and belong in a review of the tactic.
The wrong altitude
A hub owner reporting sitewide organic revenue. The number is real, but it moves for reasons outside the hub, and a sharp manager will ask what else changed.
SEO metrics questions, answered
What is an altitude scorecard?
An altitude scorecard is the 3 to 5 metrics that describe the health of the area you own and connect it to your manager's goals. It comes from the altitude map framework by Crystal Widjaja, taught by Reforge. Typical categories are adoption, retention, a user value proxy, monetization where relevant, and one business impact metric borrowed from your manager's scorecard.
What SEO metrics should I report to stakeholders?
Report 3 to 5 metrics tied to your manager's goals: non-branded organic users in your target audience who take a first valuable action, how many repeat that action at the natural frequency of their problem, a user value proxy, monetization if you are close to revenue, and your contribution to one of your manager's outcomes. Keep impressions, CTR and rankings as diagnostic drivers.
What is a metric tree in SEO?
An SEO metric tree shows how search inputs such as impressions, click-through rate and rankings feed outcomes such as organic signups or revenue. It explains why a top-level number moved. On its own it does not say which branch you own or cap the number of metrics, so pair it with an altitude scorecard.
Is organic traffic a vanity metric?
Unsegmented total organic traffic usually is, because it mixes branded demand, wrong-market visits and your real audience. Non-branded organic users in your target segment who take a meaningful action is not. For a publisher selling ads, engaged readers can be a genuine business metric.
How do I measure SEO when AI Overviews reduce clicks?
Treat AI citations and visibility scores as drivers, add an "AI-referred vs classic organic" segment, and follow those users into the same core actions as everyone else. If AI-referred users convert at a healthy rate, the channel is working even with fewer clicks.
What is in the downloadable SEO report?
The CSV opens in Excel or Google Sheets as a full measurement plan: an executive summary, a KPI dictionary with numerators, denominators, GA4 and Search Console build steps, owners and blank baseline and target columns, a 12-month tracker, the metric tree as parent and child links, your report audit, and health checks. The printable version saves as a PDF.
From the right metrics to a funded plan
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