Today, I'll share the top eight web traffic analytics you should be tracking, where to get that data, and offer a few tips that will help you gain access to more data than Google Analytics provides.
Note: Leadfeeder is a web traffic analytics tool that identifies which companies are on your site and what actions they take. Try us free for 14 days.
What is web traffic analytics?
Web traffic analytics refers to collecting data about who comes to your website and what they do when they get there. That data is crucial to building effective sales and marketing strategies.
While most people assume more traffic is always better, that's not always true.
For example, if you sell social media software to people in the UK, you don't want traffic from South Americans looking for an expense management tool. When you track the right web traffic metrics, you'll get deeper insights into who comes to your site, whether they like your content, and what actions they might take next.
What does web traffic analytics tell you?
Web traffic analytics tells you who visits your website and what they do. Ideally, it'll tell you what content your users love and give you insights to help improve conversions. 😍
In reality, it's a little more complicated than that. Depending on which web traffic analytics tools you use, you might see:
How much traffic your site gets in a given time period.
Which content is most popular.
Your bounce rate.
How many new visitors you get.
Where your traffic comes from.
How long people stay on specific pages.
How often users return to your website.
And much, much more.
Some analytics tools (like Leadfeeder!) can actually identify which companies visit your site and exactly what pages they visit. Others, like Google Analytics, provide a higher-view of on-site activity.
That data can be leveraged to track what content resonates with visitors, which marketing campaigns are most successful, and even which pages are driving users off your website.
Top 8 web traffic analytics to track (and where to find the data)
There's no one-size-fits-all plan when it comes to web traffic analytics. The metrics you track can vary by industry, goal, and even where customers are in the funnel.
However, there are several main metrics you'll want to keep an eye on.
Pageviews
This tracks the number of times visitors land on a specific page, including repeat visitors. The number will be the same whether you have 10 visits from 10 different visitors or 10 visits from one visitor.
This metric helps pinpoint which website content is most popular. For example, if a blog post about cold email templates is getting tons of page views, you know that is content your users care about.
Where to see this data:
The best place to see pageviews is in Google Analytics. Select Behavior > Site Content> All Pages, then look at the Pageviews row. If you want to sort the list by more or less pageviews, click the arrow next to "Pageviews."
Unique Pageviews
While Pageviews track the overall times a piece of content was viewed, unique pageviews show how many times a different visitor viewed a piece of content. (Hence, the addition of the word "unique.")
Comparing unique page views versus pageviews highlights which content users return to repeatedly.
Where to see this data:
Unique pageviews are located in Google Analytics, right next to pageviews. Log in, then click Behavior > Site Content> All Pages, then look for the Unique Pageviews column.
Sessions
Google defines sessions as "a group of user interactions that take place over a given time frame." This means that a single session can include several page views, transactions, or events.
For example, if a user comes to your site from Facebook, views three blogs, then converts, that is considered one session.
Sessions generally end after a specific time period or if a user switches campaigns. If they arrive at your site from a LinkedIn post, leave and return from a Google Ad, those are marked as different sessions.
By default, sessions last around 30 minutes, but this limit can be adjusted in Google Analytics.
Where to see this data:
You can see overall site sessions in the main Google Analytics dashboard.
New Visitors
New visitors are visitors who have never visited your site before, at least as far as Google's snippet can tell. (Note, this isn't 100% accurate; if the cookie expires or if the user clears their cache, Google won't recognize them.)
Comparing new to returning visitors can show you whether that new campaign is drawing interest or if the same visitors are coming back to your site again and again.
Like many of the metrics in this guide, it's not 100% accurate, so it should only be used as guidance!
Where to see this data:
Head to Google Analytics, then click Audience > Behavior > New vs Returning.
Note: A major drawback to using GA to track new visitors is you can't tell who those visitors are. Leadfeeder uses IP addresses to identify what companies visit your site. That info can help you build stronger marketing campaigns or even inform sales outreach.
Returning Visitors
Returning visitors are essentially the opposite of new visitors. They've been to your site before on the same browser in the last few weeks.
Either they find your information interesting, they're trying to make a buying decision — or maybe it's a competitor creeping on your pricing. While there's no way to know why they are on your site, you know they've been there before.
Where to see this data:
This is housed in the same location as New Visitors. Head to Google Analytics, then Audience > Behavior > New vs Returning.
Traffic Sources
This site metric tells you where traffic comes from. Did they find you via organic search, paid ads, social media, or something else? This info helps you see how customers are finding you and how well campaigns are performing.
Where to see this data:
There are two places to see this data: Google Analytics and Leadfeeder. In Google Analytics, head to Acquisition > All Traffic > Source/Medium. GA breaks down sources by social, organic, direct, paid ads, etc.
Leadfeeder provides similar data, but it tells you the source for specific companies. For example, you can see that traffic from Microsoft came from organic search, social, or even a specific paid campaign.
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate tracks how many users only visit one page on your site before leaving. Google Analytics calculates this metric by dividing single-page sessions by all sessions.
Bounce rate highlights issues with keeping users on-page. For example, if most people who land on a specific landing page bounce, they might not be finding the information they're looking for.
Where to see this data:
View bounce rate in Google Analytics under Behavior> Site Content> All Pages.
Keep in mind, GA doesn't tell you who bounces off your site. Luckily, Leadfeeder can help.💪 Create a Leadfeeder custom feed and set the filter for ‘Page views per visit’ to ‘is less than’ and ‘2’ and click ‘Add.’
This will show you exactly what companies leave your site—and what page they bounce from.
Company Names
Google Analytics provides tons of web traffic analytics data, but there are several gaps. For example, it might tell you users found your page through organic search, but not which terms they used to get there.
GA also doesn't identify who visits your site, due to obvious privacy concerns. (It's also hard to track this accurately since people often switch between browsers and devices.) However, in B2B, you don't need to know that John, who works at Microsoft's Washington headquarters, visited your site at 12 pm on Saturday.
You just want to know what companies are landing on your site. Which Leadfeeder can do—yeap, even if they're working from home. This data can show you if your ABM campaigns are working, whether your ICP is on point, and so forth.
Where to see this data:
Create a free account on Leadfeeder and add our tracking snippet to your website.
We'll start tracking visitors, and you'll see which companies are coming to your website, including which pages they view, how long they stay on-page, and how they found your site.
Want to get notified when specific companies visit your site or users take specific actions? (Like visiting your demo page.) Create a custom feed. Don't forget to set up notifications to get an email or Slack message when hot leads hit your website!
Get more detailed web traffic analytics with Leadfeeder 🙌
There's no doubt that Google Analytics is a favorite in the web traffic analytics space. But, the data it provides is pretty limited.
With Leadfeeder, you can identify which companies visit your site (even if they don't fill out a form!), what pages they visit, where they're located, and even the best contact to reach out to.
Note: Want more detailed web analytics data? Try Leadeeder free for two weeks.
Content Marketing Expert
Romana helps B2B tech companies and startups to craft high-performing content marketing strategies with a focus on organic growth, SEO, high-quality content production & distribution.
Get more from your web analytics.
t’s time to turn your website traffic data into something more meaningful. Website visitor analytics enable you to identify and qualify the companies visiting your website, even when they don’t fill out a form.
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