KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are important to a lot of people, either because they like to record and compare the performance of their work, or because they report to someone who asks for that data! What KPIs could – or should – we be setting up for our website? With the change to Google Analytics 4, for those of using that, it’s an issue worth reconsidering, because we need the right reports set up.
Overall website visits are a necessity, if perhaps a little unrevealing. Specific sources are more important; ‘organic traffic‘ from search engines is a must, as is paid-for (PPC) traffic, although remember to account for the amount spent alongside this! Some people prefer to use Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools as the source for data on search engine ‘organic’ referrals.
Engaged visits
For all of these website visit types, it’s also worth setting up reports for ‘engaged’ visits. These can be defined as preferred (perhaps as time spent on site, pages viewed or whatever), but there’s a default measurement in GA4 which is a reasonable choice.
Monitoring position in the search results for a series of important search terms is another good idea. At BMON, we do this automatically as an additional service for all of our clients. This exercise will show general trends but also be an indicator of unexpected individual advances or declines. There are tools for monitoring positions, or it can be done manually (although remember, results can be personalised and localised).
A decent list of other ideas for website KPIs can be found here.