Website Analytics: 8 Metrics To Measure Website's Success

Out of all of the buzzwords you hear around your website, analytics is probably one of them.

This is especially true when it comes to knowing if your website is a success or not. You could deem your website successful in many ways, especially with digital analytics software. But what metrics should you be tracking to get a better idea of its success? You must decide which website analytics you’d like to track most.

Website analytics is a powerful tool for any website owner or manager. By understanding how people use your site, you can improve it and achieve your goals, whether increasing sales, growing your audience, or simply providing a valuable resource.

Why tracking web analytics is necessary

Website data is the key to unlocking the success of both your website and your overall business. Collecting and analyzing this data gives you valuable insights that can dramatically improve your website's performance.

Understanding user behavior through website analytics allows you to create a more user-friendly customer experience. You can see which pages are most popular, where visitors are dropping off, and what needs optimization to ensure the smoothest possible customer journey. This real-time data provides clear and actionable steps to improve conversions and overall website performance. 

Here's why it's important:

• Data collection: Website analytics tools track visitor behavior, including page views, dwell time (how long they stay), traffic source, and more.
• Analysis and insights: This data is collected to uncover patterns and trends. These insights reveal how easy your website is to navigate, what content resonates most with visitors, and if your conversion goals are being met (especially important for e-commerce sites).
• Improving your website: Armed with these data-driven insights, you can make informed decisions to optimize your website. This might involve improving content, enhancing user-friendliness, or redesigning sections for better flow and engagement.

8 important web traffic analytics to track 

The web analytics that are most important to you may vary from industry to industry. No matter what sort of website your organization runs, these eight web analytics are the most common to track across all industries.

1. Traffic sources

Traffic sources, sometimes called traffic channels, allow you to see where website visitors are coming from. 

Some of the primary traffic sources you should pay attention to are:

• Direct traffic: Users who visit your website directly by typing the URL in the search bar or via a saved bookmark. For example, if you post a direct link to your website on a social media account and a user clicks that link, it would appear as direct traffic.
• Organic search traffic: Users who find your website naturally by performing a search within one of the search engines, like Google or Bing. This is the primary source of traffic that marketing efforts, like content marketing, work to increase. Boosting this traffic takes time, but the higher your website ranks for keywords, the more organic traffic it’ll garner.
• Referral traffic: Users who find your website by clicking a link on another site then take them to your site. This traffic is obtained through a backlink, which boosts your site’s credibility in the eyes of search engines. The more websites that link to yours, the better.
• Paid search traffic: A user who clicks on a paid advertisement, which then takes them to landing pages on your site. Paid media, or pay-per-click (PPC), is usually the result of paid advertising through a source like Google AdWords. 
• Email traffic: Users who have clicked on a link to your website from an email. These links are typically in the form of a call to action (CTA) button. 

Having this information allows you to understand better which areas need improvement. For instance, if you’re not getting as much traffic from email as you’d like, then it’s time to shake up your email marketing campaigns. If that’s the case, check out email marketing software options that could give you the boost you need.

2. Pageviews

A pageview, sometimes called a page hit, occurs when a page is loaded or refreshed in a browser. How often a page has been viewed on your website is counted. All pageviews are counted when tracking website analytics, regardless of how often a user has visited the website in a specific amount of time.

For example, if you visit the G2 homepage in the morning and revisit it the next day, it counts as two pageviews. Or if you’re on the G2 homepage, navigate to a category page, then navigate back to the homepage; it’s also counted as two pageviews for the homepage.

3. Unique pageviews

Unique pageviews are different from regular pageviews. This metric is generated by the same user during the same session. A unique pageview is calculated by the number of sessions during which a page on your website has been viewed one or more times.

To use the same example, let’s say you visit the G2 homepage, navigate to a category page, and then return to the homepage. No matter how often you leave and return to the homepage in the same session, this is counted as one unique pageview.

4. New and returning visitors

As the term suggests, a new visitor is a user visiting your site for the first time on a device. A returning visitor is a user who has been on your website before and is back to browse again.

When you visit the G2 homepage for the first time, you're a new visitor. If you return the next day to get more information about the software you’re interested in, you’re a returning visitor.

5. Sessions

A session is one single visit to your website. Whether a user lands on one of your web pages, leaves after only a few seconds, or spends an hour browsing, it’ll still count as one session. If the same user leaves and comes back to your website later, it won’t count them as a new user, but it will count as a new session.

Going back to the above example, if you visited the G2 homepage in the morning and returned in the evening, that would be counted as two sessions.

6. Session duration

Session duration is the time a user spends active on a website. Typically, a session is timed out when there is no activity for 30 minutes, but this metric takes into account the entire time a user spends on the website. 

If you were to navigate to the G2 homepage at 11:00 a.m., travel to any relevant software or category page, and exit G2 at 11:25 a.m., the session duration would be 25 minutes.

7. Bounce rate

Google defines your website's bounce rate as “the percentage of visits that go to only one page before exiting a site.”

If you stay on this article for a period of time without navigating to another article or source on G2, that’s called a bounce and will affect the bounce rate.

Bounce rate can also be affected by closing the browser or window, typing another URL into the web browser, clicking the back button on the browser, or leaving the site completely to go to a different website.

Analyzing this metric to understand when your visitors are sticking around to learn more or bouncing away is essential. Find out which pages on your website have the highest and the lowest bounce rate. Put them side-by-side and see what’s doing well for one that the other doesn’t have and vice versa.

8. Click-through rate (CTR)

If your organization is investing in ad campaigns or advertisements for your website or a specific page, the click-through rate (CTR) is the number of clicks that an ad receives, which is then divided by the number of times the ad is shown.

For example, if your company’s advertisement had ten clicks and 100 impressions, the CTR would be 10%.

Common issues with web analytics 

Website analytics can be a goldmine of information, but there are pitfalls to avoid. Here are some common issues:

• Wrong data: Inaccurate tracking code implementation or ignoring data quality checks can lead to misleading data. You might be missing valuable insights or making decisions based on faulty information.
  
• Misunderstanding goals: Not setting clear goals or failing to connect website metrics to your business objectives makes it hard to measure success. Are you tracking the right things to understand if your website is achieving what you set out to do?
  
• Data overload and paralysis: Getting bogged down in too much data or complex reports can lead to inaction. Focus on the key metrics that matter most for your website's goals.
  
• Ignoring user experience: Website data alone doesn't tell the whole story. Consider user behavior patterns and qualitative feedback to understand the "why" behind the numbers.
  
• Limited perspective: Relying solely on last-click attribution can miss the bigger picture of the user journey. Different touchpoints contribute to conversions, so understanding the full path is crucial.

By being aware of these issues, you can ensure your website analytics provide valuable insights to drive real improvements.

Web analytics tools

Many web analytics tools can simplify harnessing and collecting data and ensure it’s organized in one central location.

SEO tools

Are you interested in improving your website's ranking in search engines? A search engine optimization (SEO) tool can help.

• Keyword research: It’s common for SEO software to perform keyword research, which is how you can find various search terms users are searching for to find your website. Once you better understand these terms, you can further understand your audience and how they search online and then start optimizing your website for these terms.
• Content gap analysis: SEO software also provides content gap analysis, which examines a website's content and all its pages and identifies which content should be included to fill the “gap” between what is needed for specific keywords. This data is crucial for creating a content marketing strategy that converts.

Website tracking tools

Those interested in investigating website tracking and traffic more deeply often turn to software to collect this data more easily.

• Google Analytics: From website traffic to user behavior, Google Analytics is a free tool that presents real-time site or mobile app data. This tool is easy to use and set up and can provide valuable insights into how a website performs, where adjustments can be made, and more.
• Hotjar: Hotjar is a website heatmap and analytics tool that helps you see how visitors are using your website. It provides heatmaps, session recordings, and form analytics to help you understand what visitors are clicking on, how far they scroll down a page, and where they are abandoning forms.

CRO tools

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) software makes it easier for users to test and visualize how they can improve the user experience on their website. This data can go a long way in ensuring customers find what they're looking for from the website in just a few clicks.

• Heat maps: Heat map software is often used to visualize how visitors behave and interact with a specific site page. You can see where a website user clicks, hovers, or scrolls on a landing page. These data points can also suggest whether a page’s design needs to be altered to improve conversion rates.
• A/B testing tools: A/B testing tools can analyze website or landing page versions to see which performs best. Whether you’re testing images, videos, or calls to action, it’s easy to see which details can convert better with customers.

Dream big

Your website’s success is important. You worked hard to create it and want to see people enjoying and engaging with your content. 

But success isn’t a one-size-fits-all kind of metric. It all depends on the size of your website, how long it’s been live, and a slew of other details. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t immediately see the web traffic or other KPIs you’d like. Keep an eye on the data and find areas to improve; you’ll likely be pleasantly surprised by the results you see.

Go even further in tracking your website’s performance by understanding website monitoring and how it can help your business reach its goals.

This article was originally published in 2019. It has been updated with new information.