How To Track Traffic On A Website

Tracking website traffic is an important task for any marketing professional or business owner. It enables them to understand the behaviour of their visitors, identify areas that need improvement, and make data-driven decisions. As experts in digital marketing, including SEO and paid advertising services such as Google Ads, in this blog we will provide an overview of tracking methods and tools available to monitor website traffic, as well as discussing the importance of analysing collected data and how it can be used to optimise the performance of websites.

What Is Website Traffic?

First and foremost, it’s important to know what website traffic is, the basic features and industry lingo you may come across when conducting website traffic analysis.

Website traffic refers to the number of visitors who access a website over a specified period of time. This includes both new and returning visitors, and can provide valuable insights into the overall performance and popularity of a website.

Traffic can come from a variety of sources, including:

Organic search: This is traffic that comes from search engines like Google and Bing, where users find the website by searching for a particular keyword or phrase.

• Referral traffic: This is traffic that comes from other websites or social media platforms that link to the website.
• Direct traffic: This is traffic that comes from users typing the website URL directly into their browser.
• Paid search: This is traffic that comes from paid search campaigns, where businesses bid on specific keywords to drive traffic to their website, such as Google Ads or Bing Ads.
• Other sources: This can include traffic from email marketing campaigns, affiliate marketing, and other online advertising channels.

By monitoring website traffic from these different sources, businesses can gain insights into where their traffic is coming from and make data-driven decisions to improve website performance and drive more conversions. For example, if a business notices that most of their traffic is coming from paid search campaigns, they may want to focus on improving their organic search rankings to reduce their reliance on paid advertising.

Key Website Traffic Metrics

Before getting started on the platforms you should be using to track your website data, you need to know the basic metrics and what they mean, otherwise the world of performance analysis may get somewhat overwhelming!

• Users: A unique individual who has interacted with the website.
• Sessions per user: This metric measures the number of times a visitor returns to a website over a specified period of time. A high number of sessions per user can indicate that visitors find the website useful and are returning to it for more information or to make purchases.
• Engagement rate: This refers to the percentage of visitors who engage with a website, such as by clicking on links, filling out forms, or making a purchase. A high engagement rate indicates that visitors find the website valuable and are taking actions to interact with it.
• Bounce rate: This measures the percentage of visitors who leave a website after only viewing one page. A high bounce rate can indicate that visitors are not finding what they are looking for on the website, or that the website is not engaging enough to encourage visitors to stay. (It is worth noting that, if using GA4 instead of Universal Analytics, bounce rate is now engagement rate and a metric that will phase out formally in July 2023)
• Conversion rate: This measures the percentage of visitors who take a desired action on the website, such as making a purchase or filling out a form. A high conversion rate indicates that the website is effectively driving visitors to take action.
• Events: Events refer to a user interaction with the website or app. These are generally any action performed on the website, including: page scroll, button clicks, videos played, session starts.

How To Track Website Traffic

Now to get into the nitty gritty of how to track website traffic! Every marketer has different ways of tracking and reporting traffic, but the main two platforms every website owner should use are Google Analytics and Google Search Console, which we discuss in more detail below.

You may find that other SEO platforms such as Moz, SEMrush and Ahrefs are beneficial for data comparison as well. These are free to use to a certain extent, then paid-for to unlock premium features.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a powerful tool for tracking website traffic. It allows users to monitor and measure the performance of their website, providing data-driven results about the amount of visitors and their behaviour on the site. These insights are invaluable for understanding how well marketing campaigns are working, recognizing trends in organic traffic, and assessing SEO performance. With Google Analytics, users can also track specific goals such as sign-ups or purchases. This helps them to identify which pages are successful at driving conversions and what areas may need improvement.

The comprehensive reports generated by Google Analytics make it easy to interpret results in a meaningful way. The dashboard includes different metrics that provide an overview of how visitors interact with a website – including page views, bounce rates, time spent on page and more. All this data can then be used to optimise the user experience and improve website performance over time.

Google Analytics offers features tailored to meet the needs of all types of organisations, from small businesses to large enterprises. Even new websites can benefit from using this service as it enables owners to gain insight into user behaviour with real-time reporting features and to make informed decisions about how best to reach their desired audiences in the near and far future.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free web service provided by Google that helps website owners monitor and maintain their site’s presence in Google search results. It provides a range of tools and reports that can help website owners understand how Google crawls and indexes their website, and identify and fix technical issues that may impact their search rankings.

Google Search Console can also provide valuable insights into website performance by providing data on search traffic, search queries, and user behaviour. By analysing this data, website owners can identify opportunities to improve their website’s visibility in search results, and optimise their content and user experience to better meet user needs.

Some of the key ways that Google Search Console can help track website performance include:

• Identifying technical issues: Google Search Console can help website owners identify issues that may prevent Google from properly crawling and indexing their website, such as broken links, crawl errors, and mobile usability issues.
• Analysing search traffic: Google Search Console provides data on how users find and interact with a website in Google search results, including the number of clicks, impressions, and click-through rates for individual pages.
• Monitoring search queries: Website owners can use Google Search Console to analyse the search queries that lead users to their website, and identify opportunities to optimise content to better match user needs.
• Tracking user behaviour: Google Search Console provides data on user behaviour on a website, including metrics such as bounce rate, time on site, and pages per session. This can help website owners understand how users are engaging with their website and identify opportunities to improve the user experience.

Why Track Website Traffic?

Have you ever wondered whether the time and effort you are putting into your website is paying off?

Website tracking is important for any business with an online presence. It allows you to monitor the performance of your website, gain valuable insights into user behaviour, and make data-driven decisions to improve the user experience, such as conversion optimisation.

Without website tracking, you’re essentially flying blind – you have no way of knowing how users are interacting with your website, what content they’re engaging with, and where they’re dropping off. This makes it difficult to identify areas for improvement and make changes that will drive more conversions and revenue. By tracking traffic sources and analysing user behaviour, you can determine which channels are driving the most traffic to your website and which campaigns are generating the highest conversion rates.

In short, website tracking is essential for any business that wants to succeed online. By monitoring website performance you can optimise your website design to better meet user needs, drive more conversions, and ultimately grow your business.

How Often Should You Track Website Traffic?

It’s important to consider how often you track your website traffic. If you’re looking to drive sales with your website, frequent tracking is a great way to identify if any changes you’ve made are working. On the other hand, if you’re looking to build brand awareness or increase user engagement, then monthly tracking may be enough since results may take longer to show.

Additionally, think about how much data you want to collect and how much effort you’re willing to put into analysing it. Daily tracking might be needed if you need detailed insights, but weekly or monthly tracking could be enough if you’re looking for a basic overview. Ultimately, your tracking frequency should depend on your goals, budget and resources.

Gain Insights Into Your Business With Media Street

Overall, tracking website traffic is essential for any business wanting to stay competitive in the digital landscape. Tracking website traffic is a must-have for any business looking to get ahead online, so if you need a hand in progressing your website data analysis, why not chat with our marketing team to see how you can progress your campaigns?

Give us a call on [email protected] or call 01392 914033 and we will be happy to discuss your requirements in further detail.