
We get it, in today's world of data, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data available about your website.
There are countless metrics to track. How do you even determine which ones truly matter for your growth? Where do you even begin?
You’ve invested time and money into your website, but despite your efforts, you’re not seeing the results you expected. You might be scratching your head, wondering why your traffic isn’t converting into sales or why your engagement metrics seem stagnant.
The problem often lies in focusing on the wrong metrics of your site’s performance.
So, what's the solution? Which metrics should you focus on?
In this article, we’ll break down 7 essential website metrics you absolutely cannot ignore for your growth journey this year.
We’ll walk you through how to track and make sense of these metrics so you can make better data-driven decisions and really move your website forward.
Bounce Rate or Engagement Rate
Bounce rate measures the percentage of visitors who land on one page of your website and leave without interacting further. Essentially, they "bounce" away to another site.
With the introduction of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), one significant change was replacing Bounce Rate with Engagement Rate. While both metrics assess session engagement, they do so in opposite ways.
Engagement Rate represents the percentage of sessions where users interacted with your site, whereas Bounce Rate indicates the percentage of non-engaged sessions.
Google defines an engaged session as one that lasts more than 10 seconds, includes a key event, or involves at least two page views or screen views.
When you notice an unusually high bounce rate, the first thing you need to examine is the page load speed. Slow loading times are often the primary reason visitors don't stick around.
Traffic Sources

Traffic sources reveal where your website visitors are coming from.
Digital marketing efforts often involve multiple channels that need ongoing assessment so it’s important to understand where your traffic is coming from.
Traffic sources can differ depending on the analytics tool you're using, but common types include:
Direct: These visitors reach your site by either bookmarking it or typing the URL directly into their browser. Direct can also include traffic with an unknown source due to issues with cookies, source codes, or other tracking problems.
Organic Search: Visitors who arrive at your site via unpaid search engine results. While many come through Google Search, other search engines like Bing, Yandex, and Yahoo also contribute.
Paid Search: These users come from clicking on ads displayed on search engine results pages.
Referrals: Traffic from links on external websites directing users to your site.
Email: Visitors who click on links within your emails.
Average Session Duration

Average session duration measures the typical amount of time visitors spend on your site during each session. A session represents a set of interactions with your website within a specific period, generally one to two hours.
For example, if your website’s average session duration is 5 minutes, this means that, on average, visitors spend 5 minutes on your site per visit. This could involve them viewing just one page or exploring several pages.
Average Time on Page
In GA4, this metric is now referred to as Average Engagement Time Per Session.
Average time on page tracks the average duration visitors spend on a specific web page.
This metric serves as a strong indicator of how engaging your content is—the longer visitors stay on a page, the more engaged they are likely to be. A longer time on page also suggests you're attracting high-quality visitors who find your information valuable.
Conversely, shorter times typically indicate lower interest levels.
Visitor Sessions: New vs. Returning

New Visitor Sessions measure the number of unique users visiting your site for the first time within a specific timeframe. In GA4, this metric is labeled as New Users. Tracking new visitor sessions is basically how you understand your website or brand growth.
Returning Visitor Sessions track users who visit your site more than once within a specified timeframe. Although this metric is usually overlooked, we like to keep an eye on this to assess overall brand engagement and customer loyalty.
For example, if you run educational websites or membership platforms, seeing returning visitors indicates that people enjoy your content and are constantly coming back for more. Which is typically what you want in these cases.
Conversion Rate
Conversion rate (CVR) is arguably the most important metric on this list. None of the other metrics matter unless users take the actions they are supposed to take.
CVR measures the percentage of visitors who take a desired action on your website, such as filling out a form, downloading content, signing up for a trial, or making a purchase.
As a digital marketer, understanding how many conversions occur, their locations, and the channels driving them on a month-to-month basis is important. Conversions provide a clear indication of how well your site is working, showing that users are completing the intended actions.
One thing you should know, in GA4, conversions are categorized under Events, with the actual conversions labeled as Key Events.
Top Pages
Top pages are the most impactful pages on your site, usually the ones with the most page views or conversions.
Focusing on your top pages helps you learn which pages drive the most results and helps guide your strategies for updates and improvements.
One mistake we often see people making is focusing on optimizing low-performing pages. Instead, look for ways to make your top pages perform even better and get the most out of their potential.
For example, if your "About Us" page consistently attracts a lot of traffic and leads to conversions, try adding more images/videos, customer testimonials, or better calls-to-action to make it even more effective.
Final Words
Each of these metrics offers a piece of the puzzle, helping you to not only track your website’s success but also to pinpoint areas for improvement.
As you dive into these metrics, remember that the goal is to continually adapt and improve based on what the data reveals.
Here’s to using data to guide your growth and achieving your website’s full potential in 2024 and beyond!
SO, WHERE DO YOU FIND THIS PARTNER?
Well, aren’t we glad you asked! We at DigiCom are obsessive data-driven marketers pulling from multi-disciplinary strategies to unlock scale. We buy media across all platforms and placements and provide creative solutions alongside content creation, and conversion rate optimizations. We pride ourselves on your successes and will stop at nothing to help you grow.
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