There are nearly 2 billion websites in the world, and the number climbs by the second. Obviously, your website has a whole host of competition.

How well is your website performing? It’s a question many people ask themselves. You need web analytics metrics.

What are website metrics?

Website metrics provide a window into how your site is performing. They also tell you what you can do to improve performance. Of course, some metrics are more useful to track than others.

If you keep an eye on these three web metrics, you’ll build a clearer picture of your website’s performance.

1. Traffic is King of Website Metrics

When it comes to important website metrics, traffic has to outrank all others. Traffic is an easy metric to understand. It tells you how many people are visiting your site.

You can get a little more sophisticated and measure other variables. You might want to keep an eye on:

• traffic by source
• returning visitors
• the length of time each visitor spends on the site
• how many pages a visitor looks at

You’ll also want to take a look at trends in traffic. Does your traffic increase or decrease over time?

If there’s a change, ask yourself what might be behind it. Did you run a promotion or post a popular video. These actions can all affect traffic.

2. Keep an Eye on Your Conversion Rate

The next of our three web analytics metrics you want to watch is the conversion rate. Conversion rates aren’t always useful, but they can give you a better idea of website performance.

The conversion rate is a top-level metric that tells you how many people took a desired action on the site. This is usually how many people bought something. You can also measure newsletter sign-ups, page clicks, or requests for appointments.

Conversion rates can also be broken down into more nuanced numbers. These give you a more detailed overview of website performance.

3. Look for Social Sharing

High traffic is often great. If one person stumbles across your site, that’s one more visitor. Social sharing is even better.

Maybe this person takes a desired action, like buying your product. They might become a regular consumer of your content.

Or they could share your post with all the people in their social network. You’ve now reached hundreds or thousands of people, all with the click of a button. Instead of making one conversion, you could be making many.

You’ll want to keep an eye on social sharing for this reason. Track what kinds of content your visitors are most likely to share. This can help you build a better content strategy and reach more potential customers.

Get the Right Tools

Now you’ve answered the question, “what are website metrics?” And you’ve discovered some of the most important ones. If you’re ready to keep track of these three website metrics, be sure you have the right tools.

Looking for ways to improve your website performance? Check out some of the additional tips on our blog. We’ve got ideas for boosting traffic, improving search engine rankings, and more.