How to Know if Your Website Traffic is Good or Not?

Your website’s traffic can tell you a lot of valuable information regarding your goals and achievements. Eventually, you will need people to visit your website if you are actually trying to achieve something. You might want to increase your brand image, make more sales, or just let people know what you are doing. They all related to website traffic at some point, which makes it extra crucial for website owners. 

But, how do you know if your website traffic is good enough? Do you just need to pass through a specific number, or do those numbers need to signal something to you? And how will you make sense of the number appearing on the screen? Is getting millions of traffic always a good thing, ceteris paribus? 

Today, we are here to share with you everything you need to know about website traffic regarding what it is, how to tell if it is good enough, how you can improve it, and what is the connection of website traffic with other SEO practices and knowledge. 

Without further ado, let’s get started. 

What is Website Traffic? 

Website traffic is a term used to describe the number of people who visited a website in a specific period. Website traffic is measured according to the visit, as known as sessions. A session refers to clicking on a website and may include taking actions in the website. 

You should keep in mind that website traffic is unique to each page on your website. So, if your website has 30 different pages, each of them would have different traffic numbers. 

What can Website Traffic Tells You? 

The concept and definition of website traffic are pretty easy to comprehend. But what will you do with that information? The sure thing your website is there so that people can visit it, but how will you make sense of it? The answers to those questions will also answer why website traffic is important to know and monitor. 

First things first, your website traffic will tell you the degree of effectiveness of your website.  Imagine that you have a real-life store, let’s say an ice cream shop. People entering the shop will tell you a lot about whether your shop looks appealing to them, or is it good enough for people to wonder what is going on there. 

Moreover, your website traffic will tell you a lot about if people are enjoying there or not. If people are spending time looking at the menu, flavors, and shop decoration, you would understand a little bit about their interests. Additionally, the parts where the customers (visitors in the website case) hang out the most will dictate to you what parts are more focused on your target audience’s needs and preferences. 

For example, your ice cream shop can have excellent decoration, and your customers can be spending so much time there taking pictures. In the website case, that would be the equivalent of a successful PR, the ones that come from visitors. Or, if the customers are focused on purchasing ice cream, or buying stuff from your website, then it would be more focused on sales.

This is important for two reasons. One, you can see whether if your marketing goals were achieved or not. Is your main goal is to getting acknowledged by a larger audience (pictures shared on social media or backlinks) or your visitors making a purchase? If the general tendency is towards your goals, you can understand it through the website traffic. 

The second reason why this information is important is that you will get to know which part you need to focus on. If your main goal was to increase visibility in different channels and it seems like your website traffic is more about sales, you might want to step up your marketing game. Sure thing sales are not bad at all, it is something you would like, but why not be heard by many more people, make even more sales, and enhance your brand image simultaneously? 

How to Measure Website Traffic? 

Of course, to use all the benefits of knowing website traffic, you need to know how to measure it. There are several ways of measuring website traffic, and each can indicate a different aspect of website traffic. Keep in mind that the methods shared in this section are not all directly about website traffic, but they are also about the efficiency of your website traffic.

The first way of measuring website traffic is through session numbers. As you can infer from the name, you are just monitoring how many people are entering your website. It is crucial to decide on a specific timeline while measuring website traffic through session numbers. 

It is completely up to you to decide on the period; it can be a week, a month, or three months. The main goal of measuring website traffic through session number is to indicate the effectiveness of the traffic buildings initiatives, such as advertisements and SEO techniques.

For this reason, it might be best to start your website traffic monitoring timeline with the change you make on your advertisements or SEO techniques to see the difference. It is also fine if you are not planning to make any changes in the near future, but you can also see whether if a change is needed or not. 

Another way of measuring website traffic is through channels. In other words, you can measure the traffic your website gets from other sources. The mentioned other sources can be organic search, backlinks, e-mails, shared links, etc. This method would be helpful to see which channels are bringing more traffic to your website in general and which ones can use more help. 

You can also measure your website traffic with the purchase percentage. Sure thing people visiting your website (as known as your website traffic) is a good thing, but how much of a benefit it can create if those people are not doing anything? We will come to this point in detail soon, but websites making sales are typically more interested in the purchase percentage. By looking at the proportion of website visitors to those who actually make a purchase can give you even more insight into what your next steps should be. 

The last way of gaining insight about and monitoring website traffic is through bounce rate. In the simplest words, bounce rates refer to the visitors of a website that leaves without further action. So, if a visitor just clicks to your website and leaves without clicking into anything else, that would be a contributor to the bounce rate. Keep in mind that bounce rate is measured with respect to all the people visiting your website. 

Website Traffic Measuring Tools

Now that you know which aspects of website traffic can help you to measure it, it would be best to discuss the tools you can use to monitor your website traffic. There are lots of tools online specializing in website traffic, which can tell you all the details about it. 

One of the most common website traffic measuring tools is Google Analytics. Since it is free and accessible, many website owners prefer Google Analytics as their main tool for measuring website traffic. Indeed, Google Analytics is a good way of finding out the information you need about website traffic.

However, it might be challenging to understand Google Analytics’ way of telling you about website traffic. Usually, Google Analytics offers a greater deal than just the basics of website traffic. So, for someone who is not familiar with the concepts and reading data, Google Analytics might require more time and effort to get what they need about website traffic. 

Are Numbers all That Matters?

When we were in the “how to measure website traffic” section, we mentioned how different aspects of website traffic are important to consider. This brings us to one of the pain points of website traffic, which is focusing on numbers. 

As we mentioned many times earlier, having high website traffic is usually a good thing. However, it never should be the only thing you need to consider. For example, you should not see high website traffic and immediately think everything goes according to plan if your plan is not only people to click into your website. 

Are people leaving without any further action? That would increase your website traffic but also increase your bounce rates. Remember, an increased bounce rate is never something good, and Google would not appreciate it. Your website traffic is high can signal Google you are doing a good job and get you to rank higher on the search engine results page, but please do not forget the part where increased bounce rates result in a contradictory situation, decreasing your rankings. 

Moreover, if people are visiting your website, wandering around through pages, and do not make a purchase, that could be a signal of some issues. This is valid, especially if you are running an online business. Of course, any online business owner wants to make some sales, and getting visitors is the very first step of making sales. But, if this first step is not taking you to the next step, you might want to consider what is going on. 

Perhaps your prices are way above the average market price, or there is a technical issue while someone is trying to make a purchase. Or maybe people are not finding what they actually need due to the wrong representation of your products. As you gain insight into your website traffic and see beyond the numbers, you will also get the chance to work on that stuff. 

Another thing you need to know about the “numbers” when it comes to website traffic is the nature of your website. You cannot expect anyone to say a specific number, which is the optimal website traffic number. Sure thing, there can be an estimation of what good website traffic is, only concerning the nature of your website.

For example, if you are new to the business and just launched your website, it would not be realistic to expect five thousand visits to your website per day. This is an expectation for a well-known website that has loyal visitors. You need to set realistic goals, monitor your website traffic regularly, and work on getting that number in time. Nothing good happens overnight, so do not expect incredible results if you are not systematic about it. 

Another thing you need to know about website traffic is your competitors. If you have something in your hand to use to compare and contrast with your website, then it would be a good way of measuring the success of your website traffic. You might want to choose a website in your field that you find successful and check their website traffic.

It’s easier than you think. There are many different tools on the internet where you just need to copy and paste the website you want to see the website traffic, and they will show you. Once you do this to several websites (it is crucial for them to be the same domain as yours so that you are on the correct line), you will have an idea about the average and whether you are above or below it. 

You should keep in mind that overrunning a successful website does not always mean success in this case, too. They will only give you a base of what is going on there. Perhaps you are doing something quite rare, and the average there is lower than normal. Or, you might be getting more website traffic than the successful ones, but your purchasing rates are extremely lower than theirs. Does that still sound like success to you? Probably not, at least it shouldn’t be. 

Once again, you would want to consider all the different aspects of website traffic in every single detail of it. Do not just stick to numbers or comparison, but align them all to make sense of everything going on and take control over. 

How to Increase Website Traffic?

Now that you know all the background information about website traffic, it’s time to talk about one of the most wondered details about website traffic: how to increase it. Up to now, we might have been mentioned million times how website traffic should be considered as a whole rather than just being a number, and we will describe the methods for increasing website traffic with respect to other aspects, too. 

The following are some of the best ways of increasing website traffic and achieve your website goals. 

Advertising

Since website traffic is about people visiting your website, they need to hear from it or see it prior. Of course, it is possible for people to find your website by chance, but a good marketer wouldn’t leave their business to chance, would they? 

It is quite obvious that advertising is one valid way for people to find you, and hopefully, visit your website. There are all kinds of advertisement methods out there, and it would be challenging to mention them all in this brief section. So do your research, and do the best you can to reach your target audience and increase your website traffic. 

It is important to focus on other aspects of website traffic while advertising. What do you want your visitors to do on your website? Do you want them to fill the contact form, share your website, or make a purchase? Consider those aspects while designing your advertisement strategy. 

Search Engine Optimization 

A classical way of improving your website in any aspect you can think of is through search engine optimization. It might be overwhelming to see advice telling you to improve your SEO game, but it is mentioned everywhere because it works. 

As you may already know, for being both a website owner and a Google user, people tend to click on the very first several results on the search engine results page. Only a tiny proportion of search queries mind to check other pages of search engine results page. If you want people to click on your website and get more traffic, one of your goals should be to rank higher on SERPs so that people can find you.

Moreover, the first several results on the search engine results page tend to seem more reliable than others due to the trust people have for Google. If you are not getting enough traffic, it might be because of your website ranking on Google. Try to monitor your SEO success frequently and see the details where some work can be applicable. 

You would also want to design your website in a way that people spend more time on it. A good way of doing so is to make your website responsive and easy to navigate.  Do not forget the impact of the mobile experience you are offering as a website. This is extremely important for the success website traffic can bring to your website and decrease your bounce rates in general.

E-mail Marketing

One mistake many website owners tend to make is to underestimate the value of e-mails. As a concept, e-mails sound so business-oriented, and people do not use them for marketing purposes. The truth is, e-mail marketing can be a very powerful tool, especially for website traffic, especially when it is done correctly. 

Indeed, e-mail marketing is relevantly more traditional than other types of marketing. However, this does not mean you need to stay away from it. Try to focus on creating unique, trendy, and personalized e-mails for e-mail marketing purposes to your target audience. do not forget to make it appealing and create the desire for people to click into it. 

An indirect way for performing e-mail marketing for website traffic is through lead generation. In the simplest terms, lead generation is finding a target audience that is most likely to become a loyal customer of yours. One way of generating leads is to include a contact form on your website and make people fill the form with their information. 

As more people fill the form and give you their e-mails, you will have the chance to send them marketing e-mails that would remind them to visit your website and take action eventually. 

Interaction

A way to signal Google that your website is good for its users, rank higher on SERPs, and hence get more traffic is through interaction. You would want people to share, comment, and like your website posts. 

Of course, there are some necessary actions to take to encourage people to interact with what you are doing. You might simply want to ask their opinions or directly ask to like and share if they enjoyed what they saw. This is an indirect way of increasing website traffic, but it works so well. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

Website traffic is a significant concept that can be connected to many other aspects of your website. The following are some of the most frequently asked questions about website traffic that can help you to understand better. 

FAQ