You already know that keeping track of your website visitors is important. However, not all metrics carry the same weight in terms of importance or even warrant paying attention to.
For example, website conversions might not be as vital if you’re not an online retailer or if your clients generally don’t use a web form to request a lead. However, traffic might be a better determination of how well your digital marketing campaigns are going.
That said, if not all website metrics are important, which ones are vital to pay attention to? Here are a few to really keep an eye on.
Website Visitors
Of course, the most crucial website metric to always consider is the number of visitors you’re getting on a weekly or monthly basis. This should somewhat correlate to your number of leads or sales, which is why it is a significant figure to track.
When keeping track of these numbers, make sure you can easily spot any big changes like a large marketing campaign or even a change in the Google algorithm. If you notice any big upswings that don’t match seasonal needs or simply seem out of place, it is a good idea to investigate the issue thoroughly.
In addition, keeping track of website visitors also gives you insight into how well your overall digital marketing strategy is working. Thus, using a tool like Google Analytics to compare previous time periods, including the previous year’s same period, is pretty important.
Bounce Rate
In contrast, bounce rate is a figure that tracks how long people spend on your page before clicking away and totally leaving. Generally, a high bounce rate with time on site of only a few seconds or a half-second is considered a poor performance metric.
Why is this a problem? If someone thinks your website is boring or just plain irrelevant, they won’t want to stay there long enough to find out more about your company and the products or services you offer.
However, there is a bit of a caveat to this. There are certain times when bounce rate isn’t nearly as important to worry about — for example, when running a PPC campaign. This is a time when a high bounce rate isn’t as big of a deal, as the page you’re sending traffic to is very specific.
Average Number of Page Views per Session
The next website metric you’ll really want to keep track of is the average number of page views per session. In short, this equates to the number of pages a visitor is browsing during their time on the website.
The higher the average, the more the people coming to your website are exploring while they’re there. Obviously, you want this to be a pretty high number, as it means that you’re offering great information that they continue to explore during their session.
Overall Session Duration
Speaking of sessions, there’s a related metric that is important to track, and that’s overall session duration. When keeping an eye on what people are doing while on your website, you’ll also want to pay attention to how long they’re staying there.
A longer session duration often means that they are thoroughly reading your written content, watching videos you’ve posted, or otherwise engaging with your page. Of course, this isn’t always true, as someone could just happen to have the site up on their screen with no further action. But combining this metric with others should give you a good idea of what content gives your target audience the most value.
Traffic Sources
In addition to how long people are staying at your website and what they’re looking at, traffic sources are another important website metric. This means where people are coming from when to find your page.
Are they typing it in directly? Is it something they’re getting from social media pages like Facebook, Instagram, or Houzz? Are they finding you in search engine results on Google?
You want to pay close attention to this metric because it helps indicate if your digital marketing campaigns are actually working. Furthermore, it can give you an idea of areas you need to improve, like search engine optimization (SEO) or social media marketing.
Type of Visitor Device
One more thing to remember on this list of essential website metrics to measure is the type of visitor device. While you should already have a responsive website by now, it is still a good idea to tell what people are using to view your page so that you can optimize settings accordingly.
For example, if the vast majority of your audience is using a smartphone device, you might want to make some changes to the navigational structure of your page to make this more user-friendly. You could also opt to use certain fonts or images, or change other technical aspects of your page to ensure faster loading speeds on smaller screens.
Essentially, this all comes down to tracking what your audience is using to view your page and using that information to provide a better experience with your brand’s digital presence.
Exit Source
One of the lesser tracked but still important site metrics is exit source. This is the place on your website where someone decides to leave.
Any pages that have a high exit rate should have some sort of explanation as to why. Is there a link that takes them to an off-site page with additional information? Do they leave after submitting a request for a quote or contact? Those would all be reasonable.
But if you have a blog post or article that instantly makes people abandon your page, there might be a problem. If you notice a certain portion of your website showing signs of too many people using it as an exit, then it might be a good time to look into making a few changes.
Wrap Up: Important Website Metrics To Keep Track Of
When it comes to keeping track of your website metrics, it can be easy to get lost in the numbers. The good news is that the different options we’ve included in this list are a few of the most important and can give you a good sense of what your audience is doing while visiting your page.
If you’re ready to take your company’s online presence to the next level this year, now is a great time to get in touch with ER Marketing. Please contact us today for details.
