In the pseudo-static analysis of gravity retaining walls an equivalent seismic coefficient kh,eq is introduced to schematize the overall effect of the transient seismic actions. In the paper a rational procedure for the selection of kh,eq is proposed for walls characterised by a sliding failure mechanism. The procedure is derived using performance criteria and is based on an equivalence between the force-balance pseudo-static approach and the displacement-based analysis. The evaluation of keq requires a displacement regression model and the computation of the wall yield acceleration coefficient kh,c. A simplified displacement regression model is described in the paper. Moreover, a closed-form solution for kh,c is also provided together with solutions giving the active earth-pressure coefficient and the corresponding critical wedge angle in presence of particu-lar surcharge conditions.