Top 7 Website Metrics to Track
Do you struggle to figure out what to track when it comes to your marketing metrics? Determining the right metrics to focus on can be daunting for anyone. There is so much to analyze, and some metrics are more important than others. To help you narrow down your search, we put together this article of the top seven website metrics to track. By the end of this article, you will have a clear understanding of which metrics you need to track for each marketing channel and how to measure the ROI of your marketing efforts.
Why do Metrics Matter?
If you don’t know what metrics to focus on, it can be very overwhelming. If you don’t have a good tool in place, it’s even harder.
Consistently reviewing metrics is a great way to learn what your customers are interested in, want to see more of, and their pain points. More traffic, clicks, conversions, and shares result in a higher interest in that topic.
Metrics help you measure the success of your campaigns. Overall, metrics tell you what is and isn’t working. They provide you with insights into actions you can take to improve brand awareness, lead generation, and marketing performance.
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Top 7 Website Metrics to Track
Website metrics tell you how your website is performing. The easiest way to find these metrics is either through Google Analytics or your website tracking and reporting platform, such as HubSpot.
1. Website Traffic (Visits to Site)
Over 50% of local business websites receive less than 500 visits per month, according to Search Engine Journal. Website traffic tells you how many visitors you are getting to your site on a daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. Your goal should be to receive as much traffic as possible to your website. The average number of visits differs depending on the size of the business, industry, and online presence. Compare your current traffic to competitors, and see what your baseline goal should be.
2. Top Channel Sources
Your top channel sources tell you where your website traffic is coming from. A few examples are:
- Social media
- Referral (getting traffic from other websites)
- Direct traffic (typing the URL)
- Organic search (appearing on Google)
- Paid search (Google or Microsoft Advertising)
- Paid social (advertising on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, etc.)
It’s important to know where your traffic comes from so you can decide where to invest your time and resources. For example, if you notice a source has a low amount of traffic but is popular among competitors, you might be missing out on an opportunity to drive new traffic to your website.
3. Bounce Rate
The bounce rate is determined by the number of users who exit the first page they visited without continuing to another page on your site. So if a user lands on your home page and then exits the tab, they would be considered a bounce. Whereas someone who lands on your home page, navigates to another page on your site, then exits, would not be considered a bounce.
The bounce rate is important to pay attention to because it tells you if the people landing on your website find your content intriguing or not. As a rule of thumb, anything under 40% is fantastic, while metrics over 70% is cause for concern. You want visitors to visit as many pages as possible. If you have a high bounce rate, consider adding an enticing call-to-action (CTA) to redirect them to another page.
4. Top Web Pages
This metric helps you understand which pages are driving the most visitors. Top visitor pages are an opportunity to add a CTA and convert leads into customers. You can make efforts to enhance your top web pages for even higher conversion rates. If you’re launching something new, you can use your top web pages as a template or guide to help your new page rank higher more quickly. As an example, if a high-ranking page has a video, you should consider including a video on your new page, as that could be an indication that your audience likes to watch videos.
5. Visitor to Contact Rate
Of the visitors that come to your site, how many are converting into a lead? The visitor-to-contact rate metric tells you how effective your website is in generating leads. It doesn’t matter which page they land on, but it shows whether or not they ended up completing your contact form. A 1-3% conversion is the average industry benchmark that you should shoot for.
6. Page Views
Page views are how many pages a visitor visits in one session. A session is determined as a visit to your website. So after landing on your website, how many pages do they view before closing out of the tab? The more page views in a single session, the higher quality lead they are for your business. It shows they are highly interested in your services and could be performing research before buying. A good metric to shoot for is 2 or more pages per session. According to Search Engine Journal, the average local business’s website receives 2.17 pages per session. Mobile-only visitors visit an average of just 1.88 pages per session.
7. Average Time on Page
The average time on a page is exactly what it sounds like! This metric tells you how long a user stays on one page. Again, you want a user to stay on a page as long as possible because they’re more likely to engage with you. If this metric is lower than you want, you can add CTAs, copy, and videos to keep people on the page longer. A good benchmark for average time on page is 52 seconds. We recommend trying to improve your performance year over year by testing new things to see what works best to improve this metric.
Summing up Your Website Metrics
Consistently measuring your website analytics will help you create better content for your audience, understand your audience’s browsing habits, and how to beat your competitors in search results. Keeping up with analytics isn’t easy, but having the Rutkin Marketing team by your side makes things much easier. Schedule a 30-minute assessment with us to determine if we’re the right fit.
